Anyways, things will happen like I will get 800 impressions, and 0 clickthroughs, and then suddenly within the next 50 impressions, I'll get 6 clickthroughs.
Or, yesterday, when I had my "big break," I was maintaining around a 3.5% CTR for around 1200 impressions, and then it started dropping... By about 2 hours later, I had dropped to 0.4% CTR, and this is a keyword that is estimated to get 2500 CTR a day, so it was doing this under major traffic, and with an average position of 1.7.
A couple of questions--
1> Is it normal to get that kind of inconsistency in CTR? From my experience with advertising, nothing seems to happen by accident. In other words, you don't just happen to get a lot more click-throughs than you deserve one minute, and then absolutely none for the next ten minutes.
Also, if an ad works, it shouldn't work like crazy one hour, and then start dropping like a rock so that a couple of hours later, it only gets 0.4%!
2> Does a human (on the Google team) do the approving and disabling of new ads? The ad where I got 3.5% CTR, it took a couple of hours before the number of impressions really started to go up, and a lot of times, my ad will stop showing, but it will take a couple of hours before it gets officially disabled. I thought that was all supposed to be automatic, not human controlled.
3> Why was I able to do try 40 different ads (each one getting disabled for low CTR) without having to pay $5 every third try? Has Google gotten rid of this penalty?
Sorry for the long message--I got wildly excited when I hit success, and then suddenly it was stripped out from under me and it's really frustrating!
Thanks for any wisdom you can share guys!
--Steve
You may want to give adwords a day or so to cool off, so to speak. Try a few ads for a day or so and then tweak them. Don't do it every few hours or you could find yourself relying on inaccurate stats.
There is also the issue of the fact that certain ads will perform better at certain times than others. Some people boom on the weekend, some don't. Some people do great in the morning and others in the evening. If you are new at this, you are really better off just focusing on getting a solid few weeks of decent CTRs before you start messing with timing logistics. In other words, learn to walk before you try to run. :)
<added> If your ads are being turned off because of low CTR, then I would suggest looking back over old threads for tips. It sounds like you may need some tips on targeting ads and using exact or phrase match and negative keywords.</added>
2) Disabling of ads because of CTR is automated.
3) That $5 thingie is for the whole campaign - not individual adgroups.
On a vaguely related note, may I suggest for your reading pleasure:
e.g. widgets, history of widgets, free widgets, widget parts, etc.
This will narrow down your searchers to those that want your product.
Re: Webdiversity--
I understand CTR's purpose in weeding out "irrelevant" websites, but the thing is--on a keyword that's estimated to get 2,300 CTR's a day, how do I get ~400 CTR's within a couple of hours, and then suddenly a trickle? 400 CTR's seems too statistically significant of a number to say that my ad is not relevant.
Re: Everyone--
I was hoping that this might be reflective of a problem with Google, after reading the thread "Can't outbid my competitor" in regards to "drastic position and clickthrough drops," dropping from rank #3 to page 6, etc..
In your response to my question, a couple of you recommended a more tightly targeted ad group; i.e. using negative keywords, lower impression keywords, etc..
There's one major reason I'm working with this fairly broad, but still (i believe) highly relevant keyword:
A big part of what I'm offering is information--revolutionary info that if many of the people who happen to include this keyword in their search knew about, they would be interested...
-=-=-=
Anyways, it may simply be that my ad copy sucks. I was just under the impression that if you get a statistically significant number of CTR's over a good number of impressions, that it doesn't happen by accident.
I will continue plowing away........
revolutionary info that if many of the people who happen to include this keyword in their search knew about, they would be interested
Obviously, with a low CTR, this is not the case. Perhaps only certain people who are looking for a certain aspect of that keyword will be interested, which is why you should target.
it may simply be that my ad copy sucks.
...but still (i believe) highly relevant keyword: A big part of what I'm offering is information... that if many of the people who happen to include this keyword in their search knew about, they would be interested...
To speak frankly, no.
It's like that old t.v. commercial: Sorry Charlie, we want tuna that tastes good, not tuna with good taste.
There was someone around here two weeks ago who had a heavy metal site he was promoting by using the names of hundreds of R&B and pop singers. His rationale was similar: Out of all that massive traffic, there's bound to be some people who will come to my site and like what they see.
Speaking frankly, you're driving down a dead-end street. That kind of traffic is called Garbage Traffic. Garbage Traffic is random and unfocused.
Good traffic results from a focused optimization that attracts a visitor that is focused on what you offer and is ready to convert.
Please don't speak frankly unless you have something useful to contribute.
You seem to be ignoring the fact that I did receive an average of 1.5% CTR for a couple of hours.
Off of that traffic, I was converting at 1%. If that's called Garbage Traffic, then I want all the garbage traffic I can get my hands on.
If CTR determines relevancy, for those couple of hours, I was highly relevant.
Speaking frankly, I'm impressed that you are bold enough to tell me that my ad sucks and that I'm contributing to garbage traffic without a> knowing the keyword I'm using and b> seeing my ad.
Besides, the point of this thread was not my ad, it was the symptom--a CTR that plummeted over the course of a couple of hours. In my experience with other forms of advertising, an ad either works, or it doesn't.
Frankly, I don't want this to degenerate into a flame war.
Keep the suggestions coming...
You seem to be ignoring the fact that I did receive an average of 1.5% CTR for a couple of hours.
I was looking at the overall rate- as someone else noted, the 1.5% was not the true figure because there is a lag time between reporting the clicks and the impressions.
This lag time can result in reports of 200% ctr. It takes a couple hours for the server to update. You have to look at your ctr at the end of the day. If you want to learn more about impressions/ctr lag times, see this post: [webmasterworld.com ].
bold enough to tell me that my ad sucks
Where in my post did I say that? I challenge you to find where I said that. You need to chill out. You may not like what I say, but I am speaking the truth.
Keep your flame war talk to yourself because that kind of behavior is not tolerated around here.
Sorry if I came back kind of curt--but I did not get the impression you were seriously trying to help me. Now I know you were serious...
When you said "you're getting warm," that struck me as you telling me that my ad copy *does* suck, that it's not a matter of it "may suck," and obviously, if that's what you were saying, that would not be very helpful.
So......what this all boils down to is, my ad does not work, it never did. Using Overture's tool, I have discovered a few major search possibilities including my keyword that would be highly irrelevant, and am now working on "neg-keywording" those out.
Thanks for your help, and sorry for any misunderstandings...
--Steve
At certain times of the day (eg after school kids doing research for homework) there may only be tire kickers around. At other times (perhaps lunch break on a weekday) there are lots of buyers around.
