Ok i've got to ask this again because the last time i asked the answers i got weren't exactly clear I have 2 options 1. Bid on a million things that are losely 'related' and drag in double the traffic + near double the profit with anywhere from a .02-.15% CTR OR 2. Bid accurately/exactly on what my site is & offers and have a CTR of anywhere from .80% to a full 5.x%+ - yet drag in half the traffic and thus half the profit. I can more then quadrouple+ my CTR (by majority) yet the amount of traffic i get is still much less compared to bidding on losely (somewhat random) related things - and end up w/a total pitted CTR What's the deal? The industry i am in is quite difficult to pull in anything above 1%. I'm now capable of pulling a solid 2-5% CTR accross the board which is quite substantial given my website 'niche' So again, can some one please explain to me what the benefit is of accomplishing a higher CTR is? because right now i can only chop it up to a myth in and by itself, that keeps people (like me) from just spewing random bidding everywhere.
Do both. 1 targeted campaign so it benefits from high CTR (= lower CPC cost because of higher quality score). 1 loose campaign for traffic purposes. By separating them it's easier to judge when to kill the loose one - when it's just not converting anymore.
as someone famous once said "don't put all your eggs in one basket" Multiple campaigns to test which gives a higher CTR to convertion to test which is right for you. and as another famous person said "if you don't succeed, try and try again" It can take various attempts to learn the best ways and practices to advertise. Don't fall for scammers selling ebooks. But learn from the millions of FREE tips from people on here and other websites. CTR isnt the be and end all. Its the Cost vs Conversion rate which affects the bottom dollar which most advertisrs at the end of the day will be concerned and more interested about.
Ok so to summarize the point of a higher CTR is to (eventually) pay less (the higher the CTR) - And nothing else. As i'm paying the same amount regardless, CTR should be of no concern of mine. Nor cause any benefit the higher it is (since i pay the same regardless of CTR) So what i'm gathering is, i should just not bother being accurate with what i bid on regarding what my site offers. Since there is no benefit if the cost is the same. Point to made: Wouldn't this be why we have such spammy/innacurate ads constantly floating around adsense? If my cost is the same (and let's assume i'm hardly the only person in this position) then what stops me from spamming it up since CTR means nothing?
Check out my blog (click the link just above, next to my gorgeous photo ) because there's plenty of relevant information there regarding the reasons for higher CTR compared to the quest for higher ROI (return on investment). It's one of my bugbears, and I'm always advising clients *not* to go full out and waste their advertising budget on clicks when they could be making the same, or *more* money by focusing on ROI instead. CTR just plays a part of the whole strategy of making the most profit ...
CTR can also be effective in trying to test ad effectiveness to drive more volume. Lets say you have a CTR of 1% on one ad and you are making a good profit so you never really changed it. If you make 5 more ads for the same keywords and find one that works at 2%, you are driving that much more traffic to your site and getting more profit. (And you never had to change any bids to get that extra traffic)
In general, the higher your CTR, the higher up your ad will appear in the sponsored search listings for the same bid. So, for instance if you have a CTR of 5%, and your competitor has a CTR of 1%, and you both bid the same amount for the same keyword, your ad is likely to appear much higher than theirs in the listings, whilst still costing the same. Another thing to consider is that if you consistently get a poor CTR for a given keyword, Google is very likely to to raise the minimum bid requirement on you, and effectively stop you bidding on that keyword. Google has recently launched a new 'landing page quality' component to their algorithms as well, which is designed to stop people bidding on a wide variety of general, unrelated keywords. Now, if G feels that your site and ad offer a poor quality user experience for someone clicking on a given keyword, they raise the minimum bid requirement dramatically ($5 - $10). In summary; Google doesn't want you to bid on broad, unrelated phrases any more, and is likely to try and make your life difficult if you do.