pubcon austin - adwords competitive analysis
TRANSCRIPT
Competitive Intel: Using Insights To Drive Strategy
Susan WenogradPartner & SEM – Five Mill
Who Am I?
#pubcon @SusanEDub
• Partner at Five Mill. Made up of paid search pros with avg. of 10 years experience.
• Specialize in medium-to-large scale paid search accounts.
• Live in Virginia with my husband and this cutie.
Competitive Intel Value
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• Things change: new competitors, new bids, new ad copy, new products, new searchers…you get the idea.
• Down with being complacent!• Seasonal trends.• Mobile trends. • 30,000 foot view.
Please!
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• Don’t do it obsessively! • Launching new accounts• Launching new campaign themes• Monitoring patterns quarterly-ish
Where Are Auction Insights?
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What Does It Show Me?
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• Your average position vs. competition
• Overlap rate: How often you show and their ad shows
• Position above rate: How often competitor’s ad is shown higher than yours when you both appear
• Top of page rate: How often you show above the organic results
• Outranking share: How often your ad ranked higher OR showed when a competitor’s ad didn’t.
What It Looks Like
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Competitor
CompetitorCompetitorCompetitor
CompetitorCompetitor
Sometimes these will surprise you
But That’s Only Part of the Story
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Richness lies in understanding your performance on Mobile, and performance at different times of year.
Mobile Can Look Different
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Get Out of the Interface & Into Excel
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Export & Pivot!
Domain Q1 2016 Q2 2016Competitor 1 5.7 5.6Competitor 2 5.1 5.0Competitor 3 4.5 4.7Competitor 4 4.7 4.7Competitor 5 4.7 3.7Competitor 6 4.0 3.6Competitor 8 3.3 2.9Competitor 9 3.1 2.8Competitor 10 3.9 2.8Competitor 11 2.2 2.3You 2.2 2.1
Check out who’s on the move.
Make a note & then check in SEMRush.
Get Out of the Interface & Into Excel
#pubcon @SusanEDub
Export & Pivot!
Day of the Week capella.edu YouSunday 12.1% 21.6%Monday 12.4% 21.0%Tuesday 13.4% 21.8%Wednesday 11.7% 20.1%Thursday 11.8% 19.3%Friday 12.1% 21.0%Saturday 11.1% 21.6%
Check for Account Growth
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Check for Increased Budgets
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Export this competitor’s keywords, and de-duplicate against your own to find untapped keyword opportunities.
Find Seasonal Wins & Weaknesses
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Find Seasonal Wins & Weaknesses
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Note YoY Trends
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These can be helpful in planning your projections!
…But Know If There’s a Reason
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Month Sum of Revenue/Cost1/1/2015 1.372/1/2015 0.963/1/2015 1.884/1/2015 2.265/1/2015 1.916/1/2015 2.347/1/2015 1.778/1/2015 2.119/1/2015 2.1410/1/2015 2.7711/1/2015 2.4512/1/2015 2.001/1/2016 3.162/1/2016 2.533/1/2016 5.184/1/2016 4.73
Competitive Ad Copy
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• Competitor ad copy and history• Note sales cycles• Note free offers – 50% off? Free trials?
Doing Shopping? Great.
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Doing Shopping? Great.
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Doing Shopping? Great.
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Doing Shopping? Great.
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Check out strategy over time to help you gauge if competitor is shifting towards becoming Shopping-heavier.
Quarterly Checks
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Competitive ad copySpend trends – are competitors growing and
spending more?Keyword volume trendsMobile trends – yours and theirs!Seasonal performance for peak times
Strategic Checks
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Pull competitor keywords. Merge into an Excel sheet with your terms and de-duplicate to find keyword opportunities.
Check imagery and product descriptions on Shopping
Pull ad copy for year & look for sales cycles
