In Google’s Adword campaign manager Google tells you when a bid is too low for a particular keyword to show up on the first page of search results.  The problem is that it can’t be trusted.Have a look at the image below.

We’re not showing the keywords here as this is a clients account, but what’s important is to look at he places where Google has marked Below first page bid.  Now look across to the column all the way to the right hand side which is what Google reports as the average placement for the keyword.  Notice the 1.8 for the first line and the 2.1 for the last?

Before you ask, let us assure you that the bids were not recently changed.  Beyond this we searched for the terms and in fact our client’s ad does show on the first page in spite of Google’s status report.

Google is so large and so powerful that it is often assumed that their products don’t make mistakes.  In truth it’s probably the fact they are so large that leads to so many mistakes across so many of their products.  This post though isn’t to pick on Google.  The point we want to make for anyone doing their own Adwords campaigns is to be careful.  Don’t automatically bump up your bid just because of what it says in the status column.  Look all the way across to the average placement column.   Don’t be satisfied here either though, instead go to the tools tab and look under the Ad Preview to make sure that your ad really isn’t showing up on the first page.  Only through these two steps can you ensure that you aren’t over bidding.