Getting into the top 3 sponsored results

So what is the trick for getting your ad to show up in the top 3 positions? Simple, you bid the maximum cpc and if you have a decent ctr you will appear.

If only it was as easy as that.

While google will not say implicitly what the requirements for getting in the top 3 positions they say more or less what requirements your ad has to fulfill.

1. Your must be bidding above a certain undisclosed minimum cpc i.e. if you are bidding at 10p you will not make it into the top three.

2. Your adtext must be relevant to the triggering keyword. So If you were to use dynamic keyword insertion in the ad title and again in the body this would make the ad text relevant.

3. Your adgroups CTR.

4. Your overall quality score which takes a number of factors into account, including your conversion rate.