Changes to Google ad scoring algorithm
Google has announced changes to its ad scoring algorithm. The changes are two fold:
Until now, the algo assigned a higher rating to ads that have higher Click Through Rate (CTR), independent of ad position. This decoupling meant that higher position ads got higher ratings, since they were more “visible” to users and hence got higher CTRs. Google is taking care of this anomaly by coupling these two parameters.
The other change relates to giving a much higher emphasis to the quality score at the expense of Ad rank for ads that sit above the organic search results (NOT on the right hand column). For keyword targeted search ads:
Ad Rank = CPC bid × Quality Score
Google now will promote high quality score ads to the area above the organic results even though they have a lower Ad rank i.e. their CPC is not as high as the others.
These changes will have an impact on user experience, and possibly a consequent positive effect on the monetization. Kudos to Google for keeping user experience high on their list.
