CTR - what should one being satisifed with?

That's correct. And, I can assure you that this is correct as:
1. We pay an average CPC of only 4c
2. Our max. PPC bid is 9c
3. I was told this by one of the Google reps at the Google conference at Auckland last year.

 

I appreciate you sharing your experiences dfsweb. According to the reference from GuyFromChicago, the blue positions are allocated purely on the amount bid. If this hasn't been your personal experience, I believe you - in my experience the information Google gives out is sometimes wrong.

You've given me encouragement to set my sights higher.

 

I think you misunderstood what that page was telling you. That or I misunderstodd what you posted

What that's saying is the CPC (actual or max) is a factor but the quality score is a factor as well. The quality score is made up of (among other things) you're keywords CTR. High CTR = higher quality score.

Right positions determined by: Max CPC X Quality Score

Top positions determined by Actual CPC X Quality Score

When it's all said and done the bottom line is a high bid alone will not earn (and keep) those coveted spots above the organic results. Someone with a smaller bid and a higher quality score could trump the person who had a low quality score and a high bid.

 

Not in my opinion. Unless our industry is so non-competitive that even 9c is the highest bid! Is there any way of checking what the highest bid is? Alternatively, if you guys want I could post Jane's email address here. Jane's a Google sales rep based in Australia who organised the conference and told us that we could email her with any account related queries directly.

P.S: Not all my campaigns give me such a high CTR. The worst one only gives around 1.5% as it is not targeted at all and the keyword targeted ads go out to a wide range of customers. But, if you tightly serve the ads to a niche target market, then you can easily achieve much higher CTRs. Good luck!

 

You statements regarding that top spot are correct. I've been told the same by my rep.

A low bid can outrank a higher bid if the quality score is high enough.

 

No, you understood me perfectly.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting what Google is saying.

It's clear that, for ad positions on the right of the page, it's a combination of CTR and CPC that determine position.

But Google also says:

I interpret this to mean it's solely the size of the bid that determines whether you get a blue slot.

Either way, if users such as yourself and dfsweb are finding you can get blue slots without bidding large amounts, that's good to know.

 

There's a difference between max and actual CPC. For example I may set a max bid of $1 but my actual CPC comes in at $0.50. The ad rank calc would be:

Side ads - $1.00 x quality score = ad rank

Top ads - $0.50 x quality score = ad rank

The giant X factor is the quality score. It's arguably the most important element of your ad's placement but you have no idea what it is...Google never tells.

I have personally tested the lower CPC ad can trump a higher CPC ad theory...the beauty of multiple unrelated AdWords accounts

 

Right, I see exactly what you mean now.

 

At least one of us gets it then

Best of luck with your PPC endevours!

 

It depends on your keywords. For highly competitive keywords - 1.0% is a great CTR!

 

3% is nice, mine mainly 9%

 

I find that above 1% is good enough

 

CTR is a result of your ad, not your keywords.

 

Yeah, that is the main thing. It is good having a high CTR as you will receive much more traffic. But what's the point of having a higher CTR if your conversion rate is very low. You need to take in mind your CTR and also your conversions.