Sponsored link appearing as a horizontal banner - why and how?

[Yokozuna]

We have a campaign on Google Adwords, and for some of our terms, the sponsored link appears above the normal Google results as a horizontal banner.

It used to be that you could pay more, and have your sponsored link appear as a banner like this, rather than as a box on the right-hand side of the page.

We haven't done anything, and now for a handful of search terms, we are getting the banner link.

I've had a look, but can't find an explanation on Google. Does anyone else have an explanation or experience of this?

Not complaining of course, just wondering how we can get our other terms to do the same :)

Cheers,

Daniel

[glengara]

Came across this on another thread which, of course, I can't now find.
Seems it's a temporary bonus from G, on less competitive categories; make the most of it, but don't expect it to last.

[Yokozuna]

It's been like that for about several weeks now (possibly a month), and we are certainly not complaining.

Like you said though, we don't expect it to last forever - all good things will come to an end.

[shabir]

glengara has pointed it out right :it's just a temporary bonus from Google, on less competitive categories

The horizontal adv you see on the top are called "Sponsored Adv" and cost upward 5000$ Per Month !!!!!!!!! It really is a BONUS for U.....:)

[glengara]

Has it made much difference to CTR/sales Yokozuna?

[Yokozuna]

Interesting question, and one that I'm looking into.

We are struggling with the search term in Google due several reasons and we hope to have that resolved soon.

Here are the figures for one of the terms for last month:


Clicks
252

Impr.
5451

CTR
4.6%

Avg. CPC (USD)
$0.10

Cost (USD)
$24.01

Avg. Pos
1.2


Compared to 3 months ago (when it was definitely a standard sponsored link)


Clicks
197

Impr.
5147

CTR
3.8%

Avg. CPC (USD)
$0.10

Cost (USD)
$18.92

Avg. Pos
1.2


Slightly better figures, but not exactly a scientific study, but I suppose we've benefitted from the 'enhanced ad'.

I will look at some of the other terms and see how they have been affected.

[Yokozuna]

However, for another search term (same months) the results are the other way round, with a better click-through-rate for the standard ad. Maybe this can be put down to more competition for the search term, or the direction of the wind, or the phase of the moon.....

Here are the figures for comparison anyway:

Clicks
Aug 192
Oct 367

Impr.
Aug 2580
Oct 5665

CTR
Aug 7.4%
Oct 6.4%

Avg. CPC (USD)
Aug $0.42
Oct $0.48

Cost (USD)
Aug $79.89
Oct $174.81

Avg. Pos
Aug 1.2
Oct 1.6


:(