For example, there is a keyword that has a max CPC of .29. Over the lifetime of that keyword (almost a year), I have a 4.7% CTR. Over the past 30 days, the CTR is 4.3%, which, the Google Rep confirmed was way above average.
I performed so well on the keyword, I only paid .12, less than half of the max CPC.
Today, the keyword is inactive until I pay $5/click!
So, google's own pricing system said I was so relevant that they dropped the price on the ad, and then the next day they decide to try and charge me $5/click.
Another example is I have a keyword that has a max CPC of .10, I have a lifetime 8.3% CTR, and lifetime only paid .04/click, but now they want me to up the bid to .30.
Why give me a discount and then charge me 3x more later?
Anyway, the girl said she is baffled by some of these $5 and $10 keywords that have performed above average. She says she will consult a tech and call me back. I will be interested to see what she has to say...
I'm sure they will have to do some kind of reversal on this filter update as the results are just plain wrong.
Suppose you now have a keyword that is inactive until you set the bid to $5.
Let's say that keyword only brings up only ONE or TWO paid ads.
Just to throw a number out there, suppose the ads that are up there only pay .50/click max or something like that.
Will I pay .51 cents, or will Google gouge me for closer to the $5 amount?
I have noticed a handful of these $5 and $10 clicks only have a FEW ads running...
I'm almost curious to allow up to $5/click to see how google will charge me.
I would think it would be unfair for me to get the 3rd ad slot (with no one else bidding - last place) for more than what position 1 and position 2 pay. However, I can understand if there are 20 other ads that are simply more relevant than what I have displayed with my CTR. Then I can see why I should have to pay high prices to play.
I carried out a test today.
I had active 0.05 keywords go inactive and needed to bid $1.00 to activate them.
There were about 5 ads showing for these keywords.
I activated the keywords and revisited a hour later.
There were 5 clicks for a cost of $5!
A few days ago this would have cost me $0.25
My ad was in the number one position paying probably 1000% more than 2nd and 3rd.
I'm hoping I will find out the reason for this tomorrow.
This is outrageous! I never knew this was the case, I always presumed the new minimum bid was simply to have your ad shown. How can they take $1 per click when nothing else is even showing - come on that is just plain wrong, and against their principles.
( even if you have somehow taken the old "do no evil" to mean they are philanthropic ..a la Mother Theresa ..or the Red Cross )..
Their principles are to make as much profit by chargeing as high as the market will bear for their "services" ..thus minimum is set with regard to how much they can gouge you for ..how much do you need the word ..how much is a glass of water worth to a thirsty man in the desert etc ..
Your choice is to walk away ..or wait for the spin that your reps will come back to you with to try to disguise the underlying reason ..
Why the discount before the price hike?
How do crack dealers get you hooked ..virtually give it away and then when you can't do without it .. make the price as high as you can find the money to pay it ..
The principal is as old as our species .. mostly it's manifestations are seen on the street corners ..sometimes their naked face shows up in the boardrooms ..
No point being outraged ..just the way it is ..welcome to the world :)
Personally, I think that Google would be fairer if it charged an alternative minimum charge per impression, as a way to activate inactive keywords, rather than the silly $5 and $10 charge for clicks for low commercial value keywords.
At that price I was quite prepared to let it go rather than pay that sort of money. However, 2 days later I found that the minimum bid for that word had changed from $25.00 to £0.25 - so I had assumed that it was just a glitch with Google's servers putting the decimal point in the wrong place. I set my bid up to £0.40 and it has been fine ever since.
The only thing is, some of the keywords would not really fit in with the landing page. For example, one keyword I use is "widgets com" - take not of the "com" in the keyword phrase. The person is obviously searching for "widgets com", where my page will take them to. But it doesn't really read cleanly if I now include "widgets com" in my landing page.
This probably belongs in the other thread...Oh well, I will rant there...lol
But it doesn't really read cleanly if I now include "widgets com" in my landing page.
Here is some more info...
I have a merchant that I promote...Their company is greenfunwidgets.com. I have banners and text links that lead to greenfunwidgets.com free shipping specials and discounts.
Now, one of my keywords is a variation of greenfunwidgets.com. It is "green widgets com" the word "fun" is removed. And there is no such thing as greenwidgets.com, it is just a the searchers tend to drop a portion of the domain name. I provide an ad that gets them to where they want to go, but yet, I am still penalized. So how am I supposed to optimize for "green widgets com" without making the landing page text look awkward?
Don't know if this clears things up...lol
I did find that if you delete the word that had the outrageous price and let it "rest" for a couple of days or a week, it gets reasonable again. No idea why. Anyone come up with any tricks to get this to work?
