G just ignoring my Max CPC .

[Mark_A]

I set the Max CPC on a campaign at £2.90

Imagine my shock to see that G charged me £15.60 for a click and the next day £6.50 for a click.

When I complained, G took a while before stating that it wouldn't be repaying my money.

If the controls we set up to direct the performance of an Ad campaign are just to be ignored at will, what is the point of any of it?

Quite fed up.

[engine]

Wow, that's just crazy. I'm assuming this is a broken system, and you should not need to contact them over this.
The cynic in me thinks that it's hoping folks won't notice and the click cost goes through.

[tangor]

The game is rigged in the house favor, of course. You can play and perhaps win, here and there, but it is their game, not yours. Unless you have a contract with them. If still playing for free...

The bait and switch happened YEARS ago, the end game is happening now.

THAT SAID, still the best game out there compared to the competition, so what can you do?

[ember]

Happened to me once. Google just ignored my max cpc. Thankfully I was watching the campaign like a hawk and turned it off within about five minutes of it starting. It took several hours for it to actually stop running. I complained and got some money back. That was the last time I used Google Ads.

[Mark_A]

Wish I could easily walk away ember, atm most of our more relevant visitors come via G Ads.

But if this overcharging continues I might have to revisit that.

[ember]

I agree it's hard to phase out Google Ads, but it is doable. We stepped up advertising on Pinterest, Quora, Bing and FB. It is more work to manage several platforms, but we've had good ROI and it's refreshing to no longer be giving money to Google. They've gotten too big for their britches, and I just don't trust them anymore.

[Mark_A]

I think my only option to avoid this in future is to go back to manual bidding, it happened using auto bidding and I am advised could happen again unless I change. So my plan is continue with auto bidding and if it happens again significantly revert to manual.

[engine]

@Mark_A
That's interesting. I preferred manual bidding, but when I ended up managing many accounts it was easier to automate things to save time. It certainly didn't save money for the accounts.

ember has some good ideas there to try other areas and spread the love.

[Mark_A]

Hi engine, I could return to manual bidding but the auctions are so quick that it is possible I might miss rankings for my ads.

Wouldn't mind returning to manual bidding though, nice to have the idea that I am in control :) at least of something :)

ember does indeed have good ideas. At the moment I am working on a campaign with Bing, it is promising and we are getting some results, I am focussing it more and more because we are very niche, and I want relevant visitors more than anything else, quite a few enquiries but no actual business won yet..

[chewy]

Wish Google would quit this kind of thing.

Wish Google would reverse their decision to cut off real tech support and replace it with lying ad reps masquerading as tech support.

Wish Google would restore access to the vast majority of keywords that they will not show due to so-called privacy concerns.

Love to meet the guy who said "Auto bidding or smart bidding or whatever they want to call it is just another word for stealing"...

Meanwhile read all about it here - and thanks SEL for telling it like it is (for me, at least!)

[searchengineland.com...]

[Mark_A]

Thanks for the link chewy, all food for thought ..

[tangor]

Wish Google would restore access to the vast majority of keywords that they will not show due to so-called privacy concerns.

And give away the flexible (hidden) house rules? THAT'S not going to happen! (sigh)

Still ... only game in town.

I suspect that if one PAYS MORE you might get a bit better treatment. What that dollar level is to the next tier of customer service (and implied ROI) might be I cannot even guess.

[ember]

The only advice I ever got from their "support" was to raise my bid. Ya know, give them more money. That was it.

And they actually aren't the only game in town.

[tangor]

And they actually aren't the only game in town.

True ... but they are the only one talked about. :)

[jairo]

It might be about optimization.Use avarage point on excellent,and get minimum 3 different ads.Maybe you must seperate your ad group for keywords 10 by 10.So,Google can optimizate your ad easily whom be thankful for you :)

[Shepherd]

It's never ending with google these days. We dip our toes back in every 6 months or so to see how they are doing... still junk and now just blatant theft...

$1,000 daily limit. Yes, we may spend more than double that but you won't be changed any more than $30,000 for the month... accept when you stop the campaign after a week you still get charged over $2,000 a day.

$1.00 max cpc. Yes, of course. Your average cpc today was $13.47, you're doing great!

And my favorite yet... recommendation: we recommend the best ROAS for your campaign to be 4.8%, apply? Why, yes, nothing could be better than losing .95 of every $1 spent with you google...

[Mark_A]

It is frustrating dealing with them. I haven't any hair left to pull out! if my directors didn't want me to stick with it, I might have pulled the plug myself some time back.

[ember]

Advertisers should be leaving them in droves, especially considering what we've learned during the antitrust trial, including their manipulating auctions and prices to meet revenue goals.

[Mark_A]

Hi ember, and I think searchers should be leaving them in droves because the search experience is way less than when they started out, but Googling has entered the public imagination and it seems it is hard to shift that.

As a small value advertiser I am very aware that I and others like me wield almost no power in relations with Google. Perhaps because there is no union of webmasters we haven't been able to defend against copyright infringements and abuses in the Ads process.

It does seem that AI will shake things up a bit, I wonder when the shaking stops who will end up on top?

[engine]

entered the public imagination and it seems it is hard to shift that.

100% correct, Mark_A, and Google's very strong position gives it some flexibility. However, it's also under pressure from several angles, each very slow in moving that behemoth.

As individuals, the best thing we can do is vote with our feet and to explore other avenues. There are many out there, and it does require experimentation to establish which services provide solutions. All eggs in one basket is bad for everyone, including Google.

The low hanging fruit at G is the easy way out, but it's now turning to be much smaller fruit. What do you do? You move to another tree.
Don't ignore the new kids on the block: AI and its outlets. Keep on the pulse because there are opportunities.
Don't ignore the specialist sectors: Industry and specialisms provide opportunities, albeit smaller than the fruit on Google's tree, but likely to be fresher and juicer.
Etc.

[Mark_A]

At the moment I am ignoring that G is ignoring my max cpc.

I know that it is, but for the time being I can't do anything about it.