1. I setup 1 ad on [keyword1] bidding $1.00 a click.
2. Before anything runs, instant 7 QS
3. 7 competitors on [keyword1]
4. It runs for a week getting a 9% CTR, now the QS is 8, avg. position 1.1, min. bid .04
5. I lower the max bid to .16
6. After 5-7 days same exact ad: avg. position: 6.6, CTR 0.6%, QS 6, min. bid .20
If it's the same exact ad and all I do is lower the bid, why is the QS changing so much if the CTR is actually normalized by position? Clearly it isn't. If I raise the bid back up, the ad position rises, and the CTR goes back up to ~9% and the QS goes back to 8. Then I lower the bids again repeating this whole process. Doesn't make sense, unless the normalization is incorrectly calculated.
Another really strange scenario I keep getting:
1. I setup 1 ad on [keyword2] bidding $0.21 a click.
2. Before anything runs, instant 7 QS
3. 2 other competitors on [keyword2]
4. After a week, 2% ctr, 7 QS, avg. position 2.2, min. bid .05
5. I lower the bid to .06 and let it run for a day or so.
6. About same avg. position: 2.4, but CTR plummets to .3% and thus the QS changes to 6, min. bid: .20
7. I raise the bid to .20 and the avg. position stays the same, but the CTR rises back to 2% after a day and the QS goes back to 7.
8. I can repeat this over and over. It's almost as if Google is showing my ad to bad traffic to make my QS go lower in hopes that I'll raise my bid permanently.
When you raise the bid, your ad is then placed higher, which would increases your CTR. And having a good CTR would improve your QS.
When decreasing your bid, ad position goes down which would effect your CTR. Bad CTR would then start to effect your QS.
I assume that by lowering your CPC that much, you move to the bottom of the pack of listings and due to a low number of clicks, your CTR is affected which would lower your QS.
The high starting QS is possibly because the rest of your account is attracting a good number of clicks and has a decent overall CTR.
They are trying to get everyone to compete in positions 1-3.
