AdWords Delay when Changing CPC

JenniferL, just a couple of quick notes regarding your original post:

"...this morning I reduced the cpc to keep the costs down - but I am still paying the original cpc. I know there is a delay of around 3 hours, but this was 10 hours ago and no reduction. I did call Adwords customer service, but all she said is that it must not be updated yet. Will I still have to pay the higher cpc even though I reduced it?... "

Firstly, as you noted, there will always be a server delay between the time you make a change, and the time it is fully updated throughout the entire server network. The delay can vary, depending on volume, etc.

Most often an hour is a safe rule of thumb, although there can certainly be exceptions. So don't quote me. ;) (And note that this delay is a slightly different animal than the 3 hour delay that one may expect for their stats.)

Now, on to your real question:

"...but this was 10 hours ago and no reduction. "

When you are viewing your stats, be aware of your date range setting. And be aware that the smallest period of time for which you can check is 'Today'.

When you are set to the date range of 'Today', you are viewing stats from just after midnight of the current day to roughly three hours before the time you are checking. So let's say you change your Max CPC at 2:00 in the afternoon, and then immediately check your stats for 'Today'. You'll be seeing stats for roughly midnight to 11:00am of the current day. In this case, there will be no stats including your current Max CPC reported yet at all.

Now, if you check 10 hours later at a minute before midnight, you'll be seeing stats from midnight to 9:00pm.

The important thing to note in this scenario is that the stats you see now include 14 hours when your Max CPC was at the higher figure - and this will of course be reflected in the stats for 'Today'.

However if you check for the date range of 'Today' on the following day, you will see that all of your clicks are below your lower Max CPC.

Hope this makes sense. Kinda has my head swimming just trying to explain it!

AWA