Google Ads Average Position removal begins week of 30th September 2019

Earlier this year, Google announced that they would be sunsetting the Average Position metric sometime in 2019 . These are being replaced by new position metrics. Google have now finally confirmed that they start removing Average Position from Google Ads from the 30th September 2019. We expect this to be a gradual removal from advertiser accounts due to it being such a critical period going into Q4. 

What’s happening to Average Position in Google Ads?

In their latest announcement on Average Position, Google said the following:

• It will start removing the Average Position metric from Google Ads starting the week of 30th September 2019.
• As a result, this means that the following will be disabled:
  • Rules using Average Position
  • Custom Columns using Average Position
  • Saved Reports that filter Average Position
  • Saved filters with Average Position
• The Average Position metric will also be removed from:
  • Saved Columns
  • Saved Reports that use Average Position, but aren’t filtered on it
  • Scorecards that use Average Position

Basically anything that is using Average Position anywhere will either stop working or be removed from the 30th September.

What do you need to do?

Our recommendations remain the same from when this was originally announced in February. You can find these here.

Some key actions you’ll need to consider in the short term:

• Make sure that any bid position strategies you are using are fully migrated to use the appropriate equivalents i.e new share & competitive metrics like ‘Search Top Impression Rate’ and/or ‘Search Absolute Top Impression Rate’.
• If you are using Scripts with Average Position, you’ll need to revise and amend these accordingly.
• Continue to keep a keen eye on competition as you go into the Christmas period. It always hots up during this time, but the removal of Average Position might breed bad habits from reckless advertisers who can over-inflate CPCs.

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Dan Roberts

Founder & Contributor at Search Engine Hubbub

Dan has worked at some of the largest global network agencies. He was awarded Rising Star at The Drum Search Awards and Google voted him as one of the Top 20 Search Specialists in the UK. He founded Search Engine Hubbub (formerly PPC hubbub) after becoming frustrated with the lack of actionable insight from industry blogs.

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