can you estimate CPC on overture before signup

how to get estimates of cost for keywords before campaign

[dorjesempa]

Hi, I've asked a similar question on the AdWords board, after also failing to find an answer searching the archives.

Is it possible to answer my boss's question - 'give me an estimate of what position #1, say, for this keyword, will cost me on Overture, *before* I sign up to it and start spending money? He wants some sort of ballpark figure, and I can't seem to find a way to find one.

Basically, he wants to choose between Overture and Google on the basis of these ballpark figures, in part.

my apologies in advance if the answer was in the archive, somewhere ....

dorjesempa

[pageoneresults]

That's a tough question to answer. I tell my clients that we really cannot determine actual spend until we've got a campaign in place and running.

There would be too much guessing on your part to effectively tell the boss how much he will be spending. What you can do is use Overture's Bid Tool [uv.bidtool.overture.com] and see what those terms are currently bidding at. Then look at the number of searches performed for the prior month. Take that total number and guess a CTR (Click Thru Rate). I usually go on the high side of 25-35%.

For example, if the term was searched 6,000 times last month and the current bid amount is $1.00 per click, then the spend will be approximately $1,500 to $2,100 based on a 25-35% CTR.

P.S. Make sure to use the Bid Tool during prime selling hours. If you check in off peak times, the bids may not be where they are normally during peak times. For example, the bid may be $.50 during off peak times and it could be $2.00 during peak times. That could really distort your estimated spend. ;)

[dorjesempa]

Hi pageoneresults - many thanks for your informative reply - and pointing me to the Overture Bid Tool - that's a great help.

Please forgive me, but there were a number of things which I didn't understand from your reply - can I get you to clarify for me please?

Where do I find out how many times a particular search term was searched on, so as to apply your calculation?

When I use the bid tool, the results give figures from $4.60 downwards. Does that mean that I'd have to bid at least that figure in order to secure first place, theoretically?

When I search on google.com for the same keyword phrase, the list of sponsored links that come back do not match the list of bids in Bid Tool. Shouldn't they match up? In fact, they are more inclined to .co.uk results. Is Google.com somehow checking my IP address (I'm in the UK), and somehow tailoring these results, or have I misunderstood the relation between the bids in bids tool, and the actual sponsored links on Google?

many thanks indeed for your help, and tolerance of what are probably basic questions. I'm struggling with multiple job scopes and lack of knowledge at present!

dorjesempa

[webdiversity]

Just as a footnote to the excellent advice of pageoneresults, bear in mind that the data is 6000 searches, so although the CTR might be 25% it will be 25% of the clicks and not the searches, the assumption we work on is bidding #1 will get us around 10% of the searches, but that would equate to around 20% CTR as we assume a 50% search/click ratio, although in some sectors the ratio will be a lot lower/higher, so your mileage will vary.

Terrific point on the prime time bidding.

[shorebreak]

webdiversity, question for you - why is it relevant to state CTR's in relation to search result pages that get clicked on, vs. just saying CTR in relation to searches/month?

Not sure I understand the nuance.

Thanks!

-shorebreak

[webdiversity]

Every keyword will have a bunch of searches made where a click is never likely to occur (i.e. someone like us goes to check to see who is bidding, but don't click). It counts as a search, but isn't relevant to the overall results.

To be honest it doesn't matter too much on the metrics as long as you know the one's relating to you. I guess overall CTR should be the same eh?

I was just pointing out the fact there will be some search activity where the focus is not to buy/subscribe but merely to check positions, and to allow for that in your sums.

[pageoneresults]

webdiversity brings up a good point about the total number of searches not equating to the actual click thrus. We typically look at Wordtracker data in addition to the Overture data and then make assumptions from there. In each case we've always been over on our estimates as we feel it is always better to overbid than underbid a project. Plus, it leaves money on the table to provide additional marketing strategies.