Have you ever tried to get a set of keywords live on Google AdWords and you continually have to increase the minimum bid just to stay live? I have been going through this lately, and my ads cannot be more phrase matched, targeted or optimized for what I think is a good Quality Score. I have the keyword in the title, description and URL of the ad, as well as optimized landing pages, so why can’t I get them live and keep them live? There are competitors on the same terms, but not more than 7 or so. Even trying to bid on the company name doesn’t come cheaply – it’s up to $1.20, and no one else is bidding on this term.

Is it possible that there are minimum CPC’s for specific categories that are pre-determined to be more than the 5 cent minimum? The company name has a competitive word in it that could possibly trigger its placement in a specific vertical. Google does have the power and data to set market prices, even though this hasn’t been part of the company policy historically (in the spirit of “do no evil”).  But if search revenue growth patterns are starting to slow because the market is becoming mature, it could stand to reason that Google might want to recover revenue growth from increased bid prices.  Not to mention that Google is getting better at countering click fraud, and so in theory advertisers are receiving cleaner traffic than they were a year ago. If there is no more minimum bid price, but a price set by Google, determined by fraud clean-up by vertical and overall search volume demand, is this fairer than free market prices?

Deborah Kilpatrick
President, dSideMarketing.com

Laurent Lucas, member of SEMPO Canada Search Marketing Association and president of a Canadian Search Marketing agency Skooiz.com, will moderate multiple sessions of French-Speaking Search Engine Marketing Experts on a conference called Les Enjeux du Marketing via Les Moteurs de Recherche. Martin Byrne, National Director, Yahoo! Canada will also be on the panel as well as Olivier Andrieu, President of the network abondance.com from France. This conference will be held in Montreal (Quebec) on October 22, 2007 at the CinéRobothèque / Cinéma ONF located at 1564, Saint Denis Street in Montreal (near Métro Berri-UQAM).

For more information, please feel free to visit the conference site. Reserve early as the seats are limited. This conference is presented in French.

En Français:
Le 22 Octobre 2007 aura lieu une conférence en français sur le marketing via les moteurs de recherche. Cette conférence est organisée par un des membres de SEMPO Canada, Laurent Lucas de Skooiz. Elle aura lieu à Montréal (Québec) à la CinéRobothèque / Cinéma ONF située au 1564, rue Saint-Denis à Montréal (Métro Berri-UQAM). En outre, une quantité impressionante de sessions sur le marketing via les moteurs de recherche seront présentées notamment par Olivier Andrieu, Président du réseau abondance.com, Maor Daniel, Directeur National Yahoo Search Marketing Canada, Nicolas Arrive, Stratège marketing sur les moteurs de recherche MSN Adcenter, Patrick Tapp, Directeur des produits de recherche Canoë. Le modérateur sera Laurent Lucas, Président de l’agence Skooiz.com.

Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site de la Conférence sur les Enjeux via les Moteurs de Recherche. Réservez maintenant puisque les places sont limitées.

David Forde from Profectio, a Canadian online public relation company, just launched a Search Marketing Survey in Canada. After some great input from Helen Overland (non-linear creations), Ezra Silverton (9th Sphere) and Martin Byrne (Yahoo! Canada) the first annual Secrets to Effective Canadian Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Survey is ready for Canadian advertisers, marketers and all SEM practitioners to complete and participate.

“Recognizing the growth of Search Engine Marketing in Canada and its impact on businesses we thought it was time to provide Canadian specific data that we can all use to make better choices when we consider Search Engine Marketing as part of our campaigns and improve our buying decisions.” As part of the survey, Profectio gives you the chance to win tickets to Dirty Dancing at The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto or an Apple 2 GB iPod.

The results of the survey will be discussed at their upcoming events and made available on their site after the event. Please fill out the Search Marketing survey now. Contest and survey closes October 17, 2007. Good luck!