Google Ads ad rank is determined by a real-time auction where your bid amount is combined with the Quality Score of your ads, keywords, and landing pages to predict performance. As of early 2026, Google prioritises ads most likely to deliver a positive user experience and conversion, meaning a high ad rank isn’t just about spending more.
- Quality Score Enhancements: Current systems include a greater emphasis on landing page experience, now featuring automated analysis of page speed, mobile-friendliness, and content relevance.
- Auction-Time Bidding: Google’s AI now features more sophisticated auction-time bidding strategies, dynamically adjusting bids based on user signals and predicted conversion value.
- Ad Strength Signals: Google actively rewards ads utilising all available extensions (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets) and responsive search ad formats, boosting relevance scores.
- Privacy-Safe Measurement: With evolving privacy regulations in Australia, Google is increasingly relying on aggregated, privacy-safe data for performance prediction, impacting rank calculations.
In 2026, Australian businesses need to be particularly mindful of compliance with the Online Safety Act and data privacy laws when optimising landing pages. Ensuring clear and concise disclosures, and respecting user consent for data collection, directly impacts landing page experience and, therefore, ad rank. Competition for key terms is also increasing, making a strategic approach even more vital.
Instead of navigating these complex technical requirements and constantly adapting to Google’s evolving algorithms, let our team at ROI.com.au handle the intricacies of ad rank optimisation for you. Contact us today and we can take care of all this for you.
