Googles numbers

I think I need a little clarification. I was going to start an Adwords campaign.

1. The Keyword Suggestions tool they have usually comes up empty. Anyone know what algo they use to find matches. I would think the same science behind searching would be used here and am confused why nothing is found for most 2-4 word phrases I use.
2. When adding a group I noticed many of the phrases I was using came up as <0.1. For kicks I entered "automobiles" and came up with 31/day, .52 for CPCs in US and average pos/1.8. Then I entered "trains" and got 220/clicks at .06 with ave pos of 2.5.

Do these things only seem odd to me? What is your experience with the reliability of these calculations?

I have been ignoring all these pieces of info from Google and just setting up my ads as I think best. I have found their estimates inaccurate and frankly hard to comprehend. I would like to learn more about where they generate their information from and how.

I have also been told there are no searches and only fractional clicks expected when setting up ads. After the ads have been run, I find hundreds of impressions and better than anticipated clicks.

I will not pretend to know why this situation exists, I just go ahead and base my ads on the keyword research I have gathered and instinct. What are other peoples thoughts on this situation?

I agree with Mark. We set up an adwords campaign with an estimated value of &pound;10 a day roughly (I can't remember, it might have been different). However, after a few hours we noticed our advert not appearing due to the fact our monies have run out. Anyway, I don't find the calculations that good, and sometimes wrong so do as Mark said and do your own research.

Mark: Have you had any luck with mispellings of words with an adwords campaign. It seems to me that as soon as people realised they have spelt it wrong, they won't click on an ad. (Perhaps they feel violated?!)

OK--that was my impression. I just thought it was odd that with Googles immense resources they can't tap into their own real data with accuracy.

Hi magnumkp, to date I have not had a client wanting to target misspellings. I wouldn't be surprised if your musing about the embarrassment of realising their spelling mistake causing lack of click desire to have some merit. There is always more to a picture isn't there?

I have found CTR are always better when the search phrase is in the Ad title. I am now working with a small software company and their marketing director didn't put any faith in this premise. Now that the ads have been up for about four months, the ads with the search phrase in the title are really pulling away in CTR.