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Possible to Bid on Too Many PPC Keywords

by netkickstart
11 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Is it possible to bid on too many keywords in Google Adwords such that it would harm your quality score? Should old, unclicked keywords be occasionally pruned even if they're not costing you anything in terms of expenditure?
#bid #keywords #ppc
  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Hi netkickstart,

    It's not the number of clicks that is important, it's the CTR, which is the ratio of clicks to impressions. What makes a good CTR varies with each individual keyword.

    If you have keywords that generate poor Quality Scores you should immediately pause those keywords and try to fix them. My first action would be to try to improve the QS before pruning it. If you cannot fix the cause of the poor quality score then you should delete it from your campaign.

    Keep in mind that some keywords need to maintain higher CTR than others. You must look at each keyword separately, some will maintain a good QS with relatively low CTR while other keywords must generate much higher CTR to maintain QS. My advice would be to use the QS as the acid test for what gets culled and use bid adjustments to maintain ROI.

    It's not having too many that hurts you it's having the wrong keywords or poorly written ads that hurt.
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  • Profile picture of the author ScottNorfolk
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author netkickstart
      I've got a bunch that aren't even getting impressions. I'd just got to wondering, if I paused them all, if that might bring up the QS (not that I even know where to find that value). LOL.
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by netkickstart View Post

        I've got a bunch that aren't even getting impressions. I'd just got to wondering, if I paused them all, if that might bring up the QS (not that I even know where to find that value). LOL.
        Hi netkickstart,

        Whether or not they are generating impressions is not important, however QS is paramount.

        You can use the Keyword Performance Report and include Quality Scores. You can also click the "Customize columns" link when viewing your keywords and select "Show Quality Score".
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        * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
        *         Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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        • Profile picture of the author netkickstart
          Thanks. A fascinating report. Approximately 55 or so out of 185 keywords on 11 campaigns are 5's and above. That seems pretty good, I think. Thing is some of my highest, a few 7's, have atrocious 2.50-4.75 range front page bids. No way do I even come close to those CPC's. No wonder this ongoing experiment is only draining the account! "Things that make you go Hmmmm"
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          • Profile picture of the author dburk
            Originally Posted by netkickstart View Post

            Thanks. A fascinating report. Approximately 55 or so out of 185 keywords on 11 campaigns are 5's and above. That seems pretty good, I think. Thing is some of my highest, a few 7's, have atrocious 2.50-4.75 range front page bids. No way do I even come close to those CPC's. No wonder this ongoing experiment is only draining the account! "Things that make you go Hmmmm"
            Hi netkickstart,

            It doesn't matter how high the CPC is as long as the ROI is acceptable. Each keyword will have it's own conversion rate so a keyword that has a CPC of $4.00 will be very profitable if the conversion rate is high enough. Often the reason the CPC is that high is because it earns that much. You must test and optimize because your are competing for this traffic against experienced and savvy marketers.
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            * Get Results - Outsource Your PPC Management |
            *             Don Burk Advertising & Marketing - www.donburk.com

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  • Profile picture of the author netkickstart
    Well, yeah, I know the ROI theory (law?), but it only works if you're not chicken-[poop].
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Originally Posted by netkickstart View Post

    Is it possible to bid on too many keywords in Google Adwords such that it would harm your quality score? Should old, unclicked keywords be occasionally pruned even if they're not costing you anything in terms of expenditure?
    Yes

    If your keywords are related you should be ok, but the more they are unrelated the more QS score you might have..

    Always get rid of unconverting keywords - even if they rarely (or never) get traffic
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    > It's not having too many that hurts you it's having the wrong keywords or poorly written ads that hurt.

    > It's not the number of clicks that is important, it's the CTR

    > It doesn't matter how high the CPC is as long as the ROI is acceptable.

    I concur with all these points that dburk makes.

    By the way, Quality Score is calculated at the keyword-ad level, although Google shows you only at the keyword level. Each keyword and ad combination has a QS. Pausing low-QS keywords is a good idea but it wouldn't affect the others, whether they get impressions or not. Best to figure out how to increase the QS. What can help is putting those keywords in separate groups.
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    • Profile picture of the author netkickstart
      Originally Posted by Lucid View Post

      Best to figure out how to increase the QS. What can help is putting those keywords in separate groups.
      Now that's a little counter-intuitive. You'd think if they weren't related enough then separating them wouldn't help, unless... different, (more related) ads then too, right?

      Thanks for the tip (s, plural, all of you). Definitely rumination-worthy stuff there. But don't think too long, eh?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    > unless... different, (more related) ads then too, right?

    Right.
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