Adwords keywords disabled

[Ack]

After a long time away from Adwords, I'm getting back in and trying to promote some CPA offers through them. I set up a new campaign with a couple of ad groups. All of the keywords I add say:

3 keyword(s) are currently inactive for search.

These keywords are marked in the Status column of the Keywords tab below. Improve their quality through optimization, delete them, or raise the keywords' maximum CPCs to the minimum bids indicated. (Raising the bids to at least the minimum will activate the keywords.)

They say this even though no impressions of the ads have been shown. I think that these ads for these keywords would have a good click-through rate if Google would just let them run. Why are they disabled before even being given a chance to see how they perform? Is there any way to give them a chance without raising the max CPC to what Google tells me to?

 

[avantrosa]

Improve their quality through optimization

That's the key phrase here that many people overlook.

Google can't predict the future, so if this is a new ad group you're going to have to let it run before they understand your ad.

If your ad performs well and shows a great CTR, Google will allow some flexibility with your keywords. Only at that time will you be able to lower your bid prices.

For instance, I was helping a guy with his AdWords account and he had a couple hundred relevant keywords in one ad group. This was a new ad group and about half the keywords were marked inactive. After letting his campaign run for about a week we started seeing some of the inactive keywords automatically activating.

Just remember, with Google everything is an algorithm... so they need values to use for their calculations. Give it time and your campaigns will start gaining ground.

Also, one more thing that most people don't know about with AdWords... If you click the "contact us" link at the top right a window will popup. At the bottom there is a radio button list, try selecting something like "Payment & Billing" (Anything works really) then click continue. On the next page you'll see a "Get live help from an AdWords Specialist" button. That'll open up a live chat box with a rep.

These AdWords Specialists know their shit. I've learned alot just by doing this and they can offer some valuable insite that isn't commonly known. The other good thing is that they can login to your account directly and are very quick with noticing areas for improvement.

Give it a shot, let us know what the end result is.


- Jason

 

[Ack]

The problem for me is that there is only one keyword in this disabled ad group, and since it's disabled from the start, it's never given a chance to establish its ctr. I guess I may just be stuck with raising the min. bid to the ridiculous amount that google recommends and getting the ctr up a bit.

Thanks for the great advice about the live rep! I've always just written emails and waited days for a canned response. I'll definitely put the live chat to good use!

 

[avantrosa]

Hey Ack,

Like I mentioned above, keep your campaigns running for a couple weeks. Leave that keyword at that bid and if your ad group as a whole performs well they may activate that keyword automatically.

When I said CTR, I meant on the ad group level, not keyword. Google can tell if the keyword is relevant to other well performing keywords. As long as that ad group is effective, you should be fine.

- Jason

 

[pimpofclicks]

Hi Ack!

I usually kick off an Adwords campaign with an initial bid of 3-4 times what I am prepared to pay for once the account is established. It will get you playing field and your ads in a good position to get some nice clickthroughs - which will ultimately add to the ominous "Quality Score". After about a week I decrease the bid by around 20% - the next week decrease by another 20% etc.etc until I reach a comforatble level. IMO the added expense in the beginning generally pays for itself with a higher Quality score, better position and good CPC.

Remember the Google probably won´t end up taking you max bid price - but they might.

If your back in the game for a while Ack I would definite suggest getting a few tools to work with. They save time and money!

/Scott

avantrosa - great tip about the online reps!

 

[Ack]

Thanks for the great advice, guys.

Just to clear something up, does ctr for the entire account affect new campaigns and adgroups? Does ctr for an entire campaign affect new adgroups within the campaign?

Do I need to worry about my overall account or campaign having a bad ctr, or is it truly tracked individually for each ad group?

 

[avantrosa]

Ack,

It's based on the Ad Group level. If you have five Ad Groups in one Campaign and four are doing poor while the last is doing great, the four doing poor won't effect the other Ad Groups 'Quality Score'.

- Jason

 

[Ack]

Excellent. Thanks again for your help!