Average position is a reasonably useful indicator within your AdWords account. So how is average position calculated for ads on Google’s Display (content) Network?

Ads aren’t always displayed vertically, so what do the numbers actually mean?

We contacted Google’s support for clarification, and their answer was a little surprising:

“Thank you for your patience in awaiting this email.  I understand you have a question regarding the metric average position on the Display Network. Average position is not used for the Display Network.  When looking at campaigns or statistics for the Display Network, you do not even need to look at that column.  If you want to measure performance or see how you are doing on the Display Network, you should focus on other metrics such as CTR, conversions, average cost, ROI, etc.”

Read that again:

“Average position is not used for the Display Network.  When looking at campaigns or statistics for the Display Network, you do not even need to look at that column.”

“You do not even need to look at that column“?

If there no average position for the display network, why is the figure displayed?

Surely Google have the technical know-how to turn off a column according to its context.

If I was cynical, I might wonder whether the figures were there to encourage raising bids. Luckily for Google, I’m not cynical.