Glossary
What is position above rate in auction insights?
Melvin Salas1 min readVerified 9 October 2026
Short answer
Position above rate is a column in the auction insights report for Search campaigns only. Google says it is how often the other advertiser's ad was shown in a higher position than yours was, when both of your ads were shown at the same time. A row showing 5% means their ad showed above yours in 5 out of every 100 times your ads showed at the same time.
The count is limited to auctions where both ads showed. Our reading: that makes it the one auction insights column that measures the head-to-head alone. Overlap rate says how often the two ads met, and outranking share also counts the auctions where the other advertiser's ad didn't show.
It is not the reverse of outranking share. Google says outranking share tells you how often your ad ranked higher in the auction than another advertiser's ad, or if your ad showed when theirs didn't. Our reading: because outranking share takes in auctions the rival was absent from, a rising outranking share with a flat position above rate means the gain came from those auctions, not from your ad sitting higher when both showed.
Shopping campaigns get three statistics in the auction insights report, impression share, overlap rate and outranking share, so there is no position above rate for Shopping. The report doesn't show insights when impression share is less than 10%.
Reading these columns is daily work for us
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