You’re #1! (But Should You Be?)

5 steps to make sure you’re bidding for the right place

It’s a fairly well known fact that the higher your search listing appears on a page of results, the more likely users are to see it. In search marketing, a general rule-of-thumb is to get the best possible placement you can for your ads. Consequently, everyone covets that top spot.

But—surprise! There are times when being number one not only doesn’t help, it might actually hurt you. In the “search marketing marathon,” it’s not always necessary to win the race—simply running it well is more than enough to provide great results for your campaigns. (We should also note that there are plenty of times when you do want to be number one. When that is depends upon your business.) Here are five ways to help make sure you’re bidding to the right place:

1. Bid To Your Budget
Though it’s always nice to be number one, if you use up your entire daily budget with three clicks, is it really worth it? When you’re managing a limited budget, you may want to set your bids at reasonable levels that will stretch your funds further and allow your ads to display for a longer amount of time throughout the day. If your bids are high enough to maintain decent placement but low enough to keep from reaching your spending limits, you should be more than satisfied with the results.

2. Keep “Ego Bidding” in Check
For some keywords the only reward you’ll get for top placement is bragging rights. Highly competitive but very general keywords often wind up being expensive and poorly converting—truly, the worst of both worlds. While it’s natural to want to see your business show up first in search results, it’s a moot point if it winds up being expensive and you have nothing to show for it.

3. Avoid Budget Saturation
When you have an unlimited budget, it’s tempting to spend whatever it takes to maximize visibility and have all your ads appear in top spots. While this would increase traffic, it may decrease your conversion rates. It’s better to pay for top placement on the keywords that get the job done, and let your lower converting keywords hang out in lower positions in search results.

4. Go Where the Conversions Are
Your real goal should be to find the optimal position that drives the maximum number of conversions. Sometimes that may be the number one spot, but it doesn’t have to be. If your ads are converting just as well in a lower position, why pay more? Using our ad testing feature will show you which ads work and where, and help determine if you really need to be in the top spot for a particular keyword.

5. Mind the Season
In some cases, top placement may only be necessary on a seasonal basis. For example, a site that sells home décor would absolutely want their ads to garner the prime spot for keywords like “christmas decorations” when the holidays roll around. But is it necessary to be number one on “christmas decorations” in July?Lowering your bids for seasonal keywords is one way to avoid paying unnecessarily for keywords that aren’t likely to convert during 10 months out of the year. Instead, create holiday-specific campaigns that can be turned on during the season in question and then off when the season ends.

—Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst