I have an issue that has troubled me for years with Adwords. Several years ago, I was doing great with a few Adwords, but one search term in particular was making me a mint. It was a broad term like "widgets" but my CTR was always above 1%. My account manager all the sudden once said my CTR was too low and cancelled that word. I give up on the adwords program for a few years... now I am back... same problem. I go with another broad word starting yesterday. It is getting a CTR of 3% (not .3%) and converting really well. There were not even 1000 impressions run yet and I looked and it said the keyword was underperforming and in danger. What? That keyword was doing 10 times the CTR of some of mine. What can I do about this. It makes no sense. Anyone with a similar problem? This is real money I am talking about here... HELP!
I would email google, and also click on it yourself a few times if it underperforms, its just a cost you will have to swallow
Google only includes the CTR on the Google network proper when measuring the thresholds for performance. Ie. if you are getting 0.3% CTR on Google and 10% CTR on AOL, Google will suspend your campaign. Try limiting your campaign to just Google (no CTA, no network syndication) for a while and see what the CTR is on just Google...
This is unfortunately a trick of the trade. It would be great if there were no 'minimum' CTR, but that's not the case, so this can always keep you alive and treading water. Have you tried rotating different Ad copy? That can improve CTR...or just try a re-write of your Ad....How much competition do you have?
You would email Google, but you cant find an email address to ask a simple question? Haha! As mentioned already, varying your ad content can really work, altering various aspects of the ad copy, such as headline and display url. Sometimes the smallest of changes can have a huge effect.