The Bid Simulator first caught the attention of Periscopix back in May 2009 whilst the tool was still in beta (see /blog/google-bid-simulator/ ). Now, however, Google have added a new string to its bow…

“Estimated Top Impressions” is a new feature that estimates how the Max. CPC bid may affect the number of times an ad appears as a “Top Impression”. This term refers to an ad that appears directly above the natural search results as opposed to in the standard position to the right hand side:

For each keyword, the Bid Simulator now reports the actual number of times that an ad has appeared as a Top Impression over the past seven days. This figure is displayed within the current Max. CPC row and, because of differences in the way that Search Network sites may display ads, only includes impressions on Google:

The simulator also provides an estimate of how this figure would change if the Max. CPC was amended. As for click estimates, the numbers are calculated by considering competitor’s bid levels and the account’s campaign history.

As an analyst, new tools and data are always fun, however, they must also be of practical use. So how can “Estimated Top Impressions” help when managing a PPC campaign?

The metric will of course be helpful in assessing the true impact of altering a Max. CPC bid, especially for keywords where the Bid Simulator estimates a small change in clicks but a comparatively large change in Top Impressions.

In addition, it is worth remembering that not all top ranking ads appear as Top Impressions and that the average position metric simply indicates where an ad is appearing in relation to others on the page (it is not influenced by the location of ads on the search results page). Since ads that appear as Top Impressions typically generate more traffic than those located in the standard position, the “Estimated Top Impressions” metric could also be a very useful tool when root causing differences in click through rates between keywords that have comparably strong quality scores and average ad positions.

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• Google Bid Simulator

  26th May 2009