Key Factors of Ad Rank in Google Ads: How to Optimise Your Ad Visibility

In Google Ads, Ad Rank is key to determining your ad's visibility. Why do some ads stand out while others get lost among the competition? What factors truly define that ranking position, and how can we effectively optimise them to maximise results? Let’s break down the most important factors that influence Ad Rank and how each contributes to the success of your campaigns.

Ad Rank is primarily determined by three crucial elements: bid, ad quality, and the expected impact of ad assets. Each of these elements has multiple layers worth understanding, such as keyword relevance, landing page quality, and the bidding strategy used.

1. Bid: This is the maximum price you’re willing to pay for a click, but it’s not just about bidding higher. Bids often need to be aligned with an automated strategy that takes into account signals like time of day or user device. These factors influence the likelihood of conversion, as certain times of day may perform better, and different devices can affect user behaviour. Efficiency is key; bidding higher without control can increase costs without necessarily improving results.

2. Ad quality: Here, keyword relevance, ad copy, and landing page experience come into play. To stand out, keywords must align with the user’s intent, not just their search terms. The ad content needs to demonstrate to the user that they’re in the right place, building trust from the outset. Landing pages should also be fast, secure, and clearly aligned with the ad message and page experience.

3. Expected impact of ad assets: Assets like call extensions, promotions, or even the website play an important role in enhancing user experience, simplifying access to relevant information, and increasing the likelihood of engagement. This can improve CTR, and some of these elements provide extra information without leaving the SERP. Including as many assets as possible, as long as they’re relevant, can have a positive impact.

One thing to bear in mind is that not everything affects Ad Rank equally. Elements like assets (extensions) may seem secondary but, in reality, help increase CTR and improve ad relevance across different contexts, ultimately adding value to your Ad Rank.

The most common mistake is focusing solely on increasing bids to improve position. Google also evaluates relevance and user experience.

In terms of the order of importance of Ad Rank elements, ad quality takes first place. Second is bid, which determines your competitiveness in auctions. Finally, the expected impact of ad assets is the third factor; while it plays an important role, it doesn’t weigh as heavily as quality and bid in determining Ad Rank.

The factors affecting Ad Rank complement each other, and good synergy among them is what allows you to stand out in auctions.

3 tips for app campaigns on Google Ads

App campaigns on Google Ads are a tool that bring discovery and actions. Getting the most out of them requires knowing the basics of this type of campaign and having a solid strategy. Here are 3 tips to optimise your app campaigns and achieve your marketing goals.

1. Initial budget

Google recommends starting with an initial budget of approximately 50 times the expected Cost Per Download (CPD). Why? Google considers it a high enough budget to allow Google Ads artificial intelligence to collect enough data to optimise the campaign. If your expected CPD is £2, you should consider an initial budget of at least £100.

2. Advertising channels

Google Ads app campaigns are shown on a wide variety of channels: Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, Discover, and the Google Display Network. Each of these channels has its own type of audience and behaviour. Leveraging all of these touchpoints can maximise reach. For example, YouTube ads can capture attention visually, while ads on the Display Network can reinforce your app's presence in different contexts. This increases download opportunities.

3. Attribution tracking

To properly evaluate the performance of your campaign, it is important to have an attribution tracking system in place. Google Ads offers several solutions for this, including Google Analytics for Firebase, attribution partners for apps and code-free tracking with Google Play.

Extra tip: Having a large user base already in place will give the campaign enough data for faster optimisation, and having values assigned to specific actions within the app will allow you to measure and improve campaign performance based on those actions.

Is Advantage+ Audience better than broad targeting?

The results that we are seeing with Advantage+ Audience are indeed intriguing. That outperforms broad targeting in key areas such as cost per result, conversion rate, and engagement rate, in some tests. However, it would be prudent to consider how the effectiveness of Advantage+ Audience might vary across different industries, product types, or between local businesses versus those with a national reach.

Furthermore, while Meta might allocate a sizeable portion of the budget to Advantage+ Audience in the tests, I'm curious if we also compare the performance data of that campaign against one that utilizes standard interest targeting and that has been optimized through multiple iterations of split testing in the past. It's particularly relevant the question of whether campaigns that have been refined to target specific niches might still yield better results than those same campaigns but with Advantage+ Audience.

In the meantime, we still need more data.