David Szetela from ClixMarketing and Search Engine Watch interviewed me recently for an episode of PPC Rockstars.
The topic of the day was ‘The Virtues of Starting Small’ and we also covered some useful tools that we use to manage accounts. I had a blast on the call and enjoyed the opportunity to talk shop with one of the great innovators in our industry.
Don’t forget to tune in at 4pm Eastern!
While on the phone with my top notch Google rep I was reviewing a particular account where a company name was a keyword (in an adgroup of maybe 4-5 variations of the company name). 3-4 of the keywords had a quality score of ‘poor’. This is one of those quality score quirks that drives people up a wall.
My rep’s response - paraphrased - If organic serps pull an inordinate percentage of clicks and the sponsored listing is getting a low ctr, it’s perceived to have low quality and can acquire a poor QS over time. Not because it’s an irrelevant keyword, but rather because it’s performing poorly. In this case, this company name has no other bidders, so the organic listing is a universal one with the map, etc., so it makes perfect sense no one is clicking on the ad. Not much we can do in this case.
This is an interesting situation and the explanation raised a lot of questions for me…
This post is so good I almost didn’t want to link to it…it’s well worth your time. You may want to tattoo this tutorial on your arm, kind of like PrisonBreak
http://www.redflymarketing.com/blog/how-to-use-the-google-content-network-to-invest-in-domains/
Which reminds me of a conversation I had with another PPC guru last week. I asked why he didn’t author a blog and his general feeling is that he doesn’t want to create more competition for himself by giving away secrets.
I tend to agree, but then again, I have learned quite a bit from others online so it’s only right to keep it going both ways, right?
Things are heating up this summer, even in hockeyland USA. Temperatures reach the high 80’s and everyone in a house older than 30 years struggles with the same problem. Temperature variations on multiple floors. When the central air is running our basement could freeze buffalo, the main floor is comfortable, and upstairs we wonder when the winter will come back. Someone mentioned ductless air conditioning to us the other day so I did some research online, of course.
As you can see, this is fairly representative of small business PPC advertising. Of the 11 total ads showing, only 2 knew what I was searching for exactly and crafted their message correctly. Every other ad focused on AC REPAIRS, not Ductless AC.
AC is no cheap niche, especially for a regional service business. Wasting money, clicks, and impressions will hurt all the way around - ROI, Quality Score, and Revenue. This is such a common affliction that I decided to make it the focus of my conversation with David Szetela on Webmasterradio’s PPC Rockstars (airing July 21st)
The old way of PPC is completely irrelevant and actually quite harmful. Build 10,000 keywords, set low bids and see what sticks? No, that will ruin your account and render it useless due to the ACCOUNT QUALITY SCORE What's the solution? Well, at the moment, here's what I recommend, and it's exactly what David and I discussed. START SMALL - The idea behind starting small is to build a good quality score, little by little, both at the keyword/campaign level as well as the account level. Even if you’re not a small business, here’s a good rule of thumb if you’re just starting out self managing a campaign: 1 Keyword per adgroup For example, if your niche is volkswagen jetta repair - here some keywords grouped into themes that can share the same lander: volkswagen jetta repair vw jetta brake repair vw jetta transmission repair Remember to keep them in separate adgroups and exact match to start, but landing these 3 types of visitors on separate pages with relevant content will make a huge difference. Starting small in this manner allows you to: Segment themes I’ll cover this more in a future post as it is the way of the future in PPC. I’ve seen this trend in the smallest campaigns as well as some of my accounts in the most competitive niches online. It works. So remember - When it gets hot - go small! And don’t forget to tune in to David Szetela’s PPC Rockstars.
1 Match type - start with exact
5 Ad versions minimum - try different calls to action, feature, benefits, etc
1 Separate landing page for each ‘theme’
vw jetta repair
Segment visitors
Customize messaging
Diagnose problem areas in the campaign more quickly
No big surprise here, Google is phasing out their ill-executed PPA network. Managing an affiliate network is obviously not Google’s forte. It doesn’t have to be, and it’s a smart business decision to leave it to the pros at Performics/DoubleClick. The new entity is called Google Affiliate Network
The Google Affiliate Network, previously known as DoubleClick Performics Affiliate, has been in operation since 1998. Through the network, advertisers can open their ads to all publishers in the network, or select specific publishers that match their criteria. You can set a CPA for your entire campaign or establish custom payment schedules for specific publishers — such as a higher CPA for a particularly optimal placement. The Google Affiliate Network is currently a separate product from AdWords and AdSense. As with AdSense, publishers must apply and be accepted into the network.
Isn’t it ironic though that Google HATES affiliates, yet they own the best affiliate network on the planet? Some are worried that the existing affiliate networks will be destroyed by the 800lb gorilla. I tend to lean the other way. Google and Performics want nothing to do with the data driven direct response offer networks (azoogle, cpaempire, etc). Performics is the ‘brand’ affiliate network. This move gets them one step closer to their most valued advertisers. The big brands (Ford, Comcast, Target, MTV, etc).
It’s an interesting development for our industry. I don’t think anything will change so drastically. Performics and the other affiliate networks have always co-existed well because they have different publishers. Nothing will change except the names. That is, unless the government gets involved….
ahem.
SIGN UP FOR THE NEW GOOGLE AFFILIATE PROGRAM HERE
Yes, my 1 reader was so concerned for my well being that they searched Google UK for me. You can also see that I still apparently rank well for ‘what would jack bauer do’. You know what people? I have no idea what Jack would do, he hasn’t been on TV in about 9 years (and I’m not happy about it).
Well, I’m not completely off the grid like Jack. Where have I been lately? Well, June 13th we added a little ppc rockstar to the family. 7lbs and 1 oz of nocturnal joy. I’m thinking maybe a future nightclub owner? Sleep all day party all night.
This leaves little time for blogging. This fact combined with some new accounts under my control that are tougher than a bag full of hammers. I’ve got my hands full. Rest assured, my salty posts will be back in full shake soon. Right after I beat on some of these unruly keywords and get this campaign under my spell.
If you’re a fellow client side marketer you find yourself fielding questions from clients who want to expand their reach online. Paid search is the most effective form of marketing, we all know that 
but there is a limited inventory in some cases. Once you’ve mastered the niche for your client and have them locked in at an acceptable ROI, your client will want to know what’s next? Network buys? Media buying?
I know what I know, and I know I don’t do media buys in the traditional sense. Well guess what - Google can help. Today Google announces the Google Ad Planner. One more step to ad world domination on the world’s most incredible Platform
If you’re a retail operation, this study tells you just about everything you need to know in terms of what to highlight in your ad copy and landing page.
It’s the PRICE stupid…
If you insist on being stupid, change your price on the landing page so it’s different from your ads. Or better yet, get rid of the product entirely and don’t tell your PPC analyst. And then complain about your ROI at the end of the month.
I didn’t mean this to turn into a rant.
Honest.
This is actually one of the first articles about Adwords that I’ve read in a major news source that is coherent and logical. They even try to understand the quality score. Props to the NY Times.
Even more entertaining, the employees they chose to interview sound like characters from a spy novel.
Mr. Fox
Mr. Fox and his “ads quality” team can also quickly see whether something is working particularly well. His group’s mission, to constantly fine-tune Google’s ad delivery system, has one overriding objective: show users only the ads they are most likely to be interested in and click on.
Mr. Hal Varian (what a great math name)
“I wouldn’t quite go so far as to say we are recession-proof,” said Hal R. Varian, Google’s chief economist. “But we are recession-resistant.”
There are other interesting tidbits in this article from a PPC analyst point of view, but nothing boils down the entire thing quite like this one:
Quality scores work as an incentive to advertisers to improve their ads, which benefits users and, in turn, benefits Google, Mr. Fox said.
Google has been busy perfecting their automatic billing matching feature the past few months.
While you’re away on Memorial Day travel this weekend, do you mind if we just slip into your account and make some minor adjustments?
We didn’t think you would mind. Have a great weekend!
In all seriousness, this is a fairly controversial feature and should be measured closely.
What to do first:
Opting in and out: Automatic matching is applied at the campaign level. You can opt your campaign in and out of automatic matching on your Campaign Settings page.
Or Leave it on: Do nothing, it’s conveniently already running for you
Should you choose to leave it on, you will want to measure the performance. You can do this via 2 reports:
• Performance statistics: Aggregated performance statistics for automatic matching will appear in each ad group’s Keywords tab, in a line item labeled Automatic Matching Total.
• Search Query Performance report: You can see the search queries that triggered your ads due to automatic matching by running a Search Query Performance report. The queries will be labeled Automatic in the Search Query Match Type column.
Now that I’m thinking of it, this would be a great strategy to try with my clients. While they’re gone this weekend I’ll email them with the great news they’ve been selected for the ‘double management service’ where I increase their billable hours as I see fit (only when it’s relevant, of course). I’ll let you all know on Tuesday how it worked out.
