Comments on: AdWords CPA Bidding Basics and Best Practices

By: PPC Hero

PPC Hero — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 12:43:00 +0000

If you set a target CPA, AdWords tends to be as aggressive as possible while still remaining under that target. If you are setting your target CPA a lot higher than what you actually want, AdWords will still try to increase volume (and thereby spend for them) right up to the point that you told them to.

You can always adjust that target CPA bid down and see what happens to volume. You should take a look at your lost IS due to rank and if that’s really low at the moment then you might be able to still keep a pretty good flow of leads. You’ll lose more impressions to rank if you adjust your bid down, so keep an eye out for that.

As far as bad leads go, Sam has a post that should help you:

http://www.ppchero.com/how-to-fix-your-ppc-lead-quality-when-it-tanks/

Good luck!

By: Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:48:00 +0000

Thanks for the reply. However I encountered a couple of problems. My conversion cost has been rising steadily since I posted. The average is right below the target. I set what I thought was a modest target, about twice of what my actual target should be. What do you think may be causing this? Also, although the amount of leads rose, the client has complained that the there are many bad leads.

By: PPC Hero

PPC Hero — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:18:00 +0000

Those sound like some great results! Thanks for sharing.

By: Tommy Boy

Tommy Boy — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:16:00 +0000

Hi Bethany, thank you for the article. It was an interesting read. I’ve been using optimizer for two months now and it’s a wonderful feature. In my first month of using optimizer, the lead volume of the campaign increased five fold. I started optimizer in the middle of the month, which probably was not a good idea, because that month was very unusual and the conversion rates dipped severely. The month prior to optimizer being enabled, was the best month in terms of CPA in the account’s history, and the volume made us eligible for optimizer.

In the first full month, my CPA decreased overall and was 20% lower than the target I set, however it was higher than the previous best. My campaign spend tripled, CPC increased, CTR increased and so did the conversion rate. Now in its second full month, the CPA is starting to stabilize. I suspect this is because I started pausing non converting broad keywords with high spend and irrelevant terms in the search term report. I also added new keys within that period, particularly those that have converted. So far this month, my CPC has increased again but so has my conversion rate. Also, impression share has increased significantly in that time, 10-15%. So these are my results.

By: PPC Hero

PPC Hero — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:26:00 +0000

They do not charge on conversions. Even though they’re targeting conversions with the bidding strategy, they are still charging you per click. The only option for this bidding strategy is to pay for each click.

Thanks for reading!

By: anita shah

anita shah — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Yeah, same question!
Do they charge on conversions only or also on CPC??

By: +Apartamentos Conil

+Apartamentos Conil — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 22:04:00 +0000

Wich is the best strategy to lower de CPA ? There is an average position for the ad where we can find an optimal bid for the best conversion?

By: Christian Hofland

Christian Hofland — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:52:00 +0000

Hi Bethany. Thank you for your informative blog. I wonder how I can use information about conversion values in Adwords. Not all conversions have the same value for me. Adwords treat all conversions as equal. Thanks!

By: Quora

Quora — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:07:19 +0000

Can algorithms be used to buy ppc ads based on numerical data? If so, is there a product for this?…

You effectively get automatically optimized PPC ads when you opt for the CPA pricing option in the Google Adwords system, this option, only available to campaigns that have already generated a statistical history, leaves the campaign optimization proce…

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Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:01:41 +0000

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