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The folks at aimClear put together what they call AdWords #PPC Hack 53: Exploiting Google Instant. In a sense, what he is doing is forcing AdWords ads for short tail keywords that are not being bid on.
How? Well, as Marty explains is that when people use Google Instant they may be shown ads before they finish their query. So what they did was look for what predictive auto-completions Google offers without any ads being displayed and then they bid on those keywords for virtually pennies on the dollar.
Got that? For example, if someone is looking to buy ads for [data extraction] on Google but doesn't want to pay what the other advertisers are paying or bidding against each other for that keyword phrase. He looked for auto completes for [data ex...] and noticed the keyword phrase [data execution prevention] had no real ads.
They tested placing an exact match ad for this keyword and realized huge cost savings. They claimed "cost was $.20 average CPC, as opposed to $9.00 +. " That is huge!
Smart and savvy way to utilize (not necessarily hack) your way to a smarter way of bidding on keywords. Do you agree?
Forum discussion at Sphinn.
Comments:
Nathaniel Deal
12/07/2010 01:47 pm
Hmm, very smart... And now it's time to experiment, to the Bat Cave!
James
12/07/2010 02:51 pm
Very smart! I wonder how often those long tail ads are served... aren't they still in the rotation with all the other "data ex..." keyphrases?
Shoe
12/07/2010 03:41 pm
Adwords Poser Rule #1 If it really worked to make $$$ it wouldn't be in a blog post like that.
Matt
12/07/2010 05:00 pm
I agree with Shoe, it might work and save you a few cents, but if it was a huge thingy, it wouldn't be written in a blog post
John Trimble
12/07/2010 05:07 pm
Not rearly sure if this will always work as wired exact matchs such a [fitted kitc] for example inplace of fitted kitchens will return a low search volume error
Andy Kuiper - SEO Vancouver
12/07/2010 06:18 pm
LOL - ;-) could be fun to try on some accounts :-)
Andy Kuiper - SEO Vancouver
12/07/2010 06:18 pm
I'm really sorry for the dup post - not sure how to delete it
Mitch Tarr
12/07/2010 07:39 pm
It's an interesting approach for sure. I suspect however that in many competitive niches the keywords are already covered three ways to Sunday. It might turn up a gap here and there. I'll give it a go.
timcohn
12/07/2010 08:07 pm
I doubt the strategy converts enough to justify the effort.
Marty
12/07/2010 09:54 pm
@shoe: ...or if the blogger-poser made their money and shared it right before big 'G shut it off :)...or if you say out loud that it is not scalable and just for funz. On the other hand, some people actually give valuable things away for the hell of it, when their cup runneth over :). We're big fans of your blog, Shoe. Real PPC jocks don't need clients. Cheerz
Raj - SEO Australia
12/08/2010 01:15 pm
Yes, this idea can save you without spending on multiple keywords/key-phrases which may not be much effective. However, we need to test how this kind of selecting keywords would work. The test should be run on clicks performance rather on impressions when choosing keywords from above Tip. What say?