If you run responsive search ads, Google is now steering more impressions toward whichever ad in an ad group carries the higher ad strength rating. That ad has the better conversion rate only 45% of the time.

A new study by Brad Geddes , co-founder of Adalysis, analyzed more than 5,900 Google Ads accounts to answer a question PPC managers have argued about since RSAs became the default ad format. Does higher ad strength lead to better performance?

His answer is yes for some ads and no for others. The difference comes down to one setting, which is pinning.

I’ve known Brad since May 2011, when he became the PPC Faculty Chair at Market Motive while I was the faculty chair of Video and Content Marketing. And as one of the co-authors of Digital Marketing Fundamentals , which Wiley published in 2023, I asked Brad to contribute the chapter on Digital Advertising.…