Ad Rank - Marketing Terms

What is Ad Rank?

Ad Rank determines the position of a pay-per-click add in relation to other ads on a search engine results page. Search Engines want to provide relevant ads to match what users are seeking and therefore, look for certain factors.

How is Ad Rank Calculated?

The following factors are used to calculate ad rank:

Bid Amount - rank is determined by the amount bid. Tthe highest bidder does not need to pay their maximum amount or bid, rather, they pay the price that would keep them in their position--given the other factors as listed below--in relation to the other adds.

Expected Impact of Ad Formats-  phone numbers, addresses, web domain names, links, and other such enhancements will increase the format impact.

Components of Quality Score which include:

• Expected Click Through Rate-  search engines rely on users to decide which ads are important for various search queries by "voting" with their clicks
• Ad Relevance-  search engines will analyze words on an ad's page to see if it is relevant to the search query (this prohibits anyone from bidding for a space for queries or keywords that have no relevance to their product or services
• Landing Pages - pages that help users find what they are looking for and are relevant to help users complete their desired action are ranked higher

The cost of a click can be decreased if both expected impact of ad formats and components of quality score increase, this can be done without losing the position or rank of the ad. Positions of ads constantly change as ad rank is recalculated every time an ad is eligible to appear and competes in an auction.

Example of Site Links

Below is an example of paid ads and their position. The keyword searched was "shoes." The companies listed have bid on the word "shoes," and due to the bid amount, expected the impact of ad formats, and components of quality score, the three listings are ranking in this particular order.

Using Site Links and AdRank to Improve Your Business Performace

The better your ads are optimized for conversion, the higher performance you will have with Google Adwords. Facebooks algorithm is similar but also focuses on relevance instead of being purely focused on conversion. Contact us to learn what strategy and what social network will work best for your business needs. Get started today!