Ok, let's say you have your Ad Groups set up, but every Monday you are logging in to tweak things wherever needed - what kind of check list do you run through for each Ad Group? For instance, at the moment I'm running Search Query Reports for each Ad Group and adding negatives and more exact matches wherever needed. I'm also going through the keywords individually and checking them against last weeks printout - if they have gone down in average position, I'll consider upping the bid. I also look at my split-testing ads - if they have had more than say 20 -30 clicks I make a decision as to which one to drop and which to keep, before adding a new ad. What things do you run though on a regular basis to keep on top of it all - do you keep it organised and run through a number of steps, or just tweak things here and there?
Schedule & create a weekly report on Ad Groups, Keywords, Search Query & Ad Campaigns..You can select dates when you want the data of your campaign on "Report tab".
Sounds like the same things I do, but I also check my daily budget is lasting the whole day, each day. If my budget is running out early I can cut the bids and get the same amount of traffic cheaper. I don't generally worry so much about average position, unless its a keyword I know converts well.
But isn't it important, especially in the early days to keep the CTR high? I assume a higher position will usually mean a higher CTR?
That's one of the big arguments about ad position. I believe google will actually take into account your position, and adjust what is defined as a good CTR. For example, a good CTR in position 1 may be 10%, whilst a good CTR in position 4 may be 2% and getting either one of these will give you the same quality score. This is what I believe from what i've read, and from past experience it seems to be true. Also, my contact at Google said that anything below 1% is considered a bad CTR regardless of position. so I would increase my bids to try to stay above this, if i think the keyword is worth it.
PinkBlush, could you elaborate, as to what you'd select to be shown in each report? I'm thinking: -A keyword report: Listing keywords with impressions higher than 0 (for each Ad Group). From this report I can: - Look at my StatCounter data and for Broad Match keywords that's received clicks, find out what they were and either add more broad keywords or negative (so they don't appear again)- Alter bids accordingly (say if I want the keyword to go up in it's average position), or pause them if I don't feel they are of value Could this keyword report be used to replace the need for the Search Query Report, as I'll be checking my StatCounter logs anyway, to find other keywords? Do you have reports for the ads in each Ad Group? To see how they have performed since the Split-Test began, or just bring the Ads up onscreen when you log in?
This one is a good subject. Here is what I normally do Daily: 1 - Run a campaign report 2 - Check to ensure campaigns are on target for budget 3 - Go through campaigns looking for inefficiencies (high positions, low positions, bad ctr, impressions, clicks and etc) 4 - make bid adjustments for anything in step 3 Weekly 1 - run in house search query report 2 - expand campaign keywords to include keyword in report 3 - add negatives for keywords i find in SQ report 4 - Run text ad reports 5 - compare control copy to new copy 6 - remove lower performance copy 7 - add new copy Monthly 1 - account summary report 2 - build customized performance report 3 - evaluate ROI 4 - strategize for next month There are hundreds of other tasks, but these are about the most common routines I find myself doing
Yes Google has implemented what is called position normalization so you are not considered bad performing because you like position 8 vs position 1. However I have tested to a degree that if you start your campaign high in position, history is established faster and are less likely to be slapped due to low search volume.