Outrageous PPC CPC for Jeep/Chrysler

[mwpistell]

You have those set as broad modified and still have $20+ CPC? Interesting. I'd take a look at the auction insights report to get a good idea who and how many people are bidding on that keyword(s).

Sometimes If I have high CPC keywords that I want to keep I'll go ahead and make a separate campaign and put each keyword in their own ad group. This will allow me to have further control over the Keyword+ad text relevance and Keyword+search query relevance, which in turn will boost my Quality Score and eventually lower my CPCs.

 

[Sachin Raja]

You have those set as broad modified and still have $20+ CPC? Interesting. I'd take a look at the auction insights report to get a good idea who and how many people are bidding on that keyword(s).

Sometimes If I have high CPC keywords that I want to keep I'll go ahead and make a separate campaign and put each keyword in their own ad group. This will allow me to have further control over the Keyword+ad text relevance and Keyword+search query relevance, which in turn will boost my Quality Score and eventually lower my CPCs.

Listen to MWPistell! He knows what he is talking about and has done fantastic work on our account

 

[ewalraven]

Solution, replace keyword "Grand Cherokee" with any of the following for an almost certain cheaper CPC

+2014 +Grand +Cherokee
+used +Grand +Cherokee
+Jeep +Grand +Cherokee

Just to clarify, you are going for the #1 spot, right?

 

[mwpistell]

Just to clarify, you are going for the #1 spot, right?

Not exactly, and here's why: although position 1 is nice, you'll still have many opportunities to convert even if your ad lands in position 2 or 3. What ad slot is the closest to the organic search results? Position 3, it's practically water-front real estate and at a cheaper price than position 1. In fact, in some of my client accounts I've set the bidding strategy to make sure our ads appear at position 3. If you bid for the #3 spot you will, on average, have lower CPCs, which means you can afford more clicks in a given budgets, which leads to more qualified customers browsing your site and eventually more car sales.

Keep in mind that position 3 has, on average, a slightly lower conversion rate compared to position 1, so this strategy is not ideal for every campaign.

Just to bring a little science into this, Google has done plenty of Eye Tracking tests on their search results page to see where user's eyes naturally look at first. Here's what they found out:

In short, I wouldn't worry too much about the #1 spot, people are still looking at you the same even at #3.

 

[bono426]

wow, that is extremely useful! Thanks for this! I just toned down the bid amount and am going to aim for pos 2-3. The main competitors for the keywords are actually the manufacturer (Jeep). So Chrysler is running adwords campaigns against their dealers while reimbursing them their adwords spend? It seems like the only company that wins is google?

 

[ewalraven]

Just to clarify, you are going for the #1 spot, right?

Not exactly, and here's why: although position 1 is nice, you'll still have many opportunities to convert even if your ad lands in position 2 or 3.

Yeah, my bad I .. that was asking bono (even though I quoted you). I just was more or less curious if they were just targeting the number one position, but I think that was clarified in the last post. Would just be crazy if they were going for 2 and 3 and still running into the same problem. Although the case would be rare. I guess anything is possible.

Totally agree though -- #1 is nice, but in most cases not needed (especially for five Abraham Lincolns).

 

[mwpistell]

wow, that is extremely useful! Thanks for this! I just toned down the bid amount and am going to aim for pos 2-3. The main competitors for the keywords are actually the manufacturer (Jeep). So Chrysler is running adwords campaigns against their dealers while reimbursing them their adwords spend? It seems like the only company that wins is google?

At a glance it may seem like only Google comes out on top in the when dealerships get their Chrysler PAP funds, but at the end of the day everyone benefits. Chrysler bids on their own brand name and products because it costs them pennies to do so, and due to a near perfect Quality Score they will almost always be in the #1 ad position. But more importantly Chrysler bids on their own keywords because it saves the local dealership money, here's how:

If, for example, a customer looking to buy a car triggers the keyword +new +Chrysler +300 and clicks on the official Chrysler ad:

They'll land on a page where they can customize their new 300 to their tastes.

Once through with customization Chrysler will present them with a list of local dealers that carry that specific new 300 in stock:

In the end, Chrysler paid for the advertising and the dealership gets the sale without having to spend money on a potentially expensive click.

 

[csabatka1]

I love when smart people post. Good stuff mwpistell.

 

[yagoparamo]

Pistell,

Don't disagree but,

Great to push product (for Chrysler)
Good for status quo dealerships
Bad for dealerships that want to grow (compete with status quo dealerships)

 

[mwpistell]

I love when smart people post. Good stuff mwpistell.

Thanks bud

If anyone wants me to review and suggest changes to their Adwords account then send me a PM and I'll get us started. I'm auditing accounts for free right now for Dealer Refresh users only. Normally I charge from 3-5% of annual AdWords spend to complete the audit, but I'm feeling generous today.