If you have a Google (R) adwords account we hope that you have logged in to it in the last several days. What you noticed is a message announcing a change to how Google will determine which ads appear above the search results. So what did they do and most importantly how will this affect you and your ads.

1. The maximum price you are willing to pay for a click will now count! - This is known as Max CPC. Prior to this change your Max CPC did not affect (directly) where you were in the placement. It related only in comparison with your competitors. So the higher you are willing to pay for a click will now add greater weight to were you are placed. You will still only pay more than the person below you and won’t necessarily pay your max. You will also never be charged more than your Max CPC.
2. Quality Score still matters the most - This is the secret Google formula. They determine a quality score for your ad. Hint though the better your CTR (Click Through Rate) the better your quality score is going to be. So even if you are willing to outspend all of your competitors if you can’t write a quality ad you still will not be placed above them.

So now you can have better control to get the top spot. Now just because you can get the top spot doesn’t always mean you should get it. Remember you have a greater likely hood to get more clicks at the top although sometimes it isn’t the quality that you would want. There are many times where spot 3-6 are 50% less or more than the top spot and generate you quality traffic and more important customers who are willing to purchase. Keep that in mind as you make changes to your Google Adwords accounts. Good luck and may you achieve your results!