I have just cut one of my AdWords advertising budget almost in half. Should I also cut my Maximum PPC budget in half so that I can still get the same number of clicks (though with much less average position, of course?) Any rule of thumb for this?
In theory that may work. However you may find that your Avg Position will drop hence you wont get the same amount of clicks (especially on really competitive keywords). You receive more or less the same amount of clicks if the keyword has very little competition, or you still maintain a good position despite a drop in max cpc. What i do is cut my campaign daily limit accordingly and then reduce the keyword cpc whereever needed. Maybe you could consider dropping the content network depending on the quality of traffic it gives u.
Thanks for your reply, ewan. I stopped using the content network a long time ago due to quality of click issues. I think that I will cut the CPC in half and see what happens for a week or two.
Careful on dropping the bid too low because the position can affect your CTR (and hence Quality Score), but it of course depends on the competition. Reduce the CPC as you get higher CTRs / ad drifts up ... my preferred strategy