Does anybody get any similar to this recently?
G$$gle sells you traffic, and if you buy at 10 cents you should NEVER EVER tell them that it converts at 1000%, or you will be paying a $1 in no time. It is a common business sence.
Seriously, I think this is so big it deserves front page thread at WebmasterWorld, much more than that odd Orion algorythm topic.
My Average Adwords CTR is > 10%...so it's not possible that they are not performing well!
I for one would like to see the facts behind this...
I fight my clients all the time about these emails they receive from Google and Yahoo about free tracking and reporting tools. Why don't you just fax them your balance sheet and bank account numbers?
I also love when that whenever you talk to Google and they look into your account and see that you that you are not using their conversion tracking code that they try and 'sell you on it'. I say we have our own tracking codes, and they usually try and suggest that theirs are better or more accurate :)
1. Fact. You used to be able to pay $0.10 per click on G$$gle Adwords
2. Fact. Google recently implemented and promoted "free conversion tools".
3. Fact. Many performing keywords are now over $0.50, and some are over $1.
From #2, since G$$gle is in business of making money (for those of you still believing into "be no evil" fairy tale we can discuss it in another thread). A BUSINESS is not something that wastes resources on nice-to-have tools. Obviously G$$gle was looking into which keywords convert better, i.e. into your data. Any traffic selling entity will want that data, and G$$gle is not exception.
Now, in order to get to #3, you need data from wich you can draw reasonable analytics . "Free conversion tools" give G$$gle such data. No doubt, they may have purchased some analytics, but why, if YOU WEBMASTERS give this VALUABLE INFO to them for free?
[clickz.com...]
Should I quote?
Kamangar said Google would also use the conversion data to gauge the performance of keywords. While he said the data would not initially be used in determining rank, he did not rule it out in the future."It's a quality signal," he said. "We're always open to new quality signals about which ad we show in what order."
Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Watch (which is owned by the parent company of this site), said such data could show quickly how robust the return is for keyword advertising.
"I suspect the main thing Google might do is watch to see if they can determine that clicks are converting well beyond what they cost," he said. "If so, they might decide to up minimum bids on certain terms."
I rest my case
Google sees that I bid on keyword "X," and also has conversion statistics, available through Analytics showing that "X" converts very well (let's say I make $10 for every $1 spent advertising on Adwords for that keyword).
Why then would Google hike min CPC prices to 50x? That hike then makes it something like for every $10 I make on keyword "X," I've now spent something like $50!
It's not tightening screws and shrinking my margins - they're putting me out of business!
If Google is doing what you suggest, margins would go down, but I'd still stay afloat.
I was wondering if I should move some broad >> phrase or broad >> exact match. From your info this wouldn't make too much difference.
I thought of doing that to improve the relevance of my landing pages after using Googles keyword tool. Based on a small selection of my keywords, mostly (there are always exceptions!) a keyword that had gone inactive had a significant number of suggestions from the keyword tool. Those that stayed active had only a few keyword suggestions. I kind of jumped to the conclusion that the ones that had gone inactive went that way since they could be shown on Google for a more diverse range of phrase matches. ie Google moved the relevancy knob hard to the right.
I guess they've backed off that knob a bit since.
As mentioned above, I saw a 30-40% increase in clicks on ads on the landing pages. Did you see any improvement?
And, if I may quote:
"----->I suspect<----- the main thing Google might do is watch to see if they can determine that clicks are converting well beyond what they cost," he said. "If so, they might decide to up minimum bids on certain terms."
Case re-opened.
1. What is in their interest depends on who is in control of the business model. If it is an MBA with lofty credentials, he can easily crash (over time) the business. Probably out of arrogance or ignorance - take your pick.
2. If the control guy put out a new "theme or direction" such as "cleanup all the people gaming Google", where is it written that at the implementation level Dufus is not controlling what he thinks is in line with the new direction.
So, between misguided MBA wheel horses and the algorithm Dufus you can have chaos.
The reason I point all this out, is I regularly see postings on this forum that attribute to Google some "God Like" intelligence the likes of which the world has never seen. In point of fact, Google is now almost a blue chip large Company protective of revenue and market share. And ALL large companies have a high probability (since they are made up of humans - gaming within the company for nefarious purposes) of just plain screwing up.
The purity of Googles "search engine" and its rapid dominance is just market BS. The genius of Google (and most companies only do one or two things fabulously right in their lifetime) was the astoundingly simple "ADwords/Adsense" scheme. Not only was it cheap and effective, but also it was an advertising dream with links back to the mother ship.
The Stanford "secret" algorithm was the founders breathing their own gas.
Adwords/Adsense is the core engine, and if for the reasons mentioned above they are damaging that engine, or more likely, morphing Google into a manufacturer approved, Fortune 1000 approved, sales channel - then the street guys, mostly everybody here, will simply find other channels or identify the next "Google".
A corporate bureaucracy is one of the dumbest items on the Planet.
