Since deleting a few high-click-thru, low-conversion ads a few days ago, my number of conversions has increased. It may be a fluke--I'll have to wait longer to know for sure. It occurred to me as I glanced at my stats this morning that it may not always be good to have your ad at the top of the list. Thinking as I write...

AdWords is the system that lets people place advertisements on Google's search results pages. Advertisers specify how much they're willing to pay per click. The order in which ads appear is determined by how much the advertiser is paying and the click-thru rates of the ads. A high click-thru rate can get your ad placed above an ad that pays more but gets less click-thru.

It occurs to me that if ads appearing higher on the list get clicked more often because of the position where they appear, then being higher on the list could possibly contribute to the issue I discussed last time. Appearing higher on the list could conceivably reduce an ad's profitability. People who write catchy ads may be victims of their own success. And people who pay more to get their ad placed higher may be throwing more money at less valuable clicks. You'd have to run the numbers to be sure.