4 ms·

Why would you want to see results ranked by advertiser's ability to pay rather than a neutral metric of relevance?

by chromoblob 3y ago

xyzelement 3y ago
One argument would be - my WILLINGNESS to pay for an ad is driven by my assumption of its relevance to you.
- chromoblob 3y ago
  It can also be driven by level of my wealth, so a business A might be willing to pay more for an ad for its product than business B despite less assumed relevance, then ranking would not reflect assumed relevance.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    if the probability of a click is zero, you won't be shown no matter how much you bid. p(click) is an estimate, of course, but you'd reasonably expect that Google has gotten pretty good at that.
AlbertCory 3y ago
This shouldn't surprise you: Google ranks them by the money IT stands to make, which includes the probability you'll click on it. Relevance presumably increases p(click). "advertiser's ability to pay" has no bearing on things. If the advertiser does not pass credit checks, it doesn't even enter the auction.
- chromoblob 3y ago
  It could work only if advertiser pays per click instead of per show. Is pay-per-click the only option in Google? There also is clickbait.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    (With the caveat that I've been out for a while, so things could have changed) Search Ads are pay-per-click (or conversion now? Not sure) All others are pay-per-impression. conversions are what the advertiser really cares about, but they're hard for Google to be sure about. And what if you see the ad today but buy it next week in the store?
exodust 3y ago
> neutral metric of relevance Organic search? Corrupted by SEO, so not neutral. The advertiser's ability or willingness to pay, is at least something of relevance? It reveals at least someone has the product you want, and possibly a deal.
- chromoblob 3y ago
  Why do you think that organic search is so more corrupted by SEO than ability to pay is relevant, that neutral ranking is noticeably more relevant than ad ranking?
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    there's a ML model that ranks ads relative to a query. Contractors get paid to provide the "ground truth." You can read about how it was in 2008-10 here: https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-ads https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-ads Undoubtedly it's different now.

Why would you want to see results ranked by advertiser's ability to pay rather than a neutral metric of relevance?

xyzelement 3y ago

One argument would be - my WILLINGNESS to pay for an ad is driven by my assumption of its relevance to you.

chromoblob 3y ago
It can also be driven by level of my wealth, so a business A might be willing to pay more for an ad for its product than business B despite less assumed relevance, then ranking would not reflect assumed relevance.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  if the probability of a click is zero, you won't be shown no matter how much you bid. p(click) is an estimate, of course, but you'd reasonably expect that Google has gotten pretty good at that.

AlbertCory 3y ago

This shouldn't surprise you: Google ranks them by the money IT stands to make, which includes the probability you'll click on it. Relevance presumably increases p(click). "advertiser's ability to pay" has no bearing on things. If the advertiser does not pass credit checks, it doesn't even enter the auction.

chromoblob 3y ago
It could work only if advertiser pays per click instead of per show. Is pay-per-click the only option in Google? There also is clickbait.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  (With the caveat that I've been out for a while, so things could have changed) Search Ads are pay-per-click (or conversion now? Not sure) All others are pay-per-impression. conversions are what the advertiser really cares about, but they're hard for Google to be sure about. And what if you see the ad today but buy it next week in the store?

exodust 3y ago

> neutral metric of relevance Organic search? Corrupted by SEO, so not neutral. The advertiser's ability or willingness to pay, is at least something of relevance? It reveals at least someone has the product you want, and possibly a deal.

chromoblob 3y ago
Why do you think that organic search is so more corrupted by SEO than ability to pay is relevant, that neutral ranking is noticeably more relevant than ad ranking?
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  there's a ML model that ranks ads relative to a query. Contractors get paid to provide the "ground truth." You can read about how it was in 2008-10 here: https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-ads https://albertcory50.substack.com/p/working-at-google-ads Undoubtedly it's different now.