Welcome to part 1 of this 5 part series on Google Adwords.Google AdWords is one of the best advertising tools on the Internet, but only if you know how to implement Adwords properly to achieve maximum potential. So what exactly should you be doing to ensure that you get the best possible results from Adwords? We have put together the following tips to help you get those all important click throughs and conversion rates. 1. Use targeted keywords Never go with the full list of keywords that Google suggests. Pick the keywords that closely match your business.
What would people search if looking for your products. Time and time again we see unrelated keywords in campaigns that companies run. For example, if you sell real estate in Florida, don't buy the keywords 'Florida' or 'real estate', buy 'Florida real estate'. Simple, effective, and won't waste your money.
Keywords really are the central hub of your success on AdWords. Take your time, and read every tip below that has anything to do with keywords before you start. 2. Search for the keywords that you are buying Type the keywords into Google.
See if your competitors are showing. If the page that shows is unrelated to your business then probably it is not a good search for you. 3. Get some keyword clues from your competitors Companies that know what they are doing in the area of search will have their page titles loaded with their best keywords. Have a look at the good performers in your market. See what keywords they are using in the page titles (the text that appears in the top bar of the browser window).
If you are familiar with viewing the source of a page, you can see the keywords they have placed in their 'keywords' META tag. 4. Use lots of keywords Think of as many ways of saying your product or service as you can. This will enable you to buy more specific keywords. It is much better to buy a specific keyword such as 'buy Reebok running shoes', than expect to catch this search on a broad match of 'running shoes'. 5.
Use keyword research tools Google's tool is good in that it suggests similar searches. Google's tool is available as you set up your AdWords account. You type in a search and the tool will return similar searches. Some of these will be irrelevant so be careful. Yahoo has a tool that allows you to type in your root term and it shows searches that include this term. It also gives exact search volumes on Yahoo for the previous month for that term.
It is an excellent tool when looking for negative keywords 6. Use Global Negatives If you're selling something, you don't want people finding your ad when they're searching for free stuff. This sounds obvious, but do some searches and you'll see it happening. Use the word 'free' in your campaign global negatives.
Add any words you don't want your ad associated with to this list. Using negative keywords is especially important if you're using broad matching. 7. Create lots of ad groups An ad group should contain a small number of keywords (10-40) that are targeted around a certain theme. These keywords will all show the same ad. Ad groups should be created for dominant search terms, different product groups, often individual products if they are well searched.
The choosing of ad groups and grouping of the keywords is a difficult area so be prepared to restructure your campaign after a couple of months because your first attempt was not good. 8. Test different positions How much of a difference will being in the first position, as opposed to the second, third or sixth position make, for your net profit? The answer is that it depends on your creative, industry and who else is bidding on your keywords. Test your creative in each position and work out where it will be most effective, from an ROI point of view. Remember also that the AdWords ranking algorithm works on a bid price x CTR (click through rate) basis (it's actually more complicated than that, but this gives an idea as to why out of two ads with similar bids, one will be higher because of a higher CTR).
9. Test different creatives You can also test your creatives (the ad text). Write two or three different ads and Google will rotate them in this ad group. The creative that gives you the highest ROI is the one you should go with. You need to give the test long enough to produce statistically significant results. How long this is depends on the search volume and the number of conversions you achieve.
Use common sense as to when you think the results show that one ad is better than the others unless you know your stats. 10. Rotate ads evenly In your campaign settings one of the options is to rotate ads evenly or to have Google optimize for you and show better performing ads more frequently. The default setting is for Google to optimize. Change it! Google optimizes based on clicks, not conversions. In other words, it shows the ad that brings Google the most money, not you.
Many times we see ads that have lower click through rates getting a better ROI because they appeal to buyers, whereas other ads with higher click through rates appeal to the masses. Look out for more top tips to improve all the important features and get the maximum profit from Adwords in Google Adwords Top Tips Part 2.
Dave McEvoy is an Adwords expert with years of experience in ppc management. For more information please come and visit our site.
