Participants in advertising auctions for pay-per-click ads on Google can now get more information about the auction process, and what competitors are paying for allocated ad spaces.
The search and online advertising giant is adding more transparency to its Adwords feature, which will show an advertiser how their ads are performing in direct comparison to others who are bidding in the same auctions.
Data is available at keyword level, and will show all competitors in any auction for a keyword which generates a specified minimum level of activity over a set period.
Lisa Raehsler, writing on Searchenginewatch.com, said: “The new Auction Insights report answers the question about who competes in a given auction [and] shows the display URL domain of the advertiser who is your main competitor in that auction.”
Five key pieces of data are provided: the percentage share of impressions each time a specific keyword is input; comparative ad rankings; the proportion of time an ad and one from a direct competitor are featured in the same auction; the percentage of times the competing ad ranked more highly in the search results; and the proportion of times that same ad was at the top of a SERPS page.
Google group product manager, AdWords, Bhanu Narasimhan, said however: “No actual campaign settings [such a specific geo-targeting settings or a rival website's quality score] are revealed.”
Key CPC bid information is also still kept secret, but, said Narasimham: “Advertisers can see where they stand and if they want to increase bids or not.”
Only data from May 1 is available, and so far reports can only be provided for single keywords, but this may be expanded in the future.
