i Guys I have a question on the target search page location strategy. Let me just outline what i have set up :

The backround

I currently have mine set at anywhere on first page.
My cap is at R27 which as i understand as google adjust to try get me to show up it wont pass that limit.
I have the bid automation set on manual and not automatic.
So Usually I set my bids at somewhere between est first page bid and est top of page bid.

There is a great variance in some keyword competition.


The issue
My problem is I have some keywords with a keywords Quality score of 9 their Est top of first page bid would be something like R4.

So i would set it at 5 or 6.

When somebody views and clicks the add though it changes the bid to R20+

This to me is crazy i mean i have 9+ score the Est top is R4 but google makes me pay R20 for it ?

Is there anything that i am missing here?

So manual is defined as :

"You set your own bids, and Google Ads adjusts them to meet or exceed the estimated top of page bid"

That doesn't really make sense to me ...

What im looking for is for google to make adjustments yes but within limits not set by just the cap but limited to say a percentage of the initial amount I set.

Right now it looks like it just adjusts according to the max cap regardless of my initial bid....


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.