Recharge your PPC Profitability

Purna VirjiSenior Marketing Manager at Stroll• 7+ years in Search Marketing

• Columnist at Search Engine Watch

• Speaker at SMX, Affiliate Summit, Moz & More.

• Ex-agency, now in-house

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Every once in a while…

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Key Takeaways:• How to

Accurately Diagnose Issues

• Recommended Treatments

• How to Remain at Peak Performance

TIP 1:Go MacroReview macro trends separately for search and display networks.

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• Look at the totals for each network, month over month, for the past 12 months.

• Provides the best insights into how core KPIs have been trending.

• Immediately spot issues such as a slow,

but clear, decline in any KPI.

Clearly issues are with the creative: landing page + ad

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NEXT…Drill a little further down by looking at each of your campaigns in each network individually.

Image Source: bilalsarwari.com

Not enough to look at past few weeks only for each campaign.Might mean concentrating on too many diff. strategies.Streamline efforts for maximum profit impact.

It will look like this: screenshot

• Pull Data from AdWords

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- Profits

- # of Days in the month

- Impressions per day

- Clicks per day

- Orders per day

- Profits per day

• Pretty it Up & Normalize Trends by adding:

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Diagnosis:Complete

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TIP 2:Analyze Quality ScoreIf you find CPCs (& thus CPAs) creeping up, chances are a large %age of your impression volume is going to lower quality score keywords.

The Evolution

• Systems designed to track if ads were relevant enough to warrant an impression.

• CTR carefully tracked.• KWs w/ CTR below 0.5% permanently disabled.

• Unhappy advertisers, so evolved.• Introduced minimum bid• Bidding on less relevant terms = more expensive• Hoped that would weed these out.

• Competing with the big guys- Overture• Moved from CPM to CPC pricing.• Solution to maximize revenue: Ad Rank= Max. CPC * CTR• Driver of AdWords’ Success

• Goal = Great user experience• Biggest driver remains CTR• Other relevancy factors also counted

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Why is Quality Score Important?

Optimize Spend and Reach….BUT

• Can provide incredible costs savings• Best to tie into response rate improvement

efforts.

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Impact on Costs

CPCs:

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Impact on Costs

CPAs:

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Quick Facts:

• Differs Across Networks

• Differs Across Devices

• Changes on the Fly

• Changes quickly with large CTR changes

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Easy Option 1: Use a Tool Like Tenscores

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Scores Campaigns + Shows Consequence

- Use pivot tables in excel to manually pull the data (quite simple)

Alternatively:

- Use Brad Geddes’ Quality Score Analyzer tool at CertifiedKnowledge.org

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Extreme Makeover: Quality Score

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• Separate Low QS keywords into their own ad group.• Re-group ad groups into tighter themes.

• Test new ads to improve QS and C-rates.

• Landing Page- Bounce Rates + Time on Site

Extreme Makeover: Quality Score

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TIP 3:Going Back to BasicsTake a look at the basics, since often in trying to work on more advanced tactics, the simpler items get missed. In reality they could have a big impact.

Common Issues:• Too few or too many negatives

Negative Keywords

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Image Source: searchengineland.com

• Campaign level affecting ad groups

• Inappropriate use of match types

Common Issues:• Managed placements deterioration

Placements

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Image Source: wordstream.com

• Too many underperforming placements• Strong placements at low bids• Prune once a month at least

Common Issues:• Too few ad groups

Ad Group Set-up

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Image Source: imcredo.com

• Too many different “themes” in same group

• Ad serving issues• Ad copy not relevant

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Common Issues:• Daily budget cap too low.

Campaign Settings

• C-rate variation across devices• Dayparting and Geo-targeting incorrectly

set-up• Targeting both search and display network

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Caution with Enhanced Campaigns:• Review mobile bids carefully

Campaign Settings

• C-rates very different• Can exclude mobile but not tablets

• Make landing pages responsive

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Common Issues:• Landing page errors

Technical Issues

Image Source: designgala.com

• Conversion pixel not firing

• Mobile redirect errors

TIP 4:Analyze Your BidsThe Pareto Principle: Adjusting bids would fall well into the top 20 percent of things you could do to make an 80 percent impact.

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Bidding Options:

Flexible Bids:

• Located in the Shared Library

• Enhanced CPC and Target CPA options exactly the same thing

• Target Search Page Location= Similarities to old Position Preference bidding• Maximize Clicks is Automatic Bidding for clicks

• Flexible = Can set Strategy & Re-use across other campaigns/ad groups

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Which Bidding Option to Choose?

Image Source: ppchero.com

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- Test automatic bidding to maximize clicks, while letting Google know to stay within a CPC bid limit.

FOCUS: Maximizing Clicks

- Or, to focus on clicks with conversion goals in mind, enable enhanced CPC bidding, which will adjust Max CPC bid based on chances of the ad converting.

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- Consider either target or max. CPA bidding.

FOCUS: CPA Goals

- Uses historical data on a rolling past–30–day basis (greater emphasis on most recent), to enter you into auctions where & when most likely to convert. - Adjusts for factors such as your bids, times of day, as well as keywords & placements.

- Consider testing Display Campaign Optimizer (DCO).

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FOCUS: Display Network

- Select CPA bidding (Target is recommended) and set up ads in the campaign.

- Google will then do heavy-lifting to optimize placements & continuously seek new placements to test.

- Great way to expand your reach and conversion goals.

PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

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Don’t change bids too frequently. { }

Keep an eye on response rates.{

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TIP 5:Analyze ExternalFactorsIf the account is looking good but you’re still losing impression share or seeing costs rise, then external factors could be having an effect.

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Competition- Has there been a new competitor? - Are current competitors optimizing heavily?

Recommended Tools:.- WhatRunsWhere.com to keep an eye

on their display ads

- SpyFu.com to track KWs & text ads.

Check competitor landing pages

frequently,

to track any tests.

Keep a careful eye on AdWords competitors & look for changes to their ads or positions.

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Creative BurnoutThe bests ads & LPs can lose effectiveness over time.

Always be testing new creative that you can roll out

to

keep performance strong.

Image Source: growthgiant.com

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Company-wide Issue- Talk to other marketing leads.- Potential Reputation issue?- Offer uncompetitive?- Jointly seek solution.

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In Summary:• Use Macro-Reports regularly.• Pay attention to (but don’t obsess over) Quality Score.• Audit the Basics consistently.

• Test Different Bidding Options.

• Track the Competitive Landscape.

FINAL THOUGHT

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vv

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Doing a thorough check and audit of the account is recommended on at least a

quarterly basis to keep things running

smoothly.

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Say Hello or Ask Questions Anytime:www.linkedin.com/in/purnavirji

www.twitter.com/purnavirji

Read More At:

www.searchenginewatch.com/author/2499/purna-virji