Category: Google AdWords

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Are You Out of the AdWords Auction? How to Tell

The AdWords clients that come to me typically are small to medium sized business owners who have tried to do AdWords themselves and not been successful. Because they feel AdWords could work for them, based on what they have read, they want a professional AdWords account manager to optimize their account. In many cases when I take over an account I see that the client was not bidding enough to be in the auction. Here are a few examples:

Client A Last Month Activity

30 day click budget $1,800
Clicks  received 3
Impressions received 250
Current max. CPC setting $1.01
Average ad position 1.2

Client B Last Month Activity

30 day click budget $2,600
Clicks received 12
Impressions received 800
Current max. CPC setting $4.00
Average ad position 9

In the above examples there are two scenarios. In the first case it appears that there is simply no demand for the Client A’s products as his ads are showing in position 1.2 but yet he has very few clicks. In the second scenario, for Client B, it appears that he may be below the first page bid or have a quality score problem.

In both cases I would say that the client is simply out of the auction. When you are bidding too low, based on your marketplace, Google may deliver your program but at very low rates. In fact, you may see a high ad position but very few impressions. In other cases you may see a very low average ad position figure. But both are true indications that your maximum cost per click setting is simply too low.

To re-mediate the problem, I recommend for a seven day period changing your campaign settings to allow Google to set the keyword bids without a bid cap. This will allow you to see where the market place is bidding and then you can evaluate what a fair price is for your click, based on what your competitors are paying.

Check in Wednesday to read my post on how maximum CPC and daily budget work together to either keep you out of the auction or get performance.

For more information about our Google AdWords account management services visit our AdWords program page.

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Phone Numbers Cause Confusion on AdWords

Just this past week I had three AdWords clients phone me to find out why their phone number was wrong in their Google AdWords ads. It was not a mistake, but rather a Google feature.

If you have phone extensions enabled in your Google AdWords account AND enable call metrics so that Google can track phone calls as conversions then you will not see your “correct” phone number in your ads. When you enable these terrific features this is what happens.

  1. Google creates a Google Voice phone number for your ads and places this number above or below your ad text. It is a click to call feature.
  2. Google will forward to your selected “correct” phone number any of the calls you get.
  3. Google will bill you $1 for each call as well as your cost per click charge.
  4. Google will track the length of the call, is it from a mobile phone, and even list the area code.
  5. Google will record the call as a phone call at the campaign and ad group level in your account.
  6. If you list your phone number in your ad, Google will replace it with their own generated phone number to get the $1 per call additional charge.

What we have found with call metrics is that AdWords generates much more activity than a completed email form on a website. We’ve had some clients with 40+ phone calls in one ad group recorded in their programs on top of regular email related conversions. This really helps clients see the real value of an AdWords program and helps them to measure the return on their ad spend.

If you need savvy AdWords help, we invite you to review our program and contact us for more information.

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Google AdWords Tips

There are a few things that I want to share with you that I do to help improve performance routinely for an account. First, if it is at all humanely possible I ask the client to make sure that conversion tracking can be installed so that I can identify the keywords that are generating leads before we even start managing their account. I also ask that they install Google Analytics on their website as well.

Once I am managing their account here are a few things that I do to improve activity and conversions.

1. Week one and two I bid high on keywords to see what Google can do with the account. It is not uncommon for me to use the budget optimizer in campaign settings to allow Google to set the cost per click. I do not usually cap the cost per click amount in the settings in this initial testing phase.

2. I review the keywords that are generating clicks and conversions. I make sure that ad text is created that contains those specific keyword phrases in the exact order that they are shown in the control panel. I have found that by adding new ad text in this fashion I will stimulate additional conversion activity.

3. I routinely review the keywords from search activity both organic and paid from within the Google Analytics control panel. I don’t take a lot of time reviewing Google Analytics, but I do use it as a tool to harvest additional keywords as sometimes new ones and new directions occur in search traffic that can be used to improve activity in Google AdWords.

4. I routinely review the cost per conversion making sure that the cost is below what the client tells me he or she sells their product for. I want AdWords to be profitable and a good return on investment for the client.

5. I try to review the “all search terms” tab regularly in an account looking for new keywords to add and new negative keywords to add to an ad group or campaign to fine tune the program.

In the first four weeks of account activity I review the account every business day, as I have found that what I do in the first four weeks has significant impact on performance and the ability of Google to properly serve the account and maximize activity and conversions.

If you are looking for a Google AdWords Certified Partner who has the experience to make a difference in your lead conversions look no further and take a look at our services and prices.

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Why Some Businesses Will Always Need Pay Per Click Advertising

No matter how hard you try to optimize your website and improve in the organic search results, for some businesses, they will never be able to stop advertising on Google AdWords or using pay per click programs. I’m not being negative, just realistic! Even with great organic placement search engines change the game and sometimes much to your detriment.

Here’s a case in point, this past year Google replaced the top organic search results, that had any location reference, with listings from their own Google Places accounts. Google sometimes will show as many as ten Places page listings; pushing hard won organic results below the fold (to the point on your computer screen where you have to scroll to see it). This strategy may simply not be a test but rather a long term change based on how bullish Google is on mobile and location identification for searchers. We’ve had several instances where client websites which had top organic placement for years on state and region specific keywords had been impacted seriously by these means.

So how can a business which still actually has great organic placement but is now seeing their website listing pushed down below local searches compete? Although we do recommend that you get into the game with Google Places pages so your own information can appear above the organic results, how about the national selling firm that cannot set up Google Places pages for the locations that are important to their business appear high enough on the search results page to get buyers’ attention – pay per click and Google AdWords!

The bottom-line is that for some businesses there will always be a need for pay per click or Google AdWords regardless how high their organic search placement is. If you need a Google AdWords manager who understands your needs consider our services, in the last 90 days Google is recording that we have managed account with an accumulated ad spend of over $119,000. We are experienced professionals and our firm is a Google AdWords Certfied Partner.