Bids and prices

Ads are selected for impressions based on an auction. When setting up ads, the advertisers make bids. An ad is displayed if the bid is higher than competing bids and also higher than the minimum price set by Yandex Direct.

Bid

A bid is the highest amount an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on an ad, i.e. for the consumer transferring to the website or for displaying contact information. Bids are set only when using manual strategies.

A bid is set for each keyword. Since the keyword determines the target audience, we may say that the bid represents the advertiser's agreement to pay the specified price for a click by a representative of the corresponding audience.

Note.

Starting from the Live 4 version, you can set hourly rates for increasing or decreasing prices in the impressions schedule. This saves money by automatically lowering the user's bids during the corresponding times. Set these coefficients in the schedule parameter BidCoefs.

Minimal price

The minimal price is the lowest bid that allows an ad to be displayed on Yandex search. Yandex Direct assigns the minimal price and specifies it in the MinPrice keyword parameter (GetBanners method). The minimal price is the same for all the keywords for an ad group, since it only depends on the advertiser.

The advertiser is determined by the link in the ad (Href parameter) or the phone number (Phone parameter). Possible redirects to other domains are also taken into account. The final domain is automatically shown in the ad parameter Domain.

Blocks and display positions

Yandex search has several areas for displaying ads.

  • The Premium Placement block is the most effective in terms of number of clicks — it is displayed above search results and contains up to three ads.
  • The Guaranteed Placement block is below the search results and contains up to four ads.
  • Rotation positions are on the second and following pages of search results.

Direct sets prices for each keyword for displaying in different positions (the names in the API are given in parentheses).

  • Price for the top position in Premium Placement (PremiumMax).
  • Price for getting into Premium Placement (PremiumMax).
  • Price for the top position in Guaranteed Placement (Max).
  • Price for getting into Guaranteed Placement (Min).

These prices are contained in the keyword parameters PremiumMax, PremiumMin, Max, and Min, and are current at the time of the GetBanners method call. Prices are calculated based on competitor bids with consideration for the ad's clickability (CTR) in the selected position, and other factors.

The rotation positions show up to four ads with bids that are not sufficient for displaying on the first page (bids less than Min). Ads are selected at random, which gives all the ads a chance to be shown in the rotation position. The probability of being selected and, as a result, the frequency of impressions increase when the bid is increased.

Position prices serve as a guideline for bid selection. A bid at a particular position price level secures impressions in this position for most of the ads in an ad group. However, the position prices change dynamically, and if the price goes up, an ad may be moved to a lower position.

The campaign parameter ConsiderTimeTarget (CreateOrUpdateCampaign method) is useful for excluding bids in competitor ads that are stopped by the impression schedule. This makes position prices more reliable, and bid selection can be more precise. However, this can cause position prices to vary greatly over the course of a day because of competitor ads with high bids being turned on and off. You may need to adjust your own bids more frequently.

Cost Per Click

Direct charges advertisers for clicks on ads. The bid set by the advertiser is automatically reduced by Autobroker to the minimum amount necessary in order to display the ad in the same position. The anticipated CPC after being lowered by Autobroker is shown in the CurrentOnSearch keyword parameter (GetBanners method). The price is current at the time when the method is called. The actual CPC might be different.

Attention.

It is not a good idea to inflate bids with the assumption that Autobroker will guarantee a lower CPC. A high bid might prompt competitors to raise their bids to the same level, which will bring the CPC up to the bid amount.