Position 16 out of 5 advertisers?

[Undead Hunter]

Hi folks:

I have my first brand new campaign, although I have helped some friends optimize their existing campaigns.

I'm bidding the minimum amount to start. I checked the Traffic Estimator tool and it recommended $190 for all my keywords.

But the Budget Recommendation tool says that even $20 is OK for the day.

So... even though I've checked the ads a few times while writing my own ads, and I've never seen any other ads running... I'm wondering why I'm not starting at position 6?

Do I have to increase my min. bid at the start of a campaign? Should I bid higher for a few clicks, first? Take a "loss" to get a better position?

Or will this just sort itself out after the first 100 or 1,000 visitors?

Thanks,
Hunter

[keywordguru]

It will probably sort itself out. I usually find that my ads "mature" after a day or so, and then it allows tweaking. Just keep your daily set and you will see how far that takes you. Then from there it is easier to compete.

Keep in mind that lots of times your own ads may not show for yourself due to the distribution of ads. Also be sure to turn off content targetting if you aren't into that.
KG

[Undead Hunter]

Hi Keyword:

(Slap in the head). I just figured out why I wasn't seeing all the ads in the category: I'm not in the US, and therefore wasn't seeing everything that's running. I'm going to up my caffeine intake to at least two cups of coffee every morning.

Turns out my "empty" category is running 40+ ads. So I can't complain about 16 out of the gate!

I have turned off the content network, by the way. I'll test it out later, once I have a baseline.

Thanks again for your help.

[keywordguru]

:) we learn something new every day.

No problem, good luck
KG