Upcoming Google Ads Updates

Posted on August 19, 2019 Ashley Eining

Google has announced that they will be sunsetting average position starting the week of September 30th. They also will be loosening the requirements on close variations for phrase match and broad match modified keywords. 

The news broke last February that Google was planning to eventually remove the Average Position Metric from Google Ads and the actual update is quickly approaching. This update will also affect rules, custom column settings, reports, and filters that include the use of average position. The metric is being removed after Google introduced two new metrics; absolute top impression and top impression. They feel these new metrics provide a clearer view of where your ads are placing in the SERP. If you highly depend on this metric, get familiar with monitoring your average Cost per Click against the estimated first position and estimated top of page bids to see how you are competing in the auction.

Google receives trillions of searches every year, and everyone has a tendency to type out different searches that boil down to the same desired result. For advertisers, it’s tough to try and bid on every variation possible. Google opened up this strategy for Exact Match keywords last year and will soon roll out the same strategy for Phrase and Broad Match Modified. If this update brings feelings of stress for you, become familiar with your Search Term Report to closely monitor what new variations your terms are matching with and exclude irrelevant searches from the campaign.

This post was selected as one of the top digital marketing articles of the week by UpCity, a B2B ratings and review company for digital marketing agencies and other marketing service providers.