How to knock out a competitor?

[m0rtal]

Here's my situation. One keyword I'm advertising for there is someone direct linking to the merchant meanwhile I have a landing page.

It seems no matter what I do I can't knock them out of position 1. Obviously my CTR is lower but if I set my bids high shouldn't Google compare my ad performance to the other advertiser's at position 1?

My QS is great.

I was the only advertiser for a bit and he just came in and punked my #1 spot with direct linking.

[artarmon42]

I don't know, but are you sure it isn't the MERCHANT (or someone closely linked to them) doing it? And they can bid higher simply because their payout is more?

Anyway, I am no Adwords expert, but I've read that the best thing for you to do is to increase your bid, to take back #1 position. Then start to slowly decrease your bids down again.

[m0rtal]

No it's not the merchant, it's an affiliate link although they are "claiming" to be the merchant in their ad.

I can put $10 or even $20 and it doesn't matter. Tried 25 today no go. And I'm positive he didn't set his bids that high. The thing converted 1 in 50 when I did direct linking.

I even contacted Google but they gave me their standard BS.

I'm wondering if the new top placement formula could help me but I'm not sure if that's in effect yet? Still shows in my account that it's coming soon.

[mystickcal]

Well more than likely its his ads. Because position mostly in google is determined by bid and ctr. Thats really the only two parts there is as to where your ad appears.

[m0rtal]

Well more than likely its his ads. Because position mostly in google is determined by bid and ctr. Thats really the only two parts there is as to where your ad appears.

Yeah but obviously position 1 will have an advantage in CTR. I would think Google would give my ads a chance at position 1 if I set my bids high enough to compare how they perform against the other advertiser's.

[mystickcal]

Yeah but obviously position 1 will have an advantage in CTR. I would think Google would give my ads a chance at position 1 if I set my bids high enough to compare how they perform against the other advertiser's.

Well they can figure that out from where you are now what it would be if you were in the number 1. They have so much data they can figure out what your ctr would be in ad position one compared to what it is in position 2.

[m0rtal]

Well they can figure that out from where you are now what it would be if you were in the number 1. They have so much data they can figure out what your ctr would be in ad position one compared to what it is in position 2.

I don't see how without comparing them? What if I ran the exact same ad with a different url? (I can't with this particular keyword because I would have to misrepresent myself as the official site)

Regardless it seems I have moved up to position 2 above the search results, we'll see how this progresses.

[mystickcal]

I don't see how without comparing them? What if I ran the exact same ad with a different url? (I can't with this particular keyword because I would have to misrepresent myself as the official site)

Regardless it seems I have moved up to position 2 above the search results, we'll see how this progresses.

well because it really has nothing to do with your ad. They can tell simply because if someone gets a .31 ctr in position 2 they can asume knowing how much the ctr jumps from position 2 to position 1. If its the same ad, it woudl be the same jump. Its kinda hard to explain, but thats how it works, its been asked a hundred times and google has answered it a hundred times :D I'm trying to find a reference but can't for the life of me right now.

Also if you used the same ad as him, you wouldn't even show up on the page, just because you have a different url doesn't mean anything. Most of the search engines won't allow two of the same ads with the same headings to run. Google nor Yahoo allow this I know for sure, and I'm pretty sure microsoft doesn't either, but to be honest I don't use them much to remember off the top of my head :D

[m0rtal]

Cool, thanks for the clarifications.