Yesterday saw the launch of a new measurement tool within the Google Display Network, Relative CTR.
Google define the new tool as “a measure of how your ads are performing on the Display Network compared to other advertisers’ ads that are appearing on the same websites“. Put simply, we now have a gauge to verify the overall CTR success of Display Network advertising. Prior to the launch of Relative CTR, advertisers benchmarked their CTR success on prior month percentages with little or no knowledge of the actual content field whereby the ad was displayed.
Now, through the launch of Relative CTR we have an indicator, similar to that of Search’s Quality Score, drawing comparison between your own ads and each competitor ads own Click Thru Rate.
Relative CTR value is obtained by dividing your CTR by the average CTR of all advertisers on the placements where your ads are shown.
To view your Display Network Relative CTR at Ad Group level select Columns > Customise Columns and tick the box as displayed below;
Taking the ‘average’ relative CTR as 1x, if your website is received twice the average CTR of your competitors the Relative CTR is displayed as 2x. Likewise, if you receive half the average CTR of your competitors, Relative CTR is displayed as .5x.
So, switching on Relative CTR this morning, should you be alarmed if you see scores of .1x? Not necessarily. As long as you’re maintaining a CPA which suits your business model based on your current average Cost Per Click, then there isn’t anything to worry about. However, a low Relative CTR is a clear indicator that your advertising simply isn’t as compelling as your competitors. You may wish, at this stage, to introduce Contextual Ad Targeting or to review your Ad Copy and Image Ads to ensure they’re up-to-date and deliver a concise compelling message to draw attention and clicks.
The introduction of Relative CTR provides the advertiser with yet another reason to re-visit their Google Adwords Display Network strategy. The continuous evolvement of the Display Network provides advertiser’s with even further opportunities to reach their target market with a detailed and precise marketing approach.
