Huge increase in minimum bid for keywords

Almost all keywords had a 1000% jump in minimum bid amounts

[Demaestro]

Before the weekend I had a series of words that were all at $0.06, now it is telling me I need to bid a minimum of $6.00 to activate

I am seeing this across many words in several campaigns.

A few went from $0.45 to $12.00

There is no way I am bidding $6 or $12 for a word, is this the correct minimum? Is it possible that the value for these keywords went up that much over the weekend?

Is this in error?

Is there anything I can do? Do I have to wait for them to come down? Will they come down?

Any insight as to what would cause such a jump, or what one can do would be greatly appreciated.

Seems to be a really steep increase. So much so it seems to be an error.. is that possible?

[Demaestro]

Also.... for a few of my campaigns none of the keywords are active but I am still getting impressions for the ads themselves... how is that possible?

[tomasvdb]

our account rep told us that inactive keywords could still gather impressions. Then we got an incoherent explanation as to how this could be possible.
To be honest, i don't think it is supposed to work that way and whenever it happens, it is just a sign of glitches in the system.

otherwise they should just change the status to 'mostly inactive'

[mike_ppc]

It seems that there are QS re-evaluations every couple of days. Sometimes you can get hit like this, but usually the changes in the min bid are smaller. The changes are usually larger if the account (or the campaign) has a short history.

[Demaestro]

Tom, that is true and funny. I think Slightly inactive would be a good way to describe it.

Mike, you are right, these campaigns are just babies, launched them on Friday, had a huge response, burned through the budget in a few hours then it died.

They are coming back a bit though.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

our account rep told us that inactive keywords could still gather impressions. Then we got an incoherent explanation as to how this could be possible.
To be honest, i don't think it is supposed to work that way and whenever it happens, it is just a sign of glitches in the system. [...]

This is actually very straightforward. Keywords are not marked 'inactive', they are marked 'inactive for search'.

This means that while they will not show on Google or the search network, they may still get both impressions and clicks on the content network.

AWA

<edit> fixed quote </edit>

[edited by: AdWordsAdvisor at 5:18 pm (utc) on Nov. 13, 2007]

[Demaestro]

AWA,

Thank-you for the clarification. That makes perfect sense.

So would it be better to tweak keywords and try other combinations or would it be better to let the campaigns "marinate" in the system for a while and see what happens over a week rather then messing with it daily?

<edit>For speeling</edit>

[edited by: Demaestro at 5:23 pm (utc) on Nov. 13, 2007]

[AdWordsAdvisor]

So would it be better to tweak keywords and try other combinations or would it be better to let the campaigns "marinate" in the system for a while and see what happens over a week rather then messing with it daily?

To be really straightforward about it, I'd say that understanding the topic of Quality Score and its impact on Minimum CPC is key to success with AdWords. Given it's importance I'd actually advise spending some time learning as much about it as possible, first, so that you'd be making informed changes.

A very good place to start is the section of the AdWords Help Center entitled "Ad Quality and Performance"

To find this information, look for "Ad Quality and Performance" section near the bottom of AdWords Help Center, here:
[adwords.google.com...]

Below are the four sub-sections of the "Ad Quality and Performance" section:

* Quality and Performance Overview:
[adwords.google.com...]

* Quality and Performance Factors:
[adwords.google.com...]

* Troubleshooting:
[adwords.google.com...]

* Improving ad performance:
[adwords.google.com...]

There is a lot of information here, and it'll take some time to go through it - but I think it would be time well spent. Just my $0.02

AWA

[tomasvdb]

This is actually very straightforward. Keywords are not marked 'inactive', they are marked 'inactive for search'.

ok, i did forget to mention that the campaign was not running on the content network.

So perhaps opting out of the content network is not always absolute?

[Demaestro]

AWA thank you so much.

I am off to read.

[Josecito]

AWA, i have the same problem, and i dont run my ads in the content network, if i dont do it, so means that i never will have my keys running again?

[martinibuster]

This happened to me a few weeks back for a single keyword phrase. It was because I had changed the ad to match some other keywords I threw in there with it in the same campaign. Consequently the creative was not optimized for that particular phrase. I was the only bidder and had previously paid under thirty cents per click. Then went up to around five bucks.

So I removed the ad and started a new campaign with an optimized creative. There was nothing wrong with the landing page, it was all about the creative not having the right keywords in there. It was a mistake on my part, something I had overlooked.

It's the only ad for that phrase (in my neck of the woods), and it also wasn't moving north and getting higher clickthroughs like some of my other phrases. So it had to be optimized as best as possible. Now it's back to near the 5% CTR and I'm not paying anywhere near the five buck margin.

AWA, a little feedback on the customer service. The service I got from the chat window was friendly, earnest, and polite, but my issue didn't receive resolution. So I phoned and spoke to someone who was just as friendly, earnest, and polite, but was able to help me figure out what I needed to do- which was to start a new campaign with an optimized creative. The mistake was mine, and it was right in front of my nose but I couldn't see it. Doh! But the phone help saw it and pointed it out.

Overall, your customer service has the right focus and is the best I've ever experienced. It's been three or four years since I last called and the help is still as good as it's ever been. :)

[Josecito]

well, i didnt modified anything and all the ads are incative now, i need to pay +1$ to get it online, ,i was changing the landing page every two or 2 days, and still the same.

[td22]

nevermind.