Essential Knowledge about the New Search Ad Position Metrics in Google Ads

What is marketing without measuring?

To enjoy genuine success with paid advertising, it’s vital that we analyze ad performance. By assessing key metrics, we can get the information needed to make smarter marketing decisions.

Until recently, many advertisers were dealing with a confusing problem that hindered their analysis:

Google Ads average position.

This metric has gained notoriety for misleading many marketers – just because you had an average position of #1 didn’t actually mean that you were at the top.

Thankfully, Google has taken action to make life a little easier for marketers with the release of four new specialist metrics that offer clarity on this situation.

It’s time to clear up the confusion.

Why Google has Released New Ad Position Metrics

The average position metric has been pretty fuzzy for some time, which has led to some widely-perpetuated myths about average position in Google.

Google stopped displayed right rail ads a while ago, and the number of ads displayed in search results can vary. Sometimes the first ad appears at the bottom, essentially rendering the coveted #1 spot as a hollow victory.

Before now, many people thought this metric told you where your ad appears on the page, however, this is not true. Average position refers to the order that ads appear compared to other competing ads in the auction.

Ultimately, this murky reality left a lot of unanswered questions, such as:

• Does the ad appear above or below the organic listings in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs)?
• When the ad is #1, does it appear above the organic search results?
• How many times can your ad win the #1 position or even just the top spots (#1 – #4) to be displayed above the organic search results in the auction?

With confusion and frustration rife among advertisers, Google Ads has stepped up to put everything straight.

The New Metrics to Make Google Ads Easier to Understand

So, as of November 2018, you can find four new metrics in your Ads dashboard. Let’s take a look at them before finding out how they can help.

Two of the new metrics relate to ad position in SERPs:

1. Impr. (Absolute Top) % measures the total percentage of ad impressions when displayed as the first ad above the organic search results
2. Impr. (Top) % measures the total percentage of impressions when displayed in any position above the organic results

The other two metrics relate to the impression share received when displayed above the organic search results.

1. Search (Absolute Top) IS measures the ad impression share for the absolute top position. This is calculated by dividing the total impressions for that position by the estimated number of eligible impressions for your ad in that spot.
2. Search (Top) IS divides the total ad impressions received in any position above the organic results by the estimated number of eligible impressions you could have received in that position.

As well as these four metrics, Google also added some others to the Google Ads interface. These are tightly related to the new metrics for ad position.

• Search lost top IS (budget) – Number of missed top impressions due to budget
• Search lost top IS (rank) – Number of missed top impressions due to Ad Rank
• Search lost abs. top IS (budget) – Number of missed absolute top impressions due to budget
• Search lost abs. top IS (rank) – Number of missed absolute top impressions due to Ad Rank

3 Benefits of the Google Ads Metrics

So, why does this matter? What can marketers gain from these updates?

• More accurate performance analysis – by assessing top metrics, you can see when your ad was actually displayed above the organic search results.
• Greater opportunities in auctions – With more chance of getting your ads above the organic results, you can enjoy a higher clickthrough rate (CTR), which helps to improve your quality score.
• Clear perspective – Now there is less confusion about average position – you know exactly what position your ad is in on the search results pages.

Why the New Google Ads Ad Position Metrics May Be a Problem

These metrics are opening the door to a flux of spending from advertisers who want the top spot – moreover, they want to stay above the organic results.

As this battle intensifies, auctions will get more competitive, which will drive the cost-per-click up. That means more money for Google and more expenses for advertisers.

It depends on its success, but a time may come when Google simply remove ad position from their metrics. People may be forced to work with the new metrics, operating with less transparency.

For now, however, we can still use ad position alongside the new metrics to guide our campaign decisions. There’s no doubt that the importance of average position is ailing, and you should focus more on analyzing signals to get a better understanding of user intent.

How Can You Use the New Ad Position Metrics in PPC Reporting?

These metrics allow PPC managers to gather a better understanding of ad performance when their ads are shown above the organic listings. To take your analysis to the next level, you can use PPCexpo Visualizations to get instant insights from your data.

The average position for both mobile and desktop is #2 here, however, we can clearly see desktop dominated the “top” impressions here compared to other devices. This added insight allows us to see that desktop is a better device to bid on, as you’re sure to get more impressions at the top with it.

For now, the changes offer more to marketers. If you want to know where your ads are displayed on the search results page, use Impression (Absolute Top) % and Impression (Top) %.

If you want to use average position to bid to a page location, it’s better to use Search (Abs Top) IS and Search (Top) IS.

Once these metrics are available in Google Ads API, the team here at PPCexpo will compile a detailed report. You can check our other reports out now to enhance your PPC management.