First page bid mystery

[optik]

I have an ad which getting a quality score of 5/10 yet there are no problems listed, I'm being asked to enter a very high minimum bid to get first page listing even though the keyword is totally unique and there are no other ads being displayed by google.

How can I be competing against no-one and being asked for such a high bid?

[netmeg]

I suspect it's because of that 5/10 QS. If you can get it to 7 to 10 out of ten, it might help. First thing I'd try is a new ad.

[optik]

There's no reasons given why it is 5/10 how am I supposed o know what to change?

[Channel01]

Honestly, the first page bids are a bit of a sham in my experience. They're just rough estimates that are directly tied to your keyword level QS. By no means do they represent the actual minimum bid that will get you to the first page. I actually find in many cases that they tend to be overestimated.

So yes, if you could do something to improve your QS then that would lower the estimates you see. If you're not seeing a reason for the 5/10 then you can probably infer that CTR underperformance is at play. Creating a new ad that is compelling and highly relevant to your keyword(s) in the ad group is your best next step.

[optik]

The thing is the keywords are in the ad and the landing page, it's a new ad so CTR isn't a factor.

It would be fine if google told me what to do but they just seem to want me to pay 20 times th bid I should actually making to get a listing, obviously this is a money spinner for them.

[netmeg]

There's a ton of information here and out there in the big wide world about QS. It's not as much of a mystery as it seems. It's not enough just to include the keyword in the ad and the landing page. The ad and the keywords and the landing page all have to be in tight sync. ALL the keywords in the ad group have to sync up to ALL the ads. I could have "used car" as a keyword and use it in my ad and my landing page, but that doesn't mean I'll get a good QS, because my business could be painting used cars or selling used cars or fixing used cars or insuring used cars - all very different concepts, with the same general keyword.

Google wants the searcher to have a pretty darn good idea what he's going to find when he clicks that ad. Any ambiguity is probably going to lower your quality score.

[optik]

Thanks nutmeg but I already realise this, in this group I am only using exact phrases, most with 3 words, among all the phrases I can only find one word that doesn't appear in the ad.

[netmeg]

(netmeg)

Ok, well, good luck then.

[LucidSW]

>> it's a new ad so CTR isn't a factor.

CTR is always a factor. It's two thirds of the QS.

[optik]

How can a new ad have a CTR or am I meant to pay the high price in the hope it will come down?

If so what good is this for a short term campaign?

[carelectronics]

>> it's a new ad so CTR isn't a factor.

>>>CTR is always a factor. It's two thirds of the QS.

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I agree with the first opinion, because I've experienced an example which is a new ads and there is a keyword having 10 scores, no CTR, even without clicks.