Starting September 1, new bidding and ad ranking rules will take effect in Yandex.Direct. Here we will go into detail about our new auction model and answer common questions concerning these developments.
Thanks to our new ranking method, the most effective ads will now attract the most traffic.
Unlike the current auction system, where an increase in CPC is only associated with an increase in position, the new auction system increases the CPC based on the additional traffic received. The principle behind it is that the advertiser with a higher position only pays a higher price for the extra clicks that he can net when compared to the click volume he would get in the lower position.
We can take premium placement as an example of how this works. Let’s assume that 1st position gets the maximum amount of traffic possible (100%). Position 2 receives 15% less traffic than position 1 (85%), position 3 receives 10% less traffic than position 2 (75%). Every one of the three winning advertisers in Premium Placement gets 75% (or more) of the maximum possible clicks – lets call these baseline clicks. They don't need to compete with each other for this minimum amount of traffic and the price for these baseline clicks will be the same.
The fourth competitor, who didn’t make it into the Premium Position block, determines the cost for this baseline traffic. If you look at the example in the illustration, this price would be based on a bid of 2 rubles per click.
The two advertisers with the highest bids are guaranteed to receive an additional 10% of clicks (which is the difference between position 2 and 3). Their main competitor in turn would be the third advertiser at a bid rate of 5 rubles; the price for attracting that extra 10% of traffic will be set by him or her.
By the same logic, the cost to get the final 15% of traffic and move from the second to the first position is based on the bid set by the advertiser in the second position – in this example, 10 rubles.
Of course, no distinction is made between baseline and additional clicks when the system deducts money for clicks. The system just calculates the average CPC for each position based on the amount of baseline and additional clicks it receives.
1. Which impression positions do these changes apply to?
The new auction and ranking system will apply to the premium placement and guaranteed placement blocks (including mobile search), as well as on Yandex Advertising Network search sites.
A new ranking system will be used on the All Ads page, but the “second price” auction system will still be in place.
For all other impression positions (the dynamic placement block and YAN content sites), trading and ranking rules remain unchanged.
2. What changes will I see in the bid-setting interface?
Now you'll find more data to help you control your ad positions, including recommended bids for second position in premium placement and a new Click Price column. When you set bids you’ll not only see the bid that will ensure your entry into each respective position, but also how much a click there will cost.
Why not just set the price for the amount that will actually be deducted? Similar to the old auction, the new system displays ads that have the best combination of factors, i.e. bid, quality coefficient, and CTR. Setting a higher bid will improve your overall rating and your ad is more likely to be displayed in the desired position.
Also, click price is calculated differently in the new auction; click volume distribution across various positions is taken into account. Baseline clicks for all premium placement positions are charged at one price, and additional clicks for higher positions at another price. Due to this, the average CPC will differ from the one set by the advertiser.
If it’s easier for you to manage your campaigns when the set price is as close as possible to what is actually deducted, then you can choose to work with one of the automatic strategies: Average CPC or Average CPA.
3. Are there separate auctions for guaranteed placement and premium placement? Or is there one auction for both?
There are two separate auctions as before.
4. What has changed with API methods?
The new AuctionBids parameter has been added to the API that allows you to get arrays for CPC and minimum recommended bids. In versions 4 and 5, all previous methods will be backward compatible.
The Min, Max, PremiumMin, and PremiumMax phrase parameters returned by GetBanners (Live), GetBannerPhrases (Live), and GetBannerPhrasesFilter (Live) methods have not changed and will continue to help orient you when setting your bids.
You can read more about this in the API documentation. You also might find some of the materials from our meeting with representatives from the automation system useful if you happen to be fluent in Russian.
5. Will Autobroker still work?
Yes, Autobroker will continue working as before. The point of Autobroker is to save you money by deducting the minimal possible amount necessary to reach the goals you set. The new pricing mechanism doesn’t affect how Autobroker works at all.
6. Will there be changes to the Budget Forecast?
Yes. A Click Price column will be added to the forecast as well as information about the 2nd premium placement position. The forecasted budget will be calculated based on the actual click price.
7. How will Autoexpand and Additional Relevant Keywords work now? Can they have a negative impact on relevance and raise the placement price?
Additional relevant keywords and autoexpand will work as intended; bid calculations for them will always be based on the parent keyword. Neither expanded nor narrowed keywords will have a negative impact on relevance. The system will automatically disable keywords that don’t perform effectively and will not make you overpay because of them.
8. Is the click distribution over different positions the same for all advertisers regardless of the ad topic?
No, it differs slightly depending on the topic, search term and region, but this fluctuation is very small and the general principle remains the same across all of them – the higher the ad’s position within the block, the more clicks it gets. For 100% of potential clicks you need to be in the highest block position.
The typical click distribution for different positions in Yandex.Direct looks like this: premium placement position 1 — 100%, position 2 — 85%, position 3 — 75%. Guaranteed placement: position 1 — 100%, position 2 — 75%, position 3 — 65%, position 4 — 60%.
On mobile search there are fewer positions within a block, so the breakdown is 100%-77% for premium placement and 100% for guaranteed placement.
9. You started factoring in quality coefficient when determining ad positions within a block but haven’t explained how the coefficient is calculated. Does this mean that the coefficient can change in ways that the advertiser can’t really influence?
Ad quality was already one of the factors when determining what ads make it into a block. Now it will be one of the factors determining the order of ads along with CTR and bid. Additionally, we started to apply more factors that we use in our search ranking process when determining ad quality. All this allows us to re-distribute traffic in favor of advertisers who produce the best ads.
We will not unveil the exact formula used to calculate the quality coefficient, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t work to improve your ads. The main factors determining ad quality are no secret: how well does your ad text and landing page correspond to user search terms. If a user clicks on your ad and doesn’t immediately leave your site, it generally means that your ad is of good quality.
Keep in mind that Yandex.Direct uses a number of parameters – bids, CTR, and quality coefficient – to determine ad position within a block. One weak parameter can’t wreak total havoc on your overall result.
There won’t be any major changes to how quality coefficient is calculated and you won’t see any dramatic rises or falls in your indicators. A solid ad with good CTR won’t suddenly start performing poorly.
10. We know that landing page relevance is evaluated using search technology. Does this mean that an ad’s effectiveness in Yandex.Direct will affect its position within organic search results ranking?
No. The position of a site within Yandex.Direct results and its position in organic search results are not connected. Factors used to evaluate relevance in search and in Yandex.Direct are similar, but not identical. Direct uses it’s own independent relevance algorithm. However, if advertisers correctly optimize their webpages (i.e. serve content that addresses the needs of their target audience), they will be given a high quality rating both on search and in Direct results.
11. How will the relevance of my landing page be evaluated if my site is not available for search indexation? Do I need to make a separate site and optimize it in line with Yandex.Direct’s factors?
You don’t need to make a special site for Yandex.Direct. We use certain technologies and principles drawn from Search to evaluate relevance, but the set of tools is not identical. This allows us to evaluate your site independently of how the search robot would parse it.
Along with other sources of information concerning your site and how well it solves user queries, Yandex.Direct relies on data from Yandex.Metrica. Please note though, that just having a Metrica counter installed does not influence a site’s ranking either in Direct or in the organic search results.
12. Will there be any changes to the current Yandex.Direct strategies?
No changes to strategies are planned before the new auction is launched. The settings and goals of the current Yandex.Direct strategies will remain the same, but bid management will be governed by the new auction rules.
13. Will I need to make some major changes to my campaign settings on August 31 in order to make sure that nothing unforeseen happens on September 1?
No major changes need to be made. It’s better to just take a look at your statistics ahead of time, and get any necessary recommendations regarding campaign quality from your manager. After the changes to auction rules take effect, the entry price to a given position may become significantly less for quality ads with high CTR. On the other hand, it will be more difficult for ads that are currently not performing as well to make it into higher positions.
Please note that we continue to recommend advertisers separate ads for search and content platforms located within a single campaign and set separate bids for Yandex Advertising Network ads.
Please note that we recommend running separate campaigns for search and content. This allows you to have individual texts and bids for each channel.
14. What will happen to advertisers who serve ads in dynamic placement or take the so-called “one-cent traffic” approach?
Nothing will change; the mechanism for serving ads and setting bids remains the same. If you prefer to pursue a strategy of getting remaining clicks at the lowest possible price and using the cost of entry into guaranteed placement as the benchmark for your expenses, feel free to continue in this line.
Because clicks on higher position ads will get cheaper, you’ll probably find that your competing advertisers will choose to raise their bids in order to reach them. In this case you’ll need to raise your bids in proportion to theirs if you want to maintain your click numbers.
15. Will the campaign or domain history affect the CPC?
Of course it will. The concept of minimum CPC for Search is the same as before. If overall statistics for the domain being advertised or vCard phone number (for those that don’t have a website) fall below a certain performance level, then the minimum CPC on Search will increase. In order to decrease it, you’ll need to work on your campaign quality. For example, you can add certain keywords to ad texts, negative keywords, quick links, etc.