Sculpting a Successful PPC Advertising Account

Sculpting a Successful Pay Per Click
Advertising Account

About Search Mojo
• Search engine marketing firm founded in 2005
– Search engine optimization (SEO)
– Pay-per-click advertising management (PPC)
– Post-click marketing
• Offices in Charlottesville, Va. and Denver, Colo.
• Featured in the Washington Post, B2B Magazine, MarketingSherpa, Visibility
Magazine and many blogs, including Marketing Pilgrim and Search Engine
Journal
• Speakers at PubCon and Search Engine Strategies
• Clients include: MazdaUSA, National Geographic, American Heart
Association, Clorox, Taco Bell, Georgetown University

September 19, 2012 www.search-mojo.com Copyright 2009

Pay Per Click Advertising

The Quick Basics if You Don’t Already Know

Pay Per Click Advertising – What Are We Talking About?


The Paid Results


 How Does It work?
It’s an Ad Auction with bid price determining ad position
on the Page. The top result is the highest bidder.
But it’s more than just a simple auction – Quality Matters
Google Quality Score
Yahoo Quality Index
Quality for a Search Engine essentially boils down to
Click Through Rate (CTR)
CTR = Clicks / Ad Impressions
Search Engines make more money by prominently
showing the most clicked ads
Keywords/Ads with high Quality Score/Quality Index
get shown more, can have lower bid prices and
stronger ad positions


Why Advertise with PPC?
• Do you have a Goal?
– Sales
– Leads
– Key Performance Indicators: Specific Actions
you want searchers to take on your site
• Today’s conversation isn’t just about traffic
– It’s very easy to drive traffic with PPC.
But, what does that traffic do?
• Optimizing PPC means maximizing clicks that
meet your goals and minimizing or eliminating
clicks that don’t

PPC is a Great Way to Achieve Conversion
Goals. But it isn’t One Size Fits All

• Most Advertisers start and stay with the
PPC Platform’s Default Settings
• You need to evaluate if these settings are in
the best interests of meeting your goals
– Geographic Settings
– Advertising Hours


Ad Networks
• Google, Yahoo & MSN all offer contextually
targeted “Content Network” Ads
– Ads can appear on participating sites that have
content matching your keywords
– You can choose to opt out
• All 3 Engines also “syndicate” their search to
other sites
– Syndicated traffic is actually the majority of
Yahoo traffic, but you can’t opt out.
– Google ads are syndicated with AOL and
Ask.com. Opt out is All or Nothing.

Advertising on iPhones
• Google Adwords now shows ads on iPhones and
other phones with full internet browsers
– T-mobile G-Phone
– Palm Pre
• Is your website viewable on mobile phones?
• Are your conversion actions possible on your
mobile site?


It’s Easy to Filter Your PPC Traffic
 Check or un-check the boxes for search networks,
content networks and mobile devices depending on your
goals and abilities.


Use All 3 Keyword Match Types
• The Default Keyword Setting on All 3 Search
Engines is Broad Match
– Yahoo calls it “Advanced Match”
• Google says Broad Match “Allows your ad to
show on similar phrases and relevant variations.
Even if those terms aren’t in your keyword lists.
– If you use Broad Match on the keyword “tennis
shoes” your ad will show for searches on:
• Tennis
• Shoes
• Buy tennis shoes
• Tennis shoe photos
• Running shoes
• Tennis sneakers


Phrase Match Type
• Phrase Match Type allows your ad to show when
search queries match an exact phrase
– Add the keyword in quotation marks “ “
– Ads will show when that exact phrase is used
in query
– The query can contain other words, as long as
the exact phrase is contained in it
– Example: Phrase matched “tennis shoes”
shows ads for queries on:
• Red tennis shoes
• Buy tennis shoes
• Tennis shoes pictures


Exact Match Type

• Exact Match allows ads to show for
searches that show the exact phrase
exclusively
– Enter the keyword in brackets [ ]
– If the keyword is [tennis shoes] your ad will
only show for a search on tennis shoes &
nothing else


How to Take Control of Your PPC

Are You the Block or the Masterpiece?

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”
Michelangelo


It’s Going to Be Some Work
• Most PPC Campaigns are not executed with a lot of
sophistication – but to operate efficiently it takes a great
deal of regular optimization. You need to think of your
PPC advertising like a work of art. The default settings &
what they bring equate to a "Block of Marble" – you
need to free the work of art inside it by chiseling away at
the pieces that don't belong.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.”
Michelangelo


Understand the Reality
• Realize that Search Engines are a Business – Their job is to get as
many clicks as possible – your job is to get as many conversions
as possible for the least amount of money. They aren't the
same goal.
• Search Engines provide the means to advertise – it's up to you to
make it profitable. This takes work. "You can't set it and forget
it.“
• For the most part the tools to make your advertising successful
are available from the engines. Again it's up to you to find them
and be diligent about using them effectively.


Broad Match is a Double Edged Sword
• You need to realize that only using Broad
match is lazy. And a HUGE revenue stream
for the Search Engines.
– Google says “let us do the legwork” & not to
‘sweat over getting the perfect keyword list’
• Broad Match is getting More Expansive
every day
• Google explains “Expanded Broad Match”:
“With expanded broad matching, your ads automatically appear on
additional terms we’ve matched to your keywords”
– Human beings aren’t matching these keywords by relevance – Click Through Rate
of searchers is determining “Relevance”.


Broad Matching is Far from Being Perfect

Storm=Hurricane
How are these the same?
Case=Vase
Adwords thinks they are the same
Storm Case
The Most Rugged Carrying Case in the world. Hurricane Glass Vase
A dainty fragile glass vase


Broad Matching is Far from Being Perfect

= XXX
This very tan couple who are into very public
A Car
“displays of affection”

This car is a “Coupe” This couple might be found for searches like:
•“amateur couple porn”
•“couple live sex”
•“live couple sex”
Coupe = Couple
What does this car have to do with these two?

Broad Matching Competing Brands

• There are numerous trademark rules with
advertising on competitors branded terms
and it’s discouraged on Google and not
allowed on Yahoo & MSN
• But if you have a popular brand they have
no problem broad matching it your
competitors brand keywords for you


Broad Matching Competing Brands
• Google had a lot of trouble with our clients
unrelated Automotive brand broad
matching to “Mitsubishi”
– Especially to the hundreds of misspelled
versions of “Mitsubishi”

+ 500 different “Mitsubishi” Keywords


Untargeted Broad Matching for Your Own Brand
• Example - Three different vehicles:
– “Car Brand X3”
• All three keywords Broad Match to Each
Other
– But Ad Copy isn’t targeted to right car
– Landing Page isn’t targeted to right car
– Conversion Performance isn’t optimal


Use Negative Keywords
• Negative keywords ensure your ad Does
NOT show for any search that includes
them
– Match Types apply to Negative keywords also
– Just ad the minus sign – in front of the
keyword you want to be a negative
– Free
– Used
– Problems


How to Find Negative Keywords

• Google Adwords Search Query Report is
your weapon against un-targeted Broad &
Phrase matching.
• The new Adwords interface also provides
easy access to the exact keywords that
triggered the matching


Run the Google Search Query Report

• Export to Excel
• Filter and Sort Data by Broad & Phrase Match
• Find the Negative Keywords that aren’t relevant

Search Query Reports
• If you have a large Yahoo account with an
account rep ask for a “Subphrase Report”
• Otherwise rely on the much larger search
sample from Google and apply the highest
trafficked negatives to Yahoo & MSN
• Search Query Reports can be HUGE and
very time consuming.
– The bigger your spend, the more you need to
review them


You will never be finished…
• 20% to 25% of the searches that Google
sees every day it has NEVER seen before.
As a result you can never ignore broad
match possibilities
– Example: Storm Cases

Storm Case Blackberry Storm Blackberry Storm Cases


Broad Match Isn’t All Bad…
• You often find more good keywords that
you missed than bad ones
– Use Broad Match as a safety net
• Add keywords. Especially if they converted
after broad matching
• Again use all 3 match types of keywords
when adding.
“The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows”
Michelangelo


Max Out with Exact Match
• The real cost of a keyword is the exact match CPC
– It’s the Most Targeted. Broad or Phrase may
sometimes look cheaper, but if you factor in all the
irrelevant matches over time they aren’t cheaper.
• In our experience Exact Match almost always has
the lowest Cost Per Conversion, Highest
Conversion Rate and Highest Conversion Volume.
• Exact Match has highest CTR
• Depending on how Savvy Competition is it has the
lowest CPC
• Sort your keywords by total clicks – shouldn’t be
any Broad Match at the top of the list.

Get More Ad Impressions for Free
• Search Engines reward high CTR
– Search Engines maximize total clicks by
showing the ads with the highest CTR the most
• Find out what how many impressions you
are losing on Adwords by running a
Campaign Report
– How much lost to inadequate budget
– How much lost to poor Ad Rank
• Click Through Rate impacts Ad Rank


Check the Extra Boxes on the Campaign Report


Maximize Your CTR
• Use all 3 match types – Get as many Exact
Matches that convert as possible
• Get Granular with Ad Groups
– More smaller, very keyword specific ad groups
– Match the keywords as much as possible to ad
copy (Bold Ad Copy increases CTR)


Ad Copy Best Practices
• Find the best performing Ad Copy from a
CTR and Conversion Rate Basis
– Eliminate ad copy that drags down CTR
– Don’t use too many ads (Waters down CTR)
• Test 2 to 3 Ad Copies at a time – No More than 3
– Realize that PPC is about RELEVANCE for the
searcher – Relevance first, Branding if there’s
any room left
• Ad copy that focuses on Brand message & not
keyword searched drags down CTR & Impression
Share.


“Grow” Good Impressions
• You can increase impressions on keywords
that convert best for you
– Search Engines don’t operate by logic, they use
CTR to determine relevance as part of an
Algorithmic formula
• Maximize CTR and they will reward you:
– Lower Costs per Click
– Stronger Ad Position
– More Ad Impressions


Conclusion
• Chip away at the bad keywords, add the
good keywords that convert with all three
match types.
• Maximize and “Sculpt” a larger CTR to
maximize your impressions for keywords
that are converting for you.


Conclusion
• Use the conversion data of the searchers as
your guide – The most successful tactics
might not be what you think they are…


Contact Information
Tad Miller
Account Director
Search Mojo

e: tmiller@search-mojo.com
o: 800-939-5938 x102
t: @jstatad, @searchmojo
w: www.search-mojo.com
b: blog.search-mojo.com


Sculpting a Successful PPC Advertising Account

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