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1. • CommentAuthorsam
   • CommentTimeJun 15th 2007

    
   Hi there,
   
   I have recently allowed Google to Commence optimisation of my site and since then (I can pinpoint the exact day) - it has now become much more expensive for my adverts to be displayed at the same positions on the same keywords across across all my campaigns!
   
   This has been a drastic increase in cost and there are no new entrants into the market.
   
   The Quality Scores for the key words have remained the same.
   
   The affect has been drastic and I wonder whether it has anything to do with Google optimising the campaign?
   
   For e.g. I usually advertise in the top 5 positions on the first page of google and I am now relegated to the 2nd page of google even though I have increased my bids by £5.00 on average to try and get back on the 1st page...
   
   Does anyone know what is going on?
   
   Thanks
   sam
   
   NB//Be wary of allowing them to optimise - I just cant see how it could be anything else?
2. • CommentAuthorsam
   • CommentTimeJun 15th 2007

    
   sorry "optimisation of my site " should read "optimisation of my adwords campaigns"
3. • CommentAuthorflpteam
   • CommentTimeJun 24th 2007

    
   I am also distrustful. I split tested the same ad but one redirect included my affiliate url and the other a cloaked url. Never mind the roi, number of clicks registered in my own database equals 30, number of clicks that I paid Google equals 256... Funny I thought!
4. • CommentAuthortravelhead
   • CommentTimeJun 29th 2007

    
   Hello Sam,
   
   I had the Google optimization team optimize one of my client accounts, and the very next day our CPA rose by about 40%! Of course, I immediately contacted the team and my google rep to tell them of the problem. They responded by telling me 'there's not enough data' and to 'wait at least a week' before making any decisions. This of course was nonsense! I had to go through the 'optimized' campaign myself, and discovered that their use of dynamic keyword matching was increasing our CPA. After deleting those ads, the account was still performing worse than before the optimization started. I looked at some of the keywords they added, which did not apply to our business (ie. we targeted business owners in business at least 1 year, and a few of their keywords were 'new business..' .)
   
   To make a long story short, after I got quite upset with them over the phone - they issued me an account credit for the increase in CPA over the 2 weeks it took to bring the campaign back to normal levels.
5. • CommentAuthorsam
   • CommentTimeJun 29th 2007

    
   Hello...
   
   Thanks for your comments Travelhead...
   
   They have also extensively used "dynamic keyword matching" in the optmisation of my account..
   
   So i take heed of your wise words - but not sure what CPA is or how getting rid of those "dynamic keyword matching" ads will help the campaign recover? I would be most grateful if you could clarify ?
   
   
   Thanks again Travelhead, your comments are highly appreciated!
   
   sam
   
   p.s. In the meantime I will practice my upset tone of voice in preparation for the google "please credit my account" call
6. • CommentAuthortravelhead
   • CommentTimeJul 24th 2007

    
   I know this response is late.. I just saw your reply..
   
   CPA is Cost Per Acquisition, or the amount of money you pay to get a lead/subscriber/purchase. For most businesses using Adwords, your cost is the amount you are paying Google, and your acquisition are how many sales you've made. So if you pay Google $500 and you made 10 sales, your cost per acquisition (CPA) is $50/sale.
   
   You can use Adwords Editor and use the Views filter for the '{' symbol. Then simply highlight all the ads and delete them.
   
   How did this end up working out for you?
   
   Also, visit my blog www.scrappybusiness.com for adwords tips to help you improve your account even further :)
   
   -Joshua