PPC Google Adwords Strategies

Notes from Wordstream 

Focus on Quality Score

Quality Score is dependent on:
Historical Account Performance
Relevance of ad copy in relation to the search-term/keyword
Relevance of ad to its landing page
The ad’s Click Through Rate

Higher Quality Score = Lower Cost Per Click

High Quality Score requires a high level of organisation:
Strategic Keyword Grouping
Effective use of negative keywords
Writing effective ad text

Notes from CrazyEgg 

Set your Goals
Do you want leads, phone calls, or sales on your site?
Do you want to hit a certain cost per conversion?

Before Initiating a campaign – do your research
Keyword Research – Use ubbersuggest, keyword planner, WordTracker and possibly even the Bing Tool

Competitive Research
Use a tool like http://www.ispionage.com/
See who is ranking at or near the top; not the ad copy and offers used.  Take a look at their landing pages too.

Research Audience
Read reviews – what do they love and hate?

Starting Out
Use small keyword lists , 5-10 keywords long.
Keep the lists very focused. Focus on the keywords that are most likely to convert.
Keep all the keywords as exact match.
Eliminate the keywords  that that aren’t getting clicks and conversions, and expand the lists of the keywords that are.

Group Related Keywords into Ad Groups
Each keyword, ideally, would be in its own ad group, with its own ads, and its own landing page.
Keywords that include the word “buy” or “best deals” should have landing pages focused on selling
Keywords that contain the terms “review” or “information” should be more educational and informative.

Segment
Segment into campaigns.
Have different campaigns for Search and Display Networks.
Have different campaigns for mobile and desktop traffic.

Ad Copy
Should be Highly relevant
Stand out with different offers and benefits
Reflect the landing page
Try ads with prices for the price-sensitive
Try ads including ‘special offers’ for bargain hunters
Cater to the ‘tone of voice’ of the industry; compare ads for business with those for toys

Ad Groups
Place 3-5 ads in each ad group and delete the lowest performing ad after each has had at least 35-40 clicks.
Use negative keywords to ensure that there is no ‘cross-over’ between groups.

Notes from Visibility Conversions
Use Negative Keywords
Every single campaign needs negative keywords, unless you use on exact match keywords.

Use the SEARCH TERMS report to find negative keyword ideas.
To navigate to this report click on the Keywords tab, then the Details drop down menu.
“SEARCH TERMS” should appear at the top
Click “All”

Common negative keywords include those relating to jobs, employment, definitions and reviews.

Use Ad Extensions
Use site links and ad extensions

Automation
This is required for larger campaigns.
Check out the Google page on automation
You can set up rules to increase bids on the best performing keywords, and vice versa.
Set up email alerts to keep track of any automated changes.

Cascading Bids
Bid lowest for broad match
Bid highest for exact match
Bid in between for phrase and modified broad.

Modified broad match and exact match should be the focus / main match type of most campaigns.

Keep Ad Groups Small and Organised
Have less than 10 keywords in each ad group.
Keep it less than 5 if possible.
It’s more difficult with larger campaigns.

This will keep your CTR higher, and you won’t waste as much money on unwanted clicks

Dynamic Keyword Insertion Ads
Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) allows you to create 1 single advert that will update based on the user’s search query and the advertiser’s ad group.
Be very careful however, although using DKI can improve performance and CTR, if the time and effort aren’t put it to set it up correctly, it can cost you money.
Take into account misspellings, and test it properly.

Remarketing Lists
For Search Ads only.
Bid more aggressively for people on the remarketing lists, as they’ve already shown an interest and are more likely to convert.
See the description of remarketing lists on the Google website.

Segmentation
Wherever possible, segment reports by device, location, network etc. and do the same with the campaigns to make them as specific as possible.

 

Other PPC Strategy Articles
http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2309490/a-guide-to-google-adwords-bid-adjustments-10-top-strategies
http://www.koozai.com/blog/pay-per-click-ppc/using-best-adwords-bidding-strategy-business/