Is It Worth It To Pay Top Dollar For Your PPC Ads In Google AdWords?

Anne Garcia - July 25, 2011

Not sure if the additional spend for your AdWords ad to be placed in a top position is worth it? Are you blindly bidding to be in position one without knowing your ROI? Google AdWords has created a new report called Top vs. side to answer these questions so that you know if it is indeed worth it for your ad to be seen in a top position.

The Top vs. side report can be used to gauge how your ads perform above and to the side of Google search results. You”ll be able see whether the majority of your clicks and conversions are coming from the top or the side positions, and therefore better optimize your ad positioning.

In the past, Google has said that there is a big difference between when your ad appears in position number one above the search results and when your ad appears in position number one on the side. On average, ads that appear above the search results tend to get substantially more clicks than ads that appear on the right-hand side.

In addition, positions are normally averaged in reports and there is no way to tell how top and side reporting impact the success of an ad. Now, you can see the different metrics from both the top and side ads. 

Note: The Top vs. side report is available under the “Segment” option of the Campaigns, Ad groups, Ads or Keywords tabs in your AdWords account.