Hi, how do I see my competition in adwords if I am in a different country. Say I am in Canada, and like to show up on US market, but my regular google SE shows me listing from google.ca which is not really what I want to see. Please help.
Aaahhh, bless you. Now it brings up another question. If there are no advertisers in Canada and then 8 advertisers in US for the same keyword phrase, can I get a much cheaper rate on the canadian market. I have not tried to create seperate ads for diff markets, but would the ad that spans both markets optimize it (I don't think it does...).
What other advertisers are paying (or not paying) does not impact what you will pay. "It is very important to know, however, that one's minimum bid is entirely unrelated to how many other advertisers are using the same keyword. Instead, since August of 2005, the minimum bid has been quality based. To put it simply, the higher the Quality Score of a keyword, the lower one's minimum bid will be for that keyword." http://adwords.blogspot.com/2006/01/common-adwords-misconception-explained.html
True, But my question is this: In US market, I am competing with 8 others In Canada I am the only ad So regardless of min. bid, if the ad is using both markets, am I paying a high price in Canada (the price for competing with 8 others?). I think if I create a seperate ad, it would not be an issue, but was wondering the problem for an ad that targets both markets.
I'm not sure I fully understand your question. The fact that you are/would be the only advertiser in Canada has no impact on what you would pay. What you pay is based on your quality score, not how many other advertisers you're competing with.
Ok, I see what you are saying. But isn't what you pay a combination of quality score AND competition? It is still a bidding market, and the quality score is just another factor that adjusts what you have to pay (still a bid market...)
Not according to the following quote; "It is very important to know, however, that one's minimum bid is entirely unrelated to how many other advertisers are using the same keyword. Instead, since August of 2005, the minimum bid has been quality based. To put it simply, the higher the Quality Score of a keyword, the lower one's minimum bid will be for that keyword." If you want to see that in action for yourself try setting up an ad for a keyword with no competition (zero other advertisers) and set it to a completely unrelated page. You'll get the "pay $5 or $10 to activate this keyword" message.
I'm sorry but I think you are wrong. Your position is determined by something like max bid x QS, isn't it? So with competition, you will pay more than min bid to be nr.1, but without competition, you won't.
Well that's a great comeback. Just to clarify: your quotes concern how the minimum bid is determined. But you seem to assume that when there is competition, you still never pay more than min bid regardless of the ad's position. If you indeed assume that, what's that assumption based on? If that assumption is incorrect, the answer to Steve's question would probably be: Yes. (unless you settle for bottom position)
Right, that's what was being discussed. I don't assume that. Like you said Ad rank (position) is based on max cpc x qs, actual cpc x qs for the "blue box" spots.