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Don’t Make This Mistake When Opening A New PPC Account!Posted by Amber on June 11, 2008 in Basic PPC Strategies |
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What I found the other day with a Google Adwords account I have actually seen before, which makes me think this mistake could possibly be a common one new Adwords users make when opening an account.
The problem:
The advertiser opened a new Google Adwords account and generated no impressions or clicks for days. When he went to look at the ad diagnostics tool, it said that campaign had already exceeded his daily budget. How could he have exceeded his campaign budget if he’s never received any impressions or clicks?
The mistake:
The mistake the advertiser made was he set his keyword bids too high, and his daily budgets were too low. This combination can cause a lot of frustration when first beginning a new account. I had this happen to an account of mine, and the explanation I got from Google was that my bids were too high for the daily budget - and that it essentially got turned off as soon as it was turned on. Essentially, Google thinks that if it starts showing the ads and people click on them, they won’t be able to shut them off in enough time to not go over budget, so they just turn it off as soon as it is turned on.
The fix:
Simply lower your bids or increase your daily budget. Once the advertiser did this, his ads immediately began showing. There was no technical problem with the account or with Google.
Has this happened to you? If so, what did you do to fix it? I think for newer advertisers it’s incredibly important to read as many PPC blogs as possible to avoid making mistakes like this one. And it’s just as important for experienced PPC advertisers to write about common mistakes and tips on running an account.
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June 11th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
It’s becoming VERY difficult for a newbie advertiser (who is running a national campaign) to jump into Adwords and make a profit.
This is just 1 of dozens of potential pitfalls. Adwords has become a beast!
-Josh
June 11th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Good post… i have seen this before. A rule i like to follow for brand spanking new adwords accounts (businesses that have never bid on kw’s before) is to set my max key word bids at $2.00 and monitor the performance closely for the first week.
This rule has worked quite well for me setting up adwords for various industries.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Hi Ryan, it’s always good to set your keyword bids higher initially to build up some traffic and develop a history and quality score. But yes, you simply can’t have your keyword bids high with a super low daily budget! Thanks for reading!
June 12th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
[...] Don’t Make This Mistake When Opening A New PPC Account! [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
This happens to me often even though my keyword bids are under 1.00 and my daily budget is in the 6 digits range. Another problem I get about once a week is that my “The keyword phrase doesn’t currently trigger any of your ads.” Whenever I contact Google about why this happens they give me the same answer. That my account was under review. However the person I talk to about the problem never seems to know that my account is under review until a few days after I contact them about the problem.
June 17th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I agree with Chris, this has happened to me before with keyword bids of 0.45 and a daily budget of $4000 or more.
Immediately after launch, the account says ‘reached and exceeded your budget’. But it really is ‘account under review’.
Some of my accounts come back after 10 days, others never do
June 18th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Hi Chris and Mark, I too have had problems like yours where I’ve added new keywords that are extremely targeted and Google wouldn’t display my ads due to low search volume. What I experience with Google is when they won’t show your ads, just bid higher and see what happens. That’s what I did and finally my ads started to show. Then I could go back in a lower bids back to normal. Money motivates people to do their job, Google is no different. Ridiculous, but sometimes true!
June 20th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Amber,
Usually my ads run fine for a few days and then they get hit with “The keyword phrase doesn’t currently trigger any of your ads.” I have tried changing the bids and daily budget but the only thing that seems to work is contacting Google and waiting a few days while they fix it.
July 18th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I’ve had this error message with an account I set up today - checked all my billing information then Googled it and found you! I’ve lowered my CPC bids to 10p but so far no good! It’s really frustrating - I’ve never come across this issue before and I’ve set up a lot of Adwords campaigns!
July 18th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hi Zoe, It may just take some time for Google to pick up on your changes. Is your daily budget high enough? I would give it at least a full day then check again.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:35 am
The account still isn’t working but I’ve been in touch with my Google rep and he said it’s ‘under review’. Reading the comments above I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing! However, he did say he’d try and get the process sped up so I should hear back tomorrow.