The concept of hierarchies can be applied to almost everything, from levels of government and military, to lions and wolves in the wild. With all of these different applications, it’s no wonder that it can also be relevant to the world of search engine optimization. SEO is all about being the popular kid on campus. The more popular you are, the higher your rank.
Ad Ranking refers to the position of a pay-per-click ad on a search engine results page (SERP). A specific ad rank determines your ad position, which is where you ad shows on the page in relation to other ads. Ad rank is calculated by using your bid amount and quality score. The bid is the maximum amount of money you’d be willing to pay, every time somebody clicks on your ad. The quality score is established by the quality of your ads, keywords, and website. Because ad rank has both components, bids and quality score, even if your competition has higher bids than yours, you can still win a higher position at a lower price by using highly relevant keywords and ads.
Ad rank is established in real-time, which means it is constantly changing. The ad rank is recalculated each time your ad is eligible to appear, so depending on the level of competition, the ad rank can fluctuate. In short, higher your ad rank, the better your ad position.
Still lost? I’ve found an awesome video from the Learn With Google YouTube Channel. This video takes a look specifically with Google; however, ad rank is prevalent on other search engine sites as well. Take a look at the video below:
The Digital Times 