digital marketing for business conference - 3 ways to make your adwords work better

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Susan WenogradWenograd.com

Twitter: SusanEDub

@SusanEDub

3 Ways to Improve Your AdWords (and Become Amigos with Google)

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Who Am I, Anyway?

• 10 years in digital marketing• PPC is my favorite (don’t tell the

other channels)• Client & agency experience• Brands: CircuitCity.com, General

Motors, and many others• Based in Dallas, where I claim I hate

it from July through September

@SusanEDub

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It All Starts Off So Easy…

@SusanEDub

We’re going to bid on awesome keywords!

We’re going to get perfectly-qualified clicks!

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Phase One: Sadness

@SusanEDub

Where are my sales?

The AdWords interface says

to increase the budget.

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Phase Two: Frustration

@SusanEDub

What am I doing wrong?

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Phase Three

@SusanEDub

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When Did It Get So Complicated?

@SusanEDub

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3 Biggest Ouches in an Audit

• Search Terms & Negative Keywords• Account Structure• Bid Modifiers

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Ouch #1: Lack of Negative Keywords

@SusanEDub

I’m Google, and I’m here to eat your

budget.

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Match Type Lesson

Broad Match• Match making services• Type A personality• Lesson you’ll never forget

Modified Broad Match• Susan’s +Lessons about +Match +Types

@SusanEDub

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Match Type Lesson (cont.)

@SusanEDub

Exact• [Match Type Lesson]

Phrase• Slides with the “Match Type Lesson”

info• “Match Type Lesson” at DMFB

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Broad & Phrase Match

@SusanEDub

Keywords vs. Search Queries

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Does This Really Matter?

@SusanEDub

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Bottom Line

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Bad Matching Costs You Money

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Weaponry: Search Term Report

@SusanEDub

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Negative KeywordsMatch Types:• Broad: Classes • Phrase: Classes in• Exact: Classes in Raleigh

Application Levels:• Campaign• Ad Group

@SusanEDub

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Bonus Tip: Mining Your Search Terms

Export search terms.

@SusanEDub

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It looks worse before it looks better…

@SusanEDub

(Yes,we’re geeking out right now.)

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Consolidate terms to one column

• “Remove Duplicates” on each column

• Copy keywords in each column to bottom of Column A.

@SusanEDub

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One list, many insights

@SusanEDub

Negative keyword

Hmm. Consumers care about the material…ad copy & keyword additions!

Ad Group idea & on-site content idea win!

Ad Group for B2C Campaign, negative keyword for this Ad Group

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Ouch #2: Poor Account Structure

@SusanEDub

It’s Campaigns and Ad Groups.

Big Deal.

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Good Account Structure vs. Bad

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• No new ads• No change in bids• No change in landing page• So, what was it?

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It’s gonna sound crazy, but…

@SusanEDub

There was no change in anything but the way the keywords were housed & negatives were

used

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Here’s Why

• Cross-matching (aka) “Click bleed”= Sub-optimal ad copy being

shown• Broad Match gone wild

@SusanEDub

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How to Spot Click Bleed

@SusanEDub

Ad Groups term appeared in + spend

Ad Groups term appeared in + spend

Ad Groups term appeared in + spend

Ad Groups term appeared in + spend

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How Do We Fix This?

@SusanEDub

Go to your Ad Group! Are you

too good for your Ad Group?

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Clear Account Structure: Option 1

@SusanEDub

Campaign

Ad Group: Broad

Ad Group: Exact

Negativemirroring

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Clear Account Structure: Option 2

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Campaign: Exact

Ad Group A

Ad Group B

Campaign: Broad

Ad Group A

Ad Group B

Negativemirroring

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Does It Work?

@SusanEDub

Before

After

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Bonus Tip: Ad Copy in Rotation

@SusanEDub

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Structure = Control & Time

• Negative keyword analysis• Negative keyword mirroring• Bid management• Budget control• Ad copy control• Device control• Daypart control

@SusanEDub

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Ouch #3: Modifiers

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What are Modifiers?

• Gained prominence & function with Enhanced Campaign roll-out

• Bid modification by % based on criteria:– Days & Hours– Device Types (Mobile only…thanks,

Google)– Geographical location

@SusanEDub

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Device Types

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All Users Are Not Equal

@SusanEDub

Psst…your mobile users are awesome.

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Geographic Modifiers

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Who loves you?

@SusanEDub

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Sorry, Detroit

@SusanEDub

Canpaign Level Settings Locations

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Are They Morning People? Weekday People?

@SusanEDub

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Custom Ad Schedules

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Campaign Level Only

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Modifiers Can Get Sticky

• 4 Match Types • 24 Hours in a Day • 7 Days in a Week • 3 Device Types• 100s of Geographies

@SusanEDub

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Autopilot Danger: Stacking Modifiers

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Device + Geography + Dayparting

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Danger, Will Robinson

@SusanEDub

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Let’s Wrap This Up

@SusanEDub

Laser-focused control

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You Can’t Be Lazy

• Campaign & Ad Group Structure• Negative keyword strategy– Don’t fall off the wagon, the market changes

• Laser-targeted user behaviors and locations– Dayparting– Geographies– Devices

• Check results frequently after making changes to catch issues

@SusanEDub

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Thank You!

@SusanEDub