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Is This Crazy, Or What?

         

mark1111

6:06 pm on Sep 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I've seen others mention this, but you don't really get the full flavor of it until it happens to you. Inactive keyword, they want 30 cents minimum. I put it into a deleted campaign and reactivate it. Minimum is now 10 cents. So naturally I try other keywords there. Some have the same minimum as in the other campaign, some are more. If I continued, probably others would be less.

As someone else observed, consistency and predictability are important in a business relationship. You call the Google Cab Co. to take you to the airport, they say, "Well, we may be there--and we may not.

And what's the fare? "It may be a dollar--or it may be a hundred dollars. Depends on the cabbie."

You're foolish enough to ask why. Their reply: "We can't tell you that. Sorry."

Google doesn't seem to care how much of our time and money they waste.

arinick

6:55 pm on Sep 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Nothing at Google is all that random. Closely monitoring all of the different factors at play(documented in various other threads on this forum) in calculating your 'quality score' you should be able to find why the keyword has a different MinCPC when placed in different adgroups.

Some things to consider:

Are ad copies identical in both adgroups?

Did the adgroup have its own historical CTR?

Did the keyword have a historical CTR in either adgroup?

I did love the cab analogy, BTW.

arran

7:42 pm on Sep 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



"It may be a dollar--or it may be a hundred dollars. Depends on the cabbie."

Just like the real world ;)

fischermx

8:45 pm on Sep 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Improve your ads copy.
I dismayed when the new adwords system pulled my min bids to the sky.
I just added more ads to by adgroup using the offending keywords on the ad. Then I removed and readded the keywords and that did it! I was able to keep my $0.05 bid.
Now, I even dared to lower my bids to $0.03 to some keywords and my ads still showing!
One more thing, even when they ask you to have a high min bid that does not mean you will get exactly charged that.
Just be sure have many, many ads in your adgroup using as many as keywords as you can.

mark1111

9:16 pm on Sep 14, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Nothing at Google is all that random.

Maybe not *intentionally.*

Just be sure have many, many ads in your adgroup using as many as keywords as you can.

All with equally high CTR and conversion ratio.

Dr. X, where are you when we need you?

Dr_X

3:40 am on Sep 15, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Dr. X, where are you when we need you?
AWA's back. I'm hiding. :-P
Actually, i'm in the penalty box for stiring up the stink in other threads. :-)

You said you put the keyword in a deleted campaign. What would that acomplish? I mean, are you using that campagn as sort of a "recycle bin"?

In that deleted campaign, do you have ads that are identical to the campaign you removed the word from? I moved a word too. From one active camp to another. The min bid DID drop like you said. I wonder what that means. Maybe some of my old keywords just need a fresh start?

And on the "DOH!" front, last night I started a new campaign. The usual stuff in there including my company name (wch o'corse G demands $1 per click). So I set all my bets high to get that little push start I think G wants just to start showing the ads. Little did I know the Tampa Tribune decided to run a story about our company, the product, and the inventor. They did NOT include a web address to our corp site. Needless to say, when a sooper-dooper product like mine (i know, shush) is featured in the paper, and no url is given, the whole steenking world does a search for the COMPANY NAME. And without fail, G was there to provide the most expensive result. That friggin DOLLAR per click ad. HA! I think I have to go sell my first born now or G is gonna send Guito over to collect. :-D

-Dr.X

mark1111

8:19 pm on Sep 15, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



AWA's back.

I haven't seen any evidence of this. Well, not much.

Actually, i'm in the penalty box for stiring up the stink in other threads. :-)

I thought we straightened that out. It wasn't you specifically. And even if it was, you were right on target.

You said you put the keyword in a deleted campaign. What would that acomplish? I mean, are you using that campagn as sort of a "recycle bin"?

It was just incidental information, except that maybe the fact that it was a slightly used campaign (purchased from Richard Nixon in the late fifties and always garaged since) might have affected the minbid. I did reactivate it, of course, but that was the only keyword in it, rattling around in that whole campaign by itself. I didn't try a new campaign (campain?).

In that deleted campaign, do you have ads that are identical to the campaign you removed the word from? I moved a word too. From one active camp to another. The min bid DID drop like you said. I wonder what that means. Maybe some of my old keywords just need a fresh start?

Only one ad. I wasn't going to put in a bunch until I saw whether G was going to demand more money for the keyword after a day or two. (Haven't had the courage to check yet.)

What it means is, we used to have to move keywords from one ad group or campaign to another to keep them alive, and I thought this new system would end that. Now it appears we have to go back to that to try to find the one with the lowest minbid. Maybe someone will write an API app to do that. Google doesn't care how much inconvenience they cause us.

Needless to say, when a sooper-dooper product like mine (i know, shush) is featured in the paper, and no url is given, the whole steenking world does a search for the COMPANY NAME. And without fail, G was there to provide the most expensive result.

You're under the impression this was accidental? Follow the money. Obviously they have a super-secret staff at Google (just one more thing we can't tell you) that arranges for stories like that after you've raised the minbid to an acceptable level.

Dr_X

2:23 am on Sep 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



What it means is, we used to have to move keywords from one ad group or campaign to another to keep them alive, and I thought this new system ...
Oh, ok. Now I see what you're getting at. Actually, I never persued a word to a point where I moved it around just to keep it alive. Kind of a neat idea but probably very time consuming.

Before "the change", I could see where relevance made a difference in my account and took G's word for it when a word stoped showing ads. I just figured, "Well, if it's not doing so good, get rid of it. But I hardly ever had to do that either except when google was tweaking stuff a cpl months ago.

But since the new system, it seems to me that if G is still talking about relevancy, they have narrowed the focus so much that it leaves absolutly no room for slop. If the keyword is not RIGHT ON TARGET, they want your arm and your leg to run it. But there MUST be something else going on since I can do this:

kw=[blue widgits]
line1=blue widgits
line2=blue widgits
line3=blue widgits
line4=bluewidgits.com

That keyword by itself in an adgroup with that ad by itself. And STILL get charged 5 friggin bucks.

Google doesn't care how much inconvenience they cause us.
Whenever some one askes me "how did you know that?" I always answered "Google is your freind." That's still true for the users. But for advertisers? (crickets)

...they have a super-secret staff at Google (just one more thing we can't tell you) that arranges for stories like that after you've raised the minbid ...

-Dr.X (putting on my tin foil hat)

[edited by: eWhisper at 5:44 pm (utc) on Sep. 16, 2005]
[edit reason] Please leave religion off the boards. [/edit]

webaddict

6:46 am on Sep 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



LOL, thanks for the entertaining posts you two. ;)

mark1111

4:00 pm on Sep 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



LOL, thanks for the entertaining posts you two. ;)

Wait till you get our bill . . .

I KNEW IT! I SAW THE BLACK HELICOPTER OVER MY OFFICE!

You are getting paranoid. They don't have to resort to anything that crude anymore. They have a staff of high-school kids who can hack into anything, including your password-protected, firewall-encircled computer. That kid who got into Paris Hilton's cell phone and went to prison for 11 months was one of them who decided to fool around on the outside and got caught. Needless to say, Google's name never surfaced during the investigation or trial.

patient2all

5:33 pm on Sep 16, 2005 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



That kid who got into Paris Hilton's cell phone and went to prison for 11 months was one of them who decided to fool around on the outside and got caught.

Paris Hilton Trivia:

That kid may have been high tech but that's not how he hacked Paris Hilton's phone. He guessed her password which was "tinkerbell", her poodle.

patient2all