What is the issue?

You may notice that your search bid for certain keywords or product targets is set to zero, even though you have a max CPC set within the publisher interface.

What causes the issue?

This is because a setting of 0 for a search bid signifies that you want to use the Group search bid for this keyword or product target. This value is whatever you have set as the max CPC for this group within the publisher interface, the platform simply displays it as zero.

This can be common among new keywords, as they start with no traffic, which can result in a Recommended Keyword Bid of 0. This may or may not mean the keyword is bidding -- we recommend confirming that the group has a Max CPC that is set higher than 0.

How to fix the issue

This is expected behavior, and as such does not require a fix. You can, however, verify that the above explanation is the case by following these steps:
 

1. In the main Keywords tab, use the View Builder to include the Search Bid and Group Search Bid columns.
    
2. Using the icon in the column headers, add a filter for Search Bid = 0
    
3. Compare the Max CPC in the publisher to the Group Search Bid in the platform – these should be the same.