Adwords - anyone know the answer to this?

[MissoldInvestments]

So I've got a keyword. exact match, 12000 searches a month, nobody advertising for it. Obviously low cost per click therefore. I put an advert together for it, quality score immediately was 10. Set the campaign live and then...

It sits at the bottom of the SERP??

Can anyone shed any light on this? Its killing my idea as im getting next to no traffic for it.

ps: I am bidding on a brand name.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

There are some keywords where google doesn't want to show ads at the top. These tend to be fairly non-commercial search terms where they feel showing ads diminishes the user experience.

 

[MissoldInvestments]

Interestingly I just called the "google helpline" and they said the ad will show at the bottom till it proves via rank that it is worthy of being at the top for this search term. Thanks for that google - i want to spend my money, and you wont let me

 

[CalvinHarris]

Is it the advert that showing at the bottom, or your actual site that's ranking low? Buying adverts wont make your site rank higher ..

 

[MissoldInvestments]

Calvin - yes it was for adwords..

Its sorted now

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Thanks for that google - i want to spend my money, and you wont let me

To be fair to Google, they might feel the damage to user experience means it isn't worth the money.

There are a lot of terms where, if they allowed ads at the top, there'd be ads - even for really general stuff. They clearly feel their long term profit is better served by not having ads.

Steve

 

[JMRidley]

I get this for some for some of my ads. Some have a lot of competition so it's hard to bid enough to appear in the top 3. However, there are 2 brands we sell that have hardly any UK suppliers so no-one else placing ads (or sometimes just one other). The brand names are quite distinctive so if someone enters the term it is clear what they are searching for - some even search on brand name followed by UK - and still my ad is shown at the bottom. If I was being cynical I would say that google wants me to raise my bid even though I'm not competing with anyone else. I'm not sure how presenting my ad to google uk searchers who are looking for these brands in the UK would damage the user experience!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I'm not sure how presenting my ad to google uk searchers who are looking for these brands in the UK would damage the user experience!

That's not necessarily the same issue as MissoldInvestments seemed to be facing.

For markets where there's little competition, google estimate what someone needs to do in order to show at the top.

If you don't meet those standards (in terms of either your bid or your quality scores), you can find yourself not showing at the top, even if there are no other advertisers.

This is done to prevent advertisers bidding on terms solely because there's no-one else bidding on those terms.

Steve

 

[Simply Clicks]

M, Google is a commercial organisation. It likes to keep in with branded advertisers. I'm assuming, given the 12,000 searches, that the brand is quite well known. You could try upping your bid.

 

[JMRidley]

That's not necessarily the same issue as MissoldInvestments seemed to be facing.

For markets where there's little competition, google estimate what someone needs to do in order to show at the top.

If you don't meet those standards (in terms of either your bid or your quality scores), you can find yourself not showing at the top, even if there are no other advertisers.

This is done to prevent advertisers bidding on terms solely because there's no-one else bidding on those terms.

Steve

If the quality score is high because you are clearly offering on the landing page exactly what the searcher is looking for I don't understand why you have to bid more for it, just because no-one else is bidding. Effectively, google are setting a minimum price for a bid which is not something they publicise when trying to get you to buy into google adwords! I don't think this has anything to do with google wanting to improve the user experience, it's about google making as much money as possible. If they wanted to improve the user experience they could start by stopping their current practice of returning USA search results ahead of UK ones when people are using google.co.uk!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

If the quality score is high because you are clearly offering on the landing page exactly what the searcher is looking for

That doesn't guarantee your quality score is high.

I don't understand why you have to bid more for it, just because no-one else is bidding. Effectively, google are setting a minimum price for a bid which is not something they publicise when trying to get you to buy into google adwords!

It's not about making you bid more because no-one else is bidding, it's about preventing you from bidding only because no-one else is bidding.

I don't think this has anything to do with google wanting to improve the user experience

OK, but I don't share your view.

Steve

 

[MissoldInvestments]

Well, we moved up to the top of the page now, and the click price is cheaper than the estimated first page bid we had to up it to.

One thing I have noticed, is if you are going after anything that requires a review before publishing, it will allow your ads to show at the bottom, whilst in eligible mode. Once our adverts were approved it moved to the top.