1. Google Confidential and Proprietary 11Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Automating AdWords
Frederick Vallaeys

2. Google Confidential and Proprietary 22Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Frederick Vallaeys
Ten years as Google AdWords Evangelist
Optmyzr.com
@SiliconVallaeys

3. Google Confidential and Proprietary 33Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Our Toolbox
• One-Click Optimization™
• A/B Ad Testing
• Quality Score Tracker
• Geo Performance Report
• Report Builder
• AdWords Scripts Library

4. Google Confidential and Proprietary 44Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Agenda
Automating AdWords
Bid Automation
Automated Rules
AdWords Scripts

5. Google Confidential and Proprietary 55Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Why automate?
• Humans get distracted
• Some humans are bad at
math
• Humans want new
challenges

6. Google Confidential and Proprietary 66Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Why not to automate?
Tools treat your accounts with a cookie cutter
mentality:

7. Google Confidential and Proprietary 77Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Smart Automation Leverages Your Team’s Knowledge
“Adding human judgment to
statistical methods makes results
roughly 15 percent more
accurate. And it’s even true in
chess: While the best computers
can now easily beat the best
humans, they can in turn be
beaten by humans aided by
computers.”
– Wired Magazine, January 2014

8. Google Confidential and Proprietary 88Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Bid Automation

9. Google Confidential and Proprietary 99Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Challenge: Manage Many Goals
Bid for some ads to be at the top of the page, and others to deliver the
right ROI.
Google Confidential and Proprietary 9

10. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1010Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Challenge: Too Many Variables
Lots of factors impact
performance
Keeping track of what you’ve
tested is complicated
Bid Tested Date Results
$1.00 Sep 1, 13 +120%
$1.10 Sep 8, 13 +130%
$0.95 Sep 15, 13 -80%
… … …
Thousands of keywords
Real-time factors

11. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1111Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Google’s Automated Bid Strategies
Bid Strategy Goal Level
Maximize Clicks More Site Visits
Campaign, ad group,
keyword
Target Search Page
Location
More Ad Visibility
Campaign, ad group,
keyword
Target CPA
More Conversions at
Target CPA
Campaign, ad group
Enhanced CPC More Conversions Campaign, ad group
Target ROAS More Return on Ad Spend
Campaign, ad group,
keyword

12. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1212Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
How to Implement Bid Strategies

13. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1313Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Flexible Bid Strategies: They’re More Flexible!

14. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1414Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
A Word Of Caution About Automation
“As long as the humans […]
understand what it is they are
controlling, we’re fine. It’s when
they become slaves to the
numbers that trouble breaks out.”
– Wired Magazine, January 2014

15. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1515Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Automated Rules

16. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1616Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Challenge: Repetitive Data Analysis
• Scenario: Look for poor Quality Score keywords

17. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1717Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
How to Enable Automated Rules

18. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1818Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Rule 1: Pause Low Quality Score Keywords

19. Google Confidential and Proprietary 1919Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Rule 2: Email Me When Position Drops

20. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2020Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Rule 3: Enable Weekend Ads

21. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2121Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Advanced AdWords automation
AdWords Scripts

22. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2222Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Challenge: Preserve Your Secret Sauce
AdWords Scripts Can Automate Complex Things:
– An ice cream shop wants to raise bids when it gets over 80 degrees
outside.
– An online retailer wants to pause keywords for products that get bad user
reviews.

23. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2323Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
What Are AdWords Scripts?
AW Scripts are pieces of JavaScript
code that are put into an AdWords
account where they can be scheduled
to run automatically on a predefined
schedule.

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What Can AdWords Scripts Do?
AW Scripts can read from and write to your
AdWords account and make changes to:
• Keywords
• Bids
• Ads
• Ad Groups
• Campaigns
• Targeting
• Bid modifiers

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Benefits of Scripts
• Your secret sauce can be automated
– Scripts can run automatically, as frequently as every hour.
• Scripts can talk to external data sources
– Google Sheets, email, arbitrary URLs (APIs).
Weather
Data
Movie
Data
Company
DataAPI

26. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2626Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
AdWords Script Ideas
• Get notified when an ad group’s CTR drops 3 days in a row.
• Add the same negative keywords to several AdWords accounts.
• Track Historical Quality Score.
• Calculate the right mobile bid modifier.
• Add new keywords based on the Search Terms Report.
• Detect anomalies in clicks and impressions in near real-time.
• Find ad groups with underperforming ad texts.

27. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2727Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Example Use Case for AdWords Scripts
Script: Quality Score Tracker

28. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2828Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Challenge: Tracking Detailed Quality Score
By far, click-through rate is the most important factor contributing to your
quality score.
Account
Creative + URLKeyword
Quality Score

29. Google Confidential and Proprietary 2929Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Account Quality Score: The Excel Way

30. Google Confidential and Proprietary 3030Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
The Scripts Way

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Copy-and-Paste the Code

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Preview the Script’s Changes
There is no “Undo” button!

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Send Results Via Email

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Add Results to Spreadsheets

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Add Results to Dashboards
• Push data into dashboard widgets, e.g. Cyfe.com

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Take AdWords Scripts to the Next Level
Advanced Tips for Scripts

37. Google Confidential and Proprietary 3737Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
AdWords Scripts Tip 1: Use Labels
• Use Labels as inputs

38. Google Confidential and Proprietary 3838Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
AdWords Scripts Tip 2: Build Workflows
• Use spreadsheets to create worksheets that your team can process
• Upload via Editor or another Script

39. Google Confidential and Proprietary 3939Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
AdWords Scripts Tips: Data Storage
• Connect a Spreadsheet to a Database and create ads from your
product database
Google
Sheets
AdWords
Script
Database
(e.g.
MySQL)

40. Google Confidential and Proprietary 4040Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Where to Start with Scripts
Prebuilt Scripts: From Google
https://developers.google.com/adwords/scripts/

41. Google Confidential and Proprietary 4141Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Let’s Stay in Touch!
www.Optmyzr.com
Frederick Vallaeys
– frederick@toptier.us
– @SiliconVallaeys
– @Optmyzr

42. Google Confidential and Proprietary 4242Confidential and Proprietarywww.Optmyzr.com@optmyzr
Q&A
Thank you!