Has Google gone mad or is it me?

[Greedo]

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I know many posts have discussed the subject of where Google gets it CPC pricing from but I really just don't get it.

Tonight I have picked some really odd ball bizarre keywords that nobody else is advertising on and the big G tells me 'inactive for search' unless £3 or £5 or £8 quid is coughed up!

I put all the [keywords] in exact match but no joy.

The only explanation I can think of is that one of the keywords I chose had 30,000+ searches. So Google must be thinking 'I want x amount for this number of impressions'

If this is the case then we are all knackered. IMO

Can anyone shed any light.

[renegade]

My latest I can't believe it run in with Adwords is the word "drive" is trademarked - durrrrrr! It says it's possible to apply for an exception but there's no link to click or procedure to follow, anyone know how to do this?

[jess1]

Diamond/s is also has a trademark... just getting silly

[harris1]

Its beyond belief. The worst I have seen recently is with keywords performing well and suddenly increasinging minimum bid from 20p to £2.75.

I had two keywords, "widget" and "buy widget" for example.
Widget had a clicktrhough rate of 4.8% @ an average of 12p per click.

"Buy widget" had a click through rate of 6% + and a cpc of 24per click. Google obviously thought "buy widget" is more relevant therfore we dont want them bidding on "widget". Increase relevance.....a click through rate of 4.8% isnt bad.

Dosnt make sense.

[bapages]

My latest I can't believe it run in with Adwords is the word "drive" is trademarked - durrrrrr! It says it's possible to apply for an exception but there's no link to click or procedure to follow, anyone know how to do this?

If you alter your ad it will tell you the word is TM and a link appears to request an exception.

You will get an excemption if your ad is nothing to do with the company that has requested the TM e.g if the company that specializes in cars TM the word drive but your ad is for a clothing company Google will allow the exemption.

[R.I.Kelly]

The "inactive for search" really gets my goat. I was speaking to a PPC affiliate at a g2g and he mentioned that this had happened to him when trying to bid on the brand name of a major high st retailer for their program. Despite there being lots of traffic on it, it still said bid £2.50 or more to activate. Ridiculous! They need to be a lot more clear about their criteria for deciding this, as Greedo says it seems to be working almost on a CPM basis like a media campaign.

The new forecasting tool is a waste of time too - "estimated CPC: £0 - £1". Very helpful for trying to predict ROI!

[Greedo]

But why are they asking such ridiculous CPC prices for words that no one else is bidding on.

Surely if no one is bidding the CPC should be 0.01p ?

e.g

New campaign, UK only, one keyword, keyword in ad twice, [exact match], no one else bidding, £2.75 please! What?

They also spoil the party by mixing broad match with exact match listings. If someone bids on [a blue widget from london] at £0.10 this should appear above someone else who is bidding £1.00 on 'widget'. The minimum CPC should also be based on how many people are specifically bidding on [a blue widget from london]

Mind you I don't suppose they care about my couple of hundred quid spend a month.

[R.I.Kelly]

Because of their dedication to the quality of the user experience! Google love to talk about this, but you're right, if you are the only advertiser on a specific exact match phrase why should it matter how often that phrase is searched on? I can't see any way user experience would be affected.

With regards to your last point about spend, I doubt this has any implication as I know of organisations & individuals spending many thousands and still having this problem.