As announced on the Inside AdWords blog on Tuesday, Google will introduce the Auction Insights report. Now what does this mean?
“With the Auction insights report, you can compare your performance with other advertisers who competed in the same auctions as you. You can see how often your ads rank higher in search results than other advertisers do, and how your share of total possible impressions compares with theirs. This information can help you make strategic decisions about bids, budgets, and keyword choices by showing you where you are succeeding and where you may be missing opportunities for improved performance.” (From AdWords Support)
If you’re competing for keywords with other advertisers, you want to know who they are and how they stack up, right? So basically, AdWords will now give you insights into your competitors’ strategies. You can now compare your performance with similar advertisers who compete in the same auctions as you do. While it won’t help with strategy for bidding, keywords or otherwise, you will be able to see how your performance compares with others and maybe give you some insights into what strategies you’re not taking advantage of yet.
So what data will you see?
- Impression share – The percentage of impressions you received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive.
- Average position – The average rank of the ad in the auctions, which determines the order of the ads on the search results page
- Overlap rate – How often you and another advertiser received impressions at the same time for this keyword
- Position above rate – How often another participant’s ad was shown in a higher position than yours was in auctions in which you both received impressions
- Top of Page Percent – How often your ad (or the ad of another advertiser, depending on which row you are viewing) was shown at the top of the page, above the organic search results
(Click to Enlarge)
Google also notes:
“This report provides information on other advertisers that participated in the same auctions as you. This does not indicate that the other advertisers have the same keywords, match types, or other targeting settings as you. The other advertisers’ metrics shown are based only on instances when your ads were also estimated to be eligible to appear. These reports will not reveal the actual keywords, quality, or settings from your campaign, and it will not give you insight into the same information for others.
While this information is already available by performing queries on Google search — and many already attempt to estimate this data by scanning the ads that appear — this report will make it easier to access and understand this information. It is available at no additional cost to advertisers whose keywords have a minimum threshold of activity.”
AdWords will roll out Auction Insights reporting over the next few days with data available back to the beginning of May.
