Minimum bid of .20 when no one else is advertising?

I have a few keywords that have no competition, and some with only two sponsored ads.

Yet Google demands that I put a minimum bid of .20 for these keywords? What in the world is going on? It's my own unique domain name I'm pointing the ads to, so why is it asking so high?

 

Google also charges based on number of visitors typing those keywords on Google.com.. If visitors are high ad competition is low.. then u get at low prices...

 

Absolutely not true. Your minimum bid has nothing to do with the number of people searching for a term, and it's got nothing to do with the number of people bidding on it either.

The minimum bid is set using your Quality Score - I'd strongly advise that you read up on how this works if you are advertising on Adwords.

I've covered this on my blog about the most common Adwords questions (it's number 1!): http://www.epiphanysolutions.co.uk/google-adwords/the-sixteen-most-common-adwords-questions.html

For more details on how your Quality Score works, read the relevant part of my Guide to Adwords: http://www.epiphanysolutions.co.uk/google-adwords/maximising-your-google-adwords-quality-score


Hope this helps.

 

Campaign history also plays a factor. You may have to bear some costs innitially to get the thing running, but after your site, ads, and keywords have been deemed relevent by Google (and once the CTR becomes respectable too), costs should decrease. Besides, just becuase the minimum bid is $0.20, doesn't mean that is what you will be paying per click.

 

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2007/10/common-misconception-revisited.html

 

There must be some problem with your quality score.

 

I have ads with no competition that will only show when bid at TEN BUCKS per click - but so it goes

 

As has been stated, competition plays no part in this scenario... it's all about the quality of your campaign.

This is a feature which makes advertising with Adwords an absolute joy when you understand it.

Cheers

Stewart

 

Maybe you have a low quality score, is that the case?

 

I followed advice and just bid double the minimum, after just 3 clicks my quality score shot up to Great and I could bid lower.

Thanks for the input!

 

Glad it worked out for you, though increasing your bid didn't improve your Quality Score - it was a coincidence.

As your campaign runs, Google will get a better indication of how relevant your advert/site is from your clickthrough rate (more data = more reliable indicator).

Google's realised that in fact, your site/advert was more relevant that their initial estimates from your site and advert text, and have rewarded you for it.

 

Thanks for the link, nice answer to the question. Adwords is confusing at first!

 

I'm sure my CTR of 6% helped them determine that.

 

it is really good explaination for how Quality Score works, thanks.

 

if your (or the 3rd party site you target) has no privacy policy, Contact Us and maybe also Terms of Service i THINk G automatically slaps you with those higher bids and you cannot get great QS...thats why i always tell my "vendors" to please have those links on their page: To make it easier and cheaper for us affiliates targeting their sites!