Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Paying More to Get More

The challenge

This same client was also showing ads in the Search network, where the bid prices were almost twice as high as in the Display network. Their leads were coming in at an average cost per conversion $29.57, which was slightly higher than ideal. Concerned about overspending, the client limited its daily budget. We examined the Impression Share metrics (then available at the campaign level only, and now viewable at the ad group level as well) to find that the budget limited the number of collectible impressions, clicks, and potential conversions on any given day.

The solution

We simply raised the daily budget. Because we kept the bid prices static, we expected that this change would result in more traffic of the same quality.

The results

As you can see in Table 19-3, this did happen. Impressions and clicks rose, and conversions jumped from 734 to 962. So far, so good.

Table 19-3 Before and After Increasing Daily Budget

But what was really interesting (and delightful!) was that the cost of these clicks and leads decreased. Average position hardly changed, but the CTR skyrocketed from 2.44% to 2.93% — an increase of 20 percent. The average CPC dropped from $5.26 to $5.03. And despite the site conversion rate dipping a bit, the all-important average cost per conversion dropped to within the ideal range, from $29.57 to $28.75. Raising the daily budget ...