Bid is below first page bid estimate of .40, but average position 2.1

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Bid is below first page bid estimate of .40, but average position 2.1

PPC Consultant

5:36 am on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

Here is a case that has baffled me. Let me know if anyone else is experiencing the same:

I just ran into a case where some of the KWs are being bid a little less than the "Bid is below first page bid estimate of" flag, yet the Ad positions are all above 3. Any ideas?

Background info:
-campaign for an international location (non-US)
-we hit the daily budget every day
-the campaign is on a timer
-The current bid is .35, and it is asking a bid of .40 for first page
-This is a google and search network campaign.
-Ad ctr of 2-3%

The other KWs are anywhere from 95% to 20% of the "first page bid estimate", yet the ad positions are all at or better than the 3rd place..

[edited by: PPC_Consultant at 5:37 am (utc) on Sep. 25, 2008]

Dlocks

9:23 am on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

I'm seeing the same. For a lot of keywords I see the estimated minimum bid for first page are 5 times higher then the bid I use for those keywords while the average position for those keywords is 3, 4 or 5.

So it doesn't make sense or in other words, the estimated minimum bid is useless.

I really hope Google will put the active and inactive and minimum bid to activate a keywords back in place (or at least give the option to enable those fields).

With the first page estimated bid it feels like having less control over the keywords.

Nancy99

1:49 pm on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

Here is an example of what I am seeing Dentist in DC paying $7 or so getting average ad position 4 to 5. Google now says on the keyword phrase family dental care pay $57 to be on the first page of search results.

Go figure. I had another AdWords person say that I was experiencing a Google Slap, but I think that this new 9-15 update has turned effective optimized accounts on their ear and is not a case of a poorly managed program.

netmeg

2:08 pm on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

I wouldn't be surprised if there were still a few kinks to be worked out on Google's end.

klauskl

3:30 pm on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

I have a keyword in exact mode with average of 3.4 and CPC 0.50
and google say
: Bid is below first page bid estimate of $0.55

is that a google error?

Eliezer

6:14 pm on Sep 25, 2008 (gmt 0)

What is probably happening is that your first page bid estimate fluctuates throughout the day. At the time that you are viewing your adwords account, it is a higher amount than it was earlier in the day. The ads therefore showed earlier, but are no longer showing until it fluctuates back to a lower number.

JBrown

7:13 pm on Sep 26, 2008 (gmt 0)

It does seem that Google has introduced more confusion instead of reducing it.

edd1

1:06 am on Sep 27, 2008 (gmt 0)

I have never been so confused.

This is just crazy. On a day by day basis I'm removing poor keywords to leave just great and a few ok.

Then the next day all the greats have moved to ok and traffic has fallen.

Nothing is clear and none. Adwords has become significantly harder to fathom.