[avimeir]

In my previous gig we used to spend single-digit millions/year, and saw all metrics falling down like OP did, and we had a team of 6 experts with tons of experience in AdWords.

Not sure about this vertical, but in other (much more lucrative) ones such as travel, Google is pushing its own solutions at the expense of other websites.

For example, try looking for a hotel in new york and you will see Google Hotel Finder results, Google Map (which feeds from Google Hotel Finder), Google Places for Business, etc. Google Map will even stay fixed meaning that as you scroll down the ads are hidden by it.

There's much less value in positions that used to be profitable, especially 4+ (right-hand side ads).

[enjo]

Seeing similar in home-services. Plumbing, electrical, etc.. have steadily risen over the last few years. We have highly optimized ads pointing to highly optimized sites (better than 30% conversion to phone calls). In the end we're rapidly being priced out.

We saw it coming, thankfully, and have been moving to a broader advertising strategy which is working well.

[avimeir]

Do you mind sharing what's working for you these days? which channels? Do you do offline also? Would make sense given your vertical..