My question is, how come I can't get it for 5 cents, but the minimum is 20 cents. I'd think if someone wanted top spot they would out bid me.
I can see adwords is going to be addictive like ebay!
So I do the search myself and sure enough my ad is the only one showing.
Just because you only see one ad doesn't mean that there is no other competition. Ads are customized per IP address - so what is seen on your machine isn't necessarily what your neighbor sees, or what the rest of the city, state or country sees...
While Netmeg's comment about Quality Score playing a role in establishing the minimum bid is absolutely true, only an average position of 1.0 via a keyword report can determine whether or not you're truly in the top position across the the area that you're targeting.
I have bid on a certain phrase, I noticed I am getting impressions on that phrase. So I do the search myself and sure enough my ad is the only one showing.My question is, how come I can't get it for 5 cents, but the minimum is 20 cents....
In addition to the comments already made, it's also important to keep in mind that one's minimum bid has nothing at all to do with the number of competitors for a given keyword. Instead, the minimum bid for a keyword is dependent on that keyword's quality score within one's particular account.
Here's an excerpt from an Inside AdWords blog post back in January 2006 that speaks to this:
A common AdWords misconception explained...[...]
The minimum bid, also known as the minimum CPC, is the least that one can pay to have an ad appear for a particular keyword in a particular account. It is very important to know, however, that one's minimum bid is entirely unrelated to how many other advertisers are using the same keyword. Instead, since August of 2005, the minimum bid has been quality based. To put it simply, the higher the Quality Score of a keyword, the lower one's minimum bid will be for that keyword.
So, very low minimum bids are earned by creating highly relevant ad text and keywords that get outstanding Quality Scores. And only the most relevant keyword and ad text combinations will earn a minimum bid of $0.01 (or its equivalent in other currencies).
It's worth noting that every keyword has a minimum bid that is unique to how successfully that word has been used in an advertiser's particular account. So the minimum bid for the keyword 'Kansas City BBQ sauce' will be different in your account than in your next door neighbor's account, who happens to be using the same keyword.
How can you lower your minimum bid? The short answer is to improve your Quality Score by optimizing your ads.
AWA
