“Average Position” Metric Being Removed – What Does This Mean For You?
Why they’re removing it:
The average position metric will be removed in late 2019 – so paid search advertisers for law firms need to start thinking about how this will affect their current bidding strategies and reporting. As far as your bidding strategies fo – Google is claiming that their new metrics (Impression (Absolute Top) %” and “Impression (Top) %) will offer better insights into the positions of your ads. They are moving away from where your ad is in comparison to other ads, and more about the actual placement on the SERP.
New metrics to use instead:
You can see an explanation of these two metrics here:
Absolute Top Impression %:
Absolute Top Impressions/Total Eligible Impressions = Abs. Top Impression %
The absolute top impressions refers to the absolute #1 spot on the SERP. The number of abs. top impressions divided by the estimated total number of impressions you were eligible to receive in the absolute top location will give you the Absolute Top Impression %. Instead of seeing an average of position 1, you can now see the percent of times that the ad showed at the number 1 position overall.
Top Impression %:
Top Impressions/Total Eligible Impressions = Top Impression %
The top impressions refers to any ad space above the organic results on the SERP. The number of top impressions divided by the estimated total number of impressions you were eligible to receive in the top location will give you the Top Impression %. Instead of seeing an average of position 1, 2, or 3; you can now see the percent of times that the ad showed above organic results overall. You could be showing at position 6, and position 1, and your average would show you’re at position 3. With this metric, you’d be able to see (for example) that your ads are showing in the top ad space 80% of the time, and the absolute top spot 20% of the time. Which is – in my opinion – more valuable and telling of the ad’s performance.
Why this is better:
Although you may be optimizing toward a specific average position that is working best for your ads – there’s no guarantee you’re getting the exact position you’re averaging for. If you find great results at position 3, and you start optimizing toward it, you may think you’re showing at 3, but it’s just as likely you’re showing at 1 and 5. You can find the percent of time you’re showing in a specific location by pulling ad data with average positions and working out the frequency you’re showing in each spot, but this shows a wider picture. You can compare to the estimated time you could have been eligible to show. Along with these two new metrics, there are also metrics to tell you the percentage of times you have lost because of budget or rank. Initially this change may cause confusion in reporting, but having the right PPC agency for your law firm to help navigate the change can be a huge benefit.
