DISQUS

The ClickEquations Blog: Why It’s Called First Page Bid *Estimate*

  • FaceySpacey · 8 months ago
    much needed post. What do you think about a search term that never has any ads and has a 30 cent FPBE? Is it possible to bid .01 cent and get it? Maybe the estimate is 5 cents or something. My question is basically this: Does google force advertisers to bid a certain amount for keywords that have zero or close to zero competition. Maybe this is an extreme example, but I think anyone reading this knows what I'm saying. BASICALLY WHAT IS THE LOWEST BIDS PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REGULARLY ACHIEVE RELATIVE TO THE FPBE FOR THE KEYWORD TARGETED?
  • Craig Danuloff · 8 months ago
    Google sets the minimum required bid for any keyword - and usually not at 0.01. They do this for keywords that have no paid ads, and for those with lots of competitors when they only show a small number of ads. They always set the minimum using a formula known only to them. So the answer it it varies depending on what Google wants to set the price at for that keyword.
  • rstock · 6 months ago
    From SMX Advanced in Seattle a similar question was posted and here is a quick summary to the answer given (by a Google employee).

    If there is a category or search query that has almost no competitors than when you attempt to bid on this search query your ad may not show up either. The reason for this is relevance to the user and good user experience. For example, the search query "what year was world war I?" does not have any paid search ads, it doesn't because Google knows that this query is more researched based. To get a paid result on this query you would have to prove to Google that your paid search result could drive traffic and be relevant for users.

    If there are close to zero competitors but still some, then it might be that these advertisers have historical data and high CTR's that have allowed them to be serving for a particular query.

    In regards to your question, I don't really keep too close of track on bid in relation to FPBE, I'm more interested in FPBE and my position.
  • Jason · 6 months ago
    Good Article - I am trying to optimize a campaign for a client and they had another company guarantee 1-3 position. My ads are 10/10 in quality and I have been increasing the bid and still don't get 1-3 position.

    Is it better to have the position option turned on - would that help?
  • rstock · 6 months ago
    Does anyone have any insight to this situation regarding FPBE?

    22 properly themed keywords in one adgroup, it is a new account, campaign and adgroup so history should not play a big role in this situation. All keywords are at a QS of 7 but the FPBE ranges from $0.05 to $20.00 for very similar keywords. All keywords also have KW lvl URLs pointing to the same landing page.

    What do people think about this? Is the FPBE being affected by competetiveness of each keyword? Does the landing page relevance have anything to do with it at the keyword level (even though UI does not signal lander as a problem)? Any fresh ideas, anyone else run into this problem?

    Thanks!
  • CScott - email subject lines · 3 weeks ago
    Do you think the FPBE is useful to the advertiser? Or, is it there mostly to prod advertisers to increase their bids chasing the elusive first page?