Tip: Manage PPC Spending With Bids, Not Budget
Many companies take advantage of the Budget control in Google AdWords to limit their daily and monthly spending to their desired goal. What not everyone realizes is that this can result in higher cost per click (CPC) and fewer clicks! This is because the way that AdWords ensures you don't exceed your budget is by limiting the number of times your ad is displayed (which limits clicks).
Here's a simplified example to illustrate the point. Say you have only one keyword and it has the following monthly cost and volume data (hypothetical data):
| Position | Bid | Clicks | CTR | CPC | Cost |
| 1 | $11.39 | 1,600 | 4.0% | $8.30 | $13,280 |
| 2 | $7.14 | 1,100 | 2.8% | $5.20 | $5,720 |
| 3 | $4.52 | 800 | 2.0% | $3.43 | $2,744 |
| 4 | $3.91 | 700 | 1.8% | $2.95 | $2,065 |
| 5 | $3.27 | 600 | 1.5% | $2.44 | $1,464 |
| 6 | $2.64 | 500 | 1.3% | $1.94 | $970 |
| 7 | $2.03 | 400 | 1.0% | $1.47 | $588 |
| 8 | $1.40 | 300 | 0.8% | $1.02 | $306 |
First, imagine you have a bid of $7.14 (since this is an important keyword, you want to rank high) and your monthly budget is $2,750. In this case, your ad will show up at position 2, but only $2,750/$5,720 = 48% of the time. This means you get 48% x 1,100 = 528 clicks. Your cost per click is $5.20, which brings your monthly spending in right under your budget of $2,745.60.
Now, imagine that your bid was $4.52, with the same budget of $2,750. Here, your ad shows up in position 3 but shows 100% of the time. Now, you get 800 clicks at a cost per click of $3.43 for a total cost of $2,744, coming in right under your monthly spending target.
Comparing these two cases, in the first one you were budget limited and got 528 clicks, and in the second case, you used your bid to achieve your spending target and got 800 clicks for the same cost. That's why managing PPC spending using your budget results in higher CPC and fewer clicks.
PPC Management
Software Makes It Easier
Of course, it can be hard to estimate which bid will result in what cost, especially when you are dealing with 100s or 1000s of words instead of just one. However, this is exactly what we designed Marketo's pay per click management software to help you do. You simply tell the tool how much you want to spend each month (at the campaign or ad group level), and the software optimally allocates that spending across all your keywords to drive the most conversions and calculate the bids that will achieve that target spending. You can check this out yourself, and please tell us what you think.
- Watch Marketo's Bid Management Software Demo.
- Take a free 8 hour Bid Management Test Drive.
- Sign up for a 30 day free trial.


I've been admiring your marketing. This post is an excellent example of providing useful information first in a way that describes the problem and then slips in the sales message unobtrusively.
After each exposure to your site and product I'm closer to a test drive.
CB
Posted by: Charles Besondy | August 03, 2007 at 09:13 AM
Thanks for the kind comment -- and you should definitely check out a test drive, it only takes 30 seconds to sign up!
Posted by: Jon Miller | August 03, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Hi,
Based on your example it seems as if you receive a 1.77 CPC "discount" for being the 3rd vs. 2nd result. Additionally for being the 3rd vs. 2nd result you are "compensated" with more clicks.
Your portrayal seems to imply there is no benefit to be the 2nd vs. 3rd result. Am I missing something?
Thanks.
Posted by: TO | February 21, 2008 at 04:27 AM