Tag: Google AdWords

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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.

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Google’s New Keyword Planner for AdWords

Coming to Google AdWords accounts and accessed from the tools menu drop down is a powerful new tool called the Keyword Planner. I am seeing this new tool in many of my client AdWords accounts as of today. This new tool is a real gem and a wonderful improvement to Google’s integrated keyword tools.

Start looking for the Keyword Planner in your AdWords account.
Start looking for the Keyword Planner in your AdWords account.

The Keyword Planner is powerful, you can now really estimate activity

  1. Choose options before you start search for keywords, estimate your own list, multiply your keywords.
  2. Choose targeting for estimates not only at the national level but get estimates at the state and city level.
  3. Set your average cost per click with a slider and set a daily budget to see results.

But that’s not all, you can do more:

  1. Pick over a list of keyword suggestions.
  2. Set the match type of keywords to target.
  3. Cull out keywords as you go.
  4. Download your new list as a .csv or an AdWords Editor import file.

I am just starting now to run the Keyword Planner through its paces in client accounts and so far I am finding the suggestions for my specific needs an excellent starting point. I am still carefully reviewing keywords on load, but there are some variations that I feel are pretty good additions to my client accounts.

What I like is the speed. I created a new list of phrase matched targeted keywords that look like they could really generate some sales with a few clicks and in under 10 minutes. As I try the tool out more this week, I’ll let you know additional thoughts.

For now, look in the tools section of the AdWords accounts you manage to see if you find the the Keyword Planner there. For the accounts I am managing, the tool seems to be appearing in accounts that are about 90 days old or younger. My older accounts do not have the tool appearing yet in the drop down menu.

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Getting Your Full Value Out of Mobile

McCord Web Services is a Bing Ads Accredited Professional Company and Google AdWords Certified Partner.
McCord Web Services is a Bing Ads Accredited Professional Company and Google AdWords Certified Partner.

As the leader of online marketing Google is paving a new path into the digital world and helping advertisers on the way to understand how to market in our “always on” world. Anyone who is involved in selling knows that the new frontier is mobile and that it is changing how we market forever.

Google has done quite a few really smart things to embrace this new frontier. First, they have introduced AdWords Enhanced Campaigns which is the first step in leveraging mobile activity and advertising on smartphones to reach people where and when they are making buying decisions.

Second, Google created a partnership with DudaMobile to help advertisers get a free mobile website that can be used in the AdWords interface as the destination URL even with the DudaMobile.com domain URL.

Third, Google has done a marvelous job of training and reaching out to account managers like me to assist them with how to help move clients into the mobile arena. The seminars are excellent and topical. Although they are really in a closed by invitation arena and not widely published, much of the information has also been disseminated via Hangouts at Google+.

I personally have attended one and sometimes two, one hour seminars for at least the last eight weeks and have had a Google account manager available to assist me with mobile implementation, followup, implementation of mobile conversion tracking and assists with DudaMobile for my own clients.

The power of mobile is to not just getting click activity on mobile phones, but to understand that the real value of mobile is much bigger than that. Mobile activity drives website traffic, e-commerce activity, and increasingly foot traffic into stores. My personal feeling is that the true power of mobile to drive sales should not be discounted and should be fully evaluated for each business.

Not all businesses will need the marketing strategies that some local selling businesses may need when it comes to mobile, but even national businesses may find that mobile activity is a growing percentage of their overall online activity.

Mobile brings a whole new perspective to the marketing table. Make sure that you are testing, trying out, and really thinking about your own mobile strategy in the weeks and months to come.