adwords-disaster
Throughout my career I’ve seen way too many AdWords accounts that would have performed totally differently if minor tweaks/settings had been considered at the start. Make sure that you’ve done it all and go through the Google AdWords checklist below to see if there are any areas you could improve your account in.
Google AdWords checklist -
• Are the campaign and ad group names descriptive? As your account grows, good naming conventions will help you manage your AdWords and keep it together.
Hint: if the name is “Campaign #1″, it probably isn’t.
• Is search and content together? If the answer is yes, then you are not targeting either of the networks correctly. Keep search and content separately for better budget management, smarter bidding, and optimal structure (really, they are very different!).
• Is the delivery methodset to “Choose Standard: Show ads evenly over time”? If you opted into the “accelerated” option, you may run out of money too quickly. Only use this setting if you intentionally want to spend as much as possible. It is a good idea to keep it turned on for branded term campaigns and keep the budgets wide open just in case.
• How did you create your keywords? There’s always room for improvement so take the time to analyze the search query report and, most importantly, add negatives.
• Do you have too many keywords? If your budget is limited, chances are you do not show on 90% of them. Scale down and remember that smaller and more focused is always better than large, bulky, and generic.
• Do you have any negatives? If the answer is no, you should reconsider. Negatives are as important as all other keywords on your list, so take the time to add them in and make a mental note to check the list and expand it over time.
• Are all of your keywords broad match? If the answer is yes, too bad. Diversify and try all three match types. You may learn that you are able to buy the same for cheaper!
• Do you have keywords that have accumulated impressions but no clicks? Get rid of these because they are dragging down your quality score.
• Does your ad copy have any calls-to-action? It should! When there’s no action implied, the paid search visitors are unlikely going to do anything.
• Do you use dynamic keyword insert in your ad copy? It can work well in some cases but be aware that unexpected matches and results can occur (see an example below)
buy-baby-amazon
▪ Are you using Google AdWords tracking? You can only afford to say yes if you are tracking with a web analytics platform and doing a good job there. Otherwise, take the time to use AdWords tracking – it will help you optimize the account and see what works and what doesn’t.
• Do you use reports available within your AdWords account? You are a true sinner if the answer is no. The available reports are:
Ad Performance report – allows to see how ads perform
Search Query Performance report – for new keywords and negatives
Placement Performance report – for excluding poorly performing placements on the content network
See all available reports with their descriptions at https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=29175 and additional AdWords report features at http://services.google.com/awp/en_us/breeze/7998/index.html
• Do you use AdWords editor? Download it right now – it’s a blessing for bulky accounts and there really is no reason not to use it.
Lastly, some simple, yet useful rules to consider -
• Do not let an AdWords account to run unmanaged
• Do not make all the changes in one go. Allow some time for the change to settle in – otherwise, you’ll never know what triggered the improvements or caused trouble
• Do not let Google control your budget – control it yourself!
• Do not let Google decide what is best for your account – it’s your baby and you should know better
• Be patient as some changes take time to make an impact
I hope this helps you improve your AdWords account and please remember that a neglected AdWords account is a time bomb that will eventually explode.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Maria, This is an Excellent article. Your blog is interesting and informative. I will subscribe to keep up with the latest trends,
Good Luck and Great Success,
Rob
Thanks, Bob! I am glad you find my blog valuable.
Your site earned a spot on the bookmarks bar. I feel exactly like that photo, spent $$ on dozens of clicks and visitors spent an average of 4 seconds on the site. How disappointing! How can I tell the difference between competitors clicking multiple times vs potential customers who just weren’t happy with what they found?
Depending on how your campaigns were setup and what kind of web analytics you have on the back end, it is actually possible to see whether it was a competitor clicking or prospects who did not find what they were looking for. Additionally, there’s a way to exclude your competitors’ IP range to prevent them from seeing your paid ads altogether.
Paid search can be a great medium that is transparent and profitable but unfortunately it is a lot of work and in most cases requires a smart PPC manager to optimize it to a good point. Unfortunately, paid search is like a treadmill that never stops: it just starts going faster and you must stay on it. I do hope you get to try again eventually.
Very useful, any suggestions on starting an account. I was looking for a go-live checklist.
I’m about to spend a lot of money on my campaign and want to make sure it is spent well. I worry 3-4 months from now I will be out a quite a bit of cash just because I made some preventable mistakes.
Again, thanks for the points, they were definitely worth the time to read.
Maria – very cool, thanks for bringing this to my attention! Very useful for me.