[edited by: MediaSpree at 2:30 pm (utc) on Mar. 9, 2009]
It sounds outrageous to me that you could be punished with higher prices because of competitors having lousy QS.
I'm still trying to figure out exaclty what is going on, but so far this is all I have.
Did you increase your bid immediately after getting the first page bid estimate? I'd be curious to see if you avg position would remain the same if you simply ignored it. May be worth trying anyways. Just keep an eye on your position.
I used to have a Google License plate frame, hat and shirt and wore them all the time proudly. All of them now sit in the back of my closet as Google has just become another corporation and worse yet, they think they control the Internet. I won't give them free advertising anymore nor do I recommend them to clients when asked about what search engine to use. They have taken their eye off the ball and while many will huff and puff that Google will always be the search god, times are a changing and their dominence will be eroded as it should.
As far as adwords and the stupid QS, they have decided they have enough money and don't need anymore.
Yahoo is smiling.
Yahoo is smiling.
Really? Even with increasing GAW costs it still outperforms Yahoo significantly. I'm sure there are quite a few others with a similar story.
OP, I seriously second the comment by MadeWillis. Have you tried bidding $0.50 and seeing where you end up? You might still make it to the first page.
2 other ideas.
First, surf the long tail. If you're using broad match for this specific term, you're probably picking up a lot of longer tail traffic. Identifying these terms and bidding on them with phrase match will almost always net down your average click cost for the same traffic.
Second, a trick I learned a while back here on WebmasterWorld (one of many ah-has from the fabulous Netmeg). Enter the same keyword three times in the same ad group with three different match types. Bid broad match low, phrase match higher, and exact match the highest. Generally, narrower match types will convert better, and the different traffic segments can each be meausured and adjusted independently of the others. NOTE: Google has since posted that they do not approve of this technique, but the system still allows it. Regardless, I've used it on our most competitive high traffic keywords that would otherwise have been abandoned.
Really? Even with increasing GAW costs it still outperforms Yahoo significantly.
At 10.00 per click on Google, and .14 on Yahoo, I seriously doubt that.
I used to have a Google License plate frame, hat and shirt and wore them all the time proudly. All of them now sit in the back of my closet as Google has just become another corporation and worse yet, they think they control the Internet.
My company has plenty of chatzki if you need some. #:^)
At 10.00 per click on Google, and .14 on Yahoo, I seriously doubt that.
There is a reason it's only .14 per click.
The 10.00 versus .14 is to show how stupid the QS is. Some of them were 8 & 9 and then overnight go to 10.00. Right, like the bad quality fairy crept in over night and messed with my ads.
Yes, I have affiliate links on my sites. If you stripped out all the affialite links, the site would stand on their own with no problem and be a great source of information and in fact they show up very well in the organic search so I'm already getting free traffic.
The problem is, I don't spend my time building great content rich sites about subjects I'm familiar with just to share them with the world for free, I do it to earn money and it seems that Google really dislikes the affiliate business model even though they own a affiliate network.
I also realize that Google could firebomb some peoples houses and the next day they would be on line talking about how they deserved it and Google is God. I get it, I used to be one of them.
I've made adjustments to play in the Googles big sand box and I've been playing in it since 99 before adwords even existed.
I just get frustrated with Google's alturistic look at the word and what they percieve as quality. The spam in adwords is not near as bad as the existing spam in the organic index.
As long as an affialite marketer creates good solid sites and then wants to monetize them with adwords in addition to the free searches, I just don't get what Google's problem with that is.
Of course, I don't have a PHD so maybe that's my problem.
That is directly opposite of the QS is supposed to be all about.
So, my interpetation of that is Google don't have a clue anymore.
nor do I recommend them to clients when asked about what search engine to use.
Isn't this doing clients a disservice, if their sales volume would be higher through using Google. I know in my niche the returns from Google are 10-20 times that of Yahoo, if someone tried to suggest that we did without Google they would be reducing our sales volume by 90%
Get it where and when the getting is good:)
[edited by: MadeWillis at 5:13 pm (utc) on Mar. 11, 2009]
You are doing your clients a disservice simply because you hold a grudge against Google for whatever reason.
In my opinion, I'm doing them a favor.
Yahoo is every bit as good as Google anymore.
Years ago, you could do a search on Google about stuff and actually get the first page of results all about that thing your looking for without ever seeing a commerce site.
Now, all you get is commerce sites which is just like Yahoo.
I owe Google nothing. They have used me and abused my loyalty so to heck with them.
It's a bit like saying "don't open a shop on the high street where it will get thousands of passers by, open it on this side street instead, it will get fewer passers by but those who do go down there will be impressed at how nice the street looks"
