So I am working on an existing campaign for someone, has been running about a year. They had a problem that they needed more clicks. They have 1 campaign with 5 different ad groups. I found a large amount of keywords that fit reasonably well within the different ad groups and added them. At first impressions went through the roof, unfortunately CTR plummeted 2.7%->0.81% (the new keywords weren't performing as well) but this effected the position of the existing keywords. So now the average position is up, even for the original keywords. So I have removed the under performing new keywords, and those with low QS. This has bought the Avg Pos back down, CTR is better, but still only half what it was and clicks are still down by like 25/35%.. What do I do to rectify this? and also how do I get more clicks? Max bid is set at 80c but avg CPC is at between 11c-22c.
First thing is to find out why after a year all of a sudden they need more clicks. Clicks don't mean squat. Sales do, or action does. Sounds like whoever is taking care of the campaign doesn't know what they are doing. Of course removing under performing keywords is good, depending on how it is determined they are under performing. I would hope they are split testing and have good tracking set up to make sure. Kinda hard to give help other than that people running a campaign better know the basics. A large amount of keywords is great, if you know what to do with them)
Never touch a working group. Here is what I would do: 1. First priority is to get those CTRs and CPCs back to what they were for original keywords 2. Create a new ad group or even a new campaign for the new keywords. This way they will not be affecting my old keywords/groups and campaign 3. If you do step 2 you can work with the new group or campaign to get more traffic from new keywords without affecting old keywords.
That's a great tip to split the new keywords into another campaign or another ad group. If you can afford the budget for a new campaign you can create a new campaign else you can create a new group inside the same campaign. New campaign will be my preference.
@zeekstern I think they wanted more clicks so they could generate more sales. Currently they are spending about $20 a day with a daily budget of $50ish and keen to spend that to get enough clicks. Website converts pretty well so no issues there in terms of ROI. @rkuwadia How do you get the CTR and CPC back to what they were? The settings are back to what they were, just with improved ads (better CTR than old ones). So is it just a waiting game? I would have to change the old campaign daily limit, so I think I'll just leave it the same, and ad new groups. I have misspellings of some of the keywords eg forecast - forcast. The misspelling gave a low QS (keyword not in ad). Should I create ads with misspellings in them? Or just work with the lower QS? Or is there another answer? Thanks
I would create another ad for misspelling to better the QS. Also is possible then nother landing page to get better QS for misspelling. Better QS is low CPC so extra effort is worth it. For your old keywords it is now waiting game I think. You can increase bids on them to get the high pos and CTR back and them try to work your EPC down.
If I'm only paying 0.11-0.22 per click and the Max is set at 0.80 will raising the max make any difference? If so, how much should I raise it? The QS for the ads in the most affected group are all 10/10. Also funnily enough CPC actually dropped from about 20c to about 12c a click amid all the drama!
Again, clicks don't mean squat. I don't care if they spend 1 cent and get one million clicks. That does not in any way, shape or form mean they will convert those clicks into sales!! Now, if they have a great landing page that converts well (as you say), and not getting any clicks, I would have to back up and look at the Ads and keywords being used. Sounds like the ads stink, OR, they are getting a lot of untargeted traffic. Or, they might have the Content Network turned on.... Could be a few things)
Always start new ad groups and campaigns. You dont want to mess up the success. Then all the new keywords you added start with smaller groups and remove content placement.
@zeekstern Haha, ok let me qualify, they want more sales (or quality clicks?) Current traffic is targeted, but they just want more, as long as it costs less than the customer value.. = approx $2, currently spending about 12c a click. Working on the CTR now. They do have the content network turned on, what does that mean? Should it be turned off?
Let me rephrapse that, I know what content network means, and that it generally has a low CTR, but it has managed sites only (15 related sites), some get a ctr of 10% but most (and the largest) are closer to 0.15%. Will switching that off make any difference?
I think that in this case, you should post some of your keywords (with match key) in any adgroup and your ads as well, we can have some reviews and discuss more exactly.
Always start with the content network off. This is how you can find the right keywords and test for the best landing pages. Once you have that down, you can turn on the content network. What you will probably find is that the content network is not good for all products. That is why it is important to test, test,and test. I'm sure you have heard the horror stories of people losing a lot of money with adwords. This is one reason why. Those who get into adwords without knowing what they are doing, will leave the content network on. It can drain you in no time at all. And, of course Google's default is to have it on.
Ok things seem to be going a bit more smooth but I still have one problem. One of the significant keywords had a CTR of 7% and its now at 3.5% another 12% to 4.4% The ad group has been returned to what it was (new keywords removed and ad hasn't been changed). Conversion rate has remained at around 14%, but the avg CPC has dropped from 20c to 9c, Avg Position changed from 1.3 - 1.9 Any Ideas
so, you took on a PPC campaign for someone without knowing the basics of CTR history, it's effect on QS, and it's knock on effects on position / CPC. Seriously, you should know these things before you take money to do work on people's accounts
So just found something new. At the time I added new keywords, I added 1 new domain to the content network (managed placements). Without realising it activated the content network for the largest ad group. (The content network was only on for one of the smaller ad group previously.) Looking at it now, this is the ad group with the strongest drop in CTR and clicks. The rest had no significant change. I have turned the content network back off for this ad group and now waiting to see results. Does turning the content network cause this kind of problem? Ads are still the same and QS is 10/10 for all in this ad group. The only reason for the lower CTR must be the lower average position. Any ideas for getting the position up, will raising min bid make much difference when it's already so far above the average CPC? Or maybe just a waiting game?