Prior to recent bidding system change I had a bid of $0.05 that was sufficient for the first page placement and 0.5% CTR. Now the keyword has become inactive and the minimum bid to activate it is $5.00! I am not sure Google can find an idiot who will bid $5.00 on this keyword. It is hardly profitable even at CPC of hundred times less than that.
Why are they doing this? Isn't it better for Google to take my 5 cents per click rather than have no ads at all for this keyword? Am I missing something here?
Another observation is that some of inactive keywords with ridiculously high min CPC are still showing and generating clicks at $0.05 CPC. May be the system has not come yet to steady state ...
Regards,
arikgub
They do this because they want the adds to be relevant to the search.
In your case, probably you don't have mentioned that keyword in your add.
What does it mean adds to be relevant to the search?
Let's imagine that the visitor type for example "New York hotels" in Google search box. If you bid on that keyword, you should be sure that New York hotels is mentioned in your add.
So if you mention your keyword in your add the keyword will become active, and my guess is that your minimum bid price will remain $0.5 or in worst case it will be $0.10
Hope this helps,
Zoreli
