Increased CPC but ad rank didn't move?

[venrooy]

Ok, I know that not every time you increase your cpc is your ad going to move up in rank. However I increased my CPC on several adwords by a significant amount - Like from .25 to $5. And not one of them moved at all - up or down. Yet my actual CPC went way up. Does this seem right? I paid extra for no added benefit. It seems as though I was ripped off. It should be that your actual cpc does not go up at all, if your actual rank does not go up.

I'm going to do some more testing on this. This could be of great interest to a few people.

[metakomm]

from my experiences, i truly think google's algo is flawed

i think they mean well, put the thought put into the algo seems to leave certain factors out.

this bothers me because i don't think paying customers should be used as guinea pigs.

and even though i sh** on google here, they still make me money, but i just don't think paying customers should be taken advantage of.

[venrooy]

I agree - and it's becoming blatantly clear that Google's algos are not about raising "quality" but about sqeezing every last cent out of those willing to pay it. I for one hope that they either hold tight to what made them so big, or fall by way of healthy competition.

[Kings on steeds]

venrooy, If the algo was flawed and they wanted to squeze every last dime out of the paying customer, then surely by upping your CPC to $5 would surely make you number one would't it? and as for the statment about google not focusing on quality, well i think you disprove is yourself with your opening post!

now i am more than willing, and i have done in the past, to just on the google isnt doing it's job band waggon, but i think the fact that they are willing to place Quality over Cost is a bold statment that google dose infact want to "do no evil" and just because you think that you are more targted than the person above you it dosent mean you are!

i am sorry if this post is a little on the harsh side, but one this occasion i think that it is needed, Adwords is one of, in fact it is the most efficient PPC engine out there! in every aspect includeing the adranking!

[venrooy]

While I agree with you that Google is still the best thing out there - they are rapidly on the decline. And if they were out for quality over everything - then my actual CPC would not have gone up and should not have gone up - because my actual rank did not move.

Many on here believe that Google keeps your actual CPC at the same rate not matter what you bid - until your bid combined with your quality score of your ad goes higher than the ad above it. Then they raise your CPC accordingly. And at one time they were doing that. But this proves that they no longer do that. They will take any money you lay out - without giving any clue as to where you stand. This is definately at the very least unethical.

I realize that it is their right because it is their company - but as I stated above - I hope that they try harder to cling to what made them so popular in the first place. There have been some definate changes just within the last few months - and not for the better in my opinion.

[venrooy]

Ok - after all of that ranting - I think that this might actually be a google glitch.

After talking to my rep about my ads not moving up in position - she pointed out that the stats page shows that those ads where I increased my bids the rank number went down. So I believe there is a disconnect between the stats page and what is really happening. One of my adwords shows that it has been at position 1 for several days, but when an actual search is done, it doesn't move past position 4 or 5.

Hopefully we can figure this one out - it may be all on my end.