Make Google AdWords Bidding Features Work for You – Search Engine Watch (SEW)

Make Google AdWords Bidding Features Work for You

John Lee | Aug 20, 2010 | 0 Comments

Google announced Enhanced CPC, a new bidding feature for AdWords, earlier this week. This conversion-oriented feature is just the latest in a string of bidding tools introduced by Google. What better time than now to cover each of the available bidding features available in AdWords so that you can make an informed decision on which is right for your campaigns.

Focus on Clicks: Manual Bidding

Manual bidding is the format all of us advertisers know and love. You set ad group and/or keyword-level maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bids and adjust them up or down depending on your performance.

There is absolutely zero automation here — the bids only change when you say they do, providing the ultimate level of control of your campaigns. Advertisers who are willing and able to put in the reporting necessary to make manual bid adjustments can and will get the most out of manual CPC bidding in AdWords

via Make Google AdWords Bidding Features Work for You – Search Engine Watch (SEW).

What’s New With AdWords?

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Google’s been busy with AdWords this summer, launching a number of new features. Here’s a wrap-up of six of those features as well as Google’s new advertising news website.

• AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE)

This tool, which is currently in beta, lets you test and measure changes to your keywords, your AdWords bidding, ad groups and placements. Basically you run your existing campaign alongside an experimental campaign.

You choose what percentage of auctions you’d like each campaign to participate in, and then watch what happens. If your experimental campaign is significantly more successful than your original campaign, you can decide to apply the changes to all of your auctions.

• Analyze Competition Feature

Google has added a new tool to the AdWords Opportunities tab that allows you to see how your campaign performance compares to the average performance of other advertisers. Google measures such indicators as click-through rate, average position, and impressions.

It shows these metrics for each of the different categories that represent your offerings. It can help you identify which aspects of your campaign are inferior to your competition, and then prompt you to improve those aspects accordingly.

• Ad Sitelinks

Ad Sitelinks let you add additional links to pages within your site in your ads, provided your ads appear at the top of search results. The idea is that more people will click through to your site if you offer them more options. The feature was introduced in November, though this summer Google add a couple of new characteristics.

One new characteristic is that additional links can be condensed into one line of text (previously the only option was two lines). The other change is that advertisers no longer need Google’s approval to set up Ad Sitelinks for their campaigns. You can set up Ad Sitelinks in the Campaign Settings tab.

• Keyword Diagnosis Tool

This new tool lets you see which of your pay-per-click keywords are currently prompting your ads to show, and why the other keywords aren’t spurring ads. You can access it from the More Actions drop-down menu within the Keyword tab.

If you want you can limit your diagnosis to a particular country and/or language. If you are seeing that certain keywords are not resulting in ads because of Quality Score issues, you might decide to resolve those issues. Or you might choose to increase your bids to get your ads shown.

• Broad Match Modifier

This new AdWords management feature lets you create keywords that are more targeted than broad match and have a greater reach than phrase or exact match. To implement this feature, you put a plus sign (+) in front of one or more words in a broad match keyword. Each word following a (+) sign must appear in the user’s query exactly or as a close variation.

The words that are not preceded by a (+) sign will prompt ads on more significant query variations. This feature will likely drive more traffic for those switching from broad match, and attract more qualified traffic for those switching from phrase or exact match.

• Reports Moving to Campaigns Tab

The AdWords Report Center is slowly being phased out as performance reports are moved onto the Campaigns tab. According to Google, it’s best to put performance information on the same page where you manage your campaign.

Reports include campaign reports, ad group reports, and account-level reports. They will specifically be stored in a new part of the Campaigns tab called the Control panel and library.

• Google Ad News

In June Google unveiled Google Ad News, a website that aggregates advertising news, including news related to AdWords. The site is organized into advertising categories, including search advertising; mobile advertising; and TV, radio and print.

For advertisers and advertising professionals with little time to sift through the categories, a top advertising news category provides Google’s most valued advertising-related articles. Articles come from such publications as The Detroit News, Business Week, and The Guardian.

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What’s New With AdWords?

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How to Avoid Being Google Slapped

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If you’re an AdWords advertiser, chances are you’ve heard the expression “Google slap.” Maybe you’ve even known someone who has been Google slapped or you’ve been Google slapped yourself.

A Google slap can mean one of two things:

1. Google has deemed your ad and associated landing pages of such poor quality it has significantly lowered your ad’s position in search engine results. This means you have to pay much more for your ad to appear at the position you’d like.
2. Google has deemed your ad and associated landing pages of such poor quality it has disabled your AdWords account.

Clearly, both of these scenarios are undesirable. So it’s up to you to make sure your pay-per-click campaign doesn’t get Google slapped in the first place.

Here are 10 ways to make sure that Google doesn’t “slap” your account:

1. Make sure your keywords are in your ad. If your keywords aren’t in your ad text, then users will be less likely to click your ad, because your ad won’t seem relevant to the query they entered into Google. This mistake will negatively impact your click-through rate (CTR), conveying to Google that you aren’t giving users what they want. You will thus be punished.
2. Make sure your landing page is optimized. This includes putting your keywords in your headline, body copy and meta tags; simplifying your page’s message and design; and adding clear calls to action. If your page doesn’t appear relevant, straightforward, or easy-to-read, users will jet before converting. This hurts your profits, as well as your page’s value in Google’s eyes. Be proactive with your landing pages by trying out Google’s website optimizer.
3. Improve your landing page’s loading time. Google penalizes AdWords advertisers whose landing pages take a long time to load. That’s because the load delay is an inconvenience for users. When people have to wait more than a few seconds to see a page they often just navigate away from that page. You can reduce the size of your page by compressing your images, eliminating popup ads, and doing away with videos that play automatically.
4. Make sure your landing page is safe for users. In other words, make sure that it isn’t sending viruses to users’ computers. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you may be sending out viruses without even realizing it. Maybe the software you’re offering actually harms computers using a particular Internet browser, or someone hacked your account overnight. Test your landing pages frequently, and with different browsers, to ensure they are secure.
5. Make sure your landing page is not misleading. If your landing page states that a particular download or service is free, make sure that’s truly the case. If you are lying to customers then Google will undoubtedly shut down your AdWords account. This is especially the case now that the Federal Trade Commission has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives advertisers.
6. Don’t make unrealistic promises about your product or service. The FTC also condemns this practice, and Google is well aware. If your landing page suggests that your hair gels will make hair grow six inches per month, you are making an unrealistic promise. Those who buy your products will clearly be disappointed, and it will hurt Google’s credibility (not to mention your own). Google doesn’t want that to happen, so it will disable your AdWords account as early as possible.
7. Have your landing page be part of a comprehensive website. The more pages you have on your website, and the more informational, up-to-date, and unique their content, the higher your landing pages and associated ads will be regarded by Google. A robust website indicates that you are offering users something of value, and aren’t just about getting rich quick. Possible website elements include a blog, educational videos, and user forums.
8. Don’t include too many links on your landing pages. This encompasses links to other pages within your site as well as links to other websites. If you give visitors too many options of places to go, they’ll either become overwhelmed and leave the page or click on one of the links and leave the page. Either way, you are jeopardizing your chance to convert.
9. Avoid reciprocal, broken, and low-quality links. Make sure that any links on your landing page are there to help the user. That means don’t just link to specific websites because they’ve agreed to link to your site. It also means make sure the links actually go to the desired destination, and that the other sites actually provide users something of value.
10. Reconsider your keywords. Make sure that the keywords you’ve chosen accurately describe your offering. If they don’t, users won’t click on your ad or convert. When users neglect your offering this indicates to Google that it isn’t relevant to what they are seeking. Before Google punishes you for this error, think about what keywords more accurately portray your product or service. Consider using a tool to discover long tail keywords for this effort, and then bid on the new keywords.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

How to Avoid Being Google Slapped

Read other posts by this Author: Larry Kim

Are PPCers a Dying Breed?

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I realized in the past few weeks that I am having a hard time keeping up with the new releases in Google AdWords. They are innovating faster than I can test the new features. I love it. But I also start to question, is this all going to be the end of PPC managers? Are Google, Yahoo, and Bing innovating so much that the PPC role will diminish?

Think about it. No, I am not giving my thoughts just yet, you have to wait for those.

First Point: Google and Yahoo Assisted Setup

Google offers new advertisers help in getting their account going for free. They are only testing it in the US and Canada right now but I can see how this would be an awesome service for people worldwide once Google has the staff to assist different languages. In fact, I used something like this when we built an account for a large news agency in December. Due to the size of the spend, Google not only helped get things set up, I had a dedicated team for my account for a few months longer than the account was open. Very nice to have around.

Yahoo offers assisted setup but for account of a certain size and they charge a fee, or so says their Q&A. The difference here is that they are not assisting setup, Yahoo is setting up the accounts. Keyword research, organization and everything included. This service is a little up in the air it seems right now, as two parts of their site are in disagreement. One states that the minimum monthly spend is $1k, and their landing page states $5k. Perhaps there is no fee for accounts over $5k per month? Would love clarification from Yahoo if possible.

From FAQs:

“With Assisted Set-Up, Yahoo! Search Marketing can help create a Sponsored Search campaign for you customized to your business goals and budget. We will help choose relevant keywords, write ads and suggest maximum bid amounts that work within your budget. You can expect to receive your proposed campaign within 2 to 5 business days, and we will contact you to discuss it in detail. This is a one-time set-up service to provide you with a strong foundation from which to manage your account and from which to model future campaigns. There is a fee of $199 associated with this service, and a minimum budget of $1,000/month to qualify.

To get started with assisted setup, call (866) 310-6837. Our hours of operation are Mon-Fri 6am-6pm (PT).”

From Landing Page:

I am unaware of a AdCenter assisted setup, but with the merging of Yahoo and Microsoft (Bing, Live, AdCenter, whatever), I can see this being picked up soon over there.

Second Point: Tools for Competitive Analysis

The Opportunities section of AdWords now includes an “analyze competition” section (see below). This is going to be just the tip of the iceberg. Google nor AdCenter will ever allow advertisers to see into someone else’s campaign (long gone are the days of seeing someone else’s bid and position, exactly), but this section of PPC platforms can only grow. As PPC people, we know where to get some of this data, make it into a nice report and make decisions from it, but Google is starting to do that as well. Clients are getting recommendations from Google, who hold more data than we could ever dream of having access to.

Third Point: Automatic bidding

The final point is in the automatic bidding tools that are popping up all over the place. Conversion Optimizer has been around since 2007, but now Google allows target CPA bidding as well. Advertisers on the content network can bid based on demographic. And now day parting and geographic bidding is more focused than ever. With the right settings, the time between required optimization for smaller accounts is getting longer.

So Should PPC People Start Packing?

No. Of course not. As I have always said, automation HELPS but it doesn’t run an account. A Google Account Rep isn’t the best manager either, sorry guys. But most of them have less experience than the greenback fresh on the auto lot (I once taught a Ford salesman the difference in Mustang models). They are getting better, but just like some of the bad agencies out there, the “research” they do are automatic lists from a computer. Any real search engine marketer can take those lists and save a client thousands by reviewing them for validity. Not all of those words are relevant after all.

For the PPC Managers out there, a few tips to ensure your professional survival.

1. Don’t Just Do PPC – This goes for everyone in Search Engine Marketing, no one part is more important than the others. You need to know and understand social and organic, as well as email marketing and others. The more well rounded you are, the better you will be able to see the trends of the future. Alerting clients to changes across the board is a competitive differentiator. Go that next step for them.
2. Focus on Relevance – We can pull lists just like a computer, and slower. Show your clients what they are paying for by giving them recommendations from the data you pull. Think outside the box and give them reasons for the decisions you make. The trends you see could impact their business elsewhere. If you add value, I guarantee they will keep you around.
3. Market Reflective Pricing – Remember when we charged thousands for setup? Yeah, guess what, that is free now. And I guarantee that clients will start picking that up. Instead, think outside the box. Offer something else that will give them value they can’t get elsewhere. What is that? That’s up to you, but I am sure you catch my drift.

Just Breathe.

Things are changing in the PPC space everyday. It’s time to earn our money for being the ones that are paid for keeping campaigns relevant and at a lower cost than if the client did it alone or with free help. Time to change the marketing we use to sell services. Are you changing with the market?

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Are PPCers a Dying Breed?

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