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Aug. 9, 2007

There are many times in a day when Internet marketers wished their ads enjoyed top placement, simply because of the fact that AdWords advertisements perform better and achieve higher ROI when they appear above some Google search results.

Such PPC ads ads must meet or exceed a top placement quality threshold, and Google searchers receive high quality ad results, while at the same time Web advertisers get the traffic they desire. This is a win-win situation.

In Google's AdWords program, one of the greatest determining factor is top ad placement. This simply means no one will ever be able to pay their way up to the top.

Recently, Google has been working on an improvement to the top ad placement formula that will soon offer Internet marketers improved control over achieving top placement, while at the same time increasing the quality of its ad results for its users.

One of the basic and most important parameters to the equation is how Google considers PPC cost.

The exact formula considers what Google calls its "Ad Quality Score" and actual (read: real-time) CPC (cost-per-click).

Google's new and improved formula will still heavily weigh Quality Score. However, instead of the actual CPC, it will evaluate an ad’s maximum CPC.

Here’s why:

In part, actual CPC is determined by the specific bidding pattern of advertisers below any specific ad under analyzis. This simply means that an ad’s chance of being moved to a top spot could be affected by random factors marketers simply cannot influence.

With these recent changes to its AdSense program, Google says that by considering an ad’s maximum CPC by a value its advertisers will set as they wish, they will gain more and better control over achieving top ad placement.

Additionally, on top of boosting control for its advertisers, Google's improved formula increases the quality of its top ads for its searchers.

Google says this is due to higher quality ads becoming more eligible for top placement. This in turn will allow its advertisers to select from a larger inventory of high quality ads to show its users.

Google's newly improved AdWords system will go into effect around Aug. 24.

For a full explanation of how Google's top ad placement formula will be changing, visit the Google AdWords Help Center FAQ.

Google encourages its advertisers to read its AdWords FAQ since these changes could affect the performance of its advertisers.

For example, in certain cases, some ads previously showing alongside search results may begin to show in top spots, and vice versa.

Once the improved PPC algorithm goes live in the next few weeks, Google will update its Internet marketers and AdWords users on its "Inside AdWords Blog".

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    This article was featured on Business 5.0.

Source: Microsoft