Google’s instant auction system has gotten bigger and better over the years. As Google tries harder to serve ads that will actually help their customers, the system has gotten better at weeding out low quality ads. That’s good news for advertisers because it means it’s easier to create a great ad campaign without spending a fortune.
Of course, Google doesn’t have enough employees to manually review every ad that gets submitted. It does this using an automated system that assigns ad rankings based on 5 main factors:
1. Ad Quality
There’s nothing more important to Google than the quality of your ads. Google needs to provide the best info possible to its customers, or those people would start using a different search engine. The quality of your ad is summarised into a Quality Score. A higher Quality Score means an ad is more relevant and more likely to show up during a search for that particular keyword.
2. Ad Context
Context matters when it comes to Google Ads. Google doesn’t just want to show ads that are relevant to the searcher, it wants to show ads that are relevant right now. Google figures out the context of each search by looking at the keywords the searcher used, the time, their location, the device they’re using, the nature of their search terms and more. For example, if you search for “coffee shops” using your phone, you’ll get ads from nearby cafes. If you performed that same search from home you’d get entirely different results.
3. Expected Impact of the Ad
Google does its best to help you generate leads. It does this by looking at past data to figure out whether your ad will be effective or not. Ads that are expected to have a bigger impact are more likely to show up highly in the search results. One of the best ways to improve the expected impact of your ads is to include additional Ad Assets like your phone number, address or links to specific pages on your website.
4. Your Bid
Google Ads uses a flexible bidding system that lets you stay in control of your budget. It’s important to understand that the highest bid doesn’t always win an auction. Because Google prioritises the quality of ads, it’s possible to win an auction with lower bids than your competitors if your ad is highly relevant. You’ll often end up paying less than your maximum bid, and you’re free to change your bid or bidding method at any time.
5. Ad Rank Score
Your Ad Rank Score is a value that Google uses to figure out where your ad will appear on a page (if at all). Ad Rank is calculated based on all the factors we talked about above. You can think of your Ad Rank as a score that helps Google figure out whether your ad is relevant to the person who’s searching. The higher the Ad Rank, the more likely your ads are to show up in that prized #1 spot!