Google says "Below First Page Bid" even with no competion

[keyon]

I'm not understanding this.
I placed an ad using Google's suggested bid (0.35) - my ad ran for couple hours then disappeared. Back at the control panel Google tells me I need to raise my bid to 0.45 to be on first page. So I do that - and my ad runs for another couple hours and then disappears. Back at the control panel Google now tells me I need to raise my bid to $1.00 to be on page one.

The confusing thing is that I'm targeting keywords with zero competition on the SERPs - that is, no other ads show up in Google search when I look for my keywords.

Have any ideas what's going on? There's no way I can pay $1.00 per click for what I'm marketing.

Thanks

[danlefree]

When you say "keywords" do you mean a single word like "widget" or a string of words (keyphrase) like "acme steel widget" ..?

Unless you explicitly specify that the exact phrase must appear, Google will match against searches for "acme", "steel", and "widget" when you enter the "acme steel widget" keyphrase at Google Adwords.

This may mean that you are wasting your bids on showing your advertisement for keywords which are a component of your keyphrase (and really general searches like "steel" or "widget" are irrelevant + lots of competition so they will certainly drain your budget quickly).

[keyon]

I'm using a two-word keyword phrase - like "steel widget"

However, I did set up the keyword with three variations:

steel widget (broad match)
"steel widget" (phrase match)
[steel widget] (exact match)

Google is not running my ad for any of these matches - not on page one, not on page ten. I've very carefully gone through their guidelines for improving Quality Score - and I think my campaign is a near perfect example of what Google is looking for - at least, according to their guidelines.

Pretty frustrating to see nothing but blank whitespace in the right column - when Google could be making real money from my measly little ad.

[ArthurNYC]

Almost sounds like a mini-version of the Google slap. What kind of site do you have?

Arthur

As Seen On TV

[keyon]

Originally Posted by ArthurNYC

Almost sounds like a mini-version of the Google slap. What kind of site do you have?

AuthurNYC - you can check out the site in my sig.

thanks

[SouthamptonAngel]

I would suggest that this is a Quality Score issue.

Also, you say that you have no competition, but how do you know? Others may have tried advertising on the same keywords/phrases but have been removed because their CTR/QS was not good enough.