1. Stop Using
Broad-Match Keywords
More isn’t always
better, and broad-match keywords are proof of that. Broad-match
keywords put your ads in front of far more eyeballs than phrase and
exact-match keywords. However, those eyeballs are much less likely to
be interested in what you’re selling.
Here’s the issue with
broad-match keywords. Imagine you own an automotive painting business,
so you launch an AdWords campaign that uses the broad-match keyword
“car paint.” Broad-match keywords cause ads to be shown for any query
containing any keyword Google thinks is relevant for that phrase. So, a
man who searches for “paint for a model car” might see your ad and
click on it.
That’s a waste of
money.
Instead, use phrase and
exact-match keywords. With phrase-match keywords, the search query must
contain your keyword term in the order you listed it. And with
exact-match keywords, the search query must match your keyword term
exactly (well, not exactly anymore, but nearly exactly). You’ll get
fewer clicks and impressions, but your visitors will be far more
relevant to your business. That means better clickthrough rates, lower
costs and more conversions.
2. Start Using
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords pick
up where phrase and exact-match keywords leave off.
Imagine once more that
you’re advertising an automotive painting business. In your keyword
list, you’ve changed the term “car paint” from a broad-match keyword to
a phrase-match keyword. However, you’re still getting lots of unwanted
clicks from people searching for “model car paint,” and none of them
lead to conversions.
Negative keyword lists
— which you can make at the campaign or ad group level — block your ads
from being showing for queries containing any listed term. Add the word
“model” to your negative keyword list, and kiss all traffic related to
“model cars” goodbye.
3. Build
Separate Campaigns for Search and Display Traffic
When building new
campaigns, you get to choose whether your ads run on Google’s Search or
Display networks. You can also choose the “Google Display Select”
option, which runs your ads on both.
Inexperienced marketers
often run their ads on both networks. The Display Network is huge, and
clicks are cheaper than on the Search Network. Why not take advantage
of what both networks offer?
Actually, you should
use both networks — but always separately. Otherwise, you’re showing
the same ads to consumers in completely different mindsets, which means
either your Search or your Display ads will almost certainly flounder.
With the Search Network, you’re targeting prospects that are literally
searching for your product or service. With the Display Network, your
prospects are surfing around online and you’re going to interrupt them
with your ads. Typically, you’re going to need different ads for each
network to see the best results.
If you run your
campaigns on both networks, then you’re essentially forfeiting the
ability to optimize your ads for a huge chunk of potential customers.
Build campaigns targeting the two different networks — one for Search,
the other for Display — and you’ll be in full control.
4. Split Test
Your Ads
The Google Ads campaign
creation process requires marketers to make one ad to start with.
However, most new marketers don’t move beyond this, so all of their
campaigns only have one ad apiece. Unfortunately, you can’t really
learn much from running just one ad. Sure, you’ll get impressions and
clicks, but how do you know whether your ads are underperforming?
Head-to-head
competition is the easiest way to determine whether an ad is worth
using. Rather than settle for one ad, immediately create a second ad
with different copy. After a few days, weeks, or months of clicks and
impressions, you’ll be able to determine which ad copy is more
appealing to potential customers. Pause the weaker ad, create a new
test ad and start the competition anew.
What if the split test
doesn’t reveal a clear winner? If that’s the case, then keep one of the
ads, pause the other, and draft another test ad. Unless you wrote the
perfect ad on your first attempt (which never happens), you’ll
eventually find ad copy that delivers your message more effectively.
5. Start New
Campaigns for Winning Ads and Keywords
Is one of your ad and
keyword combinations incredibly successful on either the Search or
Display network? If so, then make a new campaign with only that ad and
keyword.
This will boost your
results in two ways. First, you can give your winning ad/keyword combo
its own budget, and it won’t be diluted by underperforming keywords.
Second, your top keyword won’t dominate your original campaign’s
budget, which means it will be easier to find that next winning
keyword.
And when you do find
more winning keywords, you can move them to the new campaign and
increase the size of its budget.
Conclusion
Google Ads can be a
tremendous asset to any small business. Like all kinds of digital
marketing, finding success on AdWords requires discipline and patience.
Don’t be discouraged if your efforts don’t seem to pay off right away.
Do the right things, and eventually, you’ll learn which approaches work
best.
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