Inactive for search keywords. Help !

Discussion in 'Google AdWords' started by coolcow, Apr 27, 2008.

  1. #1
    I am trying to advertise fordforum.org . My default bid CPC is $ 0.10 and I after terms "ford forum" and "ford forums" but got this message :

    "ford forum Inactive for search
    Increase quality or bid $1.00 to activate"

    ford forums Inactive for search
    Increase quality or bid $1.00 to activate

    The funny thing is I have zero competition for these terms, nobody bid for them :confused::confused:

    $1 for terms that nobody bid is way too expensive. Where did I make mistake. What should I do to make the terms active?


    Here is the ad text :

    ForForum.org

    Join and discuss Ford vehicles
    with other Ford enthusiasts

    www.fordforum.org


    Thx!!!
     
    coolcow, Apr 27, 2008 IP
  2. AdWords-Advice

    AdWords-Advice Active Member

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    #2
    There look a lot of competition from the natural search results, what was your CTR like? are people actually typing in "ford forums" to find an official or specific site?

    Just a thought
     
    AdWords-Advice, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  3. muchacho79

    muchacho79 Active Member

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    #3
    If it's gone up to 1.00 a click it sounds like the landing page could be the culprit here.
     
    muchacho79, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  4. StrawberryPaul

    StrawberryPaul Active Member

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    #4
    Landing Page looks ok, have a chat with Google and ask the question. My guess would be CTR
     
    StrawberryPaul, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  5. coolcow

    coolcow Peon

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    #5
    Landing page is the index page of fordforum.org . I have no idea of what the CTR is because the terms was
    automatically marked as inactive the moment I submitted it.
     
    coolcow, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  6. LucioDiasRibeiro

    LucioDiasRibeiro Peon

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    #6
    Minimum bid theres nothing with competition, but quality score.
    You can have 0 competitors if your quality score is low google will slap you.
    BTW are you bidding - broad, match or exact?
    Have you tried longtail?
    Cheers
    Lucio
     
    LucioDiasRibeiro, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  7. coolcow

    coolcow Peon

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    #7
    I am bidding for phrase match . I changed my ad text to "The ultimate
    Ford Forum for enthusiasts" but only manage to get the bid lowered to $ 0.50 .

    Is $ 0.50 normal for keywords with zero competition? Any ideas on how to make it cheaper?

    Thx!
     
    coolcow, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  8. webonline

    webonline Peon

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    #8
    hi!

    I think this is more related to a trademark "issue". It s like if the system tries to prevent your ads from showing by applying high min CPC.
    or try to create many very targeted ad groups with at least 30 keywords each.
     
    webonline, Apr 28, 2008 IP
  9. paulpedersen

    paulpedersen Peon

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    #9
    I manage several accounts and have seen this a lot with both auto "makes" and with "forum" related keywords. Inactive right off the bat.

    I think Google must have some words flagged as being more valuable than others (auto makes) and/or some keywords as being more spammy than others (forums) ...and, even if there is no competition, boosts the min CPC. That's just a guess, however. I haven't been able to find anything else that explains this.

    The only way I have found to combat this is to get the account quality score way up (5% or higher average overall CTR for the account) with your active keywords. Then try to add those two once it's maintained that CTR for at least a week (sometimes longer). Even then, it doesn't always work.
     
    paulpedersen, Apr 29, 2008 IP
  10. Bonus4You.info

    Bonus4You.info Peon

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    #10
    Some possible reasons:
    1.Your account history may be not very good (low CTR, low QS...)
    2.The min CPC of Some high profitable words are very high
    3.The min CPC for some words related with trademark issues are very high
    4.The min CPC for some words google doesn't like is very high.
    I had a campaign, use some non-competive words, a name of a famous people, this min CPC is $10.......
     
    Bonus4You.info, May 1, 2008 IP
  11. muchacho79

    muchacho79 Active Member

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    #11
    I've both read and been told that a min bid up to 0.25 (in the uk) will be down to things such as poor CTR, poor ad .... anything over 0.25 will be down to 1 thing ... the landing page. Google doesn't like it for one reason or other.

    However, someone has said further above that the landing page is ok, with no problems, so go figure. It's still the first thing I'd try changing, but each to their own.

    Delete the current Ad Group and try making a new one with the same keywords in but a different ad and a different display URL domain. Just use a different website that isn't the same, and see what happens. It's worth a shot.
     
    muchacho79, May 1, 2008 IP
  12. jeffinco

    jeffinco Peon

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    #12
    The same thing happened to me...the cost required to re-start a campaign will not make me any money. Does anybody know if I could delete my campaign and start over...improving the quality score of my landing pages first, of course.
     
    jeffinco, May 1, 2008 IP
  13. zk5182

    zk5182 Active Member

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    #13
    Another classic Google slap
     
    zk5182, May 1, 2008 IP