<< INDEX

Chapter 6

Optimizing Ad Performance

Optimization Overview

Preparing to Optimize

• Optimization: Adjusting parts of your account to improve performance of your ads
• Start optimization by reviewing the webpage of the advertiser
• Go through the motions of a customer to understand how they would experience the site
• The ‘About Us’ page or something similar is a good place to start
• This page often offers good keywords to use in ad text
• Review the products and services offered
• Review existing AdWords campaigns to see what has worked well so far (and what hasn’t)
• Research competitor’s sites
• Figure out the similarities and differences in your products or services
• Find factors of your business to highlight in your ads

Your Website

Choosing Landing Pages

• Users need to find what they want on your site quickly
• Link the most relevant pages to your ads
• Landing pages should be easy to navigate
• Landing pages should include unique content that highlights your service or product above the competitors’
• Clearly define what your business is
• Provide information without requiring users to register or log in
• Be honest and clear about how and why you would be collecting someone’s information
• Provide an easy path for users to get to products and purchasing page
• Make sure your page loads quickly – 4 seconds is best

Your Account

Account Optimization

• Optimization makes your ads more effective
• Increases the rate at which you connect with customers
• Raises your ads position on the search results page
• Increases your CTR
• Decreases your costs
• Three main areas for Optimization
• Campaigns – organize, modify location or language
• Ad Groups – edit keywords, ad text
• Website – choose more relevant landing pages, make page easier to use

• If your CTR is low or costs is high, it is time to optimize

Advanced Optimization Features

• Ad scheduling – control the days and times your ads appear
• All ad groups within a campaign follow the campaign scheduling
• Enable ad scheduling on the ‘edit campaign settings’ page under ‘advanced options’
• Set correct time zone
• You can raise and lower your bid during set time periods

Optimizing Ad Position, Position Preference

• If you know your ad gets the most hits when in a certain position, you can set a position preference
• Position preferences are not guaranteed
• Selectively target less expensive positions in order to increase ROI
• Beneficial if you are only interested in position 1 and 2 – your ad will only show in those positions
• You can set highest and lowest preferred positions
• The AdWords system will adjust CPC to fit within preferred position
• Position preferences can be enabled for campaigns and individual keywords
• Position preferences do not work with Budget Optimizer tool
• The Report Center can show position preferences
• Does not work with preferred CPC bidding

Specific Optimization Strategies

Increasing Traffic/ Clicks

• Create new or unused unique keyword variations
• Use plurals and misspellings
• Create keywords for unadvertised products
• Create keywords for product categories
• Product types or Models
• Include more general keywords
• Generate lots of impressions
• Separate high traffic keywords into different ad groups
• Increase daily budget to increase traffic on all keywords
• Increase maximum CPC or Quality Score
• Ensure distribution preferences are set to maximize traffic
• Broaden Geo targeting settings

Increasing Conversions

• Conversion Optimization requires understanding the Buying Cycle
• Consumers go through different stages while buying a product
• Keywords should address each part of the Buying Cycle
• Awareness/ Interest: Customer learns about product
• Consideration/ Purchase: Ready to buy – target with words like ‘buy’ and ‘purchase’
• Retention/Advocacy: Target with words like ‘accessories’ to target loyal owners of a product
• Negative keywords help filter out uninterested users
• More specific keywords tend to convert at a higher rate
• Including prices in ad text may save you the cost of a click

Adjusting CPCs to Maximize ROI

• Adjusting your CPC should be an ongoing process to reach your ideal CPC
• CPC affects position which in turn affects CTR and ROI
• Monitor your account after making changes since CPC can drastically affect CTR and Impressions
• Factors to consider before changing CPCs
• Length of time keyword has been running – It takes time to acquire the data to tell if a keyword is performing well
• Position – position affects CTR and ROI, try changing a poorly performing keyword’s position before deleting it
• Determining ROI
• How much value a keyword generates as compared to cost
• Track conversions from keywords
• If value per click is higher than average CPC there is a profit
• If average CPC is higher than value per click than there is a loss
• Increase CPC of profitable keywords for more exposure and traffic
• Decrease CPC of non-profitable keywords
• To determine your minimum bid
• Create a custom report for minimum bids
• Edit your keywords’ CPCs or URLs in your Ad Group Details page
• Edit your keywords in your Ad Group Details page

Terms to Know

Optimization – the process of adjusting your account to improve performance of you ads and produce a greater ROI
Buying Cycle – the process consumers go through before purchasing; awareness, purchase, retention

<< INDEX

Chapter 1: Introduction to AdWords
Chapter 2: Getting Started with AdWords
Chapter 3: Targeting
Chapter 4: Costs and Billing
Chapter 5: Tracking Ad Performance
Chapter 6: Optimizing Ad Performance
Chapter 7: The Adwords Toolbox
Chapter 8: Google Analytics
Chapter 9: Managing Client Accounts


Back to Naper Solutions