Step Wise SEO

The management of keywords within the paid for placement search space is a daunting and resource intensive process.

As a result technologies have been developed to assist the user in the management of bidding against a larger number of keywords.

Each of-the larger bid management technologies and companies in the search industry has a direct connection (via an API) to the major search engines and the bidding process is automatically fed into the engine processes.

A user is then provided with an interface allowing for bids to be placed on keywords for any time of day or rules to be assigned to maintain a position or price throughout the day.

The latter enables companies to remain prominently placed on terms throughout the day, on as many terms as they wish, without having to allocate any resource time in the process.

The table below gives some indication of the types of bidding rules than can be applied to bid management tools.

As the market has developed, bid management tools have evolved further into tools that will achieve distinct business objectives and have, in some instances, added artificial intelligence or statistical components to watch for trends within the space and to adjust bids based upon whether they are either meeting or not meeting the business goals.

These services tend to come at a premium however, and in many instances are adopted by larger corporations.

The fact remains, however, that a bid management tool, no matter how large or small a keyword portfolio, is essential for PFP success.

The following are some of the major bid management tools available in the US and UK markets:

Bid rules (Courtesy of Inceptor Inc.)

Sample Bid Management Rules
Optimize traffic while keeping CPC at $0.25 or lower
Optimize Revenue while keeping ROI at 300 per cent
Optimize Conversions while keeping CPA at $500

AtlasOnePointTM (Formerly GoToast) this tool was one of the very first bid management tools and under the name GoToast became the tool most commonly referred to for this type of service.

It has worldwide coverage and is very strong in the UK and US.

Bid Rank - this tool is not as advanced as many of the systems online; however, it has one of the cheapest price tags and performs many of the basic bid management services needed to optimize a search campaign.

It has primary coverage in the USA but is also available in many other countries.

Bid Buddy - a UK tool, Bid Buddy is a system provided by a company called Website Promotion Services (WSPS) and is one of the more advanced systems available in the UK. The system also provides coverage worldwide for most PPC search engines.

Inceptor - At the time of writing, Inceptor Inc is releasing an entry-level bid management tool that incorporates the most advanced analysis and artificial intelligence-based bidding rules currently being used as part of an overall strategy.

The tool will cover all major PFP engines and most major markets.

Other tools are available from many of the leading SEM agencies. Companies such as Did-It have a system (Maestro) that studies data for statistical trends and bases bid management upon said research.

These tools are typically available as part of an MSP or ASP arrangement between company and client.

Keywords: bids, Bid Rank, Bid Buddy, Inceptor, tools, SEM,