Friday, August 19, 2005

Answers to your new keyword state questions

Now that you've had a few days to adjust to the new active and inactive keyword states, we wanted to answer some of the questions that we've heard most:

Question no. 1: Why do I still see disabled keywords in my account?
Though we're no longer disabling keywords within your account, keywords that were previously disabled will remain in your account for approximately one month. At that time, we will delete all disabled keywords. This gives you the chance to evaluate your disabled keywords and add any valuable ones back into your account. We'll send you an email before this happens to let you know that your disabled keywords will soon be deleted.

Question no. 2: Where can I see the minimum bid for my active keywords?
You can see the minimum bid for your active keywords by running a custom or keyword report. Just make sure that you select 'Active' in the 'Status' column. You can also view the minimum bids for active keywords in the Ad Group details page by clicking the box next to the appropriate keyword (or select them all by checking the box next to 'Keyword) and clicking on the 'Edit CPCs/URLs' button.

Question no. 3: Will the minimum bid for my keyword change?
The minimum bid for your keyword is dynamic and can change over time. Remember, the minimum bid is determined by your Quality Score, which looks at your keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword performance, and other relevancy factors. If one of these factors improves, such as writing ad text that is more relevant to your keyword, your minimum bid may decrease. If you'd like to keep tabs on the minimum bids for all of your keywords you can set up a daily or weekly report to be emailed to your inbox.