Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 26

Thread: Adwords CTR

  1. #1
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608

    Adwords CTR

    I have started to advertise my plasma site on Adwords (good idea Emancipator), but have just had the thing which says your CTR rate isnt high enough...

    What is a normal CTR for Adwords? Similar to adsense? What should I be aiming at?

  2. #2
    Site Contributor
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Sweet Carolina
    Posts
    736
    It depends on how competitive the keywords are that you're bidding on.

    For example, a few days ago I bid on one keyword -- it got me 6 clicks with over 1,600 impressions, for a CTR of 0.3%. On the other hand, with another keyword, I received 269 clicks with 10,460 impressions, as I was the only bidder for the keyword. CTR was 2.5%.

  3. #3
    Chronic Entrepreneur
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
    Posts
    1,112
    I can't find much of a pattern to it in my campaigns. It seems like the mode is around 1.5% clickthrough for "strong" status, and .3% for "at risk" or "disabled". There are quite a few outliers, including a few listed as "moderate" at around 2%.

    Upon closer inspection, it may also be driven by the number of impressions, i.e., it doesn't downgrade the status base on clickthrough % unless the impressions are above a certain threshold.

    Can anyone else comment on this?

  4. #4
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    At such low percentages, I would think they would only consider a reasonably high number of impressions to give a representative impression of the CTR. E.g. if the first few impression didnt get a click, giving 0% CTR, it would be unreasonable to chuck up an error.

    It would appear they wait till around 1000 imp?

    It would appear theres quite a range anyway, it just seems to me the minimum CTR is a bit high.

  5. #5
    Chronic Entrepreneur
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
    Posts
    1,112
    Quote Originally Posted by r2d2
    At such low percentages, I would think they would only consider a reasonably high number of impressions to give a representative impression of the CTR. E.g. if the first few impression didnt get a click, giving 0% CTR, it would be unreasonable to chuck up an error.
    You're probably right.


    My general strategy is to go for overly broad matches at first, for example television or plasma television. Then if (when) some of those terms are disabled I add narrower terms that include the disabled terms: discount plasma television, plasma television reviews, flat screen plasma television, etc.

  6. #6
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    yeah, i guess that makes sense. 'plasma tv' is my problem one, 2 clicks from 1018 imp!


    Edit: one other thing. Do you still get kicked off if you go under the CTR limit three times? I signed up last year, but didnt really use it after going under the limit then, and have just done it again straight away now! Do'h!
    Last edited by r2d2; 10-20-2004 at 01:53 PM.

  7. #7
    Chronic Entrepreneur
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
    Posts
    1,112
    I think the trick is to know which low-CTR terms are worth fighting for. Some terms will have higher conversion rates than others. I just let most of them slide and replace them with more narrow keyword sets, but if one of your best performing keywords is at risk, it might be worth it to improve the max CPC for that keyword or change the ad text to attract more clicks. Of course my sites are a totally different category than yours, so your mileage may vary.

  8. #8
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    Quote Originally Posted by Google Help
    Is there a minimum required clickthrough rate?

    Yes. To protect the overall value of the AdWords program for Google users (and your potential customers), Google constantly monitors the clickthrough rates (CTR) of all accounts to ensure they're performing as well as they should.

    Account performance:
    Each account is evaluated after every 1,000 ad impressions are delivered on Google. If the CTR for your account falls below a minimum required CTR (which varies by ad position but is 0.5% for the top spot and slightly reduced for each subsequent position), we'll only show your ads occasionally on your underperforming keywords. (The status of each of your keywords will be clearly indicated in your keyword reports.)

    If your keywords do notn't improve, we may disable them. You will 'll then need to refine your campaign to improve its performance and effectiveness. After editing your campaign, you may restore full ad delivery to your account.
    Doh, forgot they might have an FAQ

    It would appear it is a 1000 min imp to check CTR. Doesnt seem like you will get kicked off though... Maybe I dreamed that up...

  9. #9
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    Arrrgghh. I must be rubbish at writing ads or something. Maybe not targetting keywords well enough. Got suspended again!

    What keywords would people recommend for my plasma tv AWS site?

  10. #10
    Senior Member AndyH's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    553
    plasma displays
    cheap plasmas
    plasma screens

    Can't really think of much else, but remember that not everyone calls them a "plasma tv" .
    New website released. ya rly!

  11. #11
    Chronic Entrepreneur
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
    Posts
    1,112
    When you say suspended, do you mean that some of your keywords were disabled, or that your entire account was suspended?

    If you want to increase your ctr, think about who would be likely to click your ad and target those people. If your ads state that your site sells plasma tv's, then you'll probably get higher ctr on phrases like
    buy plasma tv
    plasma sale
    discount plasma
    cheap flat screen tv
    etc...

    When you use generic phrases like "plasma screens" your ad will be displayed to a lot of searchers who don't want to buy, but just want to research plasma tv's. When they see your ad for a plasma tv store, they'll just ignore it.

    Of course, it doesn't hurt to target generic "plasma tv" type searches too, just realize that your ctr will be lower for those phrases and they may be disabled.

  12. #12
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    No, my entire account gets temporarily suspended. It says to optimise your keywords then 'restore full delivery'. I do restore it myself.

    I think I do need to specifically target phrases like 'buy plasma', 'plasma sale' etc

    latest campaign effort:

    plasma Moderate 2 542
    discount plasma Moderate 1 51
    plasma screen Moderate 0 387
    flat panel tv Moderate 0 82

    imp. in red and clicks in black. 3 clicks for over 1000 imp!

    Back to the drawing board I guess. I think Westech is right with the need to target better. Cheers for the advice guys.

  13. #13
    Gimme Fries with that!
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    1,469
    good luck with it R2, i am sure once you find the right target it will pay off

  14. #14
    Registered LuckyShima's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Posts
    207
    Another thing you could consider is having specific ads for as many separate search terms as possible. So rather than capturing all searches for "plasma" with one generic ad, you might need to target "Sony plasma" "Zenith plasma" "Gateway Plasma" and have a specific ad title for each of these. The number of impressions should be the same, because the search term contains "plasma", but CTR might improve because of having a targeted ad. How far you take this depends on your energy level.

  15. #15
    Future AstonMartin driver r2d2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,608
    I have refined my keywords to specifically target plasma buying now. CTR is looking better now, 1 click from just over 100 imp.s in about 24hours. Just annoying its so slow now, but I guess its ok.

    Will see how it goes with doing things like those you suggested LuckyShima, at 1 click a day though, its doesnt look that worthwhile though. I get many more free from Yahoo.

Similar Threads

  1. AdWords: Google's PPC Program
    By Chris in forum Advertising Networks
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 05-18-2005, 04:54 PM
  2. Adwords Isn't Working...
    By incka in forum General Chat
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 05-17-2004, 07:01 PM
  3. Adwords - Defining affiliate status
    By mobilebadboy in forum Advertising & Affiliate Programs
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 04-09-2004, 12:01 AM
  4. Google has broken me - I signed up for adwords
    By Apollo in forum Search Engine Optimization
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 02-05-2004, 05:10 PM
  5. advice on adwords, whats the best way?
    By Cloughie in forum Advertising & Affiliate Programs
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 01-01-2004, 03:49 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •