If you’re a go-getter like Ricky Bobby, you are probably wondering what you can do to show up more often in the first position (absolute top of page). Heck, you might even want to own the absolute top of page 100% of the time. Maybe you just want to be in the absolute top of page position more often.
This article will show you how to improve your absolute top of page rate with some very basic steps that you can implement in a matter of minutes.
What is the Absolute Top of Page Rate?
For those of you that don’t know, the absolute top of page rate is how often your ads show up in the 1st position for a keyword relative to the total number of impressions your ad could show up for.
Years ago, this was called the 1st position and you could see what your average position was for any keyword in your account. Over the past few years, Google has updated this metric into two segments called search top impression rate & absolute top impression rate.
The search top impression rate is how often your ads show up in the top section of the search results above the organic search results. Google calculates this with the following formula:
Search top impression share = Impression in the top of page/Impressions
This is important because most users see the first few ads which means you usually don’t want to show up in the section of ads below the top of the page.
As you may have guessed, the absolute top impression rate is how often you show up in the first position. Google calculates this with the following formula:
Search absolute top impression share = Impression in the absolute top of page/Impressions
How often you show up in the top of page or abs. top of page boils down to three things.
- What your current impression share is for the top of page and abs. top of page.
- How often your ad doesn’t show because of a loss in ad rank.
- How often your ad doesn’t show because you need a bigger budget for your campaign.
Tips to Increase Your Abs. Top of Page Rate
Assuming you’ve implemented the basics to improve your campaign, we have tips to help you increase your abs. top of page rate.
- Use Impression Share bidding – this is probably the easiest way to increase your abs. top of page rate and if you only get one takeaway it should be this….using Impression Share bidding while increasing your targeted abs. top of page rate allows you to increase your abs. top of page rate overtime as long as your campaign has enough budget and sufficient ad rank for the keywords within that campaign.
- There are limitations to this bid strategy as you might imagine. You can’t just ask Google to give you the top position 100% of the time – otherwise everyone would be doing that.
- As you use this bid strategy, you should try to optimize your campaign to make sure the keywords you’re selecting mirror the intent of your ad copy/landing page as much as possible.
- You should also have a sufficient bid & budget for your campaign. Besides selecting the impression share bidding, you should consider how high you’re willing to let your CPC bid get to. This can be good if you have a larger budget or it’s a keyword that you know will generate an excellent margin for your business, though you should know what your limitations are so you don’t overspend or get underwhelming results.
- Select Fewer Keywords – at least to start, it’s easier to select a few keywords you want to improve your abs. top of page rate on then work on your ad copy, bidding, and campaign settings to improve. It may take more time, but we have found more success increasing the abs. top of page ranking with a few keywords at a time vs a ton of different terms all at once. On top of that, you should select exact match terms to make sure you control which search queries you show up for to improve your ad rank. If your campaign has keywords with a poor ad rank to begin with, consider restarting your campaign.
- Select Keywords That Have Smaller Search Volume with Highly Relevant Intent vs Your Offering – if you pick keywords that have a larger search volume (+10k) that are harder to relate to (ex. “ jackets for sale”), you will have a much harder time of ranking in the top position more often. We recommend our clients select keywords that relate to what they offer and ideally what differentiates them from everyone else. Furthermore, if there are fewer searchers with less competition, you will find that it is easier to get your ad in the abs. top position. Here are some additional targeting considerations that could help you improve your abs. top of page rate:
- Consider what locations you’re bidding for – if you have a higher conversion rate or CTR in a specific region, then bidding for that region can likely help you improve your ad ranking to then improve your abs. top of page rate.
- Consider dayparting your campaign – either you can improve your rating by bidding for off hours or shift more budget to the most important times of day. Either way, considering your dayparting can help improve your abs. top of page rate.
- Testing different ad copy can help you improve your rating to see what resonates more with people to improve your CTR/Conv Rate which can help improve your ad ranking.
- Consider the financial value of ranking in the abs vs top of page – there are times where ranking in the 1st spot is good for business. You can still get clicks in the 2nd and 3rd position while saving more on your budget AND achieving your marketing goals. Having a balanced approach between showing up in the very first position and cost efficiencies can help you get the most out of your marketing budget. Sometimes it’s a great idea to be in the first position more often, though unless you have the budget for such a branding exercise, it can be better to show up in the 2nd or 3rd position.
Getting into the very first position can be a very daunting task at first, but with the right account manager, you should be able to show up more often in the abs. top of page.
Final Thoughts
If you need help getting your ads into the very first position, then you should book a free consultation with us today. We would be happy to help!
