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Google Adwords Tips

February 11th, 2007

Adwords Tips: With Google AdWords, it’s all about results. Optimization means taking steps to get the results you want by improving the quality and performance of your account – without raising costs. We’ve designed these optimization strategies to help you achieve success with your advertising campaigns.

1. Identify your advertising goals.
Your optimization strategy depends on the objectives that you define for your campaigns.

With specific goals in mind, you can work strategically to achieve your objectives, track your performance, and make the modifications necessary to get the results you want. Here are some typical objectives and sample focus areas for each goal:

“I want to get more clicks.”
Focus on keywords and sites. Increase your ad exposure by adding keywords and sites to your Ad Groups.

“I want to increase my clickthrough rate (CTR).”
Focus on ad quality. Attract more clicks by refining your ads, and eliminate extra impressions by choosing highly targeted keywords and sites and using negative keywords.

“I want to improve my return on investment (ROI).”
First, focus on your ads and your keywords and sites to attract the right audience. Then focus on your website. Be sure your landing page and site are set up to let users find what your ad offers.

2. Organize your account for maximum effectiveness.

Organize your campaigns by topic.
Create separate campaigns for each of your product lines, resources, or brands. This helps you monitor your advertising more easily and make the necessary adjustments to improve your campaign performance. Ask yourself what you want to achieve with each campaign. Then structure your campaign based on this goal. View a diagram and learn more about the structure of your account.

Target the right languages and locations.
For each campaign, you can choose to target your ads to particular languages and locations (plus choose your budget and other settings). Be sure to target only the languages and locations that are relevant for your business. For example, if you ship your products to locations within a certain distance of your business, target the country, territory, region, or city related to the area, instead of to ‘All Countries.’

Create highly specific Ad Groups.
As with your campaigns, each Ad Group should center on a single product or service to ensure your ads reach the most qualified users. Build a list of keywords or sites, then separate them into related Ad Groups. Create ads that pertain directly to that list. For example, if you sell mp3 players, and you’ve organized your campaigns by brand, create multiple Ad Groups based on the models of each brand.

Avoid duplicate keywords across Ad Groups.
Google shows only one ad per advertiser on a particular keyword, so there’s no need to include duplicate keywords in different Ad Groups or campaigns. Identical keywords compete against each other, and the better-performing keyword triggers your ad.

3. Choose relevant keywords and sites.
Keyword-targeted campaigns

Choose your keywords carefully.
Include specific keywords that directly relate to the specific theme of your Ad Group and landing page. For optimal ad visibility, include relevant keyword variations, along with singular and plural versions. If applicable, consider using colloquial terms, alternate spellings, synonyms, and product or serial numbers. The Keyword Tool can help generate lists of possible keywords.

Take advantage of keyword matching options.
With some keywords, you’ll get more ad impressions; with others, you’ll get fewer impressions but potentially more clicks. By strategically using keyword matching options, you can reach the most appropriate prospects, potentially reduce your actual CPC or CPM, and increase your ROI. For example, use negative keywords to reduce irrelevant ad impressions and increase your Quality Score.

Use unique keyword URLs.
Keyword Destination URLs send users to a specific landing page, ensuring your customer arrives immediately at the most relevant page for the keyword that triggered your ad. Edit individual keyword URLs by clicking ‘Edit Keyword Settings’ above your keyword table.

Site-targeted campaigns

Choose your sites carefully.
Include sites that are relevant to your products or services, and be sure to choose enough sites. The more relevant sites you target, the better the chances your ad will show. We provide four ways to choose sites: by enter URLs, describe topics, select categories, or select demographics. For an effective list, we strongly suggest using all four methods.

When using the site tool to find and select sites, pay attention to the Ad Formats column in the list of available sites. If you run only certain kinds of formats — for instance, image ads only, or text and video ads only — make sure you select sites that run the kinds of formats you have to offer.

If necessary, target site sections.
If an entire website isn’t relevant to your ads, you have the option to target only the relevant parts of the site. This option may be appropriate for you if the site covers a variety of topics, not all of which are relevant to your advertising. For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, you might choose to advertise only on the food section of a news site rather than placing ads across the entire site.

4. Create straightforward, targeted ads.
Include keywords in your ad text (for keyword-targeted ads).
Include your keywords in your ad text (especially the title) to show users that your ad relates to their search. If your ad shows when a user searches on a keyword in your Ad Group, the keyword will appear in bold in your ad text. Also, users tend to search for products and services, so avoid using your company name in the ad title unless your goal is brand/company name recognition.

Create simple, enticing ads.
What makes your product or service stand out from your competitors? Highlight these key differentiating points in your ad. Be sure to describe any unique features or promotions you offer.

Use a strong call-to-action.
Your ad should convey a call-to-action along with the benefits of your product or service. A call-to-action encourages users to click on your ad and ensures they understand exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your landing page. Some call-to-action phrases are Buy, Sell, Order, Browse, Sign up, and Get a Quote.

Test multiple ads in each Ad Group.
Experiment with different offers and call-to-action phrases to see what’s most effective for your advertising goals. Our system automatically rotates ads within an Ad Group and shows the better-performing ad more often.

6. Track your account performance.
Check your account statistics.
Your CTR, minimum bid, and keyword status are good initial indicators of how well your ads are performing. Your account statistics are reported at the campaign, Ad Group, and keyword or site levels. They include clicks, impressions, CTR, average CPC or CPM, cost, average position, conversion rate, and cost-per-conversion.

Create reports.
You can create custom reports that tell you exactly what statistics you want to know, from the campaign level to the keyword or site level.

Use web analytics.
Google Analytics helps you analyze what people are doing on your site. Detailed information about user behavior can help you create more targeted and effective landing pages.

7. Test and modify your campaigns to get the results you want.
Optimizing your campaigns regularly will help you keep up with users and market trends and ultimately reach your advertising goals.
Evaluate your campaign performance and make changes as necessary.
Allow your ad performance to educate you about effective strategies for achieving your goals. As you observe your ads over time, you might notice things that are working especially well (or not so well). For example, if you find users aren’t responding to a particular call-to-action in your ad text, delete that ad and try something else

Entry Filed under: Google Adwords