Friggn’ Google: Minimum PPC Bids, STILL on the Rise?

Ever since Google has implemented its new landing page algorithm back in July, many advertisers have felt like they have been getting screwed over due to rising costs as a result of declining quality score. Being a PPC manager myself, I have felt the affects first-hand, especially in the past 3 weeks or so. Yes, it is the busier holiday shopping season, but I think min bids are driven up for reasons other than increased competition. I have some very niche keywords that i’m competing on, and many of them have dropped to the second page of results, despite improved CTR’s with bids remaining constant. I thought Google is supposed to encourage increased CTR’s? I guess all of a sudden to them my landing pages and ads must suck, despite that some of these ad/landing page combinations are converting at a rate nearing 10%? Well I know the solution to getting my ads back on the first page of results, and it doesn’t involve improving landing pages and ads, I can increase my minimum bids! Yay for Google!