Some people that I talk to about Google AdWords seem to be under the impression that once you have things set-up, that your job is done.  However, I think there are a number of reasons why managing AdWords is an on-going job:

1. Because AdWords is essentially an auction system, bids are always going up.  As new competitors begin advertising, and words become more competitive your position (and results) will change.

2.  Your results are never perfectly optimized.  Better ads can be written and tested, the optimal position for a particular keyword can be identified.  Landing pages can be tweaked to maximize conversion rates.

Bottom line - if you think you’re done, you’re on a downhill slope.

Google AdWords Rookie Mistake #5: Not tracking conversions.

This might be the cardinal sin of Google AdWords. Conversion tracking might take a little bit of effort to set up, but it is a critical step in identifying which keywords create conversions, and which ones just create clicks.

Google AdWords Rookie Mistake #4: Not testing different ads.

I’m a HUGE fan of split testing – both on websites and for ads within Google AdWords. New advertisers should create 2 or 3 ads for each AdGroup, and after about a month, take a look which ad has the best cost per conversion. Ad split testing should be a continual process. One tip – I like to ‘pause’ my old ads rather than delete them, that way I can see what ads I’ve already tested.

Google AdWords Rookie Mistake #3: Bidding for Position 1.

I often see new AdWords advertisers over-paying for clicks because they are pursuing position #1. I think they assume that being in position 1 is always ‘best’, but I think when you consider the additional cost for position 1, often times positions 2-5 are much better value.

Google AdWords Rookie Mistake #2: Not understanding the difference between ‘Search Match’ and ‘Content Match’ (and setting single Campaigns for both)

Google does a nice job of allowing you to determine where your ads will show. But many AdWords advertisers use these setting indiscriminately. I would suggest that campaigns be set to either Search Match or content Match (but not both). The simple reason is that the ads that will appeal to individuals actively searching on a phrase will be quite different from the types of ads that will appeal for browsers who see content Match ads.

I was recently asked to contribute to a Google 101 guide. I came up with 5 rookie mistakes that I often see, and thought that I would share them here.

AdWords Rookie Mistake #1: Having too many keywords in a single Adgroup

Since an ‘AdGroup’ is Google’s lowest level of segmentation, it should ideally be used to express a single idea or theme. Generally I find that the more specific, the better. Typically I find that any Adgroup with more than 50 keywords is probably too broad. The exception would be Adgroups with a large number of mis-spellings.

More specific Adgroups does mean more management – but it also means a much better ROI.

For a moment, I’d like for you to reflect on your experience of driving along the freeway.  Have you ever seen a new billboard, but before you could understand what it was, you were past it? 

Your web site home page, and other landing pages, aren’t so different.  The visitor’s mouse hovers over the ‘back button’, just waiting for a reason to click.  So, your goal is to provide a reason for the visitor to stick around and delve deeper into your site.

One of the problems with many homepages is the sheer amount of everything.  Ideally, viewing your entire homepage wouldn’t require any scrolling.  In addition, in a split second it should be pretty clear what you offer, and to whom you offer it (remember the billboard drive-by).  There should also be a few very specific places to click next.  Any extraneous information is likely to be a distraction.

 
To-do list:

• Identify any information that really doesn’t need to be there (your goal is to reduce the overall page length to eliminate scrolling).
• Reduce the overall number of possible links, and make sure that the main items visitors are looking for are more visually prominent than other navigation options.
• Replace any detailed text with a ‘positioning statement’ that describes your main value in less than 25 words.  Use effective graphic design to make this positioning statement stand out.

I called Google this week with a question about Quality Score.  I had a keyword with 1 impression, 1 click, and 1 conversion, but it had a LOW quality score.  My previous understanding was that CTR (in this case 100%) was the biggest influencing factor on adwords quality, but it seems not.

Google Support reviewed the keyword and told me that because the word was not present in the ad, it was being awared a low quality score.  The ad was relevant to the keyword, even though the keyword itself wasn’t in the ad text - causing a lower QS.

This reinforces the case for very small adgroups, with only a few highly relevant keywords that can be featured in the ad.

Many of the ‘homemade’ accounts that I see, make no use of negative keywords, which is a serious mistake. Here’s the deal, if you type in your keywords without quotation marks for phrase match, or square brackets for specific match. Then your keywords are all set for what Google calls ‘Broad Match’. This means that ANY search phrase containing your keyword phrase (in any order) will return your ad.

Example:

Your keyword listing for “ice cream” (without the quotation marks) will display your ad when the following phrases are searched on:

ice cream maker
ice cream franchise
ice cream recipe
ice cream flavor
ben and jerry ice cream
ice cream parlor
ice cream addiction

Assuming that you don’t offer all of these products/services on your website, you have a problem because your ad is less relevant, and will get a lower CTR – and that means a higher cost per click.

If your site sells ice cream makers, you should use word such as “franchise” and “parlor” as negative keywords, so that your listing would not appear for these search phrases.

How to use it:

Typically I add negative keywords at the Ad Group level, which is very simple. Click the “Edit Keywords” link and simply add your negative keywords to the bottom of your keyword list. They should be formatted with a minus sign and no spacing. Example: “-addiction” (without the quotation marks).

In essence I would suggest that you build your site backwards. In other words, beginning with your site goal (i.e. a conversion) and creating a site structure that effective leads up to it.

For example, instead of creating a very open navigation structure, consider reducing the number of clickable links in order to drive visitors down a specific path. Let me tell you why I think that is important. Imagine you have the opportunity to sit down with a potential client to do a sales presentation, my guess is that you have a ‘story’ that you tell in a specific sequence. In other words, layer-by-layer you build the intellectual and emotional reasons for owning your product/service.

I believe that effective websites use this exact same strategy, pointing visitors down a specific path that builds an understanding of the value of your product/service.