How can you guarantee yourself the #1 spot in Google Ad Words?

How can you be the top listing on the right nav bar

[jakegotmail]

I have been using Ad Words for about 3 weeks. How does google decide how much keywords and positions cost?

When you put in maximum amount that you would spend, that could vary depending on the popularity of the keyword.

How can you guarantee yourself the first postion on the right hand nav bar? Overture is pretty simple, but I can't figure out Ad Words yet.

[garry]

Its a bit of guess work on the price.

I have tried trial & error to watch myself climb up the listings to where I wanted to be....it was only a few extra cents for me.

[bigjohnt]

Your rank is a combination of bid price AND clickthru. The real key is creating the best revenue stream for Google, as determined by the users who click or do not click on your ad.

If the description is dead on relevant to the term, and contains the term, with some compelling fluff text, you should be in. I don't see a very immense advantage of #1 versus #2 or 3 for that matter. Its all in how it is written.

[vibgyor79]

The answer is: There is no guarantee that you will get the first place in AdWords. But it is possible to get there with constant experimentation.

Your goal should be to increase the CTR of your ads. Just browse through some of the old threads in this forum and you will find some real good tips to increase CTR.

[froxfrox]

Although google does not say so, the ranking is better if the ad itself contains the searched keywords.

I.E. If you put an adword on "widgets", better put the word "widgets" in the ad too

[sem4u]

Keep experimenting with the bids, only bid on the most relevant terms and write good copy.

[vibgyor79]

Although google does not say so

It does ;)

If your keywords appear in your ad text, users will be able to immediately recognize that your ad is relevant to their search.

[adwords.google.com...]

[Schoolbag]

There's always the covert option of breaking into Google headquarters and doing a little programming on their servers... ;-)

[menagerie]

I have a question regarding keeping yourself in the number one spot. I am justing looking into this so forgive me if it is obvious. How doe the "adwords discounter" work? What keeps people from putting a bid way out there and then just paying pennies over the next lowest competitor? If you can't tell I am a newbie, I hope this question is ok.

Dave

[vibgyor79]

Dave, The working of AdWords Discounter is explained under "Will I need to set a different CPC for every keyword?" at [adwords.google.co.uk...]

The example in the second paragraph should clear all your doubts.

What keeps people from putting a bid way out there and then just paying pennies over the next lowest competitor?

That's the whole point :)
You need not pay more than what is required to stay on top of your competitor.

[menagerie]

Thank you so much for responding, it is making more sense now.