hacking adwords - winning at adwords the weird way

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@larrykim #mpb2b Hacking AdWords! Winning at AdWords The Weird Way Presented by: Larry Kim Founder/CTO, WordStream, Inc.

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Larry Kim's Presentation on Hacking AdWords for the Marketing Profs B2B Marketing Forum in Boston, 2014.

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Page 1: Hacking AdWords - Winning at AdWords The Weird Way

@larrykim #mpb2b

Hacking AdWords!Winning at AdWords The Weird

WayPresented by: Larry Kim

Founder/CTO, WordStream, Inc.

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@larrykim #mpb2b

About MeLarry Kim (@larrykim)•Founder / CTO of WordStream•Commander of Quality Score Rebellion•Had Kid 5 Months Ago! #ppckid

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Today’s Agenda• The 10 Greatest PPC Hacks of All Time!• 2 AdWords Account Audits

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You’re an AdWords Hacker … and a Traitor!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Slides Can Be Downloaded From Slideshare!

•bit.ly/mpb2b

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#10. QUALITY SCORE IN ADWORDS

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Why You ShouldCare About

Quality Score?!

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Quality Score Impacts Ad Rankings

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Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Click

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Quality Score Impacts Impression Share

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Impression Share 2x More Competitive On Mobile!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Conversion

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So Get a High Quality Score!

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How is Quality ScoreReally Calculated?

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Expected Click Through Rate

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@larrykim #mpb2b

QS is Based on Your CTR vs. Expected CTR

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@larrykim #mpb2b

A Crazy Hack To Increase Quality Scores

• Allocate 10% of Budget To Raise Account Average Quality Scores

• Delete the Bottom Third of Your AdWords Account (Shift budget to Remarketing instead)

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Example Crappy Account• 2/3rd of

Keywords Underperform Expected CTR,

• 1/3rd of Keywords Beat Expected CTR

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The Junk Keywords Kill The Account• Even the

above average CTR keywords have very low Quality Scores!

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Example Amazing Account• 1/3rd of

Keywords Underperform Expected CTR,

• 2/3rd of Keywords Beat Expected CTR

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High CTR Keywords = Get Out of Jail Free!

• Even the Keywords with 0% CTR have Quality Scores of 7/10 or 10/10!!

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What’s A Good Quality Score These

Days?

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Typical Quality Score Distribution

• Today, Average ~5/10

• Previously it was 7/10

• As average values drift lower, above average QS worth up to 200% more than before!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

So What To Do With My Keywords?

• If Your Keyword’s Quality Score is…– 1to 3: Delete Immediately– 4 to 6: Fix / Optimize– 7 to 10: Don’t Mess with Success

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@larrykim #mpb2b

But.. High Quality Scores Aren’t Possible In my Industry!!

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Real Estate Industry Quality Scores

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E-Commerce Industry Quality Scores

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Finance Industry Quality Scores

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Low CTR = Losing PPC Strategy

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Quick Recap• Below Avg. CTR = Low QS• Low QS means…

– Less prominent ad positions– Very low impression share– Huge CPC penalties (+400%

Tax)– High Cost Per Conversion

(+64%)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The HIGH CTR Game for AdWords• Be Very Picky. Bid on Only the Best

Keywords and Get HIGH CTRs.• Delete Junk Keywords (Bottom

Third of your Account)• PRO TIP: Use impression weighted

average quality scores for Campaigns & Accounts (ignore keyword-level QS)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#9. UNICORN ADS

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Which Ad Wins?• Ad A

– 2,423 Impressions– 453 clicks (1.4% CTR)– Average Position: 2.8

• Ad B– 36,223 Impressions– 760 clicks (2.1% CTR)– Average Position: 3.0

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Trick Question! They Both Suck• Neither ad is

worth declaring a “Winner”.

• Not even the 2.1% CTR in the 3.0 Avg. Position.

• Why??

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What’s a Good CTR These Days?

(It’s Higher Than You Think)

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Google Expects More Of Your Ads

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Big Performance Inequalities Here

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Crap Ads Vs. Unicorns!!Percentile Vs.

Expected CTR

Name

Bottom 50% Below Expected CTR

CRAP ADS

Top 15% 2X Higher Awesome Advertisers

Top 5% 3x Higher Super Awesome Advertisers

Top 1% 6x Higher!! Unicorns!!!

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Unicorns Ads?! (6x Avg. CTR!)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

1. Keywords With High Commercial Intent

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2. Dynamic Keyword Insertion? (DKI)

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2. DKI Doesn’t Produce As Many Unicorns

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3. Use of Ad Extensions?

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3. Use of Ad Extensions? (Impact on CTR)

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3. Ad Extensions has Small Impact on QS

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3. Ad Extensions has Small Impact on QS

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How To Write “Unicorn” Ads

(Top 1%, 6x Average CTR)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Most Ads Suck (+90%)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The Hack: Try Ads That Trigger Emotions!

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This Beats Avg. CTR by 6x !

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.. Because All The Other Ads Suck!

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Ad Unicorns are Rare & Beautiful Creatures!

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected CTR

Awesome Ads

Top 15% 1:6.7 2X Higher

Super Awesome Ads

Top 5% 1:20 3x Higher

Unicorns Top 1% 1:100 6x Higher!!

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You Need To Test 100 DIFFERENT Ads..

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The Bar is Very Low Here…

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5% of Ads Soak Up 85% of Impressions

• You Just Need to Find 1 Unicorn Ad!!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#8. CRAZY OFFERS

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@larrykim #mpb2b

What’s a Good Conversion Rate for PPC?

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Distribution Point

All accounts

Ecommerce

Legal B2B Finance

Median Conversion Rate

2.35% 1.84% 2.07% 2.23% 5.01%

Top 25% Conversion Rate

5.31% 3.71% 4.12% 4.31% 11.19%

Top 10% Conversion Rate

11.45% 6.25% 6.46% 11.70% 24.48%

The Top 10% of Landing Pages Have 3-5x Higher Conversion Rates

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Landing Page Unicorns?! (+3-5x Avg. Conversion Rate!)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The Great Landing Page Optimization Fairy Tale

• We Changed the: – Font Type– Spacing– Button Color– Image– Etc.

• We got a 5% Increase in Conversions!!*

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@larrykim #mpb2b

PTD- Premature Testing Dilemma (aka “Optimizatitis”)

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Conventional Landing Page Optimization is Over-Rated

• Small Changes Result In Small Changes

• % Change You Think You Got is Often Just Noise or Wishful Thinking

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Re-Arranging Deck Chairs On the Titanic..

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Aim for 3-5x Improvements! (not 3-5%!)

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What Do Landing Page Unicorns Look Like?

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@larrykim #mpb2b

1. Change Your Offer

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The New Offer• How To Know If

Your Offer Stinks:– 2% Conversion

Rate or Less– Ask Your

Prospects!

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2. Radically Change The Flow

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2. New Registration Flow

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3. Let Users Choose / Leverage Emotional Triggers

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Landing Page Unicorns are Rare & Beautiful Creatures!

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected Conversion Rate

Awesome Landing Pages

Top 25% 1:4 2x Higher

Unicorns Top 10% 1:10 3-5x Higher!!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Note: This is the Same Landing Page with Different Spacing…

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The Bar is Pretty Low

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80% of Impressions go to 10% of Landing Pages

• You Just Need 1 Killer Offer!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

OMG - Just One Landing Page?!!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #mnsearch

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@larrykim #mpb2b

YES - One Unicorn is Usually Enough!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #mnsearch

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#7. GMAIL SPONSORED PROMOTIONS

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Subject Line and Teaser

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Email Ads! (HTML)

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The Hack: Target Your Competitor’s Emails

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#6. PEOPLE BASED MARKETING (NOT IN ADWORDS!)

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Custom Audiences in Facebook

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Tailored Audiences in Twitter

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The Hack: Think of PPC More Like Email Marketing

Email Marketing• Limit Number of Blasts To

Reduce Unsubscribes• 0.5-2% Unsubscribes Each

Blast• People Need To Opt Into Your

List• Tons of Unqualified Emails on

the List

People Based Marketing• N/A

• N/A• N/A• N/A

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#5. CRAZY MOBILE STRATEGIES

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Mobile Changes The Flow In a Big Way

OMG a Call Button!!

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Mobile Changes The Flow In a Big Way!

Calls to Businesses worth on Average 3x More Than Clicks to Websites!!

4. Captured Lead

2. Calls Business

2. Clicks On Ad

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel

3% Avg. Conversion Rate

Mobile Conversion Funnel

1. Sees Ad 1. Sees Ad

3. Visits Website Landing Page

3. Lead Captured!!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The Hack: Forget about Mobile Sites and Landing Pages!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#4. QUALITY SCORE FOR GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK

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Quality Score Exists on Google Display Network!!

Higher CTR = Lower CPC

A 0.1% increase/decrease in CTR yields ~20% increase/decrease in CPC!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

The Hack: Create Display Ads With Above Avg. CTR

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1. Push Ads To Your Offers

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Do a Conversion Path Analysis

Define audience segments using the pages that most often lead to a conversion event

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2. Push Ads To Your Content

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5% of Articles Generate 50% of Social Media Engagement

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The Hack: Same Emotions Make People

Click on Ads and Content

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Mark Your Calendar!

• Remarketing and Retargeting in 2014

• Wednesday 3:50, Salon F– Erin Sagin – WordStream– Tim Mayer – Trueffect– Sean Dolan – PushFire– Rob Garner - Advice Interactive Group

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#3. REMARKETING LISTS FOR SEARCH ADS (RLSA)

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Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)

• Customize Ads To Users Who Previously Visited Your Site

• On Average Doubles Click Through Rates (Raises Quality Score) and Cuts CPC’s in Half!!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#2. IN-MARKET SEGMENTS

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@larrykim #mpb2b

In Market Segments & Similar Audiences to Increase Reach!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

#1. FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE

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A Thousand New Features Each Year

• Over 1000 New Features in last 12 Months

• Innovation is Accelerating

• Much more if you Include Bing Ads, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

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@larrykim #mpb2b

+Post Ads on Google+• Released in April 2014• Google+ Updates

Show Up All Over The Web as Ads!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Impact on G+ Page Visibility Before & After

AfterBefore

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The Flywheel Effect: Paid Social Promotion Generates Organic

Engagement

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@larrykim #mpb2b

TrueView Ads on YouTube• People spend 6 Billion

Hours on YouTube / Month

• Pay Nothing if People Click “Skip Ad”

• Ridiculously Powerful Targeting Options

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@larrykim #mpb2b

ADWORDS ACCOUNT AUDITS

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Summary: The Top 10 AdWords Hacks of All Time!

1. Say No to Low CTR!2. Unicorn Ads Get Up To

6x Average CTR3. Unicorn Offers Get 3-5x

Average Conversion Rates

4. Forget About Mobile Websites and Landing Pages

5. Quality Score has Huge Impact on Display Ads

6. Use RLSA to Double Click Through Rates / Reduce CPC in Half

7. Expand Display Ad Reach with In-Market Segments

8. Get in People’s Gmail Inboxes!

9. Target Specific People on Facebook and Twitter

10.Always Be the First Mover!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Flywheel Effect: Paid

Don’t Settle For Average – Be a Unicorn Among a Sea of Donkey Advertisers!

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@larrykim #mpb2b

Thank You Marketing Profs!• Download Slides Here: bit.ly/mpb2b