Google Ads – Page 14 – The Web Authority

November 19, 2018November 16, 2018

Google Changes the Definition of Average Position Part One

We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing. — We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing and Search Optimization.

On November 6, 2018 Google announced a “change” to Average Position in Google AdWords or Google Ads. The full announcement can be found online.

I have been a Google Partner and Certified AdWords Professional for years. I have studied and passed numerous certification exams, nearly from the time that Google instituted the AdWords certification program.

This announcement states that people were confused on what Average Position is and that it is not what they had thought. Here is the important quote from the announcement.

Contrary to common perception, average position is not meant to describe where the ad appears on the page. Average position reflects the order that your ad appears versus the other ads in the ad auction. As a result, an ad position of “1” means that your ad shows ahead of all other ads, but it doesn’t mean the ad was at the very top of the page. Sometimes no ads are displayed above the organic search results so the ad with a position of “1” appears at the bottom of the page.

Therefore, we’re rolling out four new metrics over the next several weeks that – unlike average position – provide clear insights on where your ads are appearing on the search results page:

Well, this is a change. All the AdWords test materials and study guides over the years have stated that average position was just that – a statistical average of where your ad appeared on the page to give you an idea of how high or low your position was as a factor of your quality score and bid.

Strangely, now Google has announced that no, we have all been mistaken and that Average Position was not that, but rather a factor of ad rank – which is very, very different.

This is a marked change and one that has impacted numerous client accounts in November. Where accounts were happily chugging along with great click and conversion numbers, November 6th hit and I had many accounts take a sudden nose dive in clicks and conversions. I saw this across several key accounts in very diverse sectors. It appears that Google has restructured the auction algorithm to cater to this new terminology that they have themselves created for Average Position as of this year.

Please visit my post on Wednesday, part two of this series to learn about the new metrics they have rolled out as part of this definition change of Average Position.

November 14, 2018November 8, 2018

How to Stop Others from Using Your Trademark on Google Ads

Nancy C. McCord CEO of McCord Web Services

If you are a trademark owner, understand that Google Ads wants to help you control who can show ads that contain your trademark.

Google Ads has a form that you complete as the trademark owner. Using this form, you will need to prove to Google that you are the registered trademark owner. You will also be able to list by name and Google Ads ID those businesses that may use your trademark in their Google Ads advertising.

Once your trademark has been registered by Google Ads, if a business owner tries to use your trademark in their ads, the ad will be disapproved. Please understand that in the US advertisers can still use your trademark in their keyword list but will cross the line when they use dynamic keyword insertion as a way to try to fool Google into showing the registered trademark in an ad. However, using this approach an advertiser may skate under the radar for a while.

You can easily report any offenders to Google using the links found in the Google Help Center to get ads pulled sooner rather than later.

If you are advertising in the European Union, the rules are different. There your trademark term may not even be used in the keyword list.

If you need proactive and savvy help with your Google Ads program, please visit our website to learn more about how we can help.

October 31, 2018October 26, 2018

Google Ads Remarketing for Search Demystified

Just because you want to target website visitors in the search results using Google Ads remarketing for search (RLSA) – you may not be able to.

Google sets a threshold of needing over 1,000 remarketing cookie sets in a 30 day period to show remarketing for search ads. For many advertisers this bar is just too high. You will only need 100 cookie sets in a 30 day period to show remarketing ads in the Google Ads display network, but the bar is much, much higher for search ads.

I recommend that you try to lengthen the period of your cookie set from 30 days to 90 days to see if this will make a difference in your ability to use RLSA.

RLSA ads can be a great way to target in search results advertising shopping cart abandoners and other site visitors. Consider bidding a minimum of +30% to get action if you do have enough cookies.

Consider setting up a separate program for RLSA and use general keywords so your ads will appear on more queries, set the bid low, but boost up with a bid adjustment, and consider a -100% bid adjustment for mobile to start to keep your costs low until you know the program will generate a return for your needs.

Showing ads to people who have visited your website already using a target and bid strategy can be very good to add conversions to your monthly plan.

For more information on our services for Google Ads advertisers please visit our website at www.mccordweb.com.

October 29, 2018October 26, 2018

What Happens When Your Budget is Too Low in Google Ads?

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

Can your budget be too low for Google Ads? Yes, it can be, based on the market and Google defined minimum bid to appear in the Google Ads auction.

So, what happens when your budget it too low in Google Ads?

You do not get ad impressions.
You get sporadic clicks and typically not during business hours.
You do not spend your daily budget.
You are not getting good click traffic.

Here’s the big catch, if your Google Ads budget is too low to support high click cost keywords (your first page bid), then Google tries so hard to meter out your program through the day that they literally do not deliver even your daily budget.

This continues through the month and accounts that really need a budget and cost per click boost to be competitive may deliver only a few hundred dollars of click activity with a budget of several thousand dollars.

To fix this problem, increase your budget, increase your cost per click and take a very careful look at your keywords (are they too narrow) and your ad serving schedule.