My CPC tripled overnight for many of my top terms?

I don't see any new competitors either

[limitup]

Just the other day, all of the CPCs for my top 10-20 terms literally tripled overnight. I don't see any new competitors and I find it hard to believe that any of the existing advertisers increased their bids that much in an effort to try to dethrone me LOL. The only thing I can think of is that my account went offline for a few hours because my card was declined for some reason, but I immediately re-submitted the billing info and everything came back online. Does your account going offline for a few hours have any bearing on anything? Like maybe the G system takes a day or two to recalculate all your historical CTRs? It's like I'm back to paying the crazy high CPCs I used to pay before achieving 10-20% CTRs on all these terms. I can't think of anything else ...

[Wired Suzanne]

If you have a problem with your credit card, that may influences to your cpcs, we experiences it before.

What ridiculous at the moment is, we found that all of our ads are not shown while we are bidding so high. I am lack of imagination and this really pissed me off.

TK

[limitup]

AWA can you confirm what, if anything, happens when a charge is declined for some reason? After you re-submit with a new card, etc. does it take the system a few days to recalculate all of our CTRs etc. before we see our normal CPCs again?

[limitup]

... or has anyone else experienced this before?

[AdWordsAdvisor]

...Does your account going offline for a few hours have any bearing on anything?...

If you have a problem with your credit card, that may influences to your cpcs, we experiences it before.

AWA can you confirm what, if anything, happens when a charge is declined for some reason?

Limitup, honestly, I don’t think what you've experienced is connected in any way with your card having been declined. I'm not aware of any changes that kick in when a card is re-entered, or the need to recalculate CTRs, CPCs, etc. So I'm a bit curious as to what Wired Suzanne has seen in the past.

I could see raised CPCs, I suppose, if the card was declined and then not re-entered for an extended period of time - during which time the competitive landscape may have changed.

I guess my best advice would be to contact AdWords support and let them have a crack at answering your question. A look at the account would probably help, I think.

Off Topic Note: I've mentioned recently that I have had less time to post here - and I'll actually be away from the office tomorrow, Friday, through Tuesday. I'll almost certainly not be posting to WebmasterWorld during that time. I've been called to task a time or two recently for not responding, so wanted to give everyone a heads-up in advance.

So, if I'm asked a question between this evening and Wednesday, and I don't respond, well, I'm not ignoring the question. I'm just not present and accounted for. ;)

AWA