So I started an Adwords campaign to appeal to employers when they Google my name. There is only 1 single ad showing up when I Google my own name. So I assume that the CPC would be pretty low considering there is only 1 competitor for my name as a keyword. I blew through the intial $75 FAST and was just billed $50 out of pocket yesterday. My costs per click are $3-5 which I think are pretty high considered there is no competition for my name. My max CPC for my name as a keyword is $4.96, Budget is $5 a day. How do I ensure I am paying the least possible CPC but still make sure my ad appears on the 1st search page for my name?
Higher CPC will move your Ads on top, lower will display in sidebars. Check your CPC settings. You can try Ads show only once in 24hours. Customize showing time as per your need.s
In the Google Keywords tool the Estimated Average CPC for my name is .43 cents. Would it be safe to lower my max CPC to 0.50-$1.00??
Choose less competitors keywords and their cpc are very low compared to other keywords. it's also bring effective conversion for your campaign.
I question why you are bidding on your name. Is your name the product? To spend so much and so fast, you must be very well known in your field, have a common name or your name, likely family name, is also a common word that others are bidding on. Names are just like any other keyword. Costs will depend on supply and demand as well as your Quality Score. You must get the QS as high as possible since it factors into the costs. To increase QS, you must have ads that get higher click rates. Despite what Ramcity said, you will get on top of the SERPs only if your QS is high. If it's low, you'll remain on the side no matter what you bid.
How do I ensure I am not overbidding? I dont really mind if my ad is on the side. I just want it to show on the 1st search page. My max CPC for my name as a keyword was set to $4.96 and my daily budget as $5. I assumed since the Estimated Average CPC for my name is .43 cent according to the Keyword Tool that each click I get would cost be around .43 cents. Instead I am getting charge $3-$5 per click and after 1 click I've used up my budget for the day. What am I doing wrong?
First, it is important to remember that the keyword tool is just an estimate. Since costs depend on your Quality Score and the average QS is 5 to 6, the tool uses that QS to figure out the estimate. If you are paying more, your QS is below average. That's why you got to pay attention to QS. Question, why did you set your bid at $4.96 when the tool said $0.43? Further, why did you set your budget at $5 and bid at nearly that and you now know you are actually paying at least $3? My bigger question is why are you bidding on your name? I assume you mean your personal name such as Jack Strop, not a company name. What you are doing wrong is likely a poor ad that is not being targeted properly. Therefore, your QS suffers and paying a lot.
Agreed; you need to try some different (lower) priced bids. Also, Lucid is correct; it is VERY important to have your ad match up to your keyword. You should go through the guidelines that Google provides, as it will tell you how to structure your ad properly.
Thanks for the suggestions. I talked to Google yesterday and they told me that my quality score is low. The only keyword I had was my name and I had it set on Automatic Bidding with a budget of $5. So far I have changed the bidding to manual and dropped my CPC to $1.00. I set my keyword to phrase match. I'm adding negative keywords as well. Anything else I can do to raise my quality score? Sorry for the noob questions. I've read all the stuff Google has put out there but it's hard to actually grasp the concept until I dive into it. It's like swinging a golf club, reading all the Golf Digest issues in the world wont make me Tiger Woods unless I actually practice and swing a club.
I'd agree with the exact match thing. Use something like [name] to only bid on exact matches. That will start you off in the right direction at least.