AdWords Reporting Gets New Segmentation Option: Top Vs. Side Ads

Google is rolling out AdWords functionality to let advertisers segment reports based on where the ad appears on the page — whether it’s above the organic search results or off to the right side. The feature will allow advertisers to determine whether the benefits they’d seeing from bidding their ads into a Top position are worthwhile.

“It sounds fairly boring, but this is really a game changer in that this is the first time advertisers are able to see how their ads perform when they’re shown above search results versus on the side,” Jon Diorio, product manager in AdWords Reporting & Analytics, told me.

Within the AdWords interface, the Top/Side segmentation can be performed by campaign, ad group, keyword and ad, and the option appears on the respective tab. Users can also see specifics on traffic on Google.com, on Search Partners and on Display Network Partners. The feature will be rolled out globally to the AdWords interface this week, and it will appear in an upcoming release of the API.

Though AdWords has long shown the “Average Position” metric, a number between 1 and 3 doesn’t always translate to a “Top” position, because Google has certain CPC and Quality Score thresholds that an ad must meet before it is promoted to a “Top” position.

“We have a lot of advertisers for whom some portion of their ads already serve up there [in the Top position],” said Diorio. “Those advertisers may find that increasing bids 10% could drive 30% more clicks. Every advertiser needs to examine their performance in both places. There may be some situations where being on the right hand side may be the most optimal for advertisers.”