Understanding Googles Multiple Auction System for Different Ad Locations [Video]

The PPC world was in a tizzy last week when a Google Ads change was spotted by Anthony Higman: Google running different auctions for different ad locations. 

The justification? According to Google:

“When someone searches on Google, we run different auctions for each ad location – for example, top ads are selected by a different ad auction from ads that show in other ad locations. Your ads will only show once in a single ad location, but across ad locations your ads can show more than once.”

So, what does all of this mean? In this blog, I’ll break down why only part of this makes sense to me and what takeaways advertisers need to be aware of.

What Makes Sense… and What Doesn’t

To me, the change itself makes sense at first when we think about how Google is now double-serving ads on a SERP and testing ads within the organic listings. 

What …