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Question about average cpc...

by Jack Sarlo
11 replies
  • PPC/SEM
    • |
Hi,

One keyword in google display network got these stats.

44 clicks 12,305imp 0.36%ctr $0.16avg. cpc $6.88 cost

The same keyword in another campaign got way higher avg. cpc even though ctr is higher.

3 clicks 740imp 0.41%ctr $0.60avg. cpc $1.80 cost

So why the same keyword suddenly got way higher cpc? These stats where taken days apart only.

Thanks
#average #cpc #question
  • Profile picture of the author Morten Steinmetz Bagge
    Is the Quality score of the keyword with the highest CPC, lower than the other?



    How come you have the same keyword 2 places?
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    There's not enough information here. You say the first campaign is a display one. I assume the second may be a search campaign. If that's the case, you can't compare the two, they are two different kinds of campaigns.


    Another thing is that you are comparing 3 clicks to 41. So even if you are comparing apples to apples (both display or search campaigns), that's is not statistically significant. We also don't even know if the geographic targeting and other settings are the same not to mention as I said before about the campaign types.


    You won't have a QS showing for a display campaign unless you mix it with search which you shouldn't do. Look at Relative CTR to give you an idea of the quality of your ads. You want it above 1.0
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  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Hi Jack,

    Whenever you are looking at very small data sets you are going to find mostly random results. The smaller the data set the more likely that the results are totally random. You need way more data then that to make a reliable conclusion.

    Another thing to consider is that if your targeting was different, or the ad text was different, between the 2 campaigns you can expect the results to be very different. For example if your keyword that triggered impressions was a broad match, or phrase match type then you can expect a lot of variation based on the actual search term that was used by users and how well those search terms matched up with the ad text that was displayed.

    Once you have isolated those variables, and you have a lot more data, you are likely to see a much more consistent result. Even so, you are still going to see variations in performance based on hour of day, day of week, and in some cases day of month, or month of year. So you really need to run parallel A/B Split tests that run simultaneously to isolate the time variations you are likely to get from testing in series.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Sarlo
    My question was about cpc... what determines cpc to be 0.16 at one point but 0.60 at another for the same keyword?

    If it's the same keyword I thought only ctr effects cpc (the higher it is the lower you pay per click). Apparently something else can increase or decrease cpc for the same keyword.

    Campaigns settings and all (both gdn) are identical, but the ads totally different.

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by Jack Sarlo View Post

      My question was about cpc... what determines cpc to be 0.16 at one point but 0.60 at another for the same keyword?

      If it's the same keyword I thought only ctr effects cpc (the higher it is the lower you pay per click). Apparently something else can increase or decrease cpc for the same keyword.

      Campaigns settings and all (both gdn) are identical, but the ads totally different.

      Thanks!
      Hi Jack,

      Keywords are used for triggering ads but you are not targeting the actual keywords in the Display network, you are targeting placements that are contextually related to your keyword.

      The display network displays you ads on various web pages, and in various positions against an ever changing level of competition. Ad space is sold off in a real time auction with the level of competition varying based on the ad location the number of competitors at the moment the impression was generated. You can expect a very wide range in CPC, because it will vary a great deal based on where the ad was placed.
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    • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
      Originally Posted by Jack Sarlo View Post

      If it's the same keyword I thought only ctr effects cpc (the higher it is the lower you pay per click). Apparently something else can increase or decrease cpc for the same keyword.
      Technically to the Adwords system, they are not the same keyword. Your ads are different. Even if you use the same exact ads - why you would does not make sense - they are going to get different results based on different things such as your geo-targeting, not to mention your bidding. Therefore, different results means a different QS which leads to a different CPC. Also as said before by Don and myself, it's early since you only have a few clicks. But in the end, you are comparing only the keywords which is wrong as there's so much more. Keywords don't like in a bubble by themselves.

      You say both campaigns are display only and you also use keywords which is not how I recommend using display campaigns. Still, having different ads means you have different campaigns which will get different results, different quality and thus different CPC. What I don't understand is why you have two campaigns using the same settings, save for the ads.
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    • Profile picture of the author altonroot
      Originally Posted by Jack Sarlo View Post

      If it's the same keyword I thought only ctr effects cpc (the higher it is the lower you pay per click). Apparently something else can increase or decrease cpc for the same keyword.
      Only CTR doesn't decide what you pay for click. Lot of other factors like quality score (which should be different in your case because your ads are different), competition in auction (competition will be different on different times of the day, so which keyword went to auction at which time determines CPC) and many more things. There is also a possibility of both keywords inter-compete in Auction and one wins at much higher cost.
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  • Profile picture of the author vijaybansal
    Kindly check the quality score of the targeted keyword.

    If your keyword has high quality score than CPC is decreased

    or

    If your Keyword has low quality score than CPC is increased.

    For Example:

    If you target this keyword in two ad-group. "Website development company"

    Ad-group (1) has high quality score compare to Ad-group (2) than Ad-group (1) CPC is lower than Ad-group (2).

    I hope, you are getting my point.
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    Quality Score is not going to help since he says these are display campaigns. There's also not all that much data with just a few clicks. Since this is display, a more informational metric would be relative CTR. This would give a better clue as to his ad quality.

    Jack, why the same keywords for two different products? That's a big clue right there. Even if they are very similar, one set of keywords is not quite as good for one of the products and the ads you're using, hence the differences. Where your ads are showing are also very likely very different, even on the same keywords. That's another reason not to use keywords in a display campaign. You want to show your ads where the response will likely be high. Right now, you are letting the system decide for you and I don't think it's very good. Just take a look at the pages where your ads showed and you might be surprised.
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    • Profile picture of the author ppcmaestro
      I agree with Lucid Web Marketing on this. You shouldn't let the account loose with keywords. Another point to consider, you are bidding on the same keyword twice? If thats the case, then you are try to compete against your own keywords and thats going to increase your CPC's in the process.
      Rather a better solution to this would be to split test your same ads with different landing pages. Why do you need to have seperate ads for the same set of keywords.

      Hope that makes sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author tmarkarnold
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