VERY low position and VERY high CPC; need advise

Hello,

I am a little confused by Google Adwords again… I have officially begun advertising today and things are looking pretty grim…

I advertise data recovery service; which by itself is not a cheap keyword but still… for example:

“data recovery service” at $12 CPC doesn’t even put my on the front page! Google Traffic Estimator says I should be in the top 1-3 position for just $8.

Anyone care to explain if there is some kind of problem or is it just really so expansive?

Also how long does it usually take for Google to update my position if I increase the CPC.

Thank you!

 

First, what is your quality score? I'm guessing that it is probably not very good. If you have a poor quality score, your CPC will increase and you will pay more than the next guy for the same position if he has a good quality score. If you increase your CPC, you should see improvement in your ad position in a few minutes. Here's some tips on improving your quality score if you need it.

Improve Your Quality Score

What's your quality score?

 

Exactly how do I check what I quality score is?

All my keywords quality scores says “OK” so I guess that means its average? What other terms are there for quality score?

 

Your search terms are too broad. Don't pay that much for such a broad search term. Use some more specific search terms such as "[cityname] data recovery", "seagate data recovery", "western digital data recovery", etc. Maybe the CPC will be lower.

 

Yeah but "data recovery service" is a phrase match.. I didnt think it would be too broad. Perphepts its better to make all my keywords exact but I heard that it actually costs more...

What as far as Quality Score, there is Poor, OK, and what ever varietions?

 

quality score! Look there.

 

Exact Matching doesn't cost more than phrase matching, it just appears to because a lot of the phrase-matched terms will be 'long-tail' and hence cheaper. If you were to bid on all of the phrase-match results, it'd probably work out cheaper.

Regarding Quality Score, if you've switched the column on within Adwords, you'll see the rating that each keyword gets. There are three options - Poor, OK and Great, and each has a number of minimum bid levels. It varies from country to country, but in the UK, Great has the levels £0.01, £0.02 and £0.03, OK has £0.05, £0.08 and £0.10, and Poor has a number of levels...

If you're OK or Poor, you should make certain that your keywords all appear in the advert, ideally the title, and that your landing page is relevant to the search term.

Failing that, look at your clickthrough rates - if people aren't clicking on your adverts, they probably aren't very eye-catching or appealing.

 

Thanks for that! I actually called Google yesterday and they told me that there are 4 levels (al least in US or maybe the women didn’t really know what she was talking about) Poor, OK, Good, and Great.

So the question is... for me minimum bid doesn’t matter as all my keywords are above $10. Will it really make a difference as far as CPC and position go if my keyword goes from OK to lets say Good on a keywords that’s $10+ CPC?

 

Yes and No.

Your minimum bid Quality Score doesn't matter, but your search Quality Score does.

Sadly, Google won't tell you what that is, so people tend to use minimum bid QS as a guide.

With the exception of Landing Page (which affects minimum bid, but not position), the parameters are the same, so it's probably quite a good guide.

But nobody knows for certain...

 

I still don’t understand… could there be some kind of a bug or Google just screwing me?

Example 1: [hard drive data recovery] CPC at $10 position 11… Raised CPC to $16 position STILL 11 but some times 10. So to be in top 3 will cost about $40 per click?

Example 2: Google traffic estimator for [hard drive data recovery] tells me that I should be in position 1-3 for $8. I know it’s just an estimator BUT how can it be off by like 500%!!! I mean I am in position 11 for $16 CPC!!

Example 3: I know Google and Yahoo is not the same thing and prices can be totally different because Google is a lot more popular. BUT yahoo has the same exact companies advertising as on Google EXCEPT for on yahoo for [hard drive data recovery] I will be in top 3 for $5!!!

Example 4:
[hard disk data recovery services] at $16 CPC is NOT EVEN PUTTING ME ON THE FONT PAGE!

How is this possible?!?

 

Once you start getting into highly competitive spaces the CPC required to compete on page 1 can be more than most are used to. I'm working on a campaign now and it includes some keywords that even at a $30 bid I'm hovering on page 2.

If the potential for profit is high expect bid prices on AdWords to follow suit.

 

SEO your site so its on topic to the keywords you have in mind. If there's content related to the ad, it shouldnt be a problem.

The ad needs to reflect whatever exact product you market - so needs the landing page. Quality Score / Price == How good the ad really matches whats on your site. Recheck your site regarding your KW...and maybe use keyword elite or similiar to check what the other guys bids are. Jeeeezzz people i wish i had a budget like $8 per click

 

If you want to compete in some markets - regradless of how perfect your QS is - you need 3 - 5 times that

 

Can someone please do me a favor...

Can someone create a test campaign or group and see what position you will get for a couple of data recovery keywords (such as data recovery, hard drive data recovery and laptop data recover for $10 CPC or some where around there). All I want to know is what position you are getting and how much money you are paying (a screen shot would be GREAT!)

I would even be willing to pay a few dollars for someone to do this (pm me).

Thank you in advance.

 

^ Oh come on... someone must have a spare 5min. to test this

 

GFC, i think i slowly get the idea ;(

I just started my SEO business and my budget is EXTREMELY limited.

My ads are showing and active for my KW (all SEO related )....but eg. a position 90 (!) for certain KWs just doesnt any good.

HOWEVER...i have many KWs and i use tools and strategies of course to have low competition KWs.....but i need CLICKS.... i am totally puzzled since i have a ***load of keywords and yesterday to today only ONE click.

Adworsd looks like its frozen..i dont see any impressions or clicks updated...i just cant believe that NOONE searches for any of those KWs right now...

Maybe its the case its still a bad time right now in the states (my market).

Anyway....i mean i hear you GFC, but seriously, should i start bidding like $40 on a certain KW.....man thats totally off the wall ;(

I feel like in a casino thinking to risk bidding WAY more even if i dont have funds.....but i try to hold back. Need some sales and then i can inc my budget for AW....but such bid amounts are just....whow... (Google ownz ya

Add: Ok i will i give it a shot now like i have it right now...one/two days....if not i have to inc CPC or whatever...and if i only get 5 clicks a day within my limits.

 

i can kinda see that this service might be in the same league as mine (SEO).

Of course i use KW elite and this also told me something totally different for a certain KW.....in reality for that KW there seem to be HUNDRED or more of campaigns going. So you can get an idea what money you COULD blow there....

Look for better KWs, less competive...some markets ARE hard.... ;(

 

The cost per click is (theoretically, at least) going to be determined by the value of a conversion and the amount of competition.

If your bid divided by your cost per conversion is less than the value of a conversion, then the problem you have is cashflow (not unusual in a new business). If this is the case, then Adwords may not be suitable for your business, at least at first.

If your bid divided by your cost per conversion is more than the value of a conversion then you're bidding too much, your conversion rate is too low, or your conversion value is too low.

In this case, I'd suggest the following:

1) Improve your Quality Score, by putting keywords in your title, making sure your landing page fits the new guidelines (see other threads on this), and increasing your clickthrough rate (try different adverts, and use compelling words).

2) Look at your advert text - is it persuading people to click on your advert, who aren't going to convert? The more of these you get, the less valuable a click is to you.

3) Charge more for your services??

I may be wrong on this, but I'd guess that IT based products and services may be harder to make a success of on Adwords, as the competitors are more likely to be optimising their campaigns (or using an agency). In other words, their QS's are more likely to be good than (for example) plumbing services...

 

i DO think my landing page is good and i am convinced of my service and especially the price. Anyway, yes, my budget is limited and today at 4:00am i will set my budget back to way lower than i had the last few days. (If no sales) I just cant afford it. Yes....starting up with a business is a biatch

 

wow u guys must have products that are super expensive. 12 dollars a clcik is ridiculous