how can this keyword not possibly trigger this ad?

Adwords, keyword, trigger

[4tmj1]

Hi -
I'm looking for some insights about using Adwords. Seems I have a keyword phrase that's in the same Ad Group as an ad I'm trying to trigger. But, the keyword always says it's not running because
"The keyword phrase doesn't currently trigger any of your ads."
Now the trick here is that the keyword phrase is the same as the title in the ad. So, how can this be? Guess I'm still a newbie on the topic but, can anyone enlighten me on this subject?

Thanks,
Andy

[RhinoFish]

just matching the keyword and title doesn't mean it's a shoe-in.

+what's the QS for this keyword?
+checked your negs? you may be blocking it.
+got at least one approved ad?
+got room for it under your max budget? what's the bid ammount?
+if you're on pre-pay, got enough balance to run ads.

[edited by: tedster at 5:44 pm (utc) on Feb 14, 2012]
[edit reason] moved from another location [/edit]

[4tmj1]

Thanks for your response.
I don't think I'm having any of those problems...
Weirder still is that now the ones w/ a QS of 2
say "YES" they are running. And the one below w/
a QS of 4 says "NO" - kind of the opposite of what
it was this morning. Kinda feels like watch the ball,
is it under this cup? Or this one? maybe this one?

[LucidSW]

There you are, your QS is poor. This means you likely have a bunch of competitors outranking you and pushing your ads to the second page or beyond. Since a small percentage of searchers go to the second page and beyond, you are not triggering impressions.

[4tmj1]

Well, that doesn't quite explain it either.
My keyword phrase is the exact match of an ad title.
The impressions are high, my avg placement is high...
and ironically, the keyword phrase itself is triggering
a different ad all together!
I guess the real question for me is - why do I have a low QS when the phrase matches the ad?

[LucidSW]

You don't understand how QS works and is calculated. You're not going to get better QS simply because the keyword and title match. A huge chunk of QS is your click rate. Specifically, your CTR at that position compared to the CTR of competitors for that keyword. If people don't find your ad attractive, they won't click it and your QS is going to be low and that drives up CPC.

From the sounds of it, you have impressions and you are in a good position. That means that despite your poor QS, you are bidding higher than competitors to achieve that ranking. If you improve your ads and get a better QS, your costs will go down and your ads will improve ranking for the same bid.

Check my profile for my site where I have a document explaining it in more details or do a search on "lucid adwords faq". But it boils down to, your QS is low because your CTR is not as good as others.

[4tmj1]

LucidSW -
Exactly what I've been looking for and tons of info.
Thanks for the education!

Andy