Review “Top vs. Side” Ad Performance in Google Ads (AdWords)

Google has recently introduced a new data segmentation report within the AdWords interface that allows advertisers to compare the performance data between ads that appear in the top 3 ads above the main search results, against those that appear down the right hand side. This is often a key question for advertisers and this new analysis may help clarify the impact that a top placed advert may have.

According to Google, ads that appear above the search results tend to get substantially more clicks than ads that appear on the right-hand side. This is understandable as these top placed ads have a prominent position on the search results page and users may either not realise these are adverts, or will click on them automatically as the first placed results. However, the question is also whether the cost-effective of these positions are as good as those that appear down the right hand side of the search results.

There is no doubt that this enhanced reporting capability is a benefit to the management and optimisation of campaigns, but independent opinions and experience indicate that although more clicks may be accrued from having adverts in the top, rather than side positions, it is not always the best strategy for advertisers. The proportional difference in bid rates between these positions can be large and the return in the increased investment, in terms of conversions, is not guaranteed. If a website isn’t converting visitors from any position, there is clearly no benefit in having the adverts consistently at the top, even if that does encourage more visits.

The new data segmentation by Google allows advertisers to get some greater insight into the impact of the top ranking position. This data has previously been available through linked Google Analytics data, but only at a single search term level, so this new report gives a cumulative overview of clickthrough rates and conversions between these advert ranking positions.

Having said that, the initial results that are being shown in the reports looks heavily skewed towards the top ranking positions, both in terms of significantly higher clickthrough rates and therefore visits and also conversions. At this stage, we have some reservations about the reports and a cynical view would be that Google is over-emphasising the top ranking positions to encourage advertisers to bid higher into these positions.

We are therefore running a series of tests over the next month to check the validity of this new data segmentation and to see how reliable this data might be across a number of different campaigns and clients. Hopefully this information will be providing reliable and relevant insights into the performance of the campaign, which will allow the ad positions to be managed accordingly, although at this point we remain to be convinced and are monitoring the online discussions about this new report.

If you would like more details about this new segmentation and how the data could help your AdWords campaign management, please contact us now.

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