Pay the Cost to Be the Boss

An Intro to Managing Your Costs

You couldn’t help but purchase that do-it-all knife set for $19.99 after viewing its compelling television commercial. But was it the commercial’s novel product demo that prompted you to dig out your credit card, or was it the illusory pricing method known as psychological pricing? Prices for items using this cost-marketing method typically end in the numbers, nine, eight, or five, with studies showing consumers believe a better deal is received when the ending digit is not zero.

Isn’t it great that you are in charge of how much you spend on your Sponsored Search and Content Match campaigns? By setting custom bids for your keywords and ad groups, the value of clicks and keywords is decided by you.

You can use the following steps to set a maximum bid for your ad groups and keywords:

Setting Max Bids for Your Ad Groups and Keywords

To set an Ad Group bid for one or more ad groups:

1. Click the Campaigns tab.
2. Identify a campaign with optimization off and click its name.
3. Click the checkboxes that correspond to the ad groups you would like to update.
4. Click the “Bid” button.
5. In the Set a Bid dialog box, specify an ad group bid for Sponsored Search, Content Match, or both.
   • For Sponsored Search, specify an ad group bid. This will serve as the default bid for Sponsored Search keywords in your ad group
   • For Content Match, specify an ad group bid.
6. Click the “Submit” button to apply the new bids to the selected ad groups.

Remember, campaign optimization must be turned off to set an ad group bid.

To set a bid for multiple keywords:

1. Click the Campaigns tab and then the Summary subtab.
2. Identify a campaign and click its name.
3. Identify an ad group and click its name.
4. Click the checkboxes that correspond to the keywords for which you want to set bids.
5. Click the “Set Keyword Bids” button.
6. Enter a new bid or bids.
7. Click “Save Changes” to apply the new bids to your keywords. You’ll be brought back to the ad group details page, where your new bids will appear in the table.

Always remember that higher quality ads may add extra value to your campaigns and can help control your costs.

—Stephanie Bilberry, Yahoo! Search Marketing Writer