I have found that these methods work with improving adwords performance. I'll keep it as concise as possible and update as I learn more. - Use target keywords in the headline - First line should be a descriptive benefit - Second line should be an offer, feature or call to action - Use your keywords in the display URL subdirectory - Think relevance, relevance, relevance. The landing page should be specific to the target keywords. - Split test 2 ads at a time and experiment with copy, order of words etc. Find the ad with the better CTR and replace the loser with another ad to compete with the winner. Rinse and repeat. - Get creative in your keyword research to find overlooked quality terms and strings. Wordtracker, lexfn, google keyword tools, overture keyword tool etc. - Use negative keywords to avoid wasting money - it will also improve your CTR.
Thanks Danny for the info we are just about to start a new program for one of our travel sites, so we will use your tips
thanks for sharing, danny. The 4 points you put down is very useful. what is negative keywords? and how can we generates thoussand of keyword?
hi Toby I think it is a bad idea to use thousands of keywords in an adgroup - as I said try to make it as relevant as possible (I have heard that 20 is an optimal number per adgroup) Negative keywords allow you to filter out terms you do not want your ads to appear for - eg if you were selling apple computers you could filter out 'granny smith apples' as they are of course a different kind of apple and you do not want your ads to appear for that search : ) It is done by adding minus sign in front of the term. See also: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14791
Yeah, i'd go along with that. Always get a price in as well. Its amazing how far a £ or $ sign can go!
Thanks for the info Danny. Apart from improving the CTR - doest it help in having a better QS? I have a strong feeling that QS algorithm treats campaigns with negative keywords better.
Thanks for sharing the great tips. Also, how do you come to the conclusion that 20 keywords is an optimal number per adgroup? I use the Google keyword tool to generate thousands of keywords for my campaign. However, the result is just so so. Don't know how to improve over that.
thanks for the info. but i didn't understand what this negative keyword stands for? could some one explain a bit.
Lets say you are a web designer bidding on WEB DESIGN. I come along and search for FREE WEB DESIGN. I don't want to buy anything but your ad is still displayed. If I click your ad it costs you money. Using a negative key word means you ad would display for web design but not free web design. You should also play with exact match on longer search phrases. Check your log files or web stats program for KW your users are find you on. Also if you have internal site search try and record the query data. This way you get the actual users language.
These are some great tips. I'm doing a little adwords experiment tonight, and will post my results. This is exciting!
20 Keywords per Adgroup seems a bit high to me if you are really shooting for relevance. I think the max number of keywords in one of the campaigns that I run for a client is 9. But what do I know? Their click-through rate is only 14% in mid-positions... Steve
one mistake I made at the beginning was focusing on CTR instead of conversion. getting clicks is great but make sure they convert
Wow, if you are getting that percentage you are doing something very right! I heard the 20 per adgroup from a guy who is pretty successful with adwords.
As long as we are sharing our tips on adwords campaign management (thanks, Danny), here is one I found most useful: Always separate your content and search into 2 campaigns: 1. Search network campaign 2. Content Campaign
I have researched this topic recently and made a list of great articles where to learn how to do PPC marketing. If interested, it is here.
Yes, I think this helps (especially if your price is lower than the other guys using adwords to sell the same product, who may well be putting the price in their ad also!)