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Google's advertisers should be a little happier with the ability to compete for top placement in AdWords, thanks to a tweak to the formula for calculating who grabs the top spot.

AdWords Formula Fixed For Top Spot

The top ad placement formula will weigh the Quality Score of an ad more heavily when compared to the maximum CPC offered by an advertiser, Google confirmed on its Inside AdWords blog.

Advertisers had long grumbled about the difficulty in getting a higher quality ad past a low quality, higher bidding one, in paid search placement. Google discussed more details about the change:

Beginning today, the actual CPC you pay for an ad in a top spot will continue to be determined by the auction, but subject to a minimum price. The minimum price is based on the quality of your ad and is the minimum amount required for your ad to achieve top placement above Google search results. As always, your actual CPC will be discounted and the higher your ad’s quality, the less you will pay.

Since announcing this improvement to the top ad placement formula, we've received lots of questions from advertisers who are curious about how their accounts may be affected. Advertisers with ads in or near a top spot may begin to see a change in the average number of clicks these ads receive, and also in their CPCs.

Google recommended a couple of suggestions for advertisers considering adjustments now that the update has been implemented. Those clients should look at their campaigns for maximum CPCs that may be more than they realistically want to pay.

Also, every bit of optimization helps to tamp down costs. Google continues to offer a free campaign optimization for its AdWords clients.