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As Internet search has become more prominent over the years, relevancy with regards to search has also increased. People now want to be able to type in a search term or phrase and receive a specific set of results related to their search. This is where Google AdRank comes in.
Google Ad Extensions
Using Ad extensions, users are able to see more specific information that is both relevant to their search as well as useful to them. By providing more relevant information, business owners have the opportunity to capitalize on attracting more potential customers via search. Take Google +, for instance. By providing more information about your business and including relevant hashtags, someone could search for keywords or search terms pertaining to your business, find your business and be provided with a wealth of information from your Google + page. They can call your business, see where you are located on a map and even see what other customers have had to say.
Google ad extensions can (and usually do) improve your click-through rate as well as boost campaign performance. Why? They make advertisements more useful.
Improvements to Google Ad Rank
Ordering advertisements on search results pages involves using a type of calculation, referred to as ‘Ad Rank’. It used to be that Google Ad Rank was calculated using your max cost-per-click (CPC) bid and your Quality Score. However, Ad Rank has recently updated and now takes into account a third component:
- Expected impact from your ad extensions and formats.
Google has also increased the importance of Ad Rank in determining whether your ad is even eligible to be displayed with extensions and formats.
Details as well as the implications of these changes are summarized below:
- Ad Extensions and Formats – now influences the position of an ad on the search results page. Ex: The ad with the more positive expected impact from extensions will generally appear in a higher position than the other.
- Expected Impact of Extensions and Ad Formats – Google now considers click-through rates, and the prominence of the extensions or formats on the search results page.
- Quality Score – Because Ad Rank is now more important in determining whether your ad is shown with extensions and formats, you might need to increase your Quality Score, bid, or both for extensions and formats to appear.
- Auctions – Your highest performing and most useful combination of extensions and formats among those eligible will be displayed, removing any guesswork over what extensions work best for you.
- CPC – You may see lower CPCs if your extensions and formats are highly relevant, and Google expects a large positive performance impact relative to other competitors in the auction. In other cases, you may see higher CPCs because of an improvement in ad position or increased competition from other ads with a high expected impact from formats.
- Who it Affects – For now, this update only affects search ads appearing on Google Search.
For more information about AdRank, make sure you check out the following page about Understanding Google Ads.