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Optmyzr Blog

How to Use the First Page Bridger: Mind the (Bid) Gap!

Geetanjali Tyagi

Co-Founder

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Optmyzr


When keywords don’t appear on the first page of search results, you’re losing out on a lot of potential traffic. The First Page Bridger identifies keywords that are just shy of making the first page with your current bids. With just a small increase in the bid, they’ll catch the train to more impressions rather than fall in the gap where they’ll be relegated to second-page oblivion.

Google assigns the first-page bid to each keyword. This bid is an estimate of the amount you need to bid to show up on the first page. It is not the same for all keywords or, even for the same keyword across accounts. It is calculated based on Quality Score and competition. The required first-page bid is relatively low for keywords with a good Quality Score. However, in competitive and saturated markets, you’ll find high first page bids for keywords with good Quality Scores (7- 10) as well.

The first-page bid is directional. It is the minimum required bid to show on the first page of search results. It doesn’t guarantee a high position.

Why is it important to show on the first page of search results?

Ad space on the first page of search results is prime real estate as most users don’t go beyond the first page when they are looking for something. Keywords showing on the first page of search results always get more traffic.

How to decide which keywords should be above the first-page bid?

This really depends on your budget and how important a keyword is to your business. If you have the budget, you can keep all your keywords above the first-page bid. However, if you have to choose, we recommend segmenting keywords into three sections based on impact and the required bid increase to meet the first page requirements. The easiest way to create these segments is by using tangible data. We recommend increasing bids for the first section of keywords.

  1. Minimum increase, maximum impact: Keywords with a high Quality Score (7 – 10) and current bid just slightly (10 – 20%) below the first-page bid.
  2. Medium increase, high impact: Keywords with a Quality Score between 5 to 6 and current bid 20 – 40% below the first page bid.
  3. Maximum increase least impact: Keywords with a Quality Score lower than 5 and current bid 40%+ below the first-page bid.

How does Optmyzr help?

Our system analyzes performance data for each keyword and gives you a list of keywords that will have the highest impact with a minimum bid increase. You can choose to increase the bid to the first-page bid or, to a % slightly higher than the first-page bid for these keywords. The keywords the system recommends already have a good Quality Score and just need a little push in terms of bids. Increasing bids for these keywords gives them a chance to perform and can help get more traffic and sales. It is sometimes difficult to spot these keywords because they get ‘buried’ in the list of keywords that have bids below the required first-page bid. You can review and implement bid changes with just a click from within the Optmyzr interface.