ADWORDS TIPS

Imagine just these keywords ADWORDS TIPS could cost you between £2.83 - £3.96 per click- to be in position 1 to 3, according to Google.

Depending on your business you can lose a lot of money on badly organised Adwords Campaigns whereas a well organised campaign can mean decent profit margins.

Autumn 2008 saw a significant change to the keyword bidding rules that can be potentially dangerous for an Adwords Beginner or even Intermediate Level. This is discussed in more detail in our Bidding Tips Section.

CWA’s Adwords Tips begin with the Core Tips which are the underlying principles, then move onto the Keyword Tips, Ad Text Tips, Ad Groups Tips, Bidding Tips & Optimisation Tip.

ADWORDS CORE TIPS

1. Don’t set up your account in a lazy way as this can cost you a fortune! Take time to split the account into well structured campaigns and ad groups. Do not have too many keywords in one ad group.
2. Put yourself in the mindset of your potential customers and write the ad copy accordingly. Ensure that the ads have the information that the customer would be looking for when they have typed in that particular keyword, and a special offer if relevant. Direct them to the most logical place within your website, don’t waste their time or risk them feeling impatient.
3. The 3 Different Keyword Types – Exact, Phrase & Broad – should be used carefully and according to their type. Your campaign should aim to reach the stage where you can use little or no Broad Match Keywords as they can be dangerous and costly.
4. Your Ad Copy should achieve a balance between using the keywords, the information your potential customer wants and standing out from your competition. This means that it can achieve a good quality score, be relevant to the customer and show some unique selling point which will attract the right traffic.
5. Never assume you know everything about your business and website as the trends you will see on your Adwords Campaign can be quite educational. This principle applies also to the landing pages (the pages you choose to direct people to within your website) as sometimes what you feel is visually or informationally appealing may not coincide with what the statistics on Adwords Analytics say.
6. Implement Google Analytics in order to dig deeper into the reaction to your Adwords and other website traffic. Once you feel your campaign is well structured and optimized but you are not getting the results you hoped for, Google Analytics can give valuable information to enable tracking where people lose interest on your website, and other data.
7. Always Optimise as an inexperienced Adwords User can think the work finishes when the initial campaign is set up, and actually this is really just the beginning. There are numerous aspects to optimisation which can save you more money further down the line and help you see an increasing conversion rate.

ADWORDS KEYWORDS TIPS

1. The keywords are the foundation of a well thought out campaign. Your keywords need to be well researched so that you cover all possible options in your campaign.
2. Research the keywords by using the Natural Listings and Ads of your competitors, the Google Keyword Tool and software such as Wordtracker. If you are working with a product range take your initial keywords directly from your website and then use the Google Keyword Tool.
3. Take time to understand the difference between the Keyword Match Types at the beginning!
   KEYWORD EXAMPLE: BLUE TRACKSUIT
   
   An Exact which is shown as [exact] means your keyword blue tracksuit is exactly what the person typed, no more and no less, and in that order. So if they had typed tracksuit blue this would no longer be an exact match.
   
   A Phrase is seen like this “phrase” and is when someone adds a word or more onto your keyword either at the beginning or the end. This could be small blue tracksuit
   
   or blue tracksuit for teenager whereas our dangerous suspect the broad match looks like this broad and means that our keyword of blue tracksuit could pick up people looking for blue shoes or tracksuit photos.
4. So bearing in mind that it is more likely the person who types in the exact match will buy that item, it is recommended to bid a little bit more for that keyword. Then bid the next highest for the phrase match and the lowest for the broad.
5. By now maybe you are wondering why to leave in broad matches at all? They can actually be quite useful in the early stages of your campaign to gather data. Within the reports available within Google Adwords there is one called a Search Query Report and when there are broad matches in the campaign this can gather lots of useful data of what else your potential customers are searching for, and also potential negative keywords.
6. Negative Keywords should always be added to your campaign. Sometimes at the early stage it is difficult to have a definitive negative keyword list however there are many usual suspects that apply to most businesses. Some of these are:
   
   - Free
   - Freebies
   - Pics
   - Pic
   - Photos
   - Photographs
   - Photo
   - Photograph
   - Second hand
   - Secondhand
   - Sex
   - Porn
   - Pornography
   - Review
   - Reviews
7. Use all possible variations of your keywords just because you may type in blue tracksuit, many other people can think of the tracksuit first and then the colour so will type in tracksuit blue. And even though they are only planning to buy one tracksuit they will often use the plural as they are looking for many suggestions/offers of blue tracksuits.

ADWORDS AD TEXT TIPS

1. Think about how you feel when you search for an item. You are hoping to see an ad that mirrors your thoughts, and your thoughts are reflected by the keywords you have typed in.
2. As an intelligent human being you do not wish to be condescended to but are quite happy to know about any special offers/conditions. So include this in the ad text but never tell your potential clients what you want them to think- the following ads are examples of what to do and what not to do!
   Keyword Typed: presents for men
   
   men gifts
   Books are great Christmas Gifts
   Buy online - fast and FREE delivery
   Borders.co.uk/Men-Christmas-Gifts
   
   Presents For Men
   Great Gifts & Present Ideas For Men
   Buy Online, Very Quick Delivery.
   iWantOneOfThose.com/Mens-Presents 
   
   Which ad do you prefer?
   The first ad would be fine if you had been looking for books, right? Maybe the man in question doesn’t like to read so what use is this. So in other words this is What Not To Do!
   
   The second ad has the keyword in the headline, which is ideal and makes me feel that there is a good range of options and they will be delivered quickly.
3. Include the keyword in the headline and where possible at least one other time within the ad text. This is a visual mirror of the potential customers’ thoughts and also means a better quality score from Google.
   Keyword Typed: naming day gifts
   
   Personalised Gifts
   Photo mugs, mouse mats & more
   Fast quality service. Free shipping
   www.TShirtStudio.com
   
   Naming Day Gifts
   Elegant Gifts For That Special
   Occasion. Gift Wrap Available.
   MadMolly.co.uk/Naming-Day-Gifts
   
   In this case the second ad mentions a few times the keyword naming day gifts and still lets me know that they are special and can be gift wrapped.
4. Use the Adwords Ad Targeting Preview Tool to see your competitors’ ads and how your own look once they are live.
   
   https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool
   
   The reason to use this is that you will see exactly what is correct as Google can stop showing ads to prevent click fraud.
   
   Once you can see how the other ads are here you can figure out what you can say that is a little different.
5. Include your Unique Selling Point where possible in the ad text.
   Keyword Typed: customised tracksuits
   
   Customised Tracksuits
   Choose from Great Designs Online &
   Customise Tool to Design Your Own.
   Team-Colours.co.uk/ CustomTracksuits.
   
   Tracksuits
   Browse Our Selection of Velour
   Tracksuits. Customize & Order Today
   www.Sweatsedo.com
   
   Both of these ads are acceptable but the first one leaves me in no doubt about the customisation, and I can see that there is an online tool which is great as I am in the mood to have a look right away while I have it on my mind!
   
   The second ad only has tracksuits on the headline so maybe I would not have read any further. It does have customize further down, and also I feel from this ad that is only velour tracksuits which I can choose from.
6. Where possible include a Call to Action which would be Buy Now, Order Online, Phone Now etc. This is to encourage people to make that move.
7. Where possible include a Price as serious buyers will click if they can afford it or wish to pay the amount, and you will filter out some of the less serious people.
   
   Mussel Eaters
   Stylish, Handmade Stainless Steel
   Fr. £12.50 with Gift Wrap Available
   MadMolly.co.uk/ Mussel-Eaters
   
   Pair Of Mussel Eaters
   Nice pair of mussel eaters for sea
   food fans - Great for unique gifts!
   www.notonthehighstreet.com     
   
   I know that I am willing to spend £12.50 and like the sound of the first ad, so I don’t feel the need to look elsewhere.

ADWORDS AD GROUPS TIPS

1. Ad groups should be small with only keywords that are directly related around one theme. This means that we can control the ads we show in relation to keywords once they are grouped around one product/service.
2. There should be 2 to 3 ads per ad group to begin. You do not want to have an unmanageable amount of ad texts, because in the future you will see the reaction and can then tweak to optimise. Therefore 2 or 3 are sufficient.
3. It can seem like a lot of work to design numerous ad groups but it definitely works. We would recommend a maximum of about 20 keywords per ad group and these will all be generated around one topic or product.

ADWORDS BIDDING TIPS

1. Bid more for your exact matches, then next for your phrase matches and finally least for your broad matches. This shows that you are willing to pay more for the keywords that correspond 100% to what the person typed in.
2. Autumn 2008 Google changed the bidding rules. They now have a system which tells us how much we need to pay to be on the first page. This can be seen by using the magnifier beside the keywords inside your ad group.
   
   Just put your pointer lightly on it, and then you will see a quick diagnosis with a score out of 10. To find out more you need to click on Details and Recommendations, and on this page you will see the recommended bid amount to appear on the first page.
   
   Although at the writing of this it is still early days after this Bidding Change, we have noticed that sometimes the ad appears anyhow even when it is lower than this bid, so it is best to check using the Ad Preview Tool. Otherwise you may bid more than necessary.
3. To gather the initial data for bidding use the Traffic Estimator Tool. This can be found inside the Tools on Google, and you need to enter your keywords one per line. Then select the correct currency and also the country you will be targeting.
   
   The estimates given here tend to be overestimates in most cases so it is really important to monitor very closely and the beginning and reduce the bids accordingly.
4. When reducing bids do it gradually. It is much better to pay a little more at the beginning but to have control over your campaign. Reduce your bids gradually remembering always to bid more for the exact matches.
5. Avoid Bidding Wars as they can cost a lot of money. At a time like this it is best to sit it out and lose position temporarily. With patience you will be the winner.
6. When bidding don’t be unrealistic about your positions. Traditionally lots of people believed that it is great to be in the first position if possible, but many people shop around and depending on your ad text and price of your product very often position 5 or 6 can be very profitable. It is very industry dependent.
7. Bidding should always be supplemented with drilling down into your keyword list. As your campaign builds history (minimum 1 week before) you should be able to get keywords that are even more specific which mean that they will be less competitive and therefore less expensive. Balance your bidding against your keyword optimisation.

ADWORDS OPTIMISATION TIPS

1. Optimisation is the way you will get your campaign to be as cost effective and high performing as possible. The initial campaign is really your first step and after it goes live you can see how your public likes your keywords, ads and landing pages.
2. Optimising your keywords should be done by getting regular search query reports. This way you can add in new keywords that your potential customers are using and also negative keywords to avoid bad traffic.
3. Optimising keywords also means the long term studying of which ones do not appear to get traffic. This means that they were either not that relevant or if they were getting impressions but not many clicks then maybe it is the ad that needs optimisation.
4. Optimising your ads is studying the CTR (click through rate) of the various ads over time. Sometimes you will not see a major difference between them in which case it is worthwhile to add another ad text that is quite different to the original ads.
   
   However when the ads show a significant difference then it is recommended to change the worse performing ad to be a little more like the best performing ad but yet to be different.
5. Keep an eye on the balance between keywords with high impressions and low clicks as this can mean an ad is not conveying the right message. This is very important as what you may like to see in an ad may not be what the potential customer is hoping to see.
6. Landing pages need to be optimised and it is best to have Google Analytics installed for this and other aspects of your ongoing optimisation. The best way to see this is by studying the amount of time and bounce rate when people go to your website.
7. Drill down your Analytics Optimisation to a keyword level. We can see which keywords perform best here in which position and how long the people stayed who typed in a particular keyword.
8. Install Conversion Tracking as there is almost nothing worse than seeing clicks and wondering what happened next. You can set up a variety of conversion goals within Google which can be from sign-ups, requests for information to actual sales.
   
   Once this is done, you can then see which ad groups, ads and keywords perform in the most realistic way – sales and conversions.