21 secret truths of high-resolution ppc - click equations

OF HIGH RESOLUTION PPC

CRAIG DANULOFF PRESIDENT, CLICKEQUATIONS INC.

21

TRUTHSSecret

Facts & Philosophies to Guide You to Better Paid Search Results

2 21 Secret Truths of High-Resolution PPC CRAIG DANULOFF | CL ICKEQUATIONS

What The Experts Say About:

21 SECRET TRUTHSOF HIGH-RESOLUTION PPC

© 2009-2010 Craig Danuloff

Copyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

All trademarks are property of their respective holders.

“Th e glory of paid search is hyper relevance and how absolutely data driven it is. If your goal is to be the best you can be at paid search, then your path goes through this book. When Craig talks I listen,

mesmerized. You should too because being wise is great!”

Avinash Kaushik - Author: Web Analytics 2.0

Order ‘Web Analytics 2.0’ at Amazon.com

“Everything you know about AdWords is just the very basics Google wanted you to know. Just enough to get you hooked to the most accountable of all advertising. But what if there was fundamental secrets that they neglected to

share? Secrets that could send your conversion rates, click-throughs and ROI through the roof? Would you want to know them? Now you can! 21 Secrets Truths is what you must read, no, act on, before your competitors do.”

Bryan Eisenberg - New York Times Bestselling Author

Order ‘Always Be Testing’ at Amazon.com

“Craig’s dug deep into AdWords and unearthed some important nuggets. They’re surprising, simply but eloquently described, and vital to

your PPC advertising success.”

David Szetela - Owner and CEO, Clix Marketing

Order ‘Customers Now’ at Amazon.com


ABOUT ClickEquations

The First Intelligent Paid Search Management PlatformClickEquations offers complete three-engine management, fl exible bidding, and powerful reporting. Plus these extras that make your life easier:• Adviser highlights the most important things to do with a set of best

practices algorithms• Segments help you focus with one-click fi lters show the critical slices of

your campaigns• Analyst enables rich dashboards and powerful analysis, marrying your

PPC data with the capabilities of Excel and adding one-click data refresh.

To learn more, see a video demo, or sign-up for a free

webinar, visit us at www.clickequations.com.


INTRODUCTION: SOMEONE ISN’T TELLING YOU EVERYTHING

Managing paid search isn’t easy.Campaigns are large. Changes are continuous. Competitors are aggressive. And the rules of the game aren’t really clear.You spend a lot of money on paid search advertising, paying search engines to place your ads on their pages. But your control over those ads is limited. The engines won’t tell you exactly how they’re triggered, where they’ll appear, or even how much you’ll have to pay for them when someone clicks on one. They give you nothing more than the basic rules for a very complicated game. And yet your fees and results are based upon how well your actions interact with their secret and ever-changing rules.

It’s as if you were playing a game of multi-level chess. Against a computer. In the dark.


The pages that follow offer 21 insights into how the search engines really work and how you should manage your account for maximum success. We know from experience that with a better understanding and clearer view of how paid search actually works, you can make smarter decisions and deliver better results.In fact, we’ve proven it with companies ranging from the Fortune 100, to venture-funded startups, to the Internet Retailer 100.

The 21 ideas in this book cover nearly every aspect of paid search: organizing campaigns, choosing keywords, picking match types, setting bids, writing text ads, selecting landing pages, and more. Each item highlights a simple stand-alone technical truth or philosophical view of one element of PPC campaign management. But they’re also designed to fi t together to form a cohesive strategic approach.

Our goal is to introduce you to a new way of thinking about paid search.What’s offered is a refi ned understanding of how the pieces connect and a better framework for making the critical decisions that determine your success.These aren’t all simple ideas. Some are rather radical departures from the “conventional wisdom” in the industry. You’re encouraged to read, think, and try things out for yourself.Each step will make you a better paid search marketer and manager.

The pages that follow offer 21 insights into how the search engines reallyThis book is a

n attempt to shine a little

light.


The world of search is large and complicated. But this book is small and designed to be quick and easy to read. As a result, when you’re fi nished you may still have some questions or be interested in more detailed information on some of the topics covered. An Introduction to High-Resolution PPC provides a broader and more detailed presentation of the ideas you’ll learn in this eBook, plus a step-by-step method for applying these ideas to the management of your paid search account.

order the book

An Introduction To High-Resolution PPCThe Rich New Way to Understand and Manage Paid Search Marketing

By Craig Danuloff

This book includes material fromAn Introduction To High-Resolution PPC.

Order your copy today at www.highresolutionppc.com


1 They’re Searching for Answers 8

2 Search Queries are More Important than Keywords 9

3 Ad Groups Organize Text Ads — Not Keywords 10

4 Campaigns are for Reporting, Not Organizing 11

5 Impression Share is the Most Important Metric You Don’t Know About 12

6 Go Negative on Your Brand Keywords 13

7 Search is from Mars, Content is from Venus 14

8 Broad Match Usually Means You’re Not Trying 15

9 Ad Rank is the Most Important Metric that Google Won’t Show You 16

10 Your Bid Does Not Control Your CPC 17

11 Quality Score Costs You or Saves You Money 18

12 Quality Score Really Does Measure Quality 19

13 Averages Lie 20

14 Ego Bidding is Better than Id Bidding 21

15 Great Bids Can’t Fix a Lousy Campaign 22

16 A Good ROAS Can Be a Bad Thing 23

17 140 Characters is for Wimps 24

18 You Wouldn’t Know a Winning Text Ad if You Read It. Or Wrote It 25

19 Landing Pages Can Help Your Results, But They Can’t Improve Your Quality Score 26

20 You Get Five Chances to Disappoint People 27

21 Your Head is Smaller than You Realize 28

TRUTHS of HIGH-RESOLUTION PPCSecret21


THEY’RE SEARCHING FOR

Every time someone executes a search, they’re asking a question. They search because they want to learn about something. Or fi nd out where something is. Or discover who has it or knows about it. They may just be curious. Or they may have an urgent need. The question could be simple or complex. The searcher might be sophisticated or naive. But every search is a question, and search engines deliver answers. They look at the words in the search box, infer the question being asked, and display a list of potential answers to that question.Paid search is a chance for your answer to be a part of that list.

This simple truth—that people are asking questions and you’re trying to answer them—defi nes search marketing. It’s the theme around which your paid search management strategies should be built.

Every step you take while creating or optimizing your campaigns should either help you to target better questions, deliver better answers, or ensure that you pay a reasonable price.There are many complicated aspects of paid search management. Accounts are large and business conditions change rapidly. You’ll face confusing options, evolving algorithms, and aggressive competitors. This isn’t going to be easy.But it’s nice to have a simple mental model as a guide: in any paid search campaign, you’re just trying to answer people’s questions.

ANSWERS

1


2ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN KEYWORDS

It’s easy to get the impression that keywords are the most important element in paid search campaigns. But they’re not.Keywords are just the means to an end. Their role is to attract the search queries that actually trigger the display of your ads.It’s the search queries that really matter, not the keywords.

Search queries are the words or phrases that users type into the search engine. The search query can tell you what the person wants and when or how they want it, and perhaps can even offer you a glimpse of their personality.When you see the search queries behind your keywords, you can make better decisions about organizing your ad groups, write more effective text ads, and set match types more intelligently. Search queries can also show you which new keywords and negatives to add so that your campaigns will attract more profi table queries and fewer unprofi table ones.

Keywords are tools. Their value depends on the way they’re chosen and organized, and on how you set the options that apply to them. Search queries, on the other hand, are direct messages from the people you’re trying to reach. They are the assets that defi ne and control your success.

Search queries are, or should be, the center of the PPC universe.

AAAAAAARRRRREEEEE MMMOOORE IMPORTANT THAN KEsearch queries

To see search queries in AdWords:1) Go to the Keywords tab2) Click the Search Term button

To see search queries in ClickEquations:1) Go to the Reports tab2) Click the Search Queries tab


AD GROUPS ORGANIZE TEXT ADS

Keywords live in ad groups. This leads many to consider ad groups as a way to organize keywords. But they’re not. The most important characteristic of an ad group is the fact that one of the text ads from the group will be shown to every person whose search query is matched to any keyword from that ad group.

So, ad groups are really a way to organize text ads. That’s probably why they’re called ad groups and not keyword groups.

Since the goal of a campaign is to answer questions—to match the right search queries with the most appropriate text ad copy—it makes sense to have all of the text ads in an ad group answer just one very narrow range of questions. Then, make sure that all of the keywords in that ad group attract only questions that those text ads can answer.

Traditionally, people organize their keywords categorically into ad groups and then try to write ad copy that will somehow be relevant to all of the search queries that get matched to those keywords. But this dooms you to failure. You’re forced to either write generic ad copy that appeals to all of the keywords, or write targeted copy that is well-suited to some queries and poorly-suited to others.If you organize around your ad copy, adding keywords designed to attract appropriate queries to each text ad, failure is nearly impossible. The relevance between search queries, keywords, and text ad copy is essentially guaranteed.

EXT ADS

not keywords3

Answer Organized Keywords #1cat food

order feline foodcat food online

kitten foodbest food for new kitten

what would my kitten like to eat?

discount cat foodcat food coupons

online coupons for kitty chow

Topically Organized Keywordscat food

discount cat foodcat food coupons

kitten foodwhat would my kitten like to eat

order feline foodonline coupons for kitty chow

best food for new kitten

Cat Food SuperstoreYou Cat Wants You To Shop HereHuge Selection, Fast Free Shippingwww.feedthecat.com

Cat Food: Large SelectionHigh Quality Food For Your CatGreat Selection - Shipped Todaywww.feedthecat.com

Healthy Kitten FoodQuality Food For Your KittenGreat Selection - Shipped Todaywww.feedthecat.com

Discount Cat FoodSave Money & Get QualityCoupons & Discounts Availablewww.feedthecat.com


ARE FOR REPORTING, NOT ORGANIZING

Campaigns have no direct role in account performance. They don’t impact impressions, clicks, or conversions (beyond the force of their budget and geographic targeting options). Most people use campaigns as an organizational tool. They roll up related ad groups so that a clothing store would have its “shoes” ad groups in one campaign and “hat” ad groups in another. But there is a price to pay for this simple categorical organization: the resulting campaign-level reports aren’t particularly informative or actionable. They contain such diverse keywords that they don’t clearly highlight either anomalies or trends.

A better approach is to organize campaigns in based on keyword categories and business goals or the performance characteristics of your ad groups.

For example, instead of one large “shoes” campaign you might have three: one containing the ad groups that target brand-name manufacturers, one including only those aimed at general category terms, and one that isolates particularly poor performing terms. This produces better reports because when important events or trends occur, they stand out prominently within the relatively narrow and usually predictable data sets. Major events are no longer washed away in a sea of averages. Campaign reports are transformed from interesting to actionable.And every time you look at your campaigns you’ll see what’s really going on.

AAA campaigns

4


IS THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC THAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT

The number of impressions an ad receives is an important PPC metric. This is partially because we assume that it tells us how many people are in our target markets or segments.But it doesn’t. Impressions tell you how many times your ad was shown, but the Impression Share metric tells you the percentage of the time it was shown as compared to how many times it could have been shown. If your ads are not being displayed when your keyword matches people’s search queries, that’s a very bad sign. Impression Share lets you how many conversion opportunities were lost before they even began.

The reason your ads are sometimes not shown is because, for some searchers and search queries, your keyword bid or quality score is too low. If this happens on half of the queries eligible to match your keywords, the Impression Share reported for the campaign would be just 50 percent.Sometimes low Impression Share is caused by poor keyword targeting, particularly via the overuse of broad match. If a keyword is eligible to attract a large number of queries, then the competition will beat you out for many of them. The solution in that case is to add more keywords or negatives. More frequently you’ll need to raise either your bids or your quality scores.Regardless of how you cure it, Impression Share alerts you to an important issue that would be otherwise impossible to detect. You should monitor it closely.

IS THE MOST IMPORTANT Mimpression sha

re

5AdWords Only

Neither Yahoo nor MSN/Bing

have any

Impression Share metrics.

When you buy an ad in The New York Timesit’s printed in every copy.

When you buy an ad on a paid search engine, it runs only some of the time.

You may beSHOCKEDat how oftenyour ads aren’t running.

Lost Impression Share

Campaign ACampaign BCampaign C

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

60%

75%85%


negative

6DogChow Brand Ad Groups

Pure Brand KeywordsChowFarms

ChowFarms Inc Chow Farms

Chow Farms IncChow Farms Corp

Chow Farms BusinessOffi cial ChowFarms

Brand NavigationChowFarms website

ChowFarms homepageChowFarms site

ChowFarms online

Brand Plus KeywordsChowFarms Dog Fuel

ChowFarms Dog Fuel Dry

GO ON YOUR BRAND KEYWORDS

Keywords that contain your brand term(s) are unique. They get huge click-through rates (CTRs), typically incur a very low cost per click, and generate high returns.

Because of these distinctions, brand keywords should be separated from all of the other keywords within your account. Ideally, every brand keyword and all of the brand-related queries they attract should be organized into brand-only campaigns and ad groups.

Moving all of your brand keywords into brand-only campaigns and ad groups provides much clearer performance reports, and it also makes it easier to write ad copy that directly addresses brand-specifi c search queries. This further improves click-through rates, which makes brand terms an even better bargain.Plus, you’ll be able to allocate your budget more appropriately and set more accurate bids for both branded and non-branded campaigns.

After you’ve moved all of your existing brand keywords into their own ad groups and campaigns, monitor search query reports to see if any brand-related search queries still get matched to your non-brand keywords. If they do, add those queries as new keywords to the branded campaigns. When brand-related search queries have mostly stopped being matched into your non-brand campaigns, add your brand as a negative keyword in the non-brand campaigns. That guarantees that branded queries won’t be matched to non-branded keywords and forces them into your brand-focused ad groups. Right where you want them.

ChowFarms Pet Food Inc.Maker of Premium Pet FoodsOnline Catalog & Retailers Directorywww.chowfarms.com

ChowFarms Offi cial SiteCorporate Info & Product Details“The Best For Your Pet Since 1923”www.chowfarms.com

ChowFarms Dog FuelDog Fuel Premium Food in Bagsand Cans for the best dogs you knowwww.chowfarms.com/dogfuel


IS FROM MARS, IS FROM VENUS

A few years ago, content networks were the sideshow freaks of performance advertising. It was generally best to avoid them. But a lot has changed since then and many smart advertisers are swimming those waters again, this time quite successfully. But search and content behave and perform differently, apply options differently, and should be managed and thought about separately.

You should never have a single campaign running on both the search and content networks.

In fact, the search networks and content networks have almost nothing in common, aside from being able to manage them both through a single interface. Content networks use keywords, but they’re terms used on the site rather than queried by site visitors. So it often makes sense to buy keywords on a content network that identify users demographically: “football,” for example, when trying to sell men’s watches. This would never be logical on the search networks.There are other differences as well. Match types aren’t applied on the content network, and it’s generally unwise to have more than a few keywords per ad group. Conversion rates tend to be lower, and therefore bid decisions need to be made differently. You also have the option of choosing cost-per-thousand impression-based pricing.

The content networks are often under-utilized due to their troubled past.

It’s time to take advantage of them, but you have to apply the time and effort required to manage them independently from your search campaigns.

IIsearch content

7Will Click For Food


USUALLY MEANS YOU’RE NOT TRYING

Every broad (or advanced) match type keyword in your account, if not set in the proper context, sends a message to the search engine:

“I want to advertise to people who do searches that are related to this keyword. I’ll trust you to fi gure out which search queries are important and how to value each one.”

You’ll produce far better results by making these decisions yourself.

Broad match keywords can attract a wide range of different search queries. Some are highly valuable, but many are completely worthless.Sometimes broad match keywords don’t attract as many good search queries as they could because competitors may outrank you for the most valuable terms by using more specifi c match types, higher bids, and more targeted ad copy.This results in your broad match keywords attracting only “leftover” queries, and a lot of lost Impression Share in your campaign reports.To combat this problem, use broad match to fi nd search queries that you don’t know about yet. As each new search query is discovered—especially those that convert—add them as phrase or exact match keywords. And add unproductive queries as new negative keywords. We call this method “query mining.” With each addition, your account will improve and you’ll gain fi rmer control of your spending and results. Over time, you’ll see fewer clicks and conversions coming from broad match keywords (which is good in this case), and you’ll be able to reduce their bids (or even pause them) as they attract fewer profi table search queries.

8broad

match

Wanna be a Match Type Master?

Build yourself some match type keyword traps.

(Google it for instructions.)

Do you know what percentage of your cost, revenue, or clicks come from each of the match types in your account?

You should.

Broad Match45%

Phrase Match22%

Exact Match33%


IS THE MOST IMPORTANT METRIC THAT GOOGLE WON’T SHOW YOU

In the split second between when someone executes a search and when the results page loads, Google holds an auction to decide which advertisers’ ads will appear and in what order. One of the key steps in this process is the calculation and assignment of an ad rank to every keyword that is a possible match for that search query.Ad rank is determined by multiplying Quality Score by Max CPC (bid).When one of your keywords is an eligible match for a particular search query,

the ad rank of that keyword is compared to that of every other keyword that was also a possible match. The one with the highest ad rank gets position #1, the second-highest gets position #2, and so on.

Ad rank determines whether your ad will appear (and if so, in which position) for each keyword for any given search query. Its calculation shows us that

Google values both the bid and the quality score of a keyword equally.The ad rank of your keywords isn’t listed in Google. This might be because it changes in real time for every search query. But it’s also because Google isn’t running a transparent auction; the players have limited information and the house has a distinct advantage.If you could see the ad rank of the keywords that surround yours, you’d know exactly how much you would have to bid or improve your quality score to gain any specifi c position. Don’t expect Google to share that information anytime soon. But understanding ad rank provides an important insight into the invisible forces that shape your account performance — one more candle in the long dark hallway.

ad rank

9Yahoo & MSN

Both employ similar

methods to use both

bids and quality

to impact ranking..


YOUR BID CONTROL YOUR CPC

Once Google has determined where to position your ad in the search results, the next step is to calculate how much you’ll have to pay if that ad is clicked.The surprise is that your bid (Max CPC) is not used in this calculation. To calculate cost per click, Google takes the ad rank of the keyword below yours, divides it by your keyword’s quality score, and then adds $0.01. So for example:

• If your keyword earns position #2 with an ad rank of 15 (Max CPC is $3.00, quality score is 5)

• And the ad rank of the keyword in position #3 was 10• Then your CPC would be $2.01 because (10 ÷ 5) + .01 = $2.01

(Their ad rank of 10 divided by your quality score of 5, plus $0.01)

This calculation shows that your bid does play a role, albiet an indirect one: it helps to determine which keyword is below you. It’s the ad rank of that keyword that infl uences your CPC. What’s interesting is that CPC is determined by dividing two numbers: your bid drives the numerator and quality score is the denominator. Both play a role.

Bidding is under your control, but its impact is indirect. You can only infl uence quality score, yet its effect is clear and dramatic. Another cruel irony in PPC. The lesson here is to recognize that bids and quality score work together to set the prices you pay for your paid search clicks. And of the two, quality score has the somewhat more important and infl uential role.It’s therefore wise to allocate at least as much time and energy to quality score management as you to do bid management.

CCCCCdoes n0t

10Yahoo & MSNThe details of how

these engines calculate

CPC has not been

fully explained..


QUALITY SCORE YOU OR YOU MONEY

Quality score is an ingenious way of getting you to do the right thing in the confi guration and management of your paid search account.

Keywords that earn an AdWords quality score above 7 exceed Google’s expectations in terms of click-through rate and other attributes. They are rewarded with more impressions, higher positions, and CPC discounts of up to 30 percent on every click.The discount occurs during the CPC calculation. Since an ad rank is divided by your quality score, the higher the quality score, the lower the price you pay.On the other hand, keywords receiving quality scores below 7 perform worse than Google expects and are penalized as a result. Their ads show less frequently or at lower positions, and CPC penalties of between 15 and 600 percent are levied on every click.This table (left) shows the penalties and discounts associated with quality score.Also, low quality scores have the disease-like ability to spread from one set of keywords to another. This happens because the low CTR that usually causes poor quality score in an individual keyword also lowers the historical account CTR, which contributes to lower quality scores for all keywords on the account.High quality scores save money. Low quality scores cost money. Every click. It’s that simple.

YYYYYYY YYYYYYYY Savescosts

Like the gold star your third-grade teacher placed upon your forehead, a high quality score indicates accomplishment and confers benefi t.

11Yahoo & MSN

have not explained

how their

quality scores

impact CPC.

Impact of Quality Score on CPC

If QS is: Your CPC vs QS=7 is:

10 Discounted by: 30.00%



7 -

6 Increased by: 16.70%







QUALITY SCORE MEASURE QUALITY

The AdWords quality score number assigned to each keyword is based on its past and projected performance. It refl ects how likely a keyword is to satisfy the person conducting any given search.Quality score is calculated in real time for each search and takes into account both the search query and the geography of the searcher.A number of factors infl uence quality score, but by far the most important is the click-through rate. Four historical CTRs are considered: that of the keyword, the entire account, the display URL of the current text ad, and the geography of the user. The impact of relevance and other factors are often stressed, and they do play a role in the quality score calculation, but by all evidence and admissions, the impact of these items outside of their infl uence on CTR is minor. Don’t be fooled into obsessing about stuffi ng keywords into your ad copy or onto your landing page. Obsess about raising your click-through rates.Fortunately, the four best ways to improve quality score are tactics we’ve recommend:1. Align your search queries with your ad copy. Nothing drives clicks as

well as answering the question that’s been asked.2. Revise ad copy to see if you can boost CTR. Text ads have a lot

of buttons to push, and only trial and error fi nds the best.3. Remove non-performing keywords. Any keywords that can’t

drive clicks or conversions must be improved or removed.4. Eliminate landing page penalties. Any landing pages that are

assessed as “poor” must be improved or removed.

really does

12Interested in REALLY learning

about quality score?

-> Download our White Paper

http://clck.it/9gOj

-> Listen to our Online Webinar

http://clck.it/bphjda

-> Watch our SES Presentation

http://clck.it/aUXewV

Yahoo & MSNboth have some form

of quality score,

and these basic

ideas should apply.


AVERAGES

Many of the important numbers in paid search reports are averages. You never really know the price you paid for any click, the position in which any keyword appeared, or the quality score it received.There’s nothing wrong with averages, of course; they serve a valid statistical purpose. But in the course of managing paid search, it’s sometimes hard to remember that averages aren’t literally true.

Consider a few examples: When AdWords reports that the average position of a keyword is #4, the truth is almost certainly that the keyword has been in every position from #1 to #8. But it’s hard not to think and make decisions as if that keyword was always #4.When the average CPC of a keyword is $1.00, the truth is that for some queries you probably paid $0.50, and for others, $1.25. The CPC varies based on the search query, geography, and competitive bids. This has to be considered before building or implementing a bid strategy. There are many averages in campaigns and ad groups reports too, click-through rate, revenue-per-click, average order value, CPC, average position, etc. These cover wider data sets and are therefore even less refl ective of typical results.

Averages are a fact of life in PPC reports. That is not going to change. You can respond in two ways. First, create smaller and more focused ad groups and campaigns so the averages in your reports measure a narrower range of performance. Second, view all averages skeptically, and review their components before making decisions.Averages are approximations, sometimes inaccurate ones.

lie

13

The Keyword Positions report in Google Analytics exposes the

wide range of positions where your text ads appear before the Average

Position metric is calculated.

Side 1: 2

Side 2: 5

Side 3: 16

Side 4: 26

Side 5: 22

Side 6: 12


BIDDING IS BETTER THAN BIDDING

Let’s admit it. There are some keywords you bid on just because you like to see your ads in the search results. Or you have a boss who likes to see them in those search results.These keywords aren’t profi table. You run them to build brand awareness, or because they introduce your company to new prospects who might return later and purchase on another visit. Or you might run them just because it gratifi es your ego.That’s fi ne. We all have brands to build and egos to maintain.

But there is a right and wrong way to manage ego bidding.The right way is to admit it, and segregate your brand-building or ego-gratifying keywords into clearly marked campaigns and ad groups. This allows you to see and then intentionally approve the associated costs and revenue implications.In some cases, the clarity of these reports may be enough to make you decide that they’re really not worth it—that they were serving an unhealthy id rather than a healthy ego.

Isolating ego bids also makes it easier to identify poorly performing keywords in your regular campaigns. Without the “intentional” poor performers, the keywords that are just old-fashioned losers stand out more clearly, thus making it easier to decide whether to rebid or delete them.Ego gratifi cation is fi ne. Just take a few simple steps to keep it in check.

(That concludes our discussion of the Freudian Psychology of PPC bidding.)

Bego ID

14

Here’s one way to set up and name the campaigns and ad groups that contain your ego-driven keywords.


GREAT BIDS CAN’T FIX A CAMPAIGN

Bidding gets entirely too much attention in the paid search world. Both the idea of it and its process are treated as if they’re the central element to successful campaigns.

The truth is that bidding is just another piece of the puzzle. Even the best bid strategy or most powerful bid algorithm can’t overcome poor keyword selection, sloppy organization, or uninviting ad copy.

Think of it this way: there are pre-requisites for bidding. Until a keyword is ready, anything more than a simple target-position bid strategy is most likely a waste of time and perhaps money.Don’t worry too much about the bid for any keyword until it:• Lives in a tightly organized ad group • Uses the right match type • Attracts appropriate search queries• Is paired with targeted and persuasive text ad copy • Sends traffi c to an effective landing page or conversion pathAny bids calculated and set before these milestones are achieved are based on inconsistent inputs, so they really can’t be accurate or optimal. Watch carefully and you’ll probably notice prematurely applied algorithmic bids that are too high, too low, or change radically from one period to another.Garbage in, garbage out. As they say.On the other hand, when the relationship between search queries, keywords, and text ads has been thoughtfully managed or optimized, smart bid strategies or advanced algorithms can be an incredibly effective way to maximize sales and revenues. Spend a lot of time on bidding… after you’ve spent a lot of time on everything else.

Clousy

15


A GOOD ROAS CAN BE A THING

Return on ad spend (ROAS) is a metric that only a search engine could love. For the most part, it’s a feel-good number that can be incredibly deceiving.

ROAS describes how many dollars you get back as a percentage of the dollars you spend on advertising. When revenues exceed expenses, ROAS is greater than 100%, which looks positive. But unless your product or service has no cost of goods, which is sometimes true in lead generation but never in sales or service fi rms, then it has nothing to do with profi tability or success. It’s easy to have a 300% ROAS and still lose money. All you need is $100 in expenses, $300 in revenues, and $500 in cost of goods.ROAS is the online advertising version of those late-night infomercials where the poor stooges who already purchased the wacky get-rich-quick scheme tell you how they “made $40,000 last month,” when really they sold $40,000 worth of merchandise but neglect to mention their $39,500 in costs.

ROI (return on investment) is a better metric for online tracking and decision making. ROI reports on revenue less the cost of advertising and the cost of goods sold. It refl ects net profi t, while ROAS just documents cash fl ow.If your PPC campaigns are designed to generate profi t, then measuring profi t is the only reasonable way to judge them and the only reasonable metric on which to base management decisions.

TTTBAD

16

Google AdWords is lax in their defi nitions of profi t, ROI, and ROAS.

To measure ROI, your paid search tool or platform must allow you to upload or input the COGS or margin of your products.


140 CHARACTERS IS FOR

Thanks to Twitter and SMS, many people have learned how hard it can be to express a complete idea in just 140 characters. But to text ad copy writers, 140 characters may as well be War and Peace.

In AdWords and AdCenter, the space available for text ad copy is just 95 characters, and in Yahoo it’s 110. The two lines below the headline contain only 70 characters. Yet the communication goals in these small spaces are enormous.

Text ads have the responsibility of answering the question the user posed in their query. They need to attract, engage, and persuade.Specifi cally, ad copy needs to accomplish as many of the following as possible: • Convince the right people to click • Repel the folks you don’t want • Establish trust • Promote features • Explain benefi ts • Differentiate from competitors • Add a dash of humor• Make the all-important call to action • Plus, of course, offer Free Shipping

That’s a lot of message to fi t into 95 characters.You should allocate 20–30% of your paid search account management time to the process of writing and editing ad copy. If copy writing isn’t your best skill, consider assigning that task to someone else.All good writing is hard work. Writing good ad copy is very hard work.

wimps

Write 3 phrases

to deliver each

messaging element.

Then build ads from

those components.

17

Also: be careful when using Dynamic Keyword Insertion in your text ads.

TIP:

New BrainLooking for New Brain?Find exactly what you want today.www.eBay.com

Visiting Hell?Your Offi cial Travel Site.Travel Deals from 100+ Siteswww.hotels.kayak.com


YOU WOULDN’T KNOW A WINNING TEXT AD IF YOU READ IT.

Writing effective ad copy is a skill and an art that requires knowledge and creativity. But there’s also a lot of science that can be applied to ad copy to optimize performance and results. That’s why you should always be testing text ads.

Testing text ads is easy. In fact, it’s automatic in each of the search engines. Just add two or more ad versions to any ad group, and make sure the “rotate evenly” option is selected in the campaign settings so you get a near-even distribution of impressions. The consistent truth about testing—for text ads and landing pages, or for minor tweaks to the elements of either—is that test results are unpredictable and often surprising.Which is, obviously, why you have to do the tests in the fi rst place.

At any given time, you should have active tests underway in at least 10 to 20 percent of your ad groups. When patterns emerge in the winners, try to implement the lessons learned across similar ad groups. It shouldn’t be necessary to test every ad to fi nd ways to spread big improvements across your account.And remember to keep an eye on conversion rates as well as CTRs. There are many tactics that drive up click-through rates, but it’s conversions that pay the bills. So Always Be Testing (as our friend Bryan Eisenberg likes to say).

or wrote it.

Neither you nor anyone within your company can reliably predict how real live users will react to diff erent versions of ad copy.

18Save on HansgroheAlways Discounted & Ready To Ship!Free Shipping on Orders Over $199.www.kitchenclosette.com/HansgroheCTR: 1.33%

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LANDING PAGES CAN HELP YOUR RESULTS, BUT THEY CAN’T HELP YOUR

Good (or even great) landing pages are crucial to the success of your paid search programs. If landing pages don’t live up to the promise of your ad copy, users will bounce so fast you’ll wonder why you even paid for their clicks.But landing pages have less impact on quality score than their reputation would suggest.

Landing pages are one of the factors used to calculate quality score. But Google makes clear that landing pages are not included in the version of quality score that’s used when calculating ad rank. So landing pages—great or horrifi c—don’t have an impact on when or where your ads appear.They are, however, considered in quality score as it applies to the calculation of your CPC and fi rst page bid estimates. But in this case, only poor or problematic landing pages matter. A “landing page penalty” will cause your costs to rise, but otherwise has no impact. Google isn’t specifi c about every action that invokes a landing page penalty, but questionable business models, deceptive practices, pop-ups, slow load times, solicitation of user names or email addresses, inadequate relevance, and other bad behaviors are all likely causes. Broadly speaking, if you’re not trying to trick people for a living, and you’re not a desperately horrible marketer, you should rarely if ever experience landing page–related quality score problems.There are lots of solid reasons to obsess over landing pages. Quality score is not one of them.

OUR RESULTS,

quality score19

Yahoo & MSNThe quality scores from

both these engines do take

landing pages into account,

but the details are

unknown.

Landing pages DO NOT impactquality score as used in:

-> The calculation of ad rank

Landing pages DO impactquality score as used in:

-> Keyword Eligibility for Auctions

-> First Page Bid Estimates

-> The calculation of CPC

Source: http://clck.it/9JfzAy


YOU GET CHANCES TO DISAPPOINT PEOPLE

Before a qualifi ed prospect even starts their search, you need to have done quite a few things right just to get your ad shown to them. You need to have:• Purchased the right keyword • Set the right match type• Earned a suffi cient quality score • Offered a high enough bidThen, once your ad has been presented, you have to satisfy the customer up to fi ve more times to get the conversion:• Your text ad has to attract and persuade so they’ll click • Your landing page has to confi rm and deliver so they’ll stay • Your offer has to be attractive so they’ll want it• Your purchase path has to inform so they’ll check out• Your cart/form has to avoid frustration so they’ll convertIn paid search, it’s easy to focus the majority of our time on the steps we have to take to get our ads shown, and very little on the things that need to be done in order to satisfy searchers.

Writing and testing better text ad copy requires substantial time and effort. Landing page design and the rest of the post-click experience is often not the responsibility of the paid search manager, yet it can determine or at least constrain their potential for success.Within your organization, the resources, interests, and efforts of the pre-click team and the post-click team must be aligned. Find and report prominently on the metrics that illustrate the fact that you can only win by working together.The click is only worth paying for if you can do everything it takes to get the conversion.

fIve

This can leave huge potholes on the road to conversion.

20


YOUR HEAD IS THAN YOU REALIZE

A relatively few keywords drive most of your revenue. Even accounts with hundreds of thousands of keywords typically fi nd that fewer than 100 keywords (and sometimes fewer than 20) that are responsible for 80 percent of total revenue or profi t. These are your “head keywords,” and they deserve special treatment.

Head keywords should be manicured and massaged and perfected. You should review every search query matched to them, and you should promote productive queries to become keywords. Head keywords should live in very small and ultra-focused ad groups with text ad copy that’s been perfected through extensive testing.Given their click and conversion volume, as well as their revenue importance, you should be able to make very intelligent bid decisions—which lead to even greater volume and/or profi tability.The only resource more scarce than affordable position #1 slots on Google is your time. If this small group of keywords drives 80 percent of your revenue or profi t, what percentage of your time should be devoted to managing them?Or said another way, how much time can you afford to devote to keywords or even campaigns that only drive 1 or 2 percent of your revenue? All keywords and ad groups are not created equal; favoritism and discrimination are OK in PPC.

Take care of your head, and it will take care of you.

smaller

21There is no offi cial defi nition of “Head Keywords.”We suggest it’s those keywords responsible for between 60-80% of your revenue, costs, or clicks.


PULLING IT ALL

Paid search is the process of answering questions. Focusing on the search queries that deliver those questions rather than the keywords that attract them makes it easier to provide direct and persuasive answers in your text ads. The organization of your account is the key to a lot of your success. The way you choose to group keywords into ad groups defi nes the way your text ads align with the search queries you attract. And the way you place ad groups into campaigns defi nes the utility of your reports. Segmentation is an equally important part of your organization. Keep brand, head, content network, ego-based, and other keyword groups isolated so that their unique attributes can be understood and optimized.At the keyword level, a focus on search queries will help you to reduce your reliance on broad match. Mine your search queries for new keywords with more targeted match types and new negatives. And pay attention to click-through rate and the factors that drive quality score.Bidding is important but not omnipotent. Don’t expect too much from or apply too much effort to bidding until your keywords are otherwise optimized. Make sure you’re measuring profi t as your goal, not just return on ad spending. And when you’re buying keywords for ego-based (non-economic) reasons, make bidding decisions accordingly.Writing effective ad copy is diffi cult given the complex communication goals and tiny available space. The only way to succeed is via trial and error, otherwise known as testing.While gaining the click is your initial goal, it’s what your prospect does after that click ultimately determines your success. Consider and coordinate the entire post-click experience as part of your overall PPC management program.And fi nally, although your account is large and ever-changing, there is almost certainly a concentration of revenue within a very small number of keywords. So prioritize your time and adjust your expectations accordingly. Don’t waste time chasing your own tail.

together


THE END,

We hope you found this collection of paid search facts and philosophies eye-opening and useful. We’re confi dent that applying these ideas to your account can result in better

performance—and we’d love to hear your results or thoughts.

You can reach us at [email protected]

and beyond

www.clickequations.com/blog

www.twitter.com/clickequations

www.facebook.com/clickequations

www.youtube.com/clickequations

Learn More Online

The 21 Secret Truths in this book were excerpted from: An Introduction to High-Resolution PPC

Order a copy today to learn more includinghow to apply High-Resolution PPC to your everyday campaign management efforts.www.highresolutionppc.com

order the book


A lot of people have been involved in working through the mysteries of PPC and discovering these truths. Thanks to everyone at ClickEquations Inc. including employees, clients, advisors, and partners. And to everyone in the industry who seeks clarity and shares what they discover in blogs, forums, webinars, podcasts, videos, tweets or at conferences.

Craig DanuloffIs the founder and president of ClickEquations Inc.He has been active in online marketing for over fi fteen years since founding iCat Corporation, an early ecommerce platform company.Craig was a pioneer in the desktop publishing industry, and later managed an early-stage venture captial fund founded by Internet Capital Group.Craig has authored over 20 books, and is a frequent and highly-rated conference speaker. He has been

profi led in Forbes magazine, featured on CNBC, and was recognized as one of the ‘Technology Elite 100’ by Red Herring magazine.

the Author


1 A Lightning Fast Interface

2 Four Powerful Bid Algorithms

3 Complete Three-Engine Editing and Reporting

4 Beautiful Client-Ready (or Boss-Ready) Dashboards

5 Over a Dozen Built-in Best Practices

6 One-Click Brand/Head/Content Filtering

7 Excel Plug-In for Deep Custom Analysis

8 Detailed Query Reports from All Three Engines

9 Integrated AdWords Impression Share Metrics

10 Amazing Free Tech Support

11 Over 40 Customizable Built-In Reports

12 Proprietary Metrics including ClickShare and ClickVariance

13 Deep Insights into Quality Score, Match Type, Other Metrics

14 Support for International Currencies and Date Formats

15 Easy Bulk Export and Time-Saving Bulk Import

16 Track up to Six Conversion Events per Account

17 Custom Cookie Lengths up to 999 months

18 Powerful Custom Named and Saved Filters

19 Rich Dashboard with Key Metric Trend Graphs

20 Multi-Client and Multi-Account Architecture

21 Dynamic Revenue Attribution using First, Last, Linear or Weighted Allocation

TO MANAGE PAID SEARCH WITH ClickEquations TO MANAGE PAID SEARCH WI

great reasons21

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