Very specific question

[bostonseo]

This scenario never really occurred to me before, I'm sure someone will know the answer.

So I entered some new keyword phrases that are regional and very targeted: Phrases like..
online counseling in atlanta
online personal coaching in texas

I have these keyword phrases as exact match. I do not receive a lot of clicks because they are
very targeted - but when I do the CPC prices are very high. So it prompted me to do a search and see
how many other advertisers' are bidding on these keyword phrases. What I noticed is that no one else (to my knowledge) is bidding on these exact phrases, but people are running terms like 'online counseling' and 'online coaching' as broad match and are being shown for a phrase like 'online counseling in atlanta'.

So basically I am paying the same prices as the phrase 'online coaching' even though I really should only be paying for the phrase 'online counseling in atlanta' - which should be reasonable because I am the only one really bidding on this keyword.

Does anyone follow what I am saying? Thoughts?

[jim2003]

I am pretty sure I understand what you are saying. I think the way the system works is that exact match keyword phrases compete with broad match keyword phrases for positioning. The only way you will achieve a lower bid for identical position for an exact match vs. broad match is if your exact match ad/landing page combination quality score is better than the broad match competitor's. I think the logic behind this makes some sense.

For example a competitor may bid on 'online counseling'. That competitor may be a nationally recognized brand name counseling service with offices in 500 cities whose website is geotargeted based on the IP address of the person who is visiting it. So that when someone from Atlanta clicks on the ad, the web page they are directed too has the addresses, office telephone #'s etc for the 8 counseling locations that that company has in the Atlanta area. (remember this is a hypothetical example).

Your ad may only appear when someone types 'online counseling in atlanta', but the text of your ad may say

You don't need online
Counseling in Atlanta. You
Need a slap upside the head
www. slapupsidethehead .com

and furthermore the website could resolve to a page that really advertises herbal viagra or some other non-relevent information.

In this example the only thing you are doing more relevent to the searcher is bidding on an exact match phrase rather than actually being a more relevent ad or website. I think this the theory behind the whole quality score portion of the algorthim.

Sadly, my experience is that while the theory seems logical, it seems to work a lot more arbitrarily in practice.

[poster_boy]

Quality post started yesterday on pretty much the same topic.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[bostonseo]

Thanks jim2003 and poster_boy,

It's ironic that essentially the same thread was started yesterday - signs that I am not alone.

[arran]

So basically I am paying the same prices as the phrase 'online coaching' even though I really should only be paying for the phrase 'online counseling in atlanta' - which should be reasonable because I am the only one really bidding on this keyword.

Has it not always been the case that those bidding on the root of keyword phrases will push up prices for those bidding on longer phrases containing the root?

arran.

[bostonseo]

Arran,

I guess this always has been the case - but this scenario is new to my client.