Correlation Between Volume, Bid and CTR: Karma of Traffic

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Introduction

Our lives are made of connections, correlations.

In fact, small things may have a huge influence.

We may fail to understand some correlations but we’re surrounded by them:

A presidential speech may wreak havoc on financial markets; the stars shining bright happen to command the tides.

Any action you make creates a karmic reaction.

That was never truer than when we refer to Media Buying.

There are lots of relations between different parameters and media buy beginners should take them into consideration.

Let’s take a look at some situations, attempting to find consistent patterns of traffic behavior.

Real Bid Decreased – Volume Decreased – CTR Decreased

This situation tells you that your traffic was stolen.

This is a normal process and it means you’re losing volume.

If you wish to get back to the amount of traffic you had, you gotta increase your bid and pay more for the same traffic quality you used to have.

Moreover, this pattern also means your ad is losing ground.

When your position is lower, the user on the website already understands the structure of the page and can tell if the spot is a real video or an ad space before he reaches your banner impression.

What happens then?

He’s gonna click fewer times on ad spots and, as a result, the quality of your traffic starts sliding down. Thus, the CTR is dropping too.

Real Bid Kept the Same – Volume Increased – CTR Increased

This shows that the competitor before you (with a higher bid) left the auction.

That means your position improved without the need for you to act.

You’re gonna start receiving traffic of a higher quality whilst paying the same money.

It’s a perfect scenario!

Due to the fact that the quality of traffic is better, the CTR automatically increases.

In this case, try to enjoy your earnings and keep fighting with the next competitor (the one with a higher bid) for his traffic.

Real Bid Increased – Volume Decreased – CTR Decreased

This means that the spot and targeting is very competitive at the moment.

It seems obvious that one competitor over-bid you and that’s why you lost some traffic which eventually made your CTR decrease – even if you do try to get more volume and a better traffic quality.

What’s your problem here?

A big one: you’re paying more for nothing, because your traffic is not getting better.

Your investment is, therefore, useless.

Smart Bid Increased and/or Real Bid Increased – Volume Increased – CTR Increased

This is the most common case and the most logical trend.

When you increase the bid, you get a better position in the eternal fight for traffic.

Therefore, you get better impressions.

If, before, you had the 10th impression, you can now easily get the 2nd one.

This means that the quality of your traffic has increased due to the probability of clicking on the banner and acquiring the offer for the user.

Indeed, the higher the impression, the better. That’s why the CTR is also increasing in relation with the rise of your impression level.

This explains why the volume of the traffic increased as well:

There are more sites that have the 1^st impression and fewer that have the 50th.

The same works the other way around. If the smart and real bid decrease, the quality of traffic, CTR and volume also decrease.

Conclusion

A successful media buyer should always be alert to small details.

You’ve gotta analyze things thoroughly and be ready to deal with sudden changes and interrelations.

That’s the only way for you to make serious money.

Hope you were inspired by these tips.

Now, get a move on and start piling that tasty gold!

Good luck!

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