Get Going With Google AdWords by Chandler Nguyen

7/31/2019 Get Going With Google AdWords by Chandler Nguyen

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Rockablepress.com

Envato.com

Rockable Press 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or redistributed in any form without

the prior written permission of the publishers.
http://rockablepress.com/http://envato.com/http://envato.com/http://rockablepress.com/


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Table of Contents3

Contents

Introduction 7

What to Expect from This Book 7

Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free? 8

Get on the First Page of Google in Minutes 11

What is Google AdWords? 12How Does it Work? 13

The Functionality 13

Search Engine Marketing 13

What Can AdWords Do for Me? 14

Pricing 15

Keyword Research 17

Example One: ThemeForest 17

Step 1: What is Your Audience Searching For? 18

Step 2: List Potential Keywords 19

Step 3: Build Up Your Keyword List 20

Step 4: Add and Download a List of Keywords

You Want to Use 24

Step 5: Checking Out the Competition 26

Example Two: ActiveDen 26

Step 1: What is Your Audience Searching For? 26Step 2: List Potential Keywords 26

Step 3: Build Up Your Keyword List 26

Step 4: Add Your List of Keywords 28

Step 5: Checking Out the Competition 29

Generic vs. Specic Keywords and Search Terms 29

Setting Up an Account with Google 32

Sign up to Google AdWords 32Signing in to Your AdWords Account 33

Creating Your First Campaign 34

Campaign Settings 34


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Table of Contents4

Ad Copy 37

Making Your Ad Bold 40Googles Ad Ranking Formula 41

Understanding Quality Score 44

A Note on Your Landing Page 47

Select Keywords 47

Billing 48

Making Your Campaign Live 50

Navigating and Monitoring CampaignPerformance 54

Creating Another Campaign 57

Using the Campaign Tab 58

Changing Graph Options 59

Filter and Views 61

Viewing Reports 63

Return on Investment 67

A Note on Conversion Tracking 69

The Google Content Network: Frequently

Asked Questions 72

Why do other sites partner with Google? 73

Which sites are in the Google Content Network? 73

How can I put my ads on these sites? 74

How much does it cost to advertise on the Network? 75

How do I monitor my campaigns performance? 75

Can I stop my campaign? 75

Can I use rich media ads? 75


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Table of Contents5

AdWords: Frequently Asked Questions 77

Can I purchase a higher placement for my search ads? 77

How can I get my ads to display above search results? 77

I chose postpay for payment. Can I change to prepay? 78

How does Google decide the cost per click I will pay? 78

Why do my ads only appear intermittently? 79

Pre-launch Checklist 81

Meaningful Campaign and Group Names 81Separate Campaigns for Google Search and Google Content 81

Correct Target Market and Language Settings 81

Correct Account Timezone 81

Account Currency 82

Daily Budget and End Date 82

Other Campaign Settings 82

Show Relevant Addresses With Your Ads 82

Demographics 83

Position Preference 83Ad Rotation 83

Frequency Capping 83

Appendix A: The Google AdWords Editor 85

Appendix B: Further Reading 86

About The Author 87


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NTRODUCTION


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Introduction7

What to Expect from This Book

There are two ways to get search trafc rom Google. The frst is

to publish web content compelling enough or other sites on the

internet to point readers to it through the use o hyperlinks. The

more hyperlinks your content receives, especially i those links

contain the words and phrases typed into Google by searchers,

the higher your content ranks in the Google search results,

increasing your trafc in proportion.

The second, aster way to bring in search trafc is to buy it. By

paying or Sponsored Results (ads) that display both above and to

the right o the 10 natural search results on a Google page, you

can bypass weeks or months o attempts to get your site to the top

o Google. You can actually bid or search queries that people type

into Google anything rom yoga dvd to how to get out o debt

to divorce attorney melbourne.

These search queries are generically reerred to askeywords, and

some keywords are more attractive to advertisers than others due

to the number o times theyre searched, or by how likely they are

to result in click-throughs to the advertisers websites. Keywords

purchased rom Google to trigger ads in Google Search Engine

Results Pages (SERPs) or on websites using the Google AdSense

program are calledAdWords.

This book will help those o you who are completely new to Google

AdWords, to set up simple, water-tight campaigns to promote your

own blogs, websites or businesses. Youll get a comprehensive

introduction to AdWords, and a thorough walk-through o how it

works. Youll learn all the ins and outs o setting up an account,

getting it live, and reporting on your campaigns.

Introduction


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Introduction8

Why Buy the Cow When You Can

Get the Milk for Free?

Each page in Google contains 10 web page listings that achieved

their positions by the frst method o getting Google trafc. These

listings are called organic results, since their positioning is the

result o Googles PageRank algorithm, and not purchased

placement. The top listings are ostensibly the best or most relevant

results or your search query, so publishing great content shouldobviate the need or spending on AdWords at least in theory.

Since Google AdWords costs money, lets frst address a valid

question: Why you would pay Google money to drive trafc to your

site when you can get ree trafc rom Google by just having a

site out there live on the Internet, and letting people fnd it through

natural organic search at no cost to you?

Its a question many have asked, and its a good one. Organic

search trafc is important or your site, but relying only on trafc

rom organic search is putting all o your eggs in one basket, and

can oten take some time. Using Google AdWords is a reliable and

measurable way you can source customers you can rely on.

There are other reasons. Statistically, the #1 result in Google ora particular keyword gets 42% o the total search trafc or that

keyword the highest percentage you can achieve in the organic

results. So even i your page is #1 in Google, you can augment

your search trafc percentage by purchasing a sponsored result,

giving you an additional opportunity to reach the 58% o searchers

who dont click on your #1 result.

Furthermore, Google ads not only appear in search result pages,but on millions o websites using AdSense sites collectively

known as the Google Content Network.AdSense is the ip side

o AdWords: advertisers bid on AdWords, and the revenue rom


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Introduction9

AdWords spending is split between Google and the websites in the

Content Network. Even i you were to get top search listings or allo your keywords, topically related websites are powerul trafc

sources that you should consider leveraging with AdWords.

This book will help you understand the search behavior o your

target market or audience. For example, what do people search

or most oten in your market? Does your site already rank well or

certain queries? Is there a relevant query you arent yet targeting,

but should be?

I your website doesnt appear on the frst page o search results

or queries you want to target, then you cant expect to get real,

worthwhile trafc rom search engines. According to a study rom

iCrossing published in 2010, 95.3% o Google search trafc comes

rom the frst page. Clearly, the frst page o results is where you

want to be, and not only the frst page but preerably at the top othe frst page. I you arent there, and most o us arent there yet,

then Google AdWords may be the right solution or you.


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Get on the First Page of Google in Minutes11

Get on the First Page ofGoogle in Minutes

A common strategy or bringing more search trafc to a website is

to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the practice o making

your websites content more appealing to search engines or higher

rankings.

Unortunately, SEO is not easy to implement, especially i you are

new to the game. It takes time or your SEO work to be eective.

Many say three to six months is the standard waiting time beore

you begin seeing results or competitive search terms. I youre

targeting keywords many other people are competing or, expect

the going to be tough. The more valuable the keywords you target,

the harder it is to get your site on the frst page o results. Everyone

else has heard the same statistics, and everyone else wants to be

there too.

Waiting or weeks or months or certain keywords to reach the frst

page o Google can be a serious liability i your keywords havent

been tested in the marketplace. Some keywords get high search

volume, but dont convert well, meaning that some lookups are

primarily or ree inormation rather than something to purchase:e.g. weight loss tips vs. weight loss system. You might fnd that

weight loss tips gets ar more searches to your landing page, but

that a much higher percentage o visitors rom weight loss system

search trafc actually click on your Buy button.

Google AdWords oers a quick and relatively easy way to boost

your targeted trafc. Compared to SEO, it produces results

quickly. You can test conversion rates on dierent keywords,headlines and subtitles in one or two weeks sometimes in a

matter o days.


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Google AdWords is

often referred to as SEM

(Search Engine Marketing),PPC (Pay Per Click) or

CPC (Cost Per Click)

advertising.

What is Google AdWords?

Google AdWords is a consolidated advertising platorm that allows

advertisers to reach their target audience in over 150 countries

using English or local languages. The platorm was originally

created to serve text ads on Google Search results pages under

the Sponsored Links section only (Fig. 1-1).

Over time Google AdWords began to allow advertisers to alsopurchase ads across the Google Content Network. The network

is made up o millions o sites and

reaches approximately 75% o global

internet users.

This Pay Per Clickormat, where

advertisers pay or each click-through

Google generates or them, has

expanded to cover image ads, ash

banners and video ads.

Fig. 1-1. This screenshot shows some examples of AdWords in the wild.


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How Does it Work?

The FunctionalityGoogle makes it easy to start using AdWords. Choose some

keywords you like, write an ad, defne your target audience and

youre ready to roll. Every time someone does a Google search

using your keywords, your ad appears in the Sponsored Links

section beside their search results.

The concept is simple, but that doesnt mean creating a successulAdWords campaign is easy. It takes eort and careul planning to

help your AdWords campaign reach its ull potential.

Search Engine Marketing

The end goal o search engine optimization is to push sites to

the top o the organic results in search engines. Search engine

marketing (SEM) expands on this concept, encompassing not only

organic search listings, but sponsored listings as well.

Fig. 1-2. An example of a banner ad.


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There are thousands o search engines in operation, rom Google,

to Baidu (China), to Naver (Korea), to Yahoo, to Bing. They all haveone thing in common: people use them

to fnd what theyre looking or.

Because o this, SEM is a unique

marketing strategy because consumers

are already looking or the product

or service right at the moment your

ad is shown to them. While most

advertising is interruptive, trying to

grab the audiences attention whether

they want to give it or not, search

engine marketing connects products

and services with the people who are

actually looking or them.

What Can AdWords Do for Me?

Lets talk about the main benefts o using Google AdWords.

You reach the right audience. By selecting the right

keywords, you can capture searchers who are already

looking or a product or service like yours. For example, asearcher looking or a website template will probably search

or HTML template or CSS template.

You promote the right message. By using a headline

and two lines o descriptive text in your ad copy, you have

the opportunity to communicate the main benefts o your

website, service or product, to potential customers beore

theyve even visited your site.

You only pay for engagement. You only need to pay i

someone clicks on your ad, but your ad will still be displayed

on search results regardless.

Google AdWords

(or Search Engine

Marketing in general)

is effective because it

helps advertisers reach

interested audience at the

precise moment that they

indicate their need.

We often refer to this as

the magic moment.
http://www.google.com/http://www.baidu.com/http://www.naver.com/http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.bing.com/http://www.bing.com/http://www.yahoo.com/http://www.naver.com/http://www.baidu.com/http://www.google.com/


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Campaigns are easy to start and manage. Anyone with a

website and a credit card can have their ads live on Googlein 15 minutes. You can stop campaigns whenever you like

and make changes and tweaks easily.

Pricing

Text ads are charged on a Pay Per Click(PPC) basis. This means

that every time someone clicks on your ad, you have to pay a set

amount to Google. This ranges rom $0.02 to over $100 per click,

depending on your chosen keywords. Youll always know what

your cost per click(CPC) will be beore you launch your campaign.

Googles PPC advertising has been enormously successul,

unortunately meaning that the CPC o many popular keywords

has skyrocketed over the last ew years.


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Keyword Research17

Keyword ResearchThe keywords you choose to target will determine who sees your

ad. You need to pick keywords that are already being used by

your target audience to look or websites, products or services like

yours. This may sound a little like mind reading, but its not as hard

as you think.

First, lets quickly go through the fve key steps to picking the bestkeywords or your campaign:

1. I someone was using Google to look or your kind o

website, product or service, what would they type into the

search box?

2. What other searches could someone plausibly use? Each

search, such as low ares, cheap tickets or discounttravel is a keyword. List potential keywords to describe

your product.

3. Use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to generate

additional related keywords rom your initial keyword list.

Well walk through the Keyword Tool in-depth very soon.

4. Add and download the list o keywords that you want to use.

5. Scout your competition.

In order to better understand the steps involved in creating a

campaign, lets go through a couple o examples.

Example One: ThemeForestOur frst example is ThemeForest, an online marketplace or

website themes. The themes are much cheaper than a unique

web design and are ideal or website owners who dont have the
http://www.themeforest.net/http://www.themeforest.net/


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Keyword Research18

time to create a design or their site, or the money to hire someone

to do it or them. Aside rom theme buyers, the site also tries toattract theme creators to sell their theme fles in the ThemeForest

marketplace. In this example well set up a campaign to attract

buyers o themes.

Step 1: What is Your Audience Searching For?

Were hoping to attract people who want to buy website themes

in particular, WordPress themes, Joomla themes and Drupalthemes. These are only the most basic keywords that a searcher

might type into Google, but theyre a good starting point or urther

brainstorming.

Fig. 2-1. ThemeForest.net


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Keyword Research19

Step 2: List Potential Keywords

Next, begin listing keywords that describe your product and are

likely to appeal to your target audience. Think o as many as you

can, but i youre having trouble, three or four dierent keywords

or phrases should be enough to get started with.

Our target market is most likely to be searching or the specifc

type o theme they want to fnd. Our example list o search phrases

looks like this:

html template

wordpress theme

joomla theme

drupal theme

Note that plural versions o the above search phrases are key-

words in their own right. There are many keywords whose plural

version has a much higher or lower monthly search volume

than the singular version. At the time o this writing, the Google

AdWords Keyword Tool reports that html template receives

14,800 exact match searches per month (exact match means

that only the keyword was typed into Google, with no additionalwords or characters), while html templates receives 27,100

searches per month. Never take small dierences between

keywords or granted. Consider the context: since searchers are

looking or a selection o themes and templates, it would make

sense or the plural versions to get more searches.

Now, defne the objective o your Google AdWords campaign. In

this case, it is to attract potential buyers who are looking or cheap,high-quality website themes and templates. I your main goal was

to sell WordPress themes youd need to tweak your keywords


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Keyword Research20

accordingly. Your keyword choices should always be guided by

your campaign goals. Lets make our list more specifc:

cheap html templates

premium wordpress themes

premium joomla templates

best drupal themes

Were trying to make educated guesses about how searchers

would most likely express their intent. One hypothesis is that

people are more likely to enter premium wordpress themes into

Google than high-quality wordpress themes.

Step 3: Build Up Your Keyword List

Were not search engines, so it can be tough to guess at the many

hundreds o dierent search terms a person could use when

looking or something like your product. Fortunately, Google has

created their excellent Keyword Tool to help us. You can access

it at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal .

Note that the deault language setting and location in the Keyword

Tool is English and United States. You can change these deault

settings by expanding the advanced options directly above the

Search button. Click the + sign to the let oAdvanced options to

reveal these options (Fig. 2-2).

Change the language setting i your audience speaks more than

one language. To select multiple languages or countries, hold

down Ctrl or Cmd as you click (Fig. 2-3).

One quick way to generate a list o relevant keywords is to enter

the URL o your closest competitors site into the Website feld.

While this can provide you with some good keywords, theyre not
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternalhttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal


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Keyword Research21

necessarily the ones being used to capture search trafc in the

sites AdWords campaign. The competitors ads might use more

unique keywords than the ones that appear on the site. In act, the

keywords used to trigger the ads might not even appear in the ads

themselves. The competitor might bid on the search phrase bestwordpress themes while displaying premium wordpress themes

in the ad copy.

Fig. 2-2. Your default language setting.

Fig. 2-3. Changing the default language setting.


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Keyword Research22

The more commonly used method or generating an extensive

list o keywords is to enter your initial keywords into the Word orphrase feld, then click Search (Fig. 2-4).

This book will only use this more common method. Lets say you

want to see what the search volume is like or keywords related

to cheap html templates and premium wordpress themes.

The screenshot below is an example o the results youll get ater

clicking Search (Fig. 2-5).

The search results provide us with a wealth o useul inormation:

The frst column lists suggested keywords. They are sorted

by relevance to the keywords you type in.

The next column indicates advertiser competition, i.e. the

amount o bidding activity, in relative values or Australia(your target market).

The third column shows an estimate o how many Australia-

based searches have been carried out or each term.

Fig. 2-4. Entering keywords to check their popularity.


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Keyword Research23

The ourth column is an estimate o the global monthly

search volume or all countries and languages.

You can sort the data based on a particular column by clicking on

the columns header the frst click will sort in descending order,

the second click will switch it to ascending order. You can also sort

by clicking the button to the right o the Sorted bycaption, which

is necessary to return to sorting by Relevance (or which theres

no column header). The question mark icon next to each column

header contains an explanation rom Google about what that

particular column means. In our case, the result shows that thereare a lot o people searching or website templates in Australia and

the competition among advertisers is ferce.

One useul column to add thats not visible by deault is the

Estimated Avg. CPC. Select this by clicking the Columns button,

above and to the right o the headers, then selecting the Estimated

Avg. CPC checkbox ollowed by the Save button. The Cost Per

Click not only tells you what you can expect to pay to advertise on

a particular keyword, but also signifes how valuable it is to other

advertisers. In this niche o website themes and templates, you

Fig. 2-5. Keyword popularity results table.


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Keyword Research24

should pay closer attention to the keywords with a CPC higher

than $0.05, since theyre more likely to have commercial intent.

I you see any keywords you like, clickAdd. The keyword will

appear on the ar right column under Selected Keywords (Fig. 2-6).

I you add any keywords by accident, click Remove next to the

keyword and it will disappear rom the selected list.

Step 4: Add and Download a List of Keywords

You Want to Use

Ater adding in all the keywords

you have or html template

or website template, click

Download All to save the

results as text, CSV (or Excel)

or plain CSV (comma separated

values) ormat (Fig. 2-7).

Though the demand or website

templates is huge in Australia,

the competition or this phrase is

ferce. Researching more specifc

Fig. 2-6. Googles suggestions for alternate keywords appears to the right.

Fig. 2-7. Download the list in

one of several formats.


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Keyword Research25

keywords can help you fnd choices

which better target trafc and have lesscompetition. In our case, we should

do a keyword analysis or premium

wordpress themes, premium joomla

themes and best drupal themes to

see how their trafc and competition

compares. Lets ocus on Drupal

themes and templates or the moment.

The phrases drupal theme and

drupal template yield the ollowing

results (Fig. 2-8): while the search

volume is substantially reduced, so is

the level o competition. Searching or

more specifc keywords is a great way

to fnd new phrases or your campaign.

Its important that you

download the selected

keyword list after youre

done with each keyword

topic, rather than trying

different keyword ideas

and lumping everything

into one big list of key-words. If you dont do this,

it will be tricky to separate

these mixed keywords

into dif ferent ad groups

later on.

Fig. 2-8. Keyword results.


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Keyword Research26

Ater you have completed your analysis o local trafc (in this case,

rom Australia), you can move on to investigating your second orthird regional market.

Step 5: Checking Out the Competition

TheAdvertiser Competition column doesnt tell you much. It wont

help you to fnd out who is advertising and what ads they are

running. For this reason, its important to run your own Google

search or your keywords and inspect the results. The results that

appear under the Ads heading are your competitors.

Example Two: ActiveDen

Step 1: What is Your Audience Searching For?

Like ThemeForest,ActiveDen is an Envato Marketplace (Fig. 2-9).

People use it to buy and sell royalty-ree Adobe Flash and Flex

fles. The site is home to a bustling community o Flash designers

and developers and has the largest Flash library on the web. In this

scenario, we want to market the site to people in Singapore. Well

assume that the most likely search queries wont dier much rom

country to country: ash templates, ash fles and ex fles.

Step 2: List Potential Keywords

Think o a ew more specifc keywords: ash template library,

proessional ash templates, ash components, and maybe

ex code.

Step 3: Build Up Your Keyword List

Using the Google Keyword Tool again, we type in ash templates

to search or related keyword ideas. I your search volume is too
http://www.activeden.net/http://www.activeden.net/


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Keyword Research27

low, try broadening the search term. I the competition is too high,

try getting more specifc. As a general rule, broad terms go with

high trafc and specifc terms go with low competition (but usuallylower trafc as well).

Unlike our last case study, wed select Chinese (Simplied) and

Chinese (Traditional), as well as English under Languages. Our

keywords and advertising will only be in English, but keep in mind

that the languages we add here reer to the language being used

by the searchers browser sotware. We want our English language

ad to be shown even i the searchers browser sotware languageis set to Chinese.

Fig. 2-9. ActiveDen.net


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Keyword Research28

Looking at the results (Fig. 2-10), not all the keywords are relevant,

so well have to pick and choose careully. For example, we dontwant to attract people looking or ree ash templates because

theyre unlikely to purchase the paid templates we have on oer.

Step 4: Add Your List of Keywords

Keyword analysis should be done careully, thoughtully and

accurately, but you can always go back and do another keyword

analysis again whenever you want nothing is set in stone. Dont

ocus too much on perection. Your goal is to fnd keywords

you can get started with. You can (and should) refne your list o

keywords later on.

Fig. 2-10. Related keyword search.


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Keyword Research29

Step 5: Checking Out the

Competition

For the ActiveDen example, wed

search or terms like ash templates

and see who is advertising in the Ads

section o search results.

Generic vs. SpecificKeywords and

Search Terms

The Keyword Tool can provide you with so many good keyword

choices that it can be overwhelming. Here well talk a little bit

about how to select a good mix o keywords.

The purpose o keyword research is to identiy the search queries

your target audience is using to fnd products and services like

yours. These keywords can be either generic or specic.

Generic keyword terms, like website templates or blog themes,

are very broad. These examples could reer to anything rom an

eCommerce theme to a blog layout. The more generic a keyword,the more search volume it has.

Specifc keyword terms like premium drupal themes clearly

demonstrate the intention o searchers. But because there are

ewer people who want premium drupal templates than those

who want website templates, search volume and competition

is lower.

A well-ormulated keyword list will contain a mix o generic and

specifc keywords. Specifc keywords are important because your

click-through rate will be higher (i your website is well-matched

Dont ignore keywords

that come back with Not

enough data to estimate

search volume. This

often means the term is

very specic and could

be perfectly targeted to

your site.


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Keyword Research30

with the keyword) and, because o this, Google is more likely to

give your ad prominence in search results.

The drawback with specifc keywords is that you may not get the

search volume that you need or a successul campaign because

people with a general interest may not know the specifc keyword

that perectly describes your website or product. A novice is

more likely to look or website templates rather than drupal

themes, and probably wouldnt understand the benefts o typing

in premium drupal themes. What people type in isnt necessarily

what they want in terms o how they search or it. Thats why

combining specifc keywords with generic keywords is a sound

strategy. Generic keywords give you access to a higher search

volume, though your click-through ratio on generic keywords may

be lower.

In some industries, like travel, consumer electronics and fnance(rom banking to insurance), advertiser competition can be extreme.

The best practice is to start with very specifc keywords in these

industries. Click-throughs can be expensive when competition is

ferce, so you want to make sure your ads are only reaching your

target audience, and that your budget isnt burnt up too quickly.


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Setting Up an Account with Google32

Setting Up an Accountwith Google

Sign up to Google AdWords

The site is located at http://adwords.google.com/. Follow the sign-

up process by clicking Start Now (Fig. 3-1).

1. Create a new Google Account or use an existing account.

2. Select your time zone and country. Please choose careully

because you cant change the time zone or the currency

o your account later. The selected time zone will be used

or your account reporting and billing. You will be making

payments in your selected currency.

Once you are done, youll see something like this (Fig. 3-2):

Fig. 3-1. Where to start.
http://adwords.google.com/http://adwords.google.com/


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Signing in to Your AdWords

Account

Take a ew minutes to watch the tutorial video, Getting Startedwith Google AdWords (Fig. 3-3). Its a useul introduction to the

interace.

Fig. 3-2. Dialog after creating an AdWords account.

Fig. 3-3. The AdWords video tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2L6EGa9DYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2L6EGa9DYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2L6EGa9DYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2L6EGa9DY


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Creating Your First Campaign

Once you are ready to create your frst campaign, proceed by

clicking on you guessed it Create your rst campaign (Fig. 3-4).

Campaign Settings

Beore you go on to the next step youll need to take care o a ew

things.

1. Be as descriptive as possible or your campaign name.

You could, or example, use your main keyword topic as

the name o your campaign. I you advertise in multiple

countries, you could also include the country code in the

campaign name, such as AU, SG, US or UK.

Fig. 3-4. Ad campaign settings step.


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Under Location, Languages and Demographics:

2. Select the targeted country or countries by clicking Select

one or more other locations. Next, select your chosen

languages or the campaign.

3. Networks, devices, and extensions. Its important to

choose the Network careully because you dont want to

mix Content Network and Search Network. As described

earlier, the Content Network displays ads on Googlespartner websites. The Search Network displays them in

the Google search results pages. Uncheck the Content

Network option (Fig. 3-5).

I you choose Devices, make sure to test out your actual

website on an iPhone or another smartphone beore opting

to display ads in mobile browsers.

4. Bidding and budget. Even i this is the frst time youve

used AdWords, choose manual bidding or clicks to giveyoursel a greater level o control over the campaign

(Fig. 3-6). Knowing your cost per click ahead o time will

allow you to determine whether or not your campaign is

Fig. 3-5. Specifying your network.


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potentially proftably, given the price point o your product

or service. Allowing AdWords to automatically bid to

maximize your clicks can lower your return on investment.

To work out your daily budget, take the amount you are

willing to spend per month and divide it by 30.

I you are not sure how much your daily budget should be,

put in a low fgure. Be sae in the knowledge that you can

revise it upwards later.

Under Position preference, delivery method (advanced),

dont change anything or now. Its not recommended to

alter these settings until you are extremely amiliar with how

Google AdWords works.

UnderAdvanced Settings:

5. Start date/End date: Its very important to set an end date

because i you dont your ads will run indefnitely or until

you max out your credit card!

6. Ad scheduling: leave it set to Show ads all days and hours.

(Fig. 3-7)

7. Ad delivery: Ad rotation, frequency capping. Leave thesesettings at deault.

Click Save and continue, then click Create ad and keywords.

Fig. 3-6. Setting your budget.


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Ad Copy

Though we have the ability to create image ads, lets stick to text

or now. Each text ad has our available lines:

1. Headline: maximum o 25 characters including spaces.

2. Description line 1: maximum o 35 characters includingspaces.

3. Description line 2: maximum o 35 characters including

spaces.

4. Display URL: maximum o 35 characters.

Destination URL specifes the page you want people to be taken to

when they click on your ad.

Though there are plenty o dierent ways to create a good text ad,

common sense suggests that the ad should:

1. Be specifc and relevant to search queries and the content

o your landing page. For example, i someone searches

or ree ash templates they are unlikely to click an ad or$49 Flash Components.

2. Clearly and concisely explain unique selling points. What

makes your product, service or website dierent rom all

Fig. 3-7. Setting your ad scheduling options.


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its competitors? Maybe its your

super-ast delivery, high quality,rock-bottom prices, or your

100% money-back guarantee?

3. Be led by your current promo-

tions (i you have any). For ex-

ample, i youre running a sale,

you should mention youre giving

a 10% discount.

4. Be time sensitive, meaning the

searcher will miss an opportunity

i they dont click.

5. Represent your brand accurately.

The style and tone o your copy

should reect how the customer should experience your

product or service. I your brand is serious and authoritative,

dont load your ad copy with smiley aces and exclamation

points.

6. Comply with Googles guidelines. In most cases youll

satisy this requirement without even trying, but i youre

unsure, make sure to read the guidelines or what is

acceptable to advertise.

In addition, your ad copy should serve as a flter or trafc. You

pay or every click, so you need to get a return on your investment

or as many clicks as possible. Dont use cheap tricks to attract

people to click, only or them to fnd your site, service or product

isnt relevant to them, or not what you advertised. Youll only end

up paying or clicks that dont lead to purchases.

Next, lets look at some real-lie ad copy. Go to the Google home

page and type in local orist. You can imagine that someone

would use that search phrase when looking or a service to help

Scout the competition to

see what theyre using for

ad copy.

Pay special attention to

the Sponsored Ads that

appear on the lef t-hand

side of search results.

These ads all have a high

Quality Score, meaning

that theyre working well

and generating good

click-through rates.


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them fnd orists in their area. At the time o writing this, the ollow-

ing ads appear on search results page or http://google.com.au(Fig. 3-8).

You can see that results are displayed more prominently at thetop o the search results, and less prominently to their right. The

ads at the top have parts o their title in bold, which is very good

or catching your eye. They display their

unique selling points clearly in each ads

descriptive text: huge range, same day

delivery, etc.

On the right, we see another ad or thesame keyword (Fig. 3-9).Unortunately, this

ad isnt relevant to someone in Australia

searching or local orist. The lower

Fig. 3-8. Sample search results for local orist.

Fig. 3-9. An ad using

the same keyword, but

not quite relevant to

this search.


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relevance o the ad copy would result in a lower Quality Score (see

the Understanding Quality Score section later in this chapter),which might explain why the ad is stuck in the right-hand sidebar,

rather than being displayed with the most relevant advertisers at

the top o search results.

Making Your Ad Bold

Words in your ad will appear in bold when they match or closelyresemble the users search query. We searched or local orist

and the headline or one o the ads was Find Local Florist. It

displayed it as Find Local Florist because the words in bold

were also in our search query.

For the same search query, one o the ad headlines was UK

Florists. Though we searched or orists singular, the plural

version o most words will also appear in bold.

I we accidentally searched or shangrri la and the display URL

or one o the ads was www.shangri-la.com, this would partially

display in bold. Common abbreviations and misspellings o search

terms will also oten appear in bold.

A ew things to note:

1. Taking advantage o the ad bolding eature is the only way

or your ad text to appear in bold. You cant manually create

bold, italicized, underlined, or any other kind o ormatted

ad text.

2. Any part o your ad has the potential to appear in bold,

including the title, body, and display URL.

Your ad copy can strongly aect how likely people are to click-

through to your landing page. Google has provided this helpul


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table o suggestions or ad copy testing, and comparisons you can

make to review your ad.

Creative

Beginner

Include special oers in ad text

Creative Test brands in ad text

Creative Test Dynamic Keyword Insertion/static in ad text

Creative Test Call To Actions in ad text

Creative Test seasonal creative

Creative Match online and oine messaging

Creative Deep link to relevant landing pages

Creative Relate the creative to the keywords

Seasonality Have an annual seasonal plan

Seasonality Have seasonal keywords and creatives ready

Creative

Intermediate

Include delivery details in ad text

Creative Test oine messaging in ad text

Creative Test prices in ad text

Creative Test number o products in ad text

Creative Include Third-Party Awards where possible

Creative Test capitalization variations

Creative Keep trialing dierent creatives

Creative

Ad

vanced

Test punctuation variations

Creative Test visible URL variations

CreativeAutomation

Automatically generate creatives: link creativegeneration with stock levels/prices

CreativeAutomation

Automatically ag creatives with poorCTR/Conv rate

Googles Ad Ranking Formula

Sponsored ads that appear above search results get more

exposure than ads on the right-hand side. Because they appear

above results, they seem almost like an extension o what isreturned in the organic search listings. They also get a colored,

shaded background, making them stand-out more in Googles

primarily white and blue user interace.


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To learn more about

Googles Ad Ranking

Formula, watch this

video by Google Chief

Economist, Hal Varian:

Introduction to the Google

Ad Auction

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQ ).

Here are a ew acts about ads

appearing above search results:

No one can guarantee your ad

will appear in the main column

o results. Googles algorithm

decides which ads appear on the

let and which ads will appear

on the right.

Whether your ad appears above

the organic listings or on the

right-hand side, you will only

pay when someone clicks on the

ad. You dont pay a premium or having your ads displayed

above the search results.

The maximum number o ads above the search results isthree, while the maximum on the right-hand side is eight.

Your ad automatically has a greater share o the space.

Normally, sponsored links only appear on the right-hand side o

results. In these cases, the ads are ranked 1, 2, 3, etc. (Fig. 3-10).

When we have ads above results, the ads are ranked frst above

the search results, and then continue on the right. The highest

ranked ads always appear above search results (Fig. 3-11).

The ormula is this:Ad Rank = CPC Quality Score.

CPC stands or Cost Per Click. This is the value you put in

the system under max CPC.

Google gives an individual Quality Score or each keyword

in your account, rather than one Quality Score or eachcampaign, or each account.

The Quality Score ranges rom 1 to 10, in ascending order rom

worst to best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQ


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Fig. 3-10. Sponsored links appear to the right.

1

5

2

6

3

4

Fig. 3-11. Ads shown above results have the highest rankings.

1

5

2

6

3

4

7

8

9


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Understanding Quality Score

Without a Quality Score, ad rank would be determined by CPC

alone: whoever pays the most per click has the best ranking.

Though this system might make Google more money on a short-

term basis, it goes against the companys emphasis on providing

the most relevant results or users, whether or organic search or

advertisements.

Quality Score is the way in which Google quantifes the relevancy

between search queries, advertisers ads and their keywords. The

higher the Quality Score, the more relevant your ad is to users

queries rom Googles point o view. Quality Score is independent

rom bid price, so you cant purchase a higher Quality Score.

The next question well consider is: What aects your Quality

Score?. The ollowing is an explanation rom Googles AdWordsHelp section (http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/):

1. The historical Click Through Rate (CTR) o the keyword

and the matched ad on Google. I the ad is appearing on

a search network page, its CTR on that search network

partner is also considered.

2. Your account history, which is measured by the CTR o allthe ads and keywords in your account.

3. The historical CTR o the display URLs in the ad group.

4. The relevance o the keyword to the ads in its ad group.

5. The relevance o the keyword and the matched ad to the

search query.

6. Your accounts perormance in the geographical region

where the ad will be shown.

7. Other relevance actors.
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=enhttp://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=enhttp://adwords.google.com/support/aw/http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=enhttp://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=en


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Basically, Google is letting users decide which ad is more relevant

to a particular search query by looking at Click Through Rate asone o the main actors.

Click Through Rate (CTR): clicks per number o impres-

sions. An impression is counted each time your ad is

displayed to a user.

I users click on your ad 20 times instead o 10 times out o 1000

impressions, your CTR is 2% instead o 1%. People only click on

ads that they fnd relevant to their search query. An ad with a CTR

o 2% is more relevant than an ad with a CTR o 1%. The higher

the CTR, the better the Quality Score.

Other actors determining your Quality Score are the keywords in

your ad copy, and the keywords in the landing page linked to rom

your ad.

Lets say two companies were advertising or the same phrase:

career advice. Company A has a Quality Score o 5, and bids 50

cents or the keyword. Company B has a Quality Score o 8, and

bids 40 cents. Which company will rank higher?

According to the ranking ormula, these are the results:

Ad Rank (A) = 5 0.5 = 2.5

Ad Rank (B) = 8 0.4 = 3.2

Since 3.2 is greater than 2.5, Company B ranks higher than Com-

pany A even though they pay 20% less per click.

The same goes or keywords with more than two advertisers bid-ding on them. Google perorms this ad rank calculation every time

a search query is entered to determine who will rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd,

and so on.


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At this point, you may be wondering how you can get your ads

eatured above the results. But beore answering that question,well need to determine whether the top level placement is always

the best location or your ad.

I what you want is trafc, ads above search results receive

more clicks than those on the right-hand side. Eye tracking

studies consistently show the top let quadrant o Google

SERPs as the hot zone (or a time-lapsed heat map, see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwUxYvpmw), so these

ads are oten viewed beore our eyes reach the organic

search results.

I what you want is trafc at the cheapest price, then it

doesnt really matter whether the ads appear on the let or

right-hand side. Cost Per Click depends on your Quality

Score and the level o competition only.

I you care about conversion rates (the ratio o those who

perorm your desired action ater clicking on your ad, such

as buying your product), recent studies rom Google show

that conversion rates are independent o your ad position,

but you should do your own testing.

Now, lets move back to the question o how Google decides

where to place your ad.

For each keyword, Google has a minimum Quality Score and CPC

threshold or the ad to appear on the let-hand side. The higher

your existing Quality Score, the lower the CPC threshold required.

This means that even though your Quality Score may be 10, your

ad will never appear abovve the search results i your bid price is

too low.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwUxYvpmfwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cwUxYvpmfw


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A Note on Your Landing Page

While the content o your ads landing page doesnt have as

strong an inuence over Quality Score calculations as Click

Through Rates do, it does contribute to the calculation and, more

importantly, aects the users experience. A generic or even

completely unrelated landing page will cause any ad to convert

poorly.

I your search query and ad copy are about productivity at work,

you should direct click-throughs to a page specifcally about pro-

ductivity at work, rather than a generic home page. Your landing

page should be specifcally relevant to the keywords you are

targeting.

Make sure your landing page has a strong text element, which

Google can use to fnd relevant keywords. Without enough text,Google may have a hard time concluding that your landing page is

relevant enough to your keywords. Remember that Google will

also have difculty interpreting images and Flash content unless it

has been careully optimized.

Select Keywords

Once you are done with your ad copy, enter the keywords you

researched earlier. You should leaveAdvanced option: match

types at deault settings or now (Fig. 3-12).

Next, put in your bid price: the maximum Cost Per Click that you

are willing to pay or each click o your ad. I youve only entered

a bid price or search, the content bid price should be grayed out

(Fig. 3-13).

Continue by clicking on Save and continue to billing.


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Billing

First select the country or territory o your billing address (Fig.

3-14). Ater choosing your country or territory, youll have to chooseyour payment method (Fig. 3-15).

You can choose to either prepay or postpay your AdWords cam-

paign. Postpay is a saer option until you get more experience with

AdWords. Its easy to stop a campaign at any time i you postpay,

but i you prepay, you will be orced to use up all your clicks.

Another potential downside to prepaying is that your ads will stop

appearing i your credit runs out. This may happen at inopportunetimes like when youre asleep!

Fig. 3-13. Setting the Maximum Cost Per Click.

Fig. 3-12. Keywords can be matched in variety of ways.


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Fig. 3-15. Setting up your payment options.

Fig. 3-14. Selecting the country or territory of your billing address.


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When you get more confdent with AdWords and begin larger

volume campaigns, you may decide to start prepaying.

Ater choosing your payment method, youll need to accept the

terms and conditions and enter your credit card details. Congratu-

lations youre ready to start your campaign!

Making Your Campaign Live

Each time you create a new campaign, its a good idea to run

through the ollowing checklist beore you make it live. Some o

the most common mistakes in AdWords campaigns are addressed

here:

1. Did you choose the right currency and time zone or your

account?

2. Does your campaign and ad group have a meaningul,

descriptive name?

3. Did you choose the right target audience and language or

your campaign?

4. Did you uncheck Content network and choose only to run

Search ads?

5. Did you set an appropriate daily budget or your campaign?

6. Does your credit card have a high enough limit to pay or

your campaign?

7. Did you put in the correct landing page or your ad?

There are two ways to see i your campaign is live. The simple,inormal way is to visit the Google domain or your campaigns

target country and search or the keywords you have bid on.


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The ofcial, more inormative way is to click on your AdWords

accounts Campaign tab and choose Keywords (Fig. 3-16).

Move your mouse over the status icon and youll see the current

keyword status (Fig. 3-17).

Fig. 3-16. The Keywords tab shows what keywords are currently running.

Fig. 3-17. Pop-up help on a particular keyword campaign.


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Googles system will tell you i your ad appears or a particular

keyword. It also shows you the Quality Score or that keywordand tells you its assessment on your keyword relevance, landing

page quality and landing page load time. I your ad is listed

as not showing, Google will explain some possible reasons

why (Fig. 3-18).

Fig. 3-18. If an ad is not showing, Google will suggest some reasons why.


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Navigating and Monitoring Performance54

Navigating andMonitoring Campaign

Performance

The basic structure o an AdWords account is represented in the

ollowing diagram (Fig. 4-1):

Youll want to create new ad groups or thematically related head-

lines that point to the same landing page. One ad group mightbe or Mountain Bikes, with individual ads or Cannondale

Mountain Bikes and Bianchi Mountain Bikes, both pointing to

www.YourSite.com/MountainBikes. Another ad group might

target Touring Bikes, containing the ads Cannondale Touring

Bikes and Bianchi Touring Bikes, pointing to www.YourSite.com/

TouringBikes.

I you are not sure whether you need to create a new campaign ora new ad group, the ollowing points should help:

Fig. 4-1. Keeping it organized.

AdWords Account

Campaign 2Campaign 1

Ad Group 1 Ad Group 2 Ad Group 3

keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy


keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy


keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy

keywords,ad copy

Campaign 3


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1. You can only change the target market, target language

and budget at the campaign level. I you want to try a newmarket, or set dierent daily budgets or dierent projects,

youll need to set up a new campaign.

2. Always create separate campaigns or search and content.

The two advertising methods work dierently and your ads

will need to be tailored to ft the one you choose.

3. I you are running short-term promotional campaigns, youllneed to create new individual campaigns to more easily

manage cost and duration.

4. I you want to promote dierent services, products or

concepts, you will need separate campaigns.

Next, lets take a closer look at the navigation or an AdWords

campaign. As you might expect, most o the action is in theCampaign tab, where you can check keywords, ads and other

campaign settings.

I you need to make changes, you can add in new keywords,

change existing keywords, and edit ad copy.

Here, you can see how easy it is to add in a new keyword (Fig. 4-2):

This screenshot shows how to add or edit advertisements

(Fig. 4-3):

Fig. 4-2. Adding new keywords to your campaign.


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This screenshot shows how to change your campaign settings(Fig. 4-4):

Fig. 4-4. Change your campaign settings when needed.

Fig. 4-3. Easily add or edit ads in your campaign.


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Creating Another Campaign

I you only have one campaign, you will

see the Create a new campaign button

in the top let corner o the interace

(Fig. 4-5).

Google will present you with several

options once youve clicked on the

Create a new campaign button (Fig.

4-6).

From here, you can easily replicate the settings o your existing

campaigns (Fig. 4-7).

You can check your campaigns perormance at any time by either:

1. Using the Campaign tab.

2. Running a report under the Reporting tab.

Fig. 4-6. New campaign options.

Fig. 4-5. Create a newcampaign by starting

here.


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Using the Campaign Tab

The Campaign tab gives you an overview o your campaigns

perormance.

All o your active campaigns will be displayed here. I you cant fnd

a particular campaign perhaps because it was deleted or has

ended you can click Show All on the right, below the graph.

Fig. 4-8. The selected Graph Options and Timeframe determine the extent

of your graph.

Fig. 4-7. Replicating a previous campaign makes it easy to tweak settings.


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Take note o the timerame you are viewing. To change the time-

rame, edit the dates in the top-right corner o the interace(Fig. 4-8).

Changing Graph Options

To see dierent metrics or change your graph settings, click on

Change Graph Options at the top let o the screen and youll be

given the ollowing options: (Fig. 4-9)

You can choose to view results or one metric over time by clicking

on One Metric.

Fig. 4-9. Graph Options.


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Metrics that oten go together on a two metric graph are:

Impressions & Clicks

Clicks & CTR

Clicks & CPC

Clicks & Conversion

CPC & Avg. Pos. (average position in search results)

Lets revisit the defnitions o the most important metrics or your

AdWords campaigns.

1. Impressions: the number o times your ad is shown.

2. Clicks: the number o times your ads have been clicked.

3. CTR (Click Through Rate): the number o times your ad is

clicked divided by the number o times your ad is shown in

Google search results. Your ads and keywords each have

their own CTRs unique to your campaign perormance.

Keyword CTR is a strong indicator of the relevance of your

keyword to the user and the overall success of the keyword.

CTR is also used to determine your keywords QualityScore. A low CTR may point to poor keyword performance,

indicating a need for ad or keyword optimization. Google.

Since CTR is so important, its useul to know the dierence

between a good and bad CTR. Unortunately, the CTR

standards vary rom niche to niche (i.e. some markets have

audiences that are much less likely to click on ads, or

whatever reason), though as a general rule, more specifckeywords yield higher CTRs, while more generic keywords

get more volume, but yield lower CTRs. For specifc

keywords, CTR can be as high as 810%. Conversely, i


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your keywords are broad, the level o competition is high, or

your bid price is very low, your CTR could plummet to 0.5%.

In general, a campaign that starts with a CTR o 1.52% is

doing fne.

4. Cost: total cost incurred or each campaign.

5. Avg. Pos.: average position. Dont be surprised to see that

you have an average position with a decimal point, like 1.5

or 2.3. I your position is 1.5, this means your ad usually

appears somewhere in the top two positions.

Filter and Views

Filter and views is a powerul tool available in the new AdWords

interace (Fig. 4-10).

Filter and views has the ollowing unctions:

1. Hide/show graphs

2. Customize columns

3. Filter campaigns, ad groups and keywords

4. Segment or hide segmentation

Fig. 4-10. The Filter and views menu.


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Since Hide/show graphs is sel-explanatory, lets look at the

Customize columns unctionality (Fig. 4-11).

Google divides each o these metrics into two groups:

Performance: these metrics reect how your campaign

perorms in Google Search.

Conversions: these metrics are used to help you identiy

the Return On Investment (ROI) o your AdWords campaign.

You can arrange the order o columns by dragging and dropping

within the Preview section. Once you are done, click Save.

The Filter campaigns/ad groups/keywords unction allows you to

get multiple flters at the same time so that you can zoom in ondierent areas o the campaign.

Fig. 4-11. Column customization options.


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Finally, lets talk about segmentation the key to gaining action-

able insights rom your data.

Without segmentation, you could see that there have been fve

thousand clicks in your campaign over the past two months.

Cumulative data like this doesnt allow you to identiy any

meaningul trends. Segmentation allows you to break the data

down by days in the week to understand i there is a pattern.

Maybe the majority o your clicks happen on Mondays and

Tuesdays, suggesting that you should allocate a higher daily

budget to those days.

Ater you have been running your campaign or six months or

so, you can check how dierent months compared against each

other. I you discovered that people searched more actively at the

beginning or the end o the month, you could allocate a higher

budget to that period.

Viewing Reports

The reporting unction is very comprehensive, to the point where it

can seem overwhelming or people just starting out with AdWords.

The best way to begin customizing your reports is to frst gain an

understanding o the dierent report types available to you.

The 10 reports oered in the Reporting tab are extensive, and

beyond the scope o a basic tutorial, but the best report to get

started with is Campaign Performance.

In the Reporting tab, click Create a new report, then select

Campaign Performance. In the Settings section, Under View (Unit

of Time), select Summary; under Date Range, select This Month;and under Campaigns, selectAll Campaigns. You can also view

individual campaigns once youve amiliarized yoursel with the

reporting unction. The same applies or theAdvanced Settings


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(Optional) section. Leave the deaults as-is until you have a specifc

reason to omit certain criteria.

Beore generating a particular report, ask yoursel the ollowing

questions:

1. Can the reports and graphs be generated under the

Campaign tab interace? This section covers: Clicks,

Impressions, Click Through Rate (CTR), Average CPC,

Average CPM, Cost, Average Position, Conversion, Cost

per Conv., Conv. Rate (many-per-click), View-Through Conv.

and more.

I you dont know the dierence between any o these

things like Conversion (many-per-click) and Conversion

(1-per-click) you can customize columns under Filter

and Views, select both metrics to be displayed, then click

on the question mark icon next to the metric you dont

understand. Google will provide a concise explanation o

what it is (Fig. 4-12).

Fig. 4-12. Pop-up explanation of the Conversions (many-per-click) metric.


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2. Ask yoursel so what? three times. I learned this useul

concept rom Avinash Kaushik in his book Web Analytics:An Hour A Day. Kaushik meant that beore looking at

specifc data or running a report, we need to ask ourselves

whether knowing this data will help us get better results.

I no actionable insight can be drawn rom a report, that

report is not worth making.

Lets say you run a report that tells you one o your destina-

tion URLs has more impressions than others. So what?

I your answer is nothing, then move on to something

else. Its easy to get sucked into harvesting interesting but

meaningless data the so what? question can help you

avoid this pitall.


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Return on Investment67

Return on InvestmentRunning AdWords campaigns is a constant balancing act between

your ad spending and the returns you get on that investment. What

are your customer acquisition costs? What is the value o the

actions people take ater they click on your ads versus how much

youve spent to get them to take that action? These are important

metrics to track, otherwise you can be running a loss-making

campaign without even knowing it.

Whatever metrics you use to defne a successul conversion,

tracking your results is essential. I you cant do this with your

current analytics provider, sign up or Google Analytics. Its

designed specifcally to work well with AdWords campaigns. You

can sign up or ree at http://www.google.com/analytics/. I you

use the same account or Analytics that you use or AdWords, your

accounts will be linked automatically. Youll then be able to use

Google Analytics to view campaign statistics at a keyword level,

such as revenue per keyword and cost per sale.

The table below shares some o the more common metrics you will

encounter in Google Analytics.

MetricsNumericValues Formula

Total number o clicks 10,000 click

Average cost per click $0.30 CPC

Conversion rate(Click to Sales)

2.00% = sales / click 100

Total number o sales 200= conversion rate

click

Average basket value $50.00 basket valueTotal revenue $10,000.00

= number o sales average basket value

Proft per sales 50%percentage o basketvalue
http://www.google.com/analytics/http://www.google.com/analytics/


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Total proft $5,000.00= percent proft per

sales total revenueTotal cost $3,000.00 = CPC click

Return on Investment 67% = (proft cost) / cost

Maximum Cost per Click $0.50 = total proft / click

Conversion rate or onsite conversion rate is measured

by taking the total number o sales or sign-ups divided by

the total number o clicks and multiplying that fgure by 100.

Your conversion rate and your return on investment are

inextricably linked.

Comparing the dierence in ROI between a 1.5%

conversion rate and a 2.5% conversion rate underscores

the signifcance o conversion rate optimization. Even a

seemingly small percentage increase like 1% can result in

a 60% increase in the revenue o your AdWords campaign,

which can mean the dierence between loss and proft.

Your conversion rate is strongly aected by two actors:

how well targeted your click-through visitors are, and

how eectively your landing page converts. Youll need to

examine both o these actors to increase your conversion

rates.

Average basket value: This is how much you make perconversion. This is the second o three ways to increase

the ROI o your campaign (the frst is to increase your

conversion rate, which we just covered. The third is to

increase your total volume o conversions).

Prot per sales: Though you may earn a certain amount

per conversion, how much o this is actually proft, based on

your campaign and other expenses?

Maximum Cost Per Click: This fgure is calculated based

on your total proft divided by the number o clicks. Its the

maximum amount you can aord to pay per click and still


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break even. I you ever fnd yoursel with underperorming

ads and you want to increase your CPC to give them moreexposure, make sure you have this Max Cost Per Click value

in mind.

Once youve ound a campaign model youre happy with, monitor

the campaign with Analytics to make sure the reality is matching

up to your earlier predictions.

At least once per week, start plugging in real numbers like total

number o clicks, average CPC, total number o sales and total

sales revenue to calculate your campaigns return on investment.

I you fnd that your initial conversion rate is surprisingly low, that

you have a negative ROI or worse yet, no sales at all dont

panic. First, look at your eCommerce report in Analytics to see

how your individual keywords are perorming. You might fnd thatsome are perorming well, while others may need to be culled

or replaced. You may need to try using more specifc keywords,

tweaking your ad copy, or adding more calls to action in your

ads or example, using the words Buy WordPress Themes

rather than just WordPress Themes.

Now that you are careully tracking your campaign metrics, the

only way or your campaign to go is up. You can constantly fne-tune your keyword list and tweak your ad copy to improve results.

Ideally you will have a high volume o clicks, low average cost per

click, high conversion rates, high average basket value, a high total

number o sales, a high proft margin and, best o all, a high ROI!

A Note on Conversion Tracking

Googles conversion tracking tools can help you measure how

oten visitors to your site perorm the action that you ultimately

want rom them. This might be buying your product, signing up


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or your newsletter, or commissioning your services. Conversion

tracking is ree and integrated with AdWords. I tracked properly,you should know which campaign keywords drive conversions and

how much each conversion costs you.


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The Google Content Network: FAQ72

The Google ContentNetwork: Frequently

Asked Questions

We conduct web searches many times a day, but we want to

spend as little time as possible using search engines. Theyre a

means to an end: fnding exactly what were looking or.

To provide options outside o search results, Google has partnered

with hundreds o thousands o websites to serve ads on behal o

advertisers. This is Googles Content Network: one o the biggest

ad networks in the world.

This section answers a number o requently asked questions

about Googles Content Network.

Why do other websites need to partner with Google?

Which websites are part o Googles Content Network?

How can I put my ads on these sites?

How much does it cost to advertise on the Network?

How do I monitor my campaigns perormance?

Can I stop my campaign at any time?

Can I use Flash banners and other rich media types as

well as text ads?

Lets go through each o these questions.


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Why do other sites partner with Google?

For revenue sharing vis-a-vis Googles AdSense program. Web-

sites that partner with Google and become part o the Network

are called publishers. Publishers make a commission every time

a Google ad on their site is clicked. Google claims the remaining

share o the revenue.

Which sites are in the Google Content Network?

The best way to answer this question is to use Googles Ad Planner.

Go to http://www.google.com/adplanner/, complete the sign-up

process, and log in. Youll be greeted with the interace shown in

this screenshot (Fig. 6-1). Select Search by audience, add your

target territory, then go to Filter. UnderAd item select In Google

Content Networkand click OK. Youll see all the sites that are

under Googles Content Network in your chosen territory (Fig. 6-2).

Googles Ad Planner is a powerul tool. Experiment and see what

you can learn rom it.

Fig. 6-1. The Google Ad Planner interface.
http://www.google.com/adplanner/http://www.google.com/adplanner/


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How can I put my ads on these sites?

You can get your ads on Google Content Network sites by settingup placement targeting campaigns in Googles AdWords interace

rather than using a keyword targeted campaign.

However, the steps are the same as those or creating a campaign,

except when you choose where to display your ads. Instead o

selecting Google Search or Search Partners, you will choose

Content Network(Fig. 6-3).

Fig. 6-2. Search by Audience in the Google Content Network.

Fig. 6-3. Get your ads on the Google Content Network.


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Its wise to set up search campaigns and placement campaigns

separately. In the long-run, this will give you greater exibility toadd, remove or customize your dierent campaigns.

How much does it cost to advertise on the

Network?

You can decide how much you want to pay or your Content

Network campaign and the metric you wish to use: impressionsor clicks. You have the ability to choose the maximum Cost Per

Thousand Impressions (CPM) or Cost Per Click (CPC) you want to

pay. This is a real-time auction system, so i your bidding price is

too low your ads may not be displayed at all. As with most auction

markets, prices are determined by supply and demand.

How do I monitor my campaigns performance?

A placement campaign, i you set it up right, has its own campaign

name and you can view the statistics the same way you would with

a keyword campaign. But remember: you cant interpret the data in

exactly the same way.

Can I stop my campaign?

Yes. You can pause and restart your campaigns at any time.

Can I use rich media ads?

You can also use any common rich media ormat, such as Flash

ads, image ads and video ads.


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AdWords: FAQ77

AdWords: FrequentlyAsked Questions

Though some o these questions have been answered previously,

this section will help you review what youve learned so ar.

Can I purchase a higher placement for my

search ads?

No, you cant. Googles ormula is the only actor that determines

how dierent advertisements will rank or the same keyword.

Ad rank = CPC Quality Score.

I your ad appears higher than other ads, it means the product o

your bid CPC multiplied by your landing pages Quality Score ishigher than the ad below it. However, you cant be sure o higher

placement all o the time or all your keywords, even i you bid with

a very high CPC.

How can I get my ads to display above search

results?

Your Quality Score and bid price are the only deciding actors in

ad placement. Having your ad appear above the highest ranking

organic search result yields bigger CTRs. Because o this, Google

wants to be sure that these ads are highly relevant to the search

query (in other words, that they have a high Quality Score). Google

doesnt want to compromise the very reason people use their

service: to fnd accurately what theyre looking or.


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AdWords: FAQ78

I chose postpay for payment. Can I change to

prepay?

Not at this time, though you can change to payment via credit card

or direct debit or postpay, and credit card or bank transer or

prepay.

How does Google decide the cost per click I will

pay?

Google runs its Ad Ranking Formula to determine the Cost Per

Click every time a query is searched. This is how it works. Lets

say Advertiser A and B both bid or the keyword phrase best hotel

package in Maldives. For this keyword, Advertiser A has a Quality

Score o 5 and bid price o $2.00. Advertiser B has a Quality Score

o 8 and a bid price $1.60.

Based on the ad ranking ormula:

Ad ranking A = 5 $2.00 = 10

Ad ranking B = 8 $1.60 = 12.8

Since 12.8 is greater than 10, Advertiser B will rank higher than

Advertiser A.

The CPC or Advertiser B is actually lower than $1.60. Google

calculates the minimum CPC Advertiser B has to pay in order to

outrank Advertiser A by one cent. I we take the ad ranking or A

(10) divided by Advertiser Bs Quality Score (8), we get $1.25.

Advertiser B will pay one cent higher than $1.25. This means $1.26

instead o $1.60.


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AdWords: FAQ79

Why do my ads only appear intermittently?

Based on your daily budget, the popularity o your keyword list and

volume o searches, Google will display your ads intermittently to

ensure the total cost o clicks wont exceed your specifed value.

Technically, your daily costs can be up to 120% o the daily budget

you set, but Google will make sure that you wont be billed more

than your monthly budget or any 30 day period.

In most cases when you search or one o your keywords andyour ad doesnt show up, it means that your budget or the day

is running out. You can check your account statistics to see how

much you have spent on any given day.


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Pre-launch Checklist81

Pre-launch ChecklistBeore you launch your newest AdWords campaign, make sure to

run through this checklist o essential campaign elements.

Meaningful Campaign and Group Names

Give your campaigns and ad groups meaningul names. Instead o

generic identifers like Campaign #1, use terms that correspond

to the unique aspect o your oer, like Dozen Roses, or 20%

Discount. This will help you to understand at a glance which

campaign or ad group you are looking at.

Separate Campaigns for Google Search and

Google Content

Whenever you set up a new campaign, Content Network is on

by deault. Check your campaign settings to see i you have

accidentally activated a Content Network campaign by mistake.

Correct Target Market and Language Settings

When copying the settings o a previous campaign to create a new

one, your previous target market will be carried over. Make sure to

check whether you need to update your target market or the new

campaign.

Correct Account Timezone

Once you choose a time zone you cant change it. Your time zone

will aect everything rom the accounts date, month and year, toreporting and the billing cycle.


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Account Currency

Make sure that you choose the currency you want to use to pay

Google. Its a good idea to use the same currency as your credit

card or bank account to avoid dealing with exchange rates.

All AdWords prices, such as Cost Per Click, will be listed in your

selected currency.

Daily Budget and End Date

Setting a daily budget and end date will help you keep control o

your AdWords campaigns. By deault new AdWords campaigns

are set to run indefnitely, so youll need to speciy an appropriate

end date. I youre unsure o when you need your campaign to end,

try setting a date 30 days rom the start time.

I youre not sure what your daily budget should be, ocus on the

maximum amount you are willing to pay each month and divide

the fgure by the number o days in the month. But remember: your

daily budget will aect how requently your ads appear and how

much trafc you get. For example, i you set your daily budget at

$10/day and the estimated CPC is $0.30, you can expect to receive

approximately 33 clicks per day or about 1,000 clicks per month.

Other Campaign Settings

Show Relevant Addresses With Your Ads

This option allows you to display additional inormation about

your physical address within your AdWords ad. This is not

recommended unless you want people to visit a physical store

location.


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Demographics

This option is only available or Googles Content Network and in

selected countries. Google allows you to select who will see your

ads based on actors like gender, education level, income level,

and so on.

Position Preference

This option allows you to choose the position range in which your

ads will appear. I your ad position is out o the range you speciy,

your ad wont show. Beginning AdWords users should

Get Going With Google AdWords by Chandler Nguyen

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