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[Steve Rodgers Contribution Level: 3]

Last week I was ranking on the first page of Google for a a certain keyword. I was only paying half of the minimum first page bid to be there with an ad that was converting at 6.66%

The next day I had found that I was bumped to the second page and that the minimum first page bid had almost doubled!

Now my add is getting far less impressions and my CTR for the ad group is suffering for it.

At the current suggested 1st page bid, the math no longer ads up for me to try to rank on the first page. There is really no way I can make a profit with the current first page Cost- per -click.

What this is telling me is that I am competing with people that simply have a bigger advertising budget than myself. However From the launch of the campaign 3 weeks ago, I was able to get my CTR from 1.67% to 6.66% .

I stinks to think I was doing everything right, but now have to back off due to lack of budget.

Anyone have suggestions on this particular situation? I'd hate to have to leave that segment of the market.

I'd also like to point out that my landing page was converting at 5% until this all happened.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-Steve

[Kurt Henninger Company: Shaklee Corporation Contribution Level: 5]

Just to clarify, what was converting at 6.66%? Your CTR for the ad? Or was converting to sales like that? I'd take 6.6% conversion to sales for keyword

What has happened to me in the past is that you might initially be on page one, while bidding below the first page bid, but eventually your quality score will catch up to you and you'll be pushed back to page 2.
Looks like this is the same thing that is happening to you.

Without knowing how you have your marketing funnel set-up its a hard question to answer. How much do you make per visitor for that keyword? Or how much per lead for that keyword?

Try making the landing page more keyword focused l.....by increasing your conversion on your landing page, you will automatically be able to afford more expensive clicks as your cost of acquiring a lead goes down.

If it was a particularly critical keyword (i.e. it makes 50% of your profits or leads), you might try bidding high enough on page 1 to get in positions 1 or 2. Try focusing and re-writing your ads so that you will get a higher CTR than before. You will get a lot of curiosity clicks this way, increase your CTR....therefore decreasing your average CPC.

While you will initially lose some $$ with that keyword, you can eventually get your average CPC back down to where its cost effective for you. It really depends on your metrics for that keyword.

Those are just two techniques to get your CPC back down.

Its really a judgment call on your part as to how important that keyword is to your campaign.

If it is, keep working it, if not, just get rid of it and move on There are oodles of keywords to choose from.


Hope that helps.

[Andrew Peel Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 3]

You may want to consider positions 1 - 8 as ok it's only really positions 1 - 3 on the organic left hand site that are premium. A survey was done showing how people's eye's scan a Google search page and 1 - 8 was perfectly ok. I have found if you get into a bidding war you will only drive up the price if you want positions 1 - 2 unless you have excellent relevancy between you landing page and ad. Bearing in mind Googles new focus on content in the organic search you may be on a loosing battle there as well.

[Steve Rodgers Contribution Level: 3]

To clear that up for you Kurt, the add had a 6.66% CTR. The landing page was converting optins at 5%

My Quality score had been great.

I understand what you are saying about the initial bid being too low and the scores catching up to me, however that wasn't the case.

Everyday I split tested an ad variation, with each new ad out performing the old one until that ad had the 6.66% CTR. My landing page is extremely relevant to the search term

I'd like to point out that I don't get a ton of traffic or that keyword, however the ad group is very focused as far as keywords and relevance to the search term. The fact that my ad kept improving only leads me to believe that the other advertisers are simply just bidding higher than me to be on the first page.
I mean 6.66% isn't exaclty a slouch of an ad.

I've also noticed that my competitors are not targeting the keyword as focused as I am, nor are they split-testing as often. This is why I find this to be so confusing.

It almost seems like what I've heard about Google rewarding you for relevancy isn't adding up. I finding that the more relevant I get the less I'm being rewarded.

I also want to point out that the 1st page bid had doubled once and I raised my bid. After doing so is when I started to get the 6.66% CTR for the ad. The next day the bid price doubled again. And that's when my ctr and impressions started to suffer. At this rate, my CPC will be around $4 per click and that just doesn't add up when it comes to making a profit.

I'm wondering if I should just pause the ad for awhile until some of the advertisers drop out.

-Steve

[Andrew Peel Company: Magnetic Sponsoring Contribution Level: 3]

Ok get ready for this one because it will either interest you or put you to sleep. You may be suffering from Google's Latent Semantic Indexing. There is a free audio that explains this far better than I can write it hear but what it essentially means is that what people used to think is relevant is no longer relevant.

http://www.mffaudios.com/ look for the 3rd or 4th recording down called Latent Semantic Indexing and have a listen it will blow your mind it did mine.

[Marty Baker Contribution Level: 5]

Just increase your bid to get on the 1st page dont worry about being number1, thats not always the best place to be anyway. If your quality score is as good as you say it won't be long before your ads are placed ahead of the others because of your score and your CTR% do not get into a war just out smart them... Best of luck...

[Steve Rodgers Contribution Level: 3]

Yeah I've heard that Latent Semantic Indexing call before. Great stuff.

Marty,

So if I understand you correctly, you're suggesting up-ing the bid just to be on the first page and rely on my Quality Score and performance history to keep me there at a lower cost?

[Marty Baker Contribution Level: 5]

Steve,

It has been my experience, that you will get rewarded by google for the score and the CTR rate and the longevity of the campaign, its not always about who is bidding the most. I will also ad this you really dont want to be at position 1 on the right side of google you may get more clicks but fewer conversions to leads, positions 4-7 will get you fewer clicks but more people will be converted to leads. This one is tricky to master.

Position 1 will get lots of tire kickers so to speak... If they keep going down the line, probable more serious. What do you think?

[Steve Rodgers Contribution Level: 3]

Hey Marty, thanks.

With this campaign being so new, I wasn't sure if it was just going to turn into a major bidding war or if I should just stay the course by up-ing my bid to stay on the first page and trust in my testing to do the rest as far as cost goes.

Thanks for helping to clear that up a bit.

-Steve

[Marty Baker Contribution Level: 5]

Hey freeMoney,
You are so right the big Money is on the backend, but that is a different Topic...But it all ties together...