It's been well established that a core—predominant, even—component of the Google AdWords quality-based bidding formula is historical CTR (clickthrough rate). New keywords get treated a bit differently, though; the algorithm must predict CTR based on the similarities of your ad group's characteristics to historical data in Google's vault.
If you read through Google's official descriptions, you'll also see references to "other relevancy factors." What are these mysterious factors? Presumably they amount to various facets of your campaign matching the user's search intent. Basic relevancy stuff (at least, basic if you've been around the search game awhile).
They aren't fully defined or disclosed anywhere, but one thing's fairly clear: reading the official FAQ's can only take you so far. In-the-trenches experts tend to develop a feel for what works, and why. Some folks even take it the extra mile and try to reverse-engineer the whole contraption. To me, a lot of them take it about a mile too far. I think focusing too heavily on the "what" as opposed to the "why" will lead you down blind alleys. The "why" is how we make sense of things.
It’s been well established that a core—predominant, even—component of the Google AdWords quality-based bidding formula is historical CTR (clickthrough rate). New keywords get treated a bit differently, though; the algorithm must predict CTR based on the similarities of your ad group’s characteristics to historical data in Google’s vault.
If you read through Google’s official descriptions, you’ll also see references to “other relevancy factors.” What are these mysterious factors? Presumably they amount to various facets of your campaign matching the user’s search intent. Basic relevancy stuff (at least, basic if you’ve been around the search game awhile).
They aren’t fully defined or disclosed anywhere, but one thing’s fairly clear: reading the official FAQ’s can only take you so far. In-the-trenches experts tend to develop a feel for what works, and why. Some folks even take it the extra mile and try to reverse-engineer the whole contraption. To me, a lot of them take it about a mile too far. I think focusing too heavily on the “what” as opposed to the “why” will lead you down blind alleys. The “why” is how we make sense of things.
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