10 Tips To Master Google AdWords
Posted May 1st, 2008
Google AdWords is Googles Pay Per Click advertising service. Yahoo and Microsoft also have PPC services and most of this post applies equally to all 3 companies.
The following information is offered as advice and best practices to help you make the most of Google AdWords. It’s important to understand that Pay Per Click advertising can be very expensive if done incorrectly. Whilst we actively encourage people (including our own clients) to try Google AdWords for themselves we cannot be held responsible for any costs you may incur.
We do offer an AdWords/PPC management service, if you are interested please see our Internet Marketing page for further information.
What is PPC?
Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns provide instant results and a clearly measurable return on investment. They involve bidding for high positions in search engines based on specific key word searches. PPC is so effective because your advert is only displayed to users who are already interested in your type of produce/service and you only pay when a user actually visits your site.
That being said, it’s also very easy to waste a lot of money with PPC if you are targeting the wrong people or not attracting the right people. The following 10 tips will help to perfect your PPC campaign.
Use Attention Grabbing Words
Start your headline with an attention grabbing word such as SALE! or FREE! etc…
Include Keywords In Your Ad
Include targeted keywords in the headline and description of your ad. Google highlights searched keywords in bold which will catch a users attention as they scan their search results.
Use ‘call to action’ Phrases
A call to action tells users to do something. Use phrases such as:
- ‘Free Trial’
- ‘Call Now’
- ‘Register Today’
- ‘Limited Time Only’
- ‘Find Out More’
Remove Common Words
Remove as many common words as possible. Usually works such as ‘an, in, of, it’ etc.. do not need to be in the ad.
Include the price in your ad
Many advertisers try to keep the price from customers for as long as possible. When it comes to Pay Per Click you want as high a conversion rate as possible. Displaying the price may well reduce your click through ratio but will improve your conversion ratio and save costs from customers who would never have bought.
Use Negative Match Keywords
Negative match is one of the most underused aspects of AdWords, they can be vital in improving your click-through ratio and reducing wasted cost. Negative keywords are entered with a minus (-) before the word and they prevent your ads from showing for searches containing that term. For example ‘-cheap’ would filter out users searching for “cheap car sales”.
Refine Your Keywords
Using square brackets around your keywords will only show your ad when the exact phrase within the brackets is searched. For example [car sales bolton], without the square brackets the ad would be displayed to any search with the words ‘car’ and/or ’sales’. Such as “car sales london” or “car sales Glasgow”.
Target the right audience
Google allows you to select which countries and languages you want to target your ads at. If you don’t operate internationally only target your own country, if you provide a face to face service you may only want to target your local area. Perhaps you could exclude all countries who do not speak English.
Test Multiple Ads
Always test at least 2 adds simultaneously. Track the statistics and replace the ad with the worst conversion rate for a slightly different one. You should repeat this cycle indefinitely to achieve the highest conversion rate possible.
Link Ads To Relevant Landing Pages
If your ad is for a specific product or service link to the relevant part of your website rather than your home page. Make sure the page contains relevant and useful information to help convert the customer.
