I've read some of the posts on this board and there seem to be quite a few VERY intelligent people out there so I'm hoping you can help me.

 

I've been running adwords campaigns for a few years. Recently, the minimum bids for many of my highly targeted words have been upped from $.35 to $5 or even $10 a click. I'm confused as the keyword is already four to six words long. My other confusion comes in when I'll choose a word or group of words that no one is doing search marketing on, and I will come in at $5 or $10 as a minimum bid.

 

Was there a HUGE pricing change I'm unaware of? I thought the purpose of adwords was to sell the keyword to the highest bidder, and when there is no highest bidder, you can't say that the #1 spot is for sale for $5 a click??

 

I would love it if someone could explain this to me.

 

THANK YOU!!