What to teach prospects or clients about our cost per click (CPC) estimates
First, every major tool that provides CPC (cost per click) and keyword volume data, retrieves that information from the same source—Google. You can get it directly from Google by using the “Google Keyword Planner”.
Our data is taken from the Keyword Planner. SEMRush and Moz, as well as most other tools used for PPC management take their data directly from Google using an API of some sort. It is best NOT to reveal to prospects (or clients most of the time) what tools we use.
There is often confusion surrounding bid prices and KW volumes displayed in these generated lists. It is important to recognize that both numbers are estimates based on data only Google has access to.
On the CPC side, these are estimated bid prices that would, in theory, yield a page one ad placement. However, that information is based on a snapshot of the competitive landscape at the precise moment the list was generated. It changes rapidly as advertisers come and go. Making things more complicated, ad placement is based on more than just bid price. The quality of the destination page plays a huge role, as does search history of the primary domain among other factors.
In cases where the bid estimate is $0.00, there is insufficient bid history for Google to form a baseline number. Since the number is zero, it is unlikely those keywords are part of a currently running campaign.
This is not to suggest you can get into an ad slot for free. You can’t. Typically, however, these will be very low-cost phrases, which is why we put so much energy into filtering multiple large lists to find them.