We have a Google AdWords group that we've been running for over a year now. At one point we altered the group for a few weeks and then eventually we went back to the original group. It's a broad set of keywords for which we target middle positions individually per keyword. We recently gathered up data for the last year and found that our cost on AdWords is now about 24% higher than it was this time last year. I think the overall trend arcs that direction as well (meaning that it's not an anomaly). Just as a matter of self-review of our processes, I'm trying to ask people in general if others have seen a general inflation in the cost of their long-term AdWords campaigns (as part of a larger trend). There's also a general belief that there's some kind of mojo involved in altering an existing group. By this I mean that some people in the company hold the belief that because we altered the group and then restored it exactly, Google gives it different treatment than if we had never altered it. I have no idea if this is true or not, but, being a technologist, I don't believe in mojo, just in things we understand and things we don't. Does anyone know if changing a keyword group and then changing it back alters some kind of invisible internal priority that Google gives it? I hate asking, but you never know what's going on and I want to be able to answer these beliefs intelligently - currently I can't. Thanks for any replies!
Prices are going up because people give away conversion data because they're lazy. (I'm guilty of this too, so I totally include myself in this.) IF Google didn't know what converted, they wouldn't be able to raise minimum bids. I believe there is some kind of invisible internal factor that google does care about. I don't think they like people "figuring things out" hence the constant changing of rule and leaving all required information a mystery. I cannot wait for someone to knock google out. But until that happens, I'll continue making my living with it, yahoo and msn...