Google is moving AdSense to a first-price auction

Google will be moving AdSense (AdSense for Content, Video, and Games) auction from second-price to first-price in the coming months.

Google claims that this change will make it easier for buyers to purchase your ad space sold on AdSense. There is no action for you and you will likely not see a change in your earnings.

Google is making this announcement now to help its advertiser partners prepare before they change how the AdSense auction works.

What’s happening:

In the early days of online display advertising, ad space was sold to advertisers in a second-price auction, where the final price paid by the winner was determined by the amount of the second-highest bid. Over time, many ad selling platforms in the display advertising ecosystem, including Google Ad Manager and Google AdMob, switched their auction to first-price. In a first-price auction, the final price reflects the winning bid. In the coming months, AdSense will move to a first-price auction. This will help advertisers by simplifying how they buy online ads and make it easier for them to buy your ad space sold on AdSense.

Benefits to publishers and advertisers:

By streamlining the auction model across AdSense, Ad Manager, and AdMob, Google is aligning its process with other ad selling platforms in the display advertising ecosystem. We believe this will help grow advertiser spending confidence in digital advertising and an increase in spending confidence over time will benefit publishers.

Preparing for the change

Google expects the transition to a first-price auction to be completed later this year. Publishers do not need to do anything, because these changes will update automatically.