Ad Rank is the value Google uses to determine your ad position and if it’ll show at all. Many falsely assume that Google Ads is simply just an auction where you can buy your way to the top. But it’s more complicated than that.
Multiple factors impact Ad Rank, which you can use to outrank your competitors while bidding significantly less.
Factors Impacting Ad Rank
Google says that Ad Rank is calculated using:
- Your bid amount.
- Your auction-time ad quality.
- The competitiveness of an auction.
- The context of a person’s search.
- The expected impact of extensions and other ad formats.
Those are four other factors aside from your bid amount.
Let’s start with auction-time ad quality. Google lists three factors that determine your ad quality: click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience. The latter two are good places to start.
You can improve ad relevance with on-page SEO. Make sure you’re optimizing ad copy, headlines, and descriptions for relevant keywords. But it’s more than just stuffing keywords into a word salad. Google also wants you to solve the searcher’s intent.
That’s where a good landing page comes into play. A good landing page:
- Has minimal white space.
- Is optimized for whatever device a user is on.
- Has a clear call to action.
- Loads quickly.
- Can solve the user’s problem quickly.
Finally, ad extensions can really help your CTR. Ad extensions give searchers more information about your business that you couldn’t fit into the character limits of headlines and descriptions. Some examples include:
- Location
- Sitelink
- Price
- App
- Image
- Lead form
- Call
You can learn more about ad extensions here.
Google regularly adds more ad extensions, but you don’t want to just pile them on and hope for the best, which can negatively affect your Ad Rank. Instead, think strategically about what you’re trying to accomplish with your ads. Location extensions would be ideal for a local business trying to boost in-store traffic, for instance.
Improving your Ad Rank has as much to do with the quality of your ad as it does with the quantity of your bid. If you want to maximize your ROAS, put some work into the backend for long-term results.
Grow Your Google Ad Rank
At Pulsion, we know how to boost your Google Ad Rank. We take care of the entire lifecycle of your Google pay-per-click campaigns. By leveraging data-driven, customer-centric analytics, we’ll put your brand in front of your buyer persona, squeezing every bit of every dollar you spend.
If you want a game plan for growth, call us at 1-866-770-9569 or visit our website.