Set Max CPC at Ad Group or Keyword Level?

When setting a Max CPC i see that you can set it at the Ad Group Level, so from what i understand is that no keywords in that Ad Group will go above the Max CPC.

But i see that you can also set a Max CPC at the keyword level within an a Ad Group.

Do you yourself set a Max CPC for each individual keyword or do you prefer only setting a Max CPC for the Ad Group?

 

you can set a max cpc at the ad group level for $3 but keywords for $10. the ad group level is for overall, but keyword level bids will override the ad group settings

 

like iwp_inc said, the keyword bid will override the group bid, and this goes for kw bids above OR below the group bid. if your group bid is 1.00, and you bid one kw .25, and another at 2.00, they will both override the 1.00 bid.

 

The ad-group level bid is basically a default, if you were to add new keywords after adjusting all the current keywords bids, then the new keyword would be set at the ad-group bid.

We are constantly adjusting keywords bids individually for our clients on an hourly scale for strategic purposes. I would recommend that you let the keywords run for a day to gather historical statistics and then adjust the bids accordingly for each keyword to obtain optimum positions suited to your preference.

 

Thanks iwp_inc, i hadn't realised that it could work that way around too.

Thanks mysteree, its good to know.

Thanks SDunroe, So say with a keyword list in an ad group would you suggest only setting the max cpc at the ad group level, just for example £2.00 for a day or two to gather some info.

Or do you mean still set the max cpc individually for each keyword, but dont adjust them for a day or so until some stats can be gathered?

 

What I do is ignore the Ad Group Max CPC, but set it at something small like 0.10 when I'm producing the Ad Group via Adwords Editor.

Then I leave it alone and only change the Max CPC at the keyword level from that point onwards.

 

Thanks muchacho79, i think il go for that approach and combined with the advice from SDunroe of running the keywords for a day or so without changing the bids to gather data.