Moving to Google AdWords A Hands-On Guide for Premium Advertisers
After just five years in business, we’re gratified to have become the search engine people prefer. But that doesn’t mean “mission accomplished.” Since 1999, we’ve also developed search-based advertising programs. You already know our first product, Google Premium Sponsorships. In 2002 we introduced our cost-per-click (CPC) ad program, Google AdWords.™ Because of market response (and what AdWords advertisers have told us), we believe this CPC model is the one that yields the best results for advertisers.
Google AdWords Google AdWords 1
3 key benefits of AdWords You pay only when someone clicks on your ad. It’s called cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. That means you get qualified leads, not just impressions. You can track ROI through every campaign, on every ad or keyword. Minimum CPC pricing starts at 5 cents a keyword, and will never exceed a maximum price – your “bid” – that you set. To help you establish your pricing, AdWords suggests a maximum CPC that would put your ad for all your keywords in first position 90 percent of the time.
But wait – there’s more You set your maximum daily budget. AdWords enables you to determine how much you want to spend each day by suggesting a daily spend level based on Google traffic history and the maximum CPC you specified. You set your maximum daily budget, and our ad system automatically ensures that over the course of your campaign you never pay more than your average maximum daily budget. Prices are automatically reduced.
5 things that don’t change 1. Text ads based on keyword queries 2. International targeting to 250+ countries, 14 languages 3. Four keyword targeting options 4. Test and revise offers, creative, and messaging anytime 5.
5 things that do 1. Cost-per-click (CPC) pricing; no CPM, fixed placement or fixed budgets 2. Ad position and ranking determined by maximum CPC x clickthrough rate (CTR) 3. Wider ad distribution across the Google search network, plus content partners 4. Poorly performing ads (under 0.5 percent CTR) are automatically disabled 5. Shorter creative copy WHEN YOU SEE THIS ICON, PLEASE REFER TO PAGE 20 FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
7 steps to transition Now is a good time to review your existing campaign with your sales representative to get the best possible results from Google AdWords.
1. Plan your campaign Define your campaign objectives. Review what you need to accomplish: build sales, grow leads, generate memberships, drive subscriptions. Determine your performance metrics. You can measure success by level of traffic, sales, leads, or data you obtain from other tracking mechanisms. Know your customers. Your understanding of your customers can help you target the right messages, creative, and keywords to them. Country and language targeting.
2. Select keywords Identifying many keyword variations enables you to pinpoint users looking for your product or service. Remember that general keywords (“installation,” “management,” “business systems”), including short words, adjectives, and many one-word keywords, typically generate many ad impressions, but fewer clicks and conversions. Ultimately, the better your keyword matching is, the higher your CTR, and the less likely that your ads will be disabled. Be specific and relevant.
Use keyword targeting. Take advantage of broad match, exact match, phrase match, and negative keywords. Use plurals and spelling variations. Common spelling variations, including misspellings and plurals, can increase the chances your ad will be displayed. Check your keywords on Google. Perform a Google search on your new list of keywords, and adjust them based on the results you see. Don’t forget to check your site logs to see which keywords your customers are using. Group keywords.
3. Refine your creative As before, your text-based ads are prominent and easy to find. But AdWords creative runs in a smaller format. Because they must also meet our partners’ requirements, additional guidelines apply. For a complete list of creative guidelines, visit adwords.google.com/select/guidelines.html Remember: it pays, literally, to be concise, accurate and verbally adept.
Users respond to effective creative Describe your offering accurately. Set the right expectations in your offer. Original - 1.6% CTR No gimmicks. Avoid overbearing, overused tactics that devalue your message. Relevant keywords up front. Ensures Google users see that your ad is relevant to them. Short, concise wording. Avoid space-fillers like “welcome” or “online,” which are discouraged in the ad description and not allowed in the headline. Clear, specific call to action.
4. Confirm your ad distribution AdWords placement AdWords ads appear on search results pages of Google properties, including Google.com, Google Directory, and Google Groups. Up to 10 different ads are displayed on each page of a given search. If there are 10 or fewer ads on the first page, the same ads are repeated on subsequent pages. By default, your ads will also run on Google’s network of search and content sites.
Content sites in Google’s network. Building upon Google’s successful keyword targeting technology, we place highly targeted ads on content web pages as well as on search-related pages. You can now reach customers who view web content that is directly related to your AdWords ads in addition to customers who search on your keywords. For example, if users look up the weather forecast for Palm Springs on a weather site, they may see ads for deals on hotels and cars in that area.
5. Determine your spend You’re accustomed to negotiating a fixed price, setting an impression goal, and linking those elements to your budget. Now you’ll achieve the same objectives in a more precise way: by setting cost-per-click (CPC) and specifying a daily maximum budget. It’s also important to understand how click-through rate (CTR) affects your spend. With AdWords, you control all of these: maximum CPC, ad performance (CTR), and maximum daily budget.
Advertiser Max CPC Bid CTR Rank (Max CPC bid x CTR) Ad Position Advertiser A 65¢ 1.0% 0.65 (65¢ x 1.0%) 2 Advertiser B 40¢ 1.8% 0.72 (40¢ x 1.8%) 1 Google’s ranking system rewards well-targeted, relevant ads, so you can’t be locked out of the top position as you could be in the ranking system based solely on price. What is the actual CPC paid? Now that we know the rank of each ad, we can determine the actual CPC paid by the advertisers. Advertiser B has a rank of 0.
6. Optimize and manage your campaign Build landing pages that convert Create customized landing pages for each keyword, ad creative, or group of ads, so that when users respond by clicking through to your landing page, they benefit from: The most relevant page. For best conversion results, make sure the landing page pertains to your ad creative and features your keywords, so users see that it’s relevant to them. Intuitive navigation. Make it clear and easy for users to find what you promised in your ad.
Test to improve ROI Our system tracks CTR by ad creative, by keyword, and by ad group so you can make adjustments to see real-time improvements.
7. Learn to use AdWords online reporting and management Google AdWords offers online reporting tools that include number of impressions and number of clicks for each ad and keyword over a specified time period. You can monitor campaign performance over a passwordprotected, secure connection whenever you like. You can also download your AdWords account information for any date range into a spreadsheet to help you analyze your account performance.
Your next steps Discuss your marketing and campaign goals with your sales rep Select your keywords and targeting preferences and review your campaign structure Revise your creative Confirm your ad distribution preferences Determine your maximum CPCs and maximum daily budget Review AdWords billing and invoice process Discuss how the account team will work with you Every premium advertiser has an ad strategy team available at every stage of your campaign to answer questions and generate solutions that work fo
Just a little more detail Keyword matching options Broad match. Your ad appears when the words in your keyword are contained in the query, regardless of their order and even if other words are also included. A broad match for the keyword tennis shoes would include shoes for tennis and tennis dresses and shoes. Broad matches are often best, because your ads will get more exposure. Exact match. The search query must exactly match your keyword.
Account structure - Maximum CPC and destination URLs assigned at either ad group or keyword level Creative is assigned at ad group level Group related keywords together and post them as separate ad groups Organize keywords into buckets based on maximum CPC AD GROUP CAMPAIGN ADWORDS ACCOUNT AD GROUP CAMPAIGN AD KEYWORD AD KEYWORD AD KEYWORD AD KEYWORD KEYWORD AD GROUP AD AD KEYWORD AD Billing options We offer either end-of-month billing to customers with approved credit, or credit card billing
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