if not the traffic estimator

then what...?

[Rischen]

Okay, most AdWords veterans say they don't use the Traffic Estimator and the more I use it the more I see why (although it's always fun to enter a higher bid and see it forecast your current #3 as a More Sponsored Link). Could you tell me how you make sure of your positions though? Do you just ignore what it says, simply enter a minimum bid and let CTR happen or do you actually search on your terms and see where you are (especially when you want the first page) although that racks up impressions?

Thanks

Rischen

[inbound]

There are lots of ststistical methods that people will use, however I'd say that spend as much time worrying about how good your ad copy is.

Predicting your position is becoming more difficult with more competition. More competition inevitably means newcomers, they will be inexperienced in writing ads so make sure you make the best of yours. If you do this then getting to a good position should cost less than it otherwise could, this will mean you can experiment a little more.

[inbound]

In addition,

It can be frightening how much more of a bid it will take to get to your preferred level of traffic on price alone, it's not always the case but relying on paying more is not the best way to get a good return.

Remember that you could be getting 1000 people a day at 10c (costing $100) but if you raise ave CPC by 50% and gain another 1000 a day, your overall cost is now $300, that means your additional 1000 visitors are costing twice what the first 1000 did! It can get much worse than that.

[Rischen]

Thanks for your time, inbound. Appreciate it.

Rischen

[inferno]

there are some excellent...EXCELLENT pay tools available... they have very accurate statistical information.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Could you tell me how you make sure of your positions though? Do you just ignore what it says, simply enter a minimum bid and let CTR happen or do you actually search on your terms and see where you are...although that racks up impressions?

Rischen, I wanted to mention an distinction that some advertisers are not aware of, which may help you to get a better read of your ads position (which as you probably know, can literally vary with each click, depending on the competitive landscape).

Anyway, it is important to recall that:

* The Traffic Estimator, gives you an estimate of position in a particular moment of time.

* Your account's statistics, on the other hand, are a factual reporting of what actually happened for the date range you're looking at. They are not an estimate.

So one way to get a good read on position is to set your date range to the shortest time frame available (Today), and then take look at your Avg. Pos.)

Again, keep in mind that your position can easily vary from impression to impression (and also from country to country if you are targeted to more than one), and that your Average Position is the factual average position for all of the impressions the keyword has had.

AWA

[Rischen]

Thank you inferno, AWA.

Just noticed this now.

Rischen