The times they are a-changin’…
Google has announced that they will be sunsetting the Average Position reporting metric later this year in Google Ads, and agencies everywhere are rejoicing as they no longer have to spend time discussing average position of ads in their status meetings! Seriously though, average position is an extremely outdated tactic/metric that precedes even Myspace.
Even when the SERPs included right rail ads and advertisers competed to move to the top three spots, the average position metric was still a flawed measurement as it only accounted for the times when your ad did appear in comparison to other advertisers, and not how well you were actually maximizing the true opportunity in your space.
For advertisers that operate in highly competitive verticals for whom market share is a critical component to their business success, Google is shifting to new metrics that better provide insights into the true opportunity an advertiser is achieving in their space. These metrics are called “prominence metrics” and consist of:
- Impr. (Absolute Top) %: The percent of your ad impressions that are shown as the very first ad above the organic search results.
- Impr. (Top) %: The percent of your ad impressions that are shown anywhere above the organic search results.
- Search (Absolute Top) IS: The impressions you’ve received in the absolute top location (the very first ad above the organic search results) divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive in the top location.
- Search (Top) IS: The impressions you’ve received in the top location (anywhere above the organic search results) compared to the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive in the top location.
While market share and/or impression share are important metrics to consider in where your organization currently sits against the total opportunity in your space, Lever Interactive is on the forefront of today’s leading strategies, tactics and technologies that truly matter to maximizing our clients’ paid search investments.
Lever utilizes goal-based strategies with a high-touch approach, alongside data and audience-based machine learning technology that takes in thousands of signals in the auctions, to optimize our clients’ campaigns towards custom KPIs that truly impact their organizational goals.
These KPIs include business-focused metrics such as profitability, revenue growth, MQL/SQL, and LTV of customers, just to name a few. Quite an evolution from average position, right?
To find out more about Lever’s POV on average position, and to learn how we can help you with your paid search campaigns and meet your organizational goals, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch.
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