CTR used for Bid Landscape estimates

[Leon Lei]

Question regarding the estimates returned when fetching Ad Group Criterion Bid Landscapes (Keywords):

• How is the CTR for each bid landscape point generated? 
• Assumption here is that an estimated CTR is used to ultimately determine estimated Clicks from estimated Impressions
• I can see the CTR varies for each bid landscape point of a specific keyword, generally increasing as the bid moves up.
• Is the CTR for each landscape point generated using only performance data from the startDate and endDate (likely around most recent 7 days or less)
• My concern here is that most recent 7 days may not represent a "normal" marketplace, especially if the Bid Landscapes are fetched following a client's promotional campaign that would expect higher than average CTR
• There still doesn't appear to be way to pass in specific date ranges to fetch Landscape data from
• Is Average Position part of the inputs to generate the CTR at each bid?
  
• Idea here being each landscape point/bid would affect the position of the ad on the SERP when the keyword is searched, and thus experiencing different CTR values
  

Although my questions are specific towards Ad Group Criterion Bid Landscapes, the same assumptions and concepts are expressed in the Campaign Criterion Bid Landscape through bidModifier and the estimated Impressions and Clicks at each level.

Leon

[Bharani Cherukuri (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Leon, 

The Bid Landscape in the API is analogous to the Bid Simulator in the UI. The CTR is a ratio of how often people who see your ad end up clicking it. CTR is the number of clicks that your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown. The Estimated CTR value may or may not be determined based on the estimated clicks and impressions. This said, the estimated CTR is currently not available in the UI or the API. Pulling the estimated clicks and impressions are projections which may vary. Could you please elaborate on how you're analyzing the bid landscape point of a specific keyword and their increasing trends? Additionally, could you share details on how you're pulling the performance data for each landscape point to observe the CTR?

To address your second concern, it is more of a product level question. Could you please post your concern on the Advertisers community forum so the product experts can take a look and assist you further.

Thanks,

Bharani, AdWords API Team 

[Leon Lei]

Bharani,

Your statement "The Estimated CTR value may or may not be determined based on the estimated clicks and impressions"  feels like the chicken-egg scenario. Aren't Estimated Clicks generated from Estimated CTR? If not, what inputs are being used to generate the clicks?

As to your second question "Additionally, could you share details on how you're pulling the performance data for each landscape point to observe the CTR?", I'm calculating CTR with just the data returned for each bid landscape point, and not the actual performance data of the keyword. I attached an image of 2 keywords and their bid landscape points (fetched today 2018-06-21), where estCTR is a value I'm calculating by estClicks / estImpr. Each bid landscape point has a different estCTR, which sparked my initial curiosity about how these values were generated and whether Avg Position was a possible input to explain the different CTRs.

I will follow up on the Advertisers community forum to ask about Positioning and CTR as well.

[Bharani Cherukuri (AdWords API Team)]

Hello Leon, 

To explain this further, you're right that CTR can be calculated based on clicks and impressions. However, estimated CTR cannot be predicted based on Estimated clicks and impressions. This is more of a product level question on how the Estimated CTR would be generated and how this affects the Bid landscape points. Please check this article on how the CTR can be calculated, which might be helpful. The AdWords API Team will be able to address concerns specific to API on this forum. Can you please followup on Advertisers Community forum for more information on Estimated Clicks?

[Leon Lei]

Bharani,

I've posted my question onto the Advertisers Community forum.

Thanks for your inputs.

Requesting to close this thread.