Category: Google AdWords

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Opt-In or Opt-Out for AdWords Locations?

I’ve been carefully reviewing some very interesting data that has come to my attention via a presentation done for a SMX Advanced Presentation By Marta Turek. I would highly recommend that you read this very interesting article Google AdWords Geo-Targeting: Have We All Been Doing It Wrong?

Here’s what the author tested in a quick summary:
1. If you advertise at the state level, do you get better results excluding metro areas by opting-out/exclude or better results by not targeting at the state level and opting-in at the metropolitan DMA region?

2. What impacts do each strategy have on click cost and conversions?

The results of these two limited tests are absolutely shocking and unexpected. The big caveat to fully embracing these results in accounts you manage is that the testing has been done in a very small  set of clients and so although may show a trend worth investigating may not be a good approach for every client.

Here are the test results as stated by the author in a quick summary:
1. When the areas in the state were targeted by opting-in, the number of impressions and clicks significantly dropped while the cost per click drastically increased.

2. When the same areas in the state were targeted using an opt-out strategy, impressions and clicks were not impacted and conversions actually improved.

My explanation for the results:
I see several specific reasons for the results. First when you target using opt-in a specific area such as a region, city or even radius, Google appears to believe that this is valuable to you and in many cases will in turn charge a higher cost per click. Remember this is a supply and demand market.

I have seen this myself when I run simultaneous programs running a state wide targeted campaign with location specific phrase match keywords compared to a radius targeted or city specific opt-in program. In the account I tested the differential in cost per click was pretty significant – $4.50 at the state level and $10.50 to $12.50 at the city/radius level. So this validates the findings that the more granular you get in targeting, the higher the click cost.

As to increase impressions, clicks and conversions, I believe that how Google serves ads and how Internet Service providers categorize locations is a key factor in the results. I know from experience that there are many cases when an Internet Service provider does not return to Google the true city location for a user.

Here’s my own case, I am located in Waldorf, Maryland. Verizon has returned my location several years ago as Reston, Virginia. That’s another state and over an hour and a half drive north and west from my true location. In the last month, I see Verizon now returning my location as Temple Hills which is about 30 minutes north of my location in an economically depressed region. By targeting a state with opt-out you open up your reach and slightly negate the impact of improperly reported locations by Internet Service providers.

It will take additional testing in your client accounts to see if these same trends ring true for your needs but a worthy time investment for some accounts that target locally and not nationally. If you are looking for an experienced AdWords account manager, I invite you to review our programs.

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How to Develop a Keyword List for Your Organic Strategy

Even though Google says don’t keyword stuff your site or write content using an unnatural keyword density, it is still important to do careful keyword discovery and analysis as part of your content creation strategy. So how do you develop a keyword list that helps you and your writer to keep focus?

1. If you use Google AdWords, take a careful look at the keyword combinations that are generating lead conversions. Make sure to use the Search Funnel report to find last click keywords and assist click keywords.

2. Glean additional data from Google Analytics. Look for trending phrases to identify are words in a certain order are plurals used versus singular forms. Check the bounce rate for the terms you are carefully considering.

3. Put on your thinking hat. Sit down with your client and do searches on Google for terms you both think that someone would use to find his or her website. Then take a careful look at the search results. If you do not find competitors showing for that keyword phrase it may be either too general, may be too narrow, or not on topic. When I see .edu sites and Wikipedia sites showing for a query, I know that I need to keep digging to find a better match as this type of query will drive information gathering traffic not lead conversion traffic.

4. Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner and Google Insights tool. Look for trending keyword variations and new opportunities. Look are high and low competition areas.

5. Take your list and start testing your blog posts using the keyword phrases your have created. If you feel that you have a great list start testing pages in the website to see if you can get a boost based on the new keywords.

6. Make sure to report and review monthly. Without this important step, you’ll never clearly identify if the content, meta tags, and blog posts improved placement for the site.

If you need help creating a strategy for your website, it starts first with our SEO Evaluation. Find out more about how we may be able to help you.

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Using Google AdWords Experiments for Testing

The ability to test using AdWords Experiments has been around for a while, but Google is making it much easier now to do some interesting testing in your account. Here is one of my favorite test scenarios and how to set it up.

Test Different Ad Landing Pages for Conversions

1. First create a new version of your AdWords landing page. Typically we go whole hog and really work to create a completely different look. The control page is the normal page and the test page may be more video heavy, have stronger marketing language, and may even be a different layout than the normal page.

2. Using AdWords Editor, copy the ad group in entirety that you want to test. Then paste the copied ad group back into the same campaign. Go to the ad tab and change all the URLs in your test ad group to your new test landing page.

3. Then log back onto the online version of AdWords. Go to the campaign where your test resides and click settings. At the bottom of the page is a link called “experiments”. Click it to open and set up your settings. I will typically do a 50/50 test between the control and test. Set your start and end dates. I will typically do more than 30 days and I will typically set up for 60 but do a full statistical review at 30 days. Save your experiment. Now if Google will not allow it so save – as it will do sometimes, you need to check to see if in your budget setting on the same page you are using eCPC or Enhanced Cost Per Click settings. If you are, you need to move to manual bidding and remove all automation. Then try again to save your experiment.

4. You’re not done yet! Go back to the campaign tab, click to get to the campaign details page where you have all your ad groups showing. You’ll see a new icon at the left in front of the ad group name. Click the drop down and label your original ad group as the control only and your test ad group as experiment only.

If you may changes to ad text or keywords as you are running your test, make sure to use AdWords Editor to copy the changes into both programs.

Some of the interesting results we’ve seen are increases in conversions and increases in phone conversions. To learn more about using AdWords Experiments, here’s a great article written by Tom Demers at Wordstream.

If you are looking for a savvy AdWords account manager, I invite you to call me to chat about your needs.

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You Love a Keyword but Your AdWords Quality Score Stinks – What to Do

So you love a keyword in your AdWords account, it is right on target with what you sell, but AdWords has given it a very low Quality Score, what can you do?

1. First make sure that this keyword phrase is reflected specifically back on your website and on the landing page you use. You’d be surprised to find that in many cases the word you like is nowhere to be found.

2. If the word you like is only one word, pause that single word and come up with two word and three word phrases that are still a good match. You may find that Google has simply considered a single keyword simply too general and so the CTR on the single word is simply not high enough to warrant a good to excellent quality score.

Here’s an example. If you are a dentist and one of your keywords in your AdWords account about general dentistry keywords is dentist (all by itself), you may very well overtime get a low Quality Score on the word dentist. Typically a single word like this will get many impressions and relatively few clicks; negatively impacting Quality Score over time. A better phrase to use would be Auburn Hills Dentist – adding a location descriptor may very possible raise the Quality Score on this term. If you really want to use the term dentist or another single keyword in your account exact match it like [dentist].

3. If the Quality Score is poor on really on target two or three keyword phrases, try to improve the Quality Score by using dynamic text insertion in your ad text.

4. If the score does not improve in 30 days and you really need this keywords phrase, pause the phrase in the existing ad group, move the phrase and other variations of the keyword into its own ad group and use dynamic text insertion in the ad text and at the end of the display URL to see if you can improve the Quality Score. But if you take this approach, make absolutely sure that the landing page you are using also has this very specific use of the phrase in the content.

5. If the Quality Score is still bad on the phrase you like, start digging deeper to identify the problem. Consider is this phrase really pertinent to what you offer or sell? Do you have enough content back on your website to help Google to understand that this is important to your needs? Are you bidding enough to get enough exposure to even get a high enough position to improve your CTR?

If you need help with your AdWords problems, I invite you to check out the pricing and details on our AdWords account management programs. In many cases a Google AdWords Certified Partner, such as McCord Web Services, is able to unlock the performance you need to boost sales using AdWords.