Adwords forcing higher bids for Keywords with low competition

[GAustralia]

Hello Searchwatch-

I am not happy how Google handles bidding for Keywords with no or perhaps one or two competitive ads, when there is a low click through rate.

My business is in a city and I bid for that keyword - the name of the city. The stats say that the ad shows up frequently with perhaps less than a .5% click through.

At first I started bidding with 9 cents, then Google classified my ad as inactive and wanted me to bid 13 cents. The story goes on. I am up to $6.50 - with no or perhaps one other ad showing - then Google whacks me up to $13. This is really crazy as it is much higher price than my very compeitive primary keywords.

A few weeks later, the ad went active at $6.50 again.

It is kind of a silly game to play with Google. You are better off clicking on your own ad(s) from different IP addresses just to keep the bid price low - WHEN THERE IS PERHAPS 0 TO 1 competitors showing. Rediculous! On a few occasions after a few clicks Google would let me lower the bid price, but not always.

Any other better ways of managing this?

Regards,

GAustralia

[abbottsys]

What's basically happening is that Google has decided the keywords is not really relevent, and the QS calculation is just all over the place, generating high minBids.

Does this keyword give you good conversions? If the keyword is just the city name chances are things will never get better and you might want to consider a more specific keyword.

Or, if you're using a city name to try and do geo-targeting, then just use real geo-targeting.

You just need to examine exactly what this keyword is producing for you, and to what extent you want to keep fighting the Google QS calculation.

[GAustralia]

Hello abbottsys,

The city keywords are a few of a long list of keywords that I use. Yes the conversion is very low, but the placement and clicks are valuable. The times the ad shows is relatively high compared to my other keywords. It is a valued part of the advertising equation.

Re: geo-targeting. This is not as valuable as advertised in my view (especailly for a very limited gegraphic area such as a few kilometers) as you must still compete against everyone else who is not geo-targeting for your keywords - meaning the bids must remain relatively high almost as if you are not geo-targeting. I suppose there is a value in this in that the click thorugh rate would improve and thus improve the ranking, theoretically. It is also a question of target area. I may target the city the business is in yet I also wish to target wider areas as well. So really targeting a city with the prime keywords will mean losing clicks in a wider area[I target the country with a list of negative keywords for major cities I may not service - as targeting the country may be done more effectively in Australia compared to other countires as there are relatively fewer cities].

abbottsys, do you agree with the way Google treats "inactive" keywords for keywords of 0 to 1 competitor ads as crazy? Making you bid through to the moon!

GAustralia

[Deltron Zero]

Hello abbottsys,
Yes the conversion is very low, but the placement and clicks are valuable. The times the ad shows is relatively high compared to my other keywords. It is a valued part of the advertising equation.

I couldn't imagine the clicks being valuable for something that appears to be so irrelevant. It sounds like you're looking for a free banner on Google, which is why Google is raising your minimum bids.