24
2012
May

New Feature – Keyword Impression Share and competitive data

Google announced a new update in AdWords yesterday and we found it in accounts today.  After a string of changes of questionable value to the advertisers it was nice to see one that really helps.  They gave us a first look at impression share at the keyword level and competitive information and its interesting data!

We have been asking for keyword level data on impression share since it first came out at the campaign level. So it’s great to see it make it to the keyword level where you can actually do something with it. My guess is that Google released this as a way to engage the advertiser and there is nothing like competitive information to really grab our attention. With this feature we can see clearly the other competitors and their impression share. Like all marketing information this has to be treated as a clue in the overall game not a fact that you can take immediate action on but it is new and exciting.

The dataset includes the competitive domains, impression share, average position, overlap rate, position above rate, and top of page rate. Impression share is funny piece of data and the exact definition is a little vague to say the least. Conceptually it’s easy to understand in that it is the percentage of time that your ad showed compared to the times it was eligible.  In exact and phrase matching the eligibly is pretty straight forward but when the term is a broad match you have to wonder at which point they cut this off eligibility.

Google has mastered the art of partial information and this proves just how good they are at that. The data elements are intriguing but without the context of the data it tells you very little. Impression share without an indicator of loss for budget or rank just does not tell you very much however connected to other clues it might help.

There are some things you can learn about your competitors in this process. For example if a competitor has a good position and a high top of page percent but a low impression share they are probably bidding high and running out of money. In that case you might want to drop your bids later in the day when they have run out of money. The challenge is there could be other causes but it does give you insights you did not have yesterday.

The data has some problems and the most pronounced is that you have to view this one word at a time. To say this is impractical is an understatement but in the long term we hope that Google will bring the impression share to the keyword level in both the interface and reports.