• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 14, 2011

Supporting real-time and auction-based online ad bidding, Google released a set of tools -- the performance pack -- which enables advertisers to gain meaningful metrics on their ad campaigns across sites in the Google Display Network. Relative CTR, impression share, the Content Ads diagnostic tool, and the Unseen Impressions filter are the first in a series the company plans to develop in an effort to support advertisers.

Relative CTR, for example, will give advertisers insight into how their ads perform relative to other companies running ads in the same unit across the Google Display Network. "It lets advertisers see what's clicking for users," said Brad Bender, director of product management at Google. "They can see the relative performance of ads running in the same slot."

According to Google, if display ads have a CTR of 0.04%, while other ads in the same places on the Google Display Network have a CTR of 0.02%, the Relative CTR is (0.04)/(0.02) = 2x. Advertisers can find the tool in AdWords under the Ad Groups tab.

And if performance is low, Google offers a variety of free tools to improve click-through rates and conversions.

Since in an auction model advertisers compete for the same ad slot, impression share can help advertisers boost the percentage of auctions won by providing the success rate. It also helps determine whether the advertiser lost the bid across the Google Display Network based on their budget or ad rank.

While the Lost IS budget metric tells advertisers about lost impressions due to budget, the Lost IS rank identifies lost impressions due to Ad Rank. For example, advertisers may see 20% lost impression share due to budget restrictions -- or that 30% of lost impression share resulted from Ad Rank, which means the advertiser needs to raise the bid or improve the creative pieces. Advertisers can benchmark performance to make informed decisions about whether they want to change their ad or their bid, if they want their ad to appear more frequently.

The Content Ads diagnostic tool tells advertisers where ads run and looks at specific placements. It also tells them what ads don't run and why. The tool will become available to some advertisers in June, but the full rollout will not occur until July. It gives advertisers an easy method to verify where and when the ads run.

The Unseen Impressions filter ensures that CPM advertisers are not charged when a user doesn't scroll far enough down the page to actually see ads. The platform charges advertisers for ads where Google predicts there is a high likelihood that users will scroll down below the fold. The predictions are based on Google's ability to look at all pages where ads serve up.

Google's technology builds a statistical model. If 99% of the people visiting a specific page don't scroll down to the bottom eighth of the page, the Unseen Impressions filter can help to prevent serving an ad in that slot. Direct-response advertisers paying on a cost-per-click basis might not mind if their ad shows in the bottom eighth, because even if only 1% of users scroll down, they only pay when someone clicks.

For example, brand advertisers that want to run across a set of travel sites can use the Unseen Impressions filter tool to pay only for impressions that Google predicts have a high likelihood site visitors will see. "These advertisers probably pay on a cost-impression basis CPM, so a tool like this really benefits advertisers," Bender said. "This enables the advertisers to only pay for ads that are served and viewed, eliminating wasted spend."