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When to Lower AdWords Bids? (9)

04-06-2014 04:19 PM #1 machete ()
When to Lower AdWords Bids?

Sup guys. I've been running some Pay Per Call offers on AdWords search (click to call for smartphones) lately, and I know I can get this campaign to decent profit as long as I can lower my avg CPC's to the $0.40s (I'm guessing my max bid would have to be around the $0.10s then?). I'm a super newb on AdWords, so I don't even know if that's possible lol.

I started this campaign 2 days ago, and here's some info on it:

Budget: $300/day
Avg CPC: $0.70 (I have the 300% mobile adjustment to avoid desktop impressions/clicks)
Max CPC bid: $0.30
Avg CTR: 10%
Avg keyword QS: 8/10

I'm thinking of just continually split testing ads for all of my ad groups to get higher CTR's, and as a last resort, I'll even build out SEO'd landing pages for my top keywords to possibly get 10/10 QS. My plan with bidding was to watch the avg CPC trends, and if things are gradually dropping, then lower my bid by a few cents each day until I notice a decrease in ad rank/impressions. Then readjust from there.

Would you guys recommend running this campaign to the full daily budget for a bit to build campaign/account history then gradually lower bids? And if so, would you say lowering bids slightly every day is the best way to go?

Thanks!

04-06-2014 07:09 PM #2 iAmAttila (Veteran Member)

Try and test x number of ads and let them each collect significant data. That might mean bidding higher and definately spending your max test budget per ad. After you have all the data analyze it and if needed do stats calculations to figure out which top 2 or 3 to run and work on improving the ctr on.

04-06-2014 08:04 PM #3 machete ()

Thanks! Okay, I'll continue testing ads. Fortunately at my current bids, I'm receiving a good amount of traffic for many ad groups (I have 1 keyword modified broad match per ad group). What about with lowering bids? Do I just have to see if my average CPC's drop over time, then gradually lower them?

04-07-2014 09:48 AM #4 mikeyboy (Member)

I don't think you have to lower your bids, but optimize your campaigns ;-)

1) What is your avg. position?
2) Did you check your inside keywords from your broad match modifier keyword? If you check them regularly and exclude those who are not relevant you can save a lot of money ;-) You can find them if you go to your keyword tab and hit the button: Details. More information check: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2472708?hl=en
3) Always test different Ads. At least 2, if you already have a really good ad, duplicate it and use the {KeyWord Insertion: } function. You can get skyhigh CTR's ;-)
4) Do you track the conversions inside AdWords? If yes: try to use the optimized CTR setting in your settings tab.
5) If you test different Ads, change the ad delivery method to Rotate indefinitely. Never give AdWords power to optimize it for you ;-) More information check: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2404248?hl=en

04-07-2014 01:54 PM #5 machete ()

Thanks! Okay, it makes sense now with the optimization. Without touching my bids and just continuing my split testing for my high traffic keywords, my avg CPC has dropped to $0.52 and I'm ad about break even now!

1) Avg position is 1.4
2) Not yet. At the time, there wasn't enough data, but I should start seeing keywords now. I'll see if I can exclude anything today.
3) I have my higher impression keywords/ad groups in split testing mode with 2 ads each, but I'll start testing ads for keywords/ad groups that are starting to get more impressions.
4) I do track conversions within AdWords, but unfortunately the conversions don't seem accurate. I use the normal conversion column, as apparently the call conversion column stopped working months ago? I just use the conversion data to get a basic idea of what types of keywords are working.
5) Oh snap...I didn't realize rotating ads evenly would have Google optimize my ads after 90 days. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll switch to indefinitely!

I can definitely see this campaign profiting soon with the advice you guys gave

04-09-2014 04:56 PM #6 lewis69 (Member)

One thing I have found which gets the click to call conversions accurate is to play about with the duration, for example if the offer pays at 2mins> but your conversions aren't accurate (less in Adwords) try lowering it to 90secs in your call extension settings and just keep playing with it on a daily basis up and down until the two marry up.

04-09-2014 08:52 PM #7 mikeyboy (Member)

Good to hear, looking forward to see it beeing profitable for you.

1) You can always drop to avg. position 3. I saw some nice differences between avg. position and conversion rate. Definitely one to test out if you scale it up ;-)

Hit me up on skype (pm me with your skype name) if you want to have a small chat and some more advice ;-)

04-09-2014 09:49 PM #8 machete ()

Originally Posted by lewis69

Damn, never thought of that as I've been advised to even adding 10 seconds or so to my settings. I'll give this a shot, thanks!

Originally Posted by mikeyboy

Haha I actually dropped my bids to see what'll happen. PM'ing you now.

10-05-2014 10:43 PM #9 gcellis (Member)

Originally Posted by machete

Damn, never thought of that as I've been advised to even adding 10 seconds or so to my settings.

Yeah, I was adding 10 - 20 seconds to my call duration and adwords were out of sync with RP. I kept adjusting down until until I set it equal to the specified call duration and now it matches. Granted, the suggestion of adding the additional time is if you're using an IVR and my offer did not have an IVR.

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