I have run into a few accounts recently that displayed search query data for keywords that had no clicks.
This is not the ‘norm’ as far a search query reports are concerned. Until recently the only data that has ever been shared on a search query report is data that resulted in a click. Sadly advertisers who use broad or phrase match keywords were left guessing as to what actual keywords caused the impressions that did not result in a click-through to their website. This lack of information hinders account optimizations because we are left guessing at what negative keywords need to be included or what new keywords we could be adding to improve CTR.
In reviewing a new account today I see strong evidence that Google is making some changes or perhaps testing something in a limited number of accounts.
As you can see below, there are a good number of keywords that did not result in clicks but Google has provided the keyword data anyway. This report was a quick search query report from within the User Interface vs. the Reporting Section. However the formal search query report includes tons of data on keywords with Zero (yes, I said Zero) clicks!
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Search Query Data Provided for Keywords that did not result in a click
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What is extra interesting is the additional bit of data highlighted in yellow above {more:}. I am not sure if this is additional data from expanded or session based search queries.
What does this mean to people who manage adwords accounts? This much needed transparency allows us better control over the account which ultimately increases quality score and reduces costs.
I hope this is something we can expect to see in all AdWords accounts soon.
I have requested a comment from Google and will report back when/if I get a reply.
Yet another interesting AdWords Issue that I have run into…
I have been re-working an account recently brought to me and encountered an issue which has me deeply concerned.
I have come to notice that many keywords, really great, relevant, exact match keywords are not being served with the following message.
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“This particular search term is already associated with an ad from one of your other campaigns or ad groups. Only one ad per advertiser may appear on a given page per search term. When two or more of your ads are eligible for a single search term, we show the one with the highest ranking at the moment.”
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As you can see the keywords shown in the screenshot above are “phrase” and [exact match]. The keywords DO NOT appear anywhere else in this account – no other campaigns or ad groups.
I started the troubleshooting process by adding negative keywords to ad groups. For example in the DUI defense Attorney ad group I added negatives for -lawyer – dwi, etc. It had no effect. I then added many exact match negative keywords i.e. -[dui defense lawyer], etc. still no effect. I next went with only [exact match] keywords in the two adgroups that gave me the most trouble, the problem persisted.
This page explains how keywords will be treated when they fall into three different types of criteria:
1. the same keywords in multiple adgroups
2. Similar keywords to the search query within the same adgroup
3. Similar keywords to the search query within multiple adgroups.
I am fine with the details on #1. I am concerned about details on #2 and #3.
Here is a screenshot of details on #2
Within the same ad group, multiple keywords are similar to the search query.
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So now an [exact match] keyword can be trumped by another ’similar, better performing or cheaper’ keyword? According to Google, Yes.
Then it keeps gets better…..
Here is a screenshot of details on #2
Keywords within multiple ad groups are similar to the search query
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I am concerned about what I am reading. If Google feels that the keyword is close enough, cheaper, or has a higher ad rank they will trump an exact match keyword to serve a different keyword from a different adgrop they deem better? That takes my control away.
How can I accrue CTR data to improve the account performance if Google will not serve keywords that exactly match a query because they like a price or adrank of another keyword? This also allows for the potential of the wrong ad text being served. What if I have specific landing pages set per keyword? How does that effect CTR? Ultimately, what if Iwas OK with spending more on the keyword because it converted better? Quality Score and CTR are not everything when it comes to PPC advertising. Sometimes keywords that are not your best ‘quality score’ performers are your best converting keywords what provide the best ROI.
Even with adding negatives and going with exact match only in specific groups I ultimately was never able to identify the ‘other keyword’ that was trumping my exact match keyword. I had to pause the campaign and slowly add back adgroups and keywords, watching all the time for the dreaded message. The account is a smaller version of its previous self which is fine because I am in the process of recovering the account CTR but I do get a little nervous anytime I add a new keyword.
Is there a ‘fix’ for this? Not that I am aware of…
Is this something that is being tested on limited accounts or is there the potential for this to happen on any account? I am currently seeking a comment from Google and will post here if/when I get a reply.
For the record I have only seen this happen in one client account. However I am starting to hear some talk in other places such as the AdWords Help Forum on the topic so I feel the blog post is warranted.
The Google AdWords Help Center continues to develop great help content. We have seen the addition of video, the AdWords Classroom, On Demand Webinars, more details help articles, and even a link to the new Google Advertising Professionals section. The Help Center continues to evolve and produce incredible up to date help content.
In an effort by Google to provide help center visitors with different sources and styles of AdWords help, the AdWords Help Experts blog has been invited to provide articles that are now included in the AdWords Help Center. The AdWords Help Expert team is immensely proud to be recognized by Google as a source of trusted AdWords Help Content.
More articles by AWHE will soon be included in the AdWords Help Center and we hope to serve AdWords users with help content that allows them to get the most from their AdWords experience while enjoying the learning process.
AdWords Help Experts Articles Included in the AdWords Help Center
The process of building a quality keyword list takes a good deal of planning, research, and organization. Below are some tips and tools to help you develop and organize your keyword lists.
Before you begin I suggest advertisers start offline, create an outline of your products and services, identify your advertising goals and consider a realistic daily budget, once you have that complete you are ready to get started with building your keyword list.
STEP ONE – Research
The free tools below will help you develop your initial keyword list. Some of these tools will even provide data such as search volumes, competition, and approximate costs per click.
I suggest that you avoid keywords that are general, vague, or have dual meanings. All of your keywords should be very relevant to your products or services.
7. Google Ad Preview Tool View actual search results for ideas by using the AdWords Preview Tool
There are also several great paid keyword research tools. If you are interested in paid tools I suggest that you research and evaluate each individually.
STEP TWO – Organize
Organize your keywords into groups. This process is important when it comes to your eventual account architecture because these lists are going to develop into ad groups once they are completed.
Example below:
Business Model: Dirt Bike Retailer – Carries major brand names.
Group 1 – dirt bikes
keywords:
dirt bikes
dirtbikes
Group 2 -Yamaha Dirt Bikes
Keywords:
yamaha dirt bikes
yamaha dirt bike
dirt bike yamaha
yamaha dirtbikes
yamaha dirtbike
dirtbike yamaha
Group 3 – yamaha 2 stroke
Keywords:
yamaha 2 stroke dirt bike
yamaha 2 stroke dirt bikes
yamaha 2 stroke dirtbike
yamaha 2 stroke dirtbikes
yamaha 2 stroke
Group 5 – Yamaha YZ450F
Keywords:
yamaha YZ450F
yamaha YZ450F dirt bike
yamaha YZ450F dirt bikes
yamaha YZ450F dirtbike
yamaha YZ450F dirtbikes
Group 6 – Honda Dirt Bikes
Keywords:
honda dirt bikes
honda dirt bike
honda dirtbikes
honda dirtbike
Group 7- Honda XR650L
Keywords:
honda XR650L
honda XR650L dirt bike
honda XR650L dirt bikes
honda XR650L dirtbike
honda XR650L dirtbikes
Continue this process of keyword grouping for each make/model. These groups are going to be your ad groups. Each ad group is designed around a keyword theme and ad text can be created that is very relevant to the keyword theme. People looking for a Honda XR650L will be presented with ad text all about the Honda XR650L. This ‘relevance’ will not go unnoticed by your potential customers or Google, when it comes to your click through rate (CTR). For even more information on this important process and it’s effect on your quality score read Organizing Ad Group Themeshere on AWHE.
STEP 3 – Keyword Matching Options
Now you have these tightly knit themed keyword groups. Next is to learn about keyword matching options. There are 4 keyword match types to consider: Broad, “Phrase”, [Exact] and -negative. Each will have a different effect on your keywords performance and are essential to a good keyword list. Read more about AdWords Keyword Matching Options here on AWHE.
to Summarize, well built keyword lists are going to take some time and effort to build. There are tools out there to help you get started. The information and articles linked above will give you a better understanding of how to organize your keyword lists into ad groups. This process is one of the first steps to achieve better organization, customer interaction, quality scores and have a profitable experience with AdWords.
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Looking for some ‘free polling software’ today and I found an ‘AdWords Blooper’.
Norton Anti Virus showing for "free polling software"
Norton (Norton Antivirus) has an ad being served for the search query “free polling software” but Norton does not offer polling software.
This is a great example of the importance of Negative Keywords. If Norton is appearing #4 then I am sure this is not the first time they appeared in error, maybe it is some strange marketing tatic, but I doubt it. I think it is just a simple case of a broad match keyword gone haywire.
How Could this Happen?
This happens when advertisers use broad or “phrase” match keywords because these types of keyword matching options will allow for the keyword to ‘expand’ to other relevant keywords. For instance ‘ballet shoes’ could expand to ‘red ballet shoes’, ‘mens ballet shoes’, ‘adult ballet shoes’, ‘used ballet shoes’, ’size 13 ballet shoes’ and many others.
Why Should Norton Care?
Two reasons:
first they are receiving impressions for search queries that are irrelevant to their product which lowers their CTR and diminishes quality.
Second, people may actually be curious enough to click on their ads costing Norton needless expense. When I saw the name Norton on the results page I was instantly intrigued thinking that Norton offered some kind of free polling software. I would be more than happy to go with a trusted name like Norton…however they do not offer polling software – only virus protection on the landing page.
What Can Norton do to Prevent This from Happening Again?
Simply add a negative keyword -polling, to the campaign level and it would help prevent the ads from appearing anytime ‘polling’ is included in the search query.
How can you make sure this does not happen to you?
Special Note: The purpose of this article was not to pick on anyone managing Norton’s account. This happens to the best of us, maybe the account is new, maybe they added a new keyword that they have not reviewed yet. The point of the blog post is Negative Keywords are important and it is important to stay on-top of discovering and adding them to your account, it is a never ending process.
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AdWords offers several keyword matching options. These keyword matching options allow you greater control over what search queries result in your ads appearing. The article below explains keyword match types and what you as an advertiser can do to get the most out of your keywords, control your costs and maintain your AdWords account quality.
The Types of Keyword Matching Options are:
1. Broad – allows other keywords to be included or relevant keywords (as deemed by Google) to be substituted. Disneyland vacation = Disneyland park tickets
2. “Phrase” – allows the keyword to be shown in the phrase order i.e. “red shoes” with terms before or after the phrase. ”red shoes” can = “girls ‘red shoes’ size 3″
3. [Exact] – allows your ads to show only on the exact keyword specified. [banana nut bread recipe] = [banana nut bread recipe]
4. –Negative – will restrict your ads from appearing for the –negative keyword. i.e. “red shoes” with a negative –kids prevents the ads from appearing for “kids red shoes”. Negative Keywords can be included in Broad, Phrase and Exact Match Types.
As explained above, Broad Match keywords are extremely flexible. ”Phrase Match” will tighten down the keywords further by keeping your phrase in-tact and [Exact Match] is the most restrictive keyword match type because it will only allow your ads to be served if the search query exactly matches the search query. While exact match may sound ideal, many advertisers find it difficult to work specifically with exact match keywords because it is difficult to think of each and every search query that their potential customers will use. The possibility of missing out of potential traffic makes phrase and broad match keywords valuable. While broad and phrase allow the potential to appear for search queries that are not relevant to your products or service there is a way to combat that with the use of Negative Keywords.
How do I know when my ads are appearing for irrelevant search queries and who do I identify negative keywords to add?
Run and analyze the Search Query Report from your Reports Center. This report will provide you with the search queries that resulted in your ads being clicked. You can use this report to identify keywords that are irrelevant as well as use it to find new keywords to add to your account.
Here is an example:
Your Keyword: dance shoes
Search Query Report identifies a click for: ballroom dancing shoes
So, you have identified through your Search Query Report that you are appearing under the search query ‘ballroom dancing shoes’ but you do not sell ‘ballroom dancing’ shoes. In this case adding a negative keyword -ballroom will prevent your ads from appearing when the word ‘ballroom’ is included. Learn more about How Negative Keywords can have a Positive Impact and how to add negative keywords to your account.
I have identified irrelevant search queries, now what do I do to prevent my ads from appearing next time?
Add negative keywords or change your match option to a more restrictive match type. Changing your match type is not always an option because it can often lower your traffic too much. This is where negative keyword are so helpful. Negative keywords will prevent your ads from appearing for irrelevant searches.
If your keyword list contains broad or phrase match keywords then negative keywords are most often a must.Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing and potentially receiving clicks from search queries that are not relevant to your product or service.Suppressing impressions (and clicks) from irrelevant search queries will improve your CTR and quality score and allow your keyword list to work harder to bring qualified prospects to your website.
AdWords Offers the Following Negative Match types:
Negative Broad Matched – To create a standard negative keyword, insert a minus sign before a keyword and add it to your ad group or campaign.
Example: -free download
Adding this negative keyword to your account would prevent your ads from showing on any search queries containing the terms free and download Your ads still have the potential to appear for variations of these terms. Your ads will also still show on search queries that only contain one of the terms.
For example, the search queries software download andfree software could trigger your ads, while free software downloadwill not.
Negative “Phrase” Matched - To create a negative phrase matched keyword surround the term with quotation marks.
Example: -”free download“
Adding this keyword the system wouldn’t let any search query containing the phrasefree downloadtrigger your ads. The search query free download accounting softwarewould not trigger your ads. However, your ads could possibly show on the search querydownload accounting software or free accounting software.
Negative [Exact] Matched – To create a negative exact matched keyword surround the term with brackets
Example: -[free download]
This negative keyword would only prevent your ads from showing on the search queryfree download. Search queries such asfree accounting software download andfree software could still trigger your ads.
It is suggested to add relevant variations of your negative keywords, including both the singular and plural forms.Learnto add effective negative keywords to your ad group or campaign.
Now that we have some familiarity with negative keyword match types the next question is how do we identify negatives to add to the account?AdWords offers two tools to identify negative keywords.
The search query report is a very helpful report to identifying negative keywords.This report will show advertisers what the actual query was that resulted in their ads being served.You can use this report to identify negative keyword to add to your account.
See Previous Interface in the upper right corner of your keyword tool to use the old keyword tool interface as outlined below in this video..
Adding Negative keywords is easy.They can be added at the campaign level to cover all adgroups or at the ad group level if the negative keywords are specific to one category.
Research your Search Query Reports regularly to identify negative keywords.Negative keywords will improve your CTR and preserve your budget by showing your ads to only the best prospects for business.
Before you start an AdWords account it would be wise to make sure that AdWords will work with your business model. AdWords has strict policies regarding promotion of pharmacies, drugs, alcohol, firearms, adult content, tobacco, data collection, get rich schemes, arbitrage, affiliate marketing sites, etc., etc, etc. Read the AdWords Terms & Conditions for your location as well as the many various AdWords Advertising policies before you get started.
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Are There any Types of Sites that are Difficult to market with AdWords?
There are some sites that Google feels merit a low landing page quality score. Low landing page quality score can often affect Affiliate websites. Affiliate marketers would benefit from reading the Affiliate Policyand the Link Policy documents as well as this great article by fellow AWHE Writer Bela Lakatos on “Display URL for Affiliates“ before they get started with AdWords.
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Do I need to do anything to my website first?
Most often. Your website should be organized, honest, transparent, functional, contain contact info, be ecstatically pleasing and most importantly provide a good user experience. Be clear on what you do with personal information, if you do request personal info include a privacy policy that is linked to the request form. Have a clear call to action, install Google Analytics and AdWords Conversion Tracking. Read Google’s AdWords Full Landing Page Quality Guidelines.
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Where will my ads appear?
Google offers three networks.
Google Network– Keyword Advertising shown only on the Google.com domain.
AdWords Ads on Google.com
Search Partner Network- Keyword Advertising that covers the Google Search Partners such as AOL, ASK, Business.com, howstuffworks.com and many more.
AdWords Ads on the Search Partner Network
Content Network – Contextual advertising. Your page content is matched to content network sites. Keywords are not necessary with the content network but can be used to help Google match your pages to content network sites. If through your keywords Google finds your ads and website relevant to the Content Network website your ads become eligible to appear on that content network site.
AdWords Ads on the Content Network
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Can I have my ads show in my local area only?
Yes, you can use the location targeting feature under SETTINGS to target a specific location in just about any corner of the world.
Selection the Location that you want your ads to appear.
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What should know before I start my first Campaign?
Before you build your first campaign create an outline of the services or products you plan to advertise. Create lists of related keywords for each product or service and then break that list down farther into lists of keywords by theme. Say you sell BBQ accessories, create an ad group around BBQ accessories with related keywords, BBQ brushes with related keywords, BBQ Flavored Wood Chips with related keywords, BBQ sauce with related keywords, BBQ Grills with related keywords. The idea is to create ad groups that have high relevance. By breaking down the ad groups by keyword theme you can present visitors with ad text that is related to the theme. This setup also makes segmenting and reading data easy.
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How do I select keywords?
Make a list of specific keywords that are very relevant to your products or services and expand to new keywords ideas. Be specific with your keywords. Most advertisers cannot afford to market non specific keywords. Read Building and Organizing an Effective Keyword List here on AWHE to learn about great tools and tips on Keywords.
1. Broad – allows other keywords to be included or relevant (as deemed by Google) keywords to be substituted.
2. “phrase” – allows the keyword to be shown in the phrase order i.e. “red shoes” with terms before or after the phrase.
3. [exact] – allows your ads to show only on the exact keyword specified.
4. –negative – will restrict your ads from appearing for the –negative keyword. i.e. “red shoes” with a negative –kids prevents the ads from appearing for “kids red shoes”. Negative Keywords can be included in Broad, Phrase and Exact Match Types – Learn morehttp://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=67991.
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How do I Identify and add Negative Keywords?
If you are using Broad or “Phrase” match keywords then negative keywords need to be identified. See this article AdWords Negative Keyword = Positive Effect on Your Bottom Line here on AWHE. Negative keywords can be added at the Campaign level to cover all ad groups under the campaign or at the ad group level to cover only specific ad groups. Read here to learn how to add negative keywords to your adwords account.
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Are there any tips for writing ad text?
Be honest, transparent and clear. Convey your message and convince a potential customer to click your ad by offering specials or discounts if they are available on the website. Avoid the use of hype in your ad text and allow your potential customers to identify with you by closely relating your ad text to the keywords in that ad group. Your adgroups should be small and relevant to a specific theme so that you can deliver ad text that is very specific to the query that triggered your ad to show. Also of interest to some advertisers is Dynamic Keyword Insertion.
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How Can I see my Ad Live?
Google has a preview tool located at http://www.google.com/adpreview. This tool will allow you to view your ads live at any time without causing impressions on your account.
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What is Ad ‘Rank’?
Ad rank is a score that your keyword receives when the quality score is multiplied by the max CPC – Quality Score X Max CPC = Rank.
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What is the difference between ad rank and ad position?
Position is the actual position of your ads on the results pages. Rank is the score a keyword receives based on it’s quality score and Max CPC and this Rank is what determines your position and what you pay per click.
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How is ad rank used to determine my ad position and cost per click?
Quality Score X Max Cost Per Click = Rank
Advertiser A. Max CPC of .55 with a Quality score of 1.7 = assigned rank is .93 = position 1
Advertiser B. Max CPC of .65 with a QS score of 1 = assigned rank of 65 = position 2
Advertiser C. Max CPC of .30 with a QS score of 1.5 = assigned rank of .45 = position 3
Take B’s rank of .65 and divide it by A’s QS of 1.7 – .65 / 1.7 = .38 cents.
- .38 is what Advertiser A has to pay + 1 penny added to place it above B’s position for a total of .39 cents.
Take C’s rank of .45 and divide it by B’s QS – .45 / 1 = .45 cents.
- .45 is what Advertiser B has to pay + 1 penny to place it above C’s position for a total of .46 cents
This process repeats until the end of the auction where the last bidder pays the minimum bid required to be active in the action.
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How do I raise my ad rank?
Because rank is determined by Quality Score X Max CPC you have to raise one or the other. Raising quality score is done through raising CTR, this can take time to achieve so if you need to see immediate improvement in your rank you will need to raise your bids. However raising CTR is the best method of raising rank and should be considered first and foremost above raising bids.
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What does ‘below first page bid estimate’ mean?
Below first page bid estimate indicates that you need to increase your bid to be placed on the first page of search results. First identify if the reason is due to underbidding or if you have a low quality score. If you see a low quality score try to identify if there is room to improve the quality score. If the quality score not low then you may be in a competitive market and need to raise your bids to be ranked higher. Learn even more about First Page Bid Estimates here on AWHE.
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What does ‘Rarely shown due to quality score’ mean?
This messaging indicates that you have a problem with either your Keyword Quality or Landing Page Quality Score, possibly both. Your quality score needs to be addressed immediately. See the next steps to evaluate your low quality score.
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How can I see my Quality Score?
Watch this Video or see written instruction below.
To view your quality score go to the keywords section. Visit the button labeled Filters & Views. Go to Customize Columns. Enable Quality Score to show and then grab and drag the quality score button to the place you would like it to appear in the user interface. Your quality score will be shown on a 1 – 10 scale. 1 is the lowest and indicates a major problem and 10 us the highest and indicates a great performing account.
Step 1.
How to see your Quality Score in the AdWords User Interface - Part 1
Step 2.
How to see your Quality Score in the AdWords User Interface - Step 2
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What should I do if I have a low Quality Score?
First identify if the low quality score is due to a problem with your keywords or the landing page (website page) that your visitors land on. A quick way to see quality score details is to go to your KEYWORDS section and place your mouse pointer over the little bubble next to the keywords status. A popup will appear indicating your quality score level for the keyword, landing page relevance and landing page performance.
How to Identify the reason for your Low Qualtiy Score
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Why do I have a low Keyword Quality Score?
Low quality keywords can be due to the following:
past performance: If Google finds that a keyword has provided poor results for advertisers in the past it may receive a diminished quality score from the start. Either avoid the keyword or work on increasing its quality score by increasing the Click Through Rate (CTR).
Relevance: If the keyword is not truly relevant to your product or service it may cause a poor relevancy score. Keywords should be as specific as possible to the product or service. Example of poor keyword for ‘ballet shoes’ would be ‘ footwear’ – Example of Good Keyword: ballet shoes, ballet slippers. While footwear is relevant to ballet shoes it is not relevant enough to effectively use with AdWords.
Low Click Through Rate (CTR): A low click through rate is an indication that visitors do not find their search query relevant to your ad text. Google judges relevance through user behavior so a low CTR in an indication of a problem. A continually low CTR (less than 1% on the search network) will degrade quality score. – See How do I evaluate and Improve CTR? below.
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Why Do I have a poor Landing Page Quality Score?
AdWords Adsbot
Google visits your landing pages with their AdsBot-Google bot to evaluate your landing page for relevance to your account and especially user experience. This bot will crawl your pages looking for signs of a poor quality landing page. Poorly scored landing pages will require high minimum bids, when not paid, will prevent your ads from appearing. Google uses landing page quality score to insure a good user experience for people using Google to search the web. Below is a list of common reasons for low landing page quality score – in no particular order.
Framing – multiple pages with different URL’s that are the same as the parent site
Data Collection websites that offer free items or info in order to collect private information Avoid asking for personal information if it is not absolutely necessary – If necessary present a privacy policy and link it to the form that request personal info.
Affiliate sites that’s purpose is to send traffic to another site with a different domain. These sites can often be bridge pages or sites that contain non original content.
“Get-rich quick” sites.
Poor comparison shopping sites whose purpose is to send visitors to other websites.
Users should be able to easily find what your ad promises. If you offer a special make it available with in 1 – 2 clicks of the landing page.
Feature unique content that can’t be found on another site. This guideline is particularly applicable to resellers whose site is identical or highly similar to another reseller’s or the parent company’s site, and to affiliates sites. These pages are often known as:Bridge pages: Pages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company. Mirror pages: Pages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site; your site should not mirror (be similar or nearly identical in appearance to) your parent company’s or any other advertiser’s site.
To ensure the best possible user experience, AdWords won’t show multiple ads leading to identical or similar landing pages at the same time. This is true even if the pages have different domains - check your content here http://www.copyscape.com/. It’s especially important to feature original content because AdWords won’t show multiple ads directing to identical or similar landing pages at the same time.
Provide substantial information. If your ad does link to a page consisting mostly of ads or general search results (such as a directory or catalog page), provide additional, unique content.
Site validation issues. – check validation with http://validator.w3.org/. Some validation issues can indicate a communication issue with Googles adsbot.
If you were able to identify with anything in the above list work on making changes if you can. The adsbot will visit your landing pages again within a few weeks.
A great tool to track the adsbot was developed by AdWords Top Contributor, Richard Ball at Apogee Web Consulting, get tracking the Adsbot-Google here. This will allow you to identify when the adsbot has visited you again.
Below are three links with further explanations of landing page quality guidelines as well as an important page on link policies that effect landing page quality score.
Click Through Rate, otherwise known as (CTR), is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions (ad views), the higher the CTR the better. Google uses CTR data to gauge the relevance of your keywords to ad text. When an advertisers includes a new keyword in their account it is assigned a quality score based on the keyword performance within the Adwords system for other advertisers, as well as its relevance within your account. The quality score assigned can then be raised or lowered from that point based on the Click Through Rate (CTR) score that the keyword accrues within your account. CTR has a large impact on quality score so raising CTR, and in-turn Quality Score, will result in you being able to improve your bottom line by either seeing an increase in your current ad rank, or if you choose to stay at the same rank you can instead reduce your bids.
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How do I evaluate and Improve CTR?
A low CTR indicates room for improvement. Perhaps potential customers found your ads in error due to poor keyword selections, perhaps your broad match types are expanding to irrelevant searches, maybe your ad text is boring, and perhaps your rank is just too low to make your ads truly visible. Below is more detail on evaluating CTR at the keyword, ad text and rank levels.
Evaluating Keywords
Are your keywords too generic? These days’ internet users are search savvy and use specific search queries to be presented with the most relevant search results possible. If you are a personal trainer you may be tempted to select a keyword like ‘fitness’ but think of all the other applications that the word ‘fitness’ can apply to; fitness diet, fitness equipment, fitness supplements, fitness clothing, to name a few. If your ads appear for your personal training program when a person searches for fitness supplements then you are not going to appear relevant, will not receive the click, and your CTR will suffer.
Are your keywords in the proper match type? There are different keywords Match Types and selecting the right match type for your account is important.
- Broad – allows for your keyword to expand to relevant keywords. Example: broad match keyword ‘computer repair’ could expand to ‘computer repair jobs’, ‘computer monitor repair’, or ‘computer repair classes’.
- “Phrase” match- will keep a phrase in-tact but can allow for words to be added before or after the phrase. Example: “computer repair” can expand to ‘free computer repair ’.
- [Exact] match- will only show the ads when the exact keyword is used [computer repair]. This option does not require negative match keywords.
–negative match – will restrict your ads from appearing for the –negative keyword. i.e. Broad match keyword “computer repair” expands to ‘computer repair jobs’ add a negative -jobs and it prevents the ads from appearing for people looking for a job. Use your imagination a little and add negatives for -job, -employment, -career, -careers, -hire, etc. Negative Keywords can be included in Broad, Phrase and Exact Match Types – Learn more http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=67991
For most advertisers to effectively use broad match and phrase match keywords it will be essential to use negative keywords to maintain a good CTR and not waste money on irrelevant clicks.
Identifying and adding Negative Match Keywords
Negative keywords can be identified by running a search query report or by using the keyword tool . Learn more about identifying negative keywords. Negative keywords can be added at the Campaign level to cover all ad groups under the campaign or at the ad group level to cover only specific ad groups. Read here to learn how to add negative keywords to your adwords account.
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Evaluating Ad Text
Is your ad text well written? Ad text needs to be honest, compelling and contain a call to action. If you offer specials let people know. Your ads appear amongst many other advertisers, ad text that stands out and grabs a potential customer’s attention is important. Create professional, prominent ads that are free of gimmicky language and make sure your offers are available with 1 – 2 clicks of the landing page.
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Evaluating Ad Position
Does your ad position need to be evaluated? Ads that are below the page fold (requiring users to scroll down) will receive impressions because they are on the first page but will not actually be viewed as often as ads above the fold. If you find you have a low CTR check your ad position. If you find it is low on the first page you may want to consider raising your position by adjusting bids. A great way to identify position issues is to run both a Keyword Performance Report and Impression Share Report. These reports will help you identify if your ad position needs to be addressed.
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Can I track my sales, leads, registrations, etc?
Yes, with Conversion Tracking. It is a simple snippet of code that needs to be installed into your website. The code works behind the scenes of your website to collect data when a specified ‘action’ has taken place, such as a sale, registration, lead or contact form is filled out. This code can even be customized to capture and pass important variables from shopping carts such as the price of a sale pre shipping and tax to make it very easy to analyze data.
Watch this Video or see written instruction below.
To create a conversion tracking action visit the Reporting Tab and the Conversions link.
Tracking Conversions
Next Step is step 1 in creating your conversion tracking code.
Step 1 – Create Conversion Tracking Action Code
Step 2 & 3 – Name your conversion and select the purpose of the conversion.
Steps 2 & 3 – Name Conversion and Select Purpose
Steps 4 & 5 – customize your conversion tracking code and install it on your website.
Steps 4 & 5 – Customize and Install your Conversion Tracking Code
Once you install the code into your website and upload it live online the code should show as verified
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What reports should I run often?
There are many helpful reports located in the AdWords Help Center. Mentioned below are a few to get your account off to a good start. Getting familiar with all the reports center has to offer is going to be important for you when reviewing data and optimizing the account. Spend time getting familiar with all the report center offers.
Here are some of my favorites:
Search Query Performance Report – if you are running keywords in Broad or “Phrase” match it is important to run Search Query Performance Reports regularly. This will help you to identify negative keywords as well as new keywords to add to your account.
Impression Share Report – This report will allow you to identify if you are losing Impression Share to rank or budget as well as how much impression share is exactly matched to your keywords.
Keyword Performance Report – Easily identify keywords that need to be evaluated.
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Are there any tools or tips to help me get the most out of my budget?
Yes. AdWords has features such as ad scheduling, position preference, ad delivery. There are are tools available to some account such as the bid stimulator. Best practice for small budgets is to make sure you are going for quality clicks by using very specific keywords and using keyword matching options to control when your ads show. I think that advertisers on a tight budget should do their best to pre-qualify their prospective visitors.
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Do you Have a Question?
If you have a question that you would like answered feel free to post it in the comments below and the AdWords Help Experts team will do our best to answer. It will also help us develop this AdWords FAQ further to help other advertisers.
Today in the AdWords Help Forum AdWords Pro Stephen shared a great tip for advertisers who see the wrong ad groups ad text appearing for search queries.
Stephen explained that Google uses what he referred to an an “advanced form of expanded matching“, Googles documentation refers to it as an “enhancement of broad match”. Stephen explained this feature as an ad being triggered based on a related previous search query.
Stephen explained the feature… “[snip]…in this instance, the advertiser had a single AdWords Campaign with two different Ad Groups. Let’s say that one ad used the keyword ’spacely sprockets’ and the other ad used the keyword ‘cogswell cogs.’ When the advertiser searched on the term ‘cogs,’ the ad for ’spacely sprockets’ showed rather than the ‘cogswell cogs’ ad that they expected to see.
We knew that it wasn’t an issue of targeting or Daily Budget because both Ad Groups were in a single campaign and shared the same settings and budget. Likewise, the Ads Diagnostic tool indicated that the keyword ‘cogswell cogs’ was showing, as did the Ads Preview page. Finally, we ran a Search Query report and found that searches for ‘cogs’ were triggering the keyword ’spacely sprockets’ based on previous queries.
The AdWords system had determined that ‘cogs’ was a valid expanded match for ’spacely sprockets’, and because the keyword ’spacely sprockets’ had a higher Ad Rank than ‘cogswell cogs,’ it was eligible to show.
This seems a little backward, but its really no different than any other expanded match. Had the ‘cogswell cogs’ Ad Group contained the keyword ‘cogs,’ it would have matched the query more closely and that ad would have triggered, but from the system’s point of view an expansion is an expansion, and neither ‘cogswell cogs’ nor ’spacely sprockets’ matched the query exactly.”
What does this mean for advertisers? it means that advertisers should closely watch their search query reports. Set your reports to show the ad variation that appears with the query.
Show Ad Variation with Search Query
Advertisers may find that the wrong ads are appearing for search queries.
Search Query Performance Report - Check queries against ad text shown
Can advertisers do anything to prevent this?
Stephen recommends:
“[snip]… Because the advertiser had specific landing pages for each Ad Group, it was important to them that the query “cogs” trigger the “cogswell cogs” Ad Group, so I recommended that they add the specific term ‘cogs’ as a keyword. Another option would have been to add it as a negative keyword in the ’spacely sprockets’ Ad Group, but it’s not guaranteed that the keyword ‘cogswell cogs’ would have expanded to match the query ‘cogs.’ Of course, changing the matching option of the existing keyword to exact match would have kept the ad from showing for the previous query, but it would also have prevented it from showing in other circumstances.”
So, there is a ‘fix’ for this but I still see a potential problem for many advertisers who can barely keep up with the basic features of adwords. This feature makes the search query report more important than ever to make sure advertisers are getting the best possible performance for their accounts.
I’m noticing quite a few questions in Google’s AdWords Help forum where advertisers are confused that their keyword clicks don’t add up to the total clicks. The confusion is a result of not knowing their ad campaigns are opted into the content network (by default). Those content network clicks don’t correlate to keywords in an ad group.
Researching this problem made me realize the new AdWords interface has a poor design regarding the campaign default settings for network distribution:
Default Network Distribution Settings
Recommended for new advertisers?! No, this is NOT recommended for new advertisers. Most new advertisers aren’t aware that AdWords includes contextual advertising as well as search advertising. They’re better off getting their feet wet with search advertising only. A better recommended setting is to choose to opt out of the content network:
Better Network Distribution Choice: +Search -Content
Later, after developing a solid foundation of search advertising experience, an advertiser could come back and build a new campaign designed for the content advertising audience. Even people at Google recommend separating search and content campaigns:
Google Employee Recommends Separating Search & Content Ads
I have run into a few accounts recently that displayed search query data for keywords that had no clicks.
