How can you find out current bid prices?

[datten]

Hi guys,

I need to find out what the current bids are for the top 3 positions on Adwords (for a number of keyword phrases), in order to allow my director to decide which phrases he would like to bid for.

Is there a way to see what the current ads being returned for each phrase are paying? I'm sure there used to be, but today I'm struggling...

Any help or pointing in the right direction would be very gratefully recieved.

Thanks,

Dave

[Yokozuna]

It's not as simple as Overture or Espotting in terms of the highest bid being ranked higher amongst the ads.

The click-through-rate (CTR) for ads has an influence on the position they appear. This can mean that two ads competing on the same keyword could have to pay very different amounts to appear at the top for that keyword.

To simplify, the more click-throughs you get for an ad, the less you will have to pay to have it ranked higher.

This means that you often have to pay more for an ad at the start of a campaign - but after a short while (this can be days, weeks or months according to the keyword / phrase), if your ad is receiving a healthy number of click-throughs, the cost per click-through (CPC) will drop.

It is generally advisable to pay a bit more (in the short-term) to try to encourage a high CTR. Although I know it can be difficult to convince directors of this!

Maybe you could set up a test campaign, with a term you expect to do well on. Make sure your bid is a bit higher than you want to spend long-term and hope your CTR pulls the CPC down to a level you will be happy with long-term.

I hope that makes sense....

Cheers,

Daniel

[datten]

cheers Daniel.

Is this a fairly recent change (last 6 months or so) or has it always been this way with AdWords?

It's ages since I did any ppc...

Dave

[Yokozuna]

Google used to run Adwords on a cost-per impression (CPI) basis.

For a while they ran both this system and the new Adwords select system. The CPI version has now been dropped, and Adwords Select is the only one available now.

They have modified and tweaked the system as they've gone on. It makes it slightly more complex to manage than say oVerture and Espotting - but can give you far more control and a better return on investment if managed properly.

My only criticism (and I know I'm definitely not the only one) is about the way Google has used its old Adwords statistics to create minimum CPC for certain terms. This can mean that you are the only person bidding for a term - but you still have to pay more than the 'minimum' $0.05. Some of the terms we bid for are over a dollar - and we are the only people who are advertising under that term. Hopefully Google will change this policy in the future and let competition dictate the minimum prices.

If you set up a campaign, and add some keywords, you will be given the minimum CPC for each term - and this will give you an indication of how much each term might cost you. Of course, the more click-throughs you get for that term, the lower the CPC will be, whereas if you are bidding for an ultra-competitive term and receive few click-throughs, you will have to bis a lot more to have your ad shown prominently.

It's definitely worth trying to convince your director to give you a 'large' amount for 2 or 3 months. From there you can prove the value of the adwords, and your expenditure per month should drop as your campaign performs well. We are currently trying to convince a client of the benefits of adwords - their Project Manager is convinced, he now needs to convince his director.....

Cheers,

Daniel