Your Ads: Up for Auction?

An ad auction is the process search engine algorithms utilize to determine which ads to show based on user searches. The auction process not only dictates whether the ad will show, but in what order ads are placed. This is called your ‘ad rank.’ The ad rank consists of many factors, including your actual bid amount, the ad’s quality, ad rank thresholds (minimums), relativity to the context of the search, and the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats.

Each ad auction is a separate instance, so ad placement constantly shifts. To help improve your auction success, pay attention to your keyword relevancy compared to what users search for. It also helps to take a peek at what the competition is doing differently if they consistently outrank you. Google offers a variety of tutorials about maximizing your search engine results.

Google isn’t the only domain that utilizes the auction process to develop its search results algorithm. Facebook performs a similar function, in that their algorithm combines three factors to determine a winning auction score: the actual bid price, the likelihood of user click conversion (the user’s propensity to click on the ad and buy the product), and ad quality (measured by user feedback and clickbait reporting). Facebook will even subsidize ads if they believe it contributes to the user experience, so the highest bid is not always necessarily the winning bid.   

No matter the platform, your keywords game has to be on point in order for you to realize a return on investment (ROI) of your advertising dollars. Here is an interesting fact to consider: for the average company, sometimes 100% of their conversions come from less than 6% of their keywords ads. They don’t call it ‘pay-per-click’ for nothing.

As an SEO expert, Guardian Owl can help you build an effective ad auction campaign that provides a real ROI for your business. Contact us today. We would love to answer any SEO, ad auction, or keyword development questions you may have.