I dipped my toes to google ads the first time a few months ago. I am definitely not sure I understood it correctly, but I gave up very quickly as I got following impression[1]:
1. Google seems to define what are "relevant ads" for a given search term and if they are not deemed relevant, you are pretty much out of luck.
2. Google defines a minimum price for the auction, and won't show your ads below that even if there are no other ads shown
3. Google very aggressively pushes for me letting them define my bids for the ads. Like... What? Who and why in their right minds would let them do that? Like me going to buy a phone and the sales clerk told me that okay, give me your wallet, I'll tell you afterwards what you want to buy and how much you want to pay for it.
[1]Also I admit, online ads were not that important for the business case, it was more curiosity than real need
Google only wants to show ads that people will want to click on and are relevant, or they are wasting their own revenue by wasting the display slot.
And one (but definitely not the most important one per your point #1) is how much someone is willing to pay for the slot.
If you’re paying $100/click, but no one ever clicks on it because it isn’t relevant (like trying to sell real estate to someone trying to find used computer parts or whatever), they’ll still not show the ad.
> 2. Google defines a minimum price for the auction, and won't show your ads below that even if there are no other ads shown
This is the most frustrating one for me. It’s like if eBay enforced a minimum bid and wouldn’t list items.
It’s not a true auction because of these minimum prices. It just doesn’t seem fair and transparent.
Of course, it’s Google’s site so they can choose what they like. Unless they start breaking laws.
For now, it’s just the annoyance of them not using “digital principles” by sticking to real world rules that they can make more money by adding friction rather than having an automated auction.
1. Google seems to define what are "relevant ads" for a given search term and if they are not deemed relevant, you are pretty much out of luck.
2. Google defines a minimum price for the auction, and won't show your ads below that even if there are no other ads shown
3. Google very aggressively pushes for me letting them define my bids for the ads. Like... What? Who and why in their right minds would let them do that? Like me going to buy a phone and the sales clerk told me that okay, give me your wallet, I'll tell you afterwards what you want to buy and how much you want to pay for it.
[1]Also I admit, online ads were not that important for the business case, it was more curiosity than real need