Google AdWords – Page 8 – The Web Authority

March 28, 2016March 25, 2016

Google Loses Sidebar AdWords Ads – My Take

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Google announced a permanent change two weeks ago in regards to how it displays Google AdWords ads. If you’ve been oblivious to this change, make sure to go to Google.com and look – it is naked to the right of the organic results, but don’t expect the page to stay that way.

First here are the important things that Google has said about this change.

It is permanent! They have tested this layout before and then reverted back but they did announce that this time the change is permanent.
Get ready to see more content on the right – like the knowledge graph and carousel at the top. Read my blog post on that. Right now for some queries you will see Google Shopping ad images, but get ready for more content in this spot; keeping users on Google longer.
AdWords click costs must go up. Although Google says an ambiguous no, not really, maybe. The reality is that ad spaces have moved from 13 to 15 slots to now 4 above organic results, 3-4 below the results so a max of 7 or 8 ads per page. With a nearly 50% drop in ad space, you’ve got to be kidding yourself if cost per click won’t go up. Ramped up auctions for smaller ad spaces simply pads Google’s pockets.

Now, with all these changes, what happens to the organic results? Have you looked lately? Well here is my candid opinion…

Ads are stacked up top, then Google My Business sites (old Google Maps listings) show pushing organic results now down below the fold for many queries. Make sure to take a look on mobile which Google says accounts for more than 50% of its searches, all you’ll see in the smaller screen is ads.

With ads served to look like organic results and better looking paid ads – with maps and site links, consumers are clicking ads more and not searching for organic results.

This is a really big shift for business. I personally feel that with the shrinking organic space, AdWords activity is the new “must” for smart businesses. You simply will not be able to live without paid exposure now, and for the future.

March 23, 2016March 18, 2016

AdWords Standard Beats AdWords Express

I had a client who wanted to promote a new service in Manhattan, New York but wanted to spend $200 to $300 for clicks for a 30 day period. The price of her service is about $900 a pop. She wanted to move back into an old AdWords Express program to try to generate some buzz.

Sounds like you should be able to quickly and efficiently do this right? But what kind of quality of clicks would you get with AdWords Express.

Here’s a concrete example.

In AdWords Express we would enter one version of ad text and about 10 or so keywords we want to have the activity focus on. Let’s say the service was permanent eyebrow tattoos. Once we entered in our keyword set, Google would use broad match variations, synonyms, plurals, similar words and even parts of our keyword we wanted ads to show on.

So, even if we really only wanted to show ads on permanent eyebrows, or permanent eyebrow tattoos, Google would show ads on eyebrows, eyebrow makeup, eyebrow powder, eyebrow tweasers. As an AdWord Standard Expert User, I consider this type of non-targeted advertising not worth the clicks that this type of program may generate. But, to get general makeup interested consumer traffic AdWords Express might be okay.

However, when you combine all this with the fact you may have to pay $1.25 to $3.75 a click, you will want to be pickier about who may see your ads so as to not blow through your AdWords budget and not end up with any real prospects.

From my viewpoint, there is simply no replacement for using the Standard AdWords program. Set up and management costs may be higher, but the results are “golden” in comparison.

February 29, 2016February 27, 2016

Why Isn’t Mobile Converting for Some AdWords Advertisers?

Is mobile hot for you? Find out why it may not be.

With mobile activity jumping in Google AdWords, why is it that some clients are simply not getting conversions in the mobile space?

Here’s my short list on why you may not be converting or getting your fair share of mobile lead conversions when you use Google AdWords.

Have you tried to buy or fill out your own form from your own smartphone? Sometimes the process you have on your own website is not practical for smartphone users. Do you have too many steps in your shopping cart checkout? Is your website mobile friendly? Do you ask too many questions on your lead form?
Does your website load fast? If it takes more than 5 seconds for your mobile site to load, your prospects may be surfing away. Consider if they are on a 3G network the load time for your site may be chasing them back to the search results to try elsewhere.
Are you sending your AdWords clicks to the right page on your website? It can be hard to navigate around a website from a smartphone screen. When you advertise in AdWords either take the user to the exact page on your site where your product or service resides or start using keyword specific URLs in your account that override the ad group destination URL.

For many of our clients mobile is hot, hot, hot. Leads for some advertisers are less expensive and the volume can be big. But be aware that mobile is not hot for every client in every vertical.

Make sure you are doing adequate testing at a high enough cost per click bid to really test is mobile is the place for you or if desktops are still where you want to spend the majority of your budget.

If you are looking for a savvy AdWords account manager, make sure to check out our website today for programs and pricing.

February 24, 2016February 22, 2016

How to Boost AdWords Performance

We’ve seen it happen in several client accounts so you may want to try this for yourself.

One, if you’ve got a great performing campaign…consider revising the landing page with a new look and streamlined content for better performance.

Two, a great way to bump a good performing campaign to the next level is to update your ad text. Introduce a set of new ads. For some reason a fresh look, or fresh approach can also push your ad click through results. Buyers sometime experience ad fatigue and so a fresh approach periodically can reap really big click and click through results for an already great performing account.

Third, try break out ad groups. When we have a top account another way to push it to even better performance is to break out the top performing keywords into their own ad group with their own landing page. This very narrow focus and match on ad text, keywords, and landing page is a winning combination!