Pay Per Click workbook. Sub-title here

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1 Pay Per Click workbook Sub-title here

2 Pay Per Click workbook This workbook has been written by James Pennington of the National B2B Centre to guide the business user through the intricacies of creating and implementing successful Pay Per Click campaigns. What is Pay Per Click? Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is anywhere the advertiser (typically the website owner) is charged for traffic generated through the clicking of an advert. This advert can appear within search results or on another website. PPC typically falls within two categories: SEARCH networks adverts that appear within a set of search results shown in figure 1 DISPLAY networks adverts that appear on a website that registers with a search engine to display relevant ads that can generate income for the site. shown in figure 2 Figure 1 SEARCH network adverts

3 Figure 2 DISPLAY network To make effective use of PPC Advertising it should form part of the overall Digital Marketing Strategy. A good and effective Digital Marketing Strategy should encompass all available channels for reaching your current customers and future customers. A Digital marketing Strategy should encompass the following key areas: Search Engine Optimisation Social Media Display Advertising Marketing Affiliate Marketing PPC GOALS What are you expecting A key part of any marketing activity is defining the objectives of the activity. As with Search Optimisation, Analytics tracking, Marketing and all other channels, this should always be the starting point of an activity. With PPC it is more important as the traffic being generated to the website is being paid for and therefore ensuring you know what you expect is a very important part of creating successful PPC campaigns. There are many different objectives that can be achieved and this will be specific to your particular role and function within the organisation.

4 1: 2: 3: Setting a goal will assist with ensuring you are tracking the correct metrics to validate and measure effectiveness of the PPC activity. Using PPC for building a brand can be very expensive and too hard to measure. PPC Campaign: Objectives Exercise: State your reasons for wanting to start PPC advertising Exercise: Create objectives by which the success of your PPC advertising will be measured Quality score Quality score is a measure across multiple areas of the AdWords account that have a direct influence on the cost per click for a given campaign. When AdWords first appeared it was possible to gain top positions in the ad listings due to the amount of money willing to be bid. However this doesn t provide the user with useful results and lowers the effectiveness of a paid campaign. This has resulted in the quality score measure being put in place by Google.

5 What is quality score? Quality score ensures that relevant ads are displayed for search queries. The higher the quality scores for a chosen keyword the higher the ad will display in the search listings. Google go further to explain quality score by adding: Having a high Quality Score means that our systems think your ad, keyword and landing page are all relevant and useful to someone looking at your ad. This measure can result in the following results: Ads with high bids do not position Ads with low bids position higher than competitors ads How does Google calculate quality score To calculate this Quality Score, we look at a number of different things related to your account. By improving the following factors, you can help improve your Quality Score: Your keyword's expected click-through rate (CTR): Your account history: The quality of your landing page: Your keyword/ad relevance: Your keyword/search relevance: Geographic performance: How Quality Score affects you Quality Score is used in several different ways, and can affect the following things in your account: Higher Quality Scores make it easier and cheaper for a keyword to enter the ad auction. Your keyword's actual cost-per-click (CPC): Your keyword's first page bid estimate: Your keyword's top of page bid estimate: Ad position: Higher Quality Scores lead to higher ad positions. Eligibility for ad extensions and other ad formats: Relevant ads tend to earn more clicks, appear in a higher position and bring you the most success.

6 Exercise: Who ranks highest? There are 3 different advertisers with different adverts. Work out the Ad rank to see who would rank the highest. AD Rank = Bid Price x Quality Score Advertiser Ad Rank Ad Position Ad A QS: 7, Bid: 10: Ad B QS: 9, Bid: 8: Ad C QS: 5 Bid: 13: It is believed that the following factors influence quality score to varying degrees: Landing Page The landing page of the advert is believed to exhibit a 20% weighting within the quality score calculation. Landing Pages are referred to as the page the user accesses as a result of clicking the advert in the search listings. Google is looking at the relevancy and the user experience of the page to determine how effective it will be to the user. Relevancy This factor is deemed to provide a 20 % weighing to the Quality score. Relevancy of the search query, keywords chosen to display the ad, copy of the advert in regards to the keyword and also linkages across to the landing page are all important in ensuring relevancy to the user. CTR Click Through Rate Probably the most important part of the quality score algorithm. This is thought to provide 60% of the weighting within the metric. PPC Campaign: Getting Found

7 Identifying keywords The easiest way to locate keywords is to brainstorm an idea. This enables you to look at wider aspects of the topic that may provide a more niche focused campaign. Locating keywords can be carried out by using a wide range of tools such as: Google trends Google Keyword Planner AdWords tools Alexi Google suggestions Google Webmasters Tool Types of keyword Head Keywords: These are typically single-word keywords with insane amounts of search volume and competition (for example, insurance or vitamins ). Because searcher intent is all over the place (someone searching for insurance might be looking for a car insurance quote, a list of life insurance companies or a definition of the word), Head Terms usually don t convert very well. Body Keywords: Body keywords are 2-3 word phrases that get decent search volume (at least 2,000 searches per month), but are more specific than Head Keywords. Keywords like life insurance or order vitamins online are examples of Body Keywords. These almost always have lower competition than Head Terms, but can still be very competitive. Long Tail Keywords: Long tail keywords are usually 4+ word phrases that are usually very specific. Phrases like affordable life insurance for senior citizens and order vitamin D capsules online are examples of long tail keywords. Even though they don t get a lot of search volume individually when added together long tails make up the majority of searches online.

8 Exercise: Create a list of keywords that describe this product

9 Exercise: Repeat the exercise for one of your products make use of size, type, brand alternatives to identify keyword phrases and patterns. This will assist in providing a clear structure and naming convention for your ads when creating your PPC campaigns. Keyword match types AdWords makes use of 5 different types of keyword match. Keyword match type refers to the level of match between your chosen keywords and the particular search query. Choosing the wrong match types when starting out with AdWords can result in; Underperforming campaigns Low quality score of keywords / account etc High costs low yield Inappropriate traffic Exact Match With exact match, your ads can appear only when someone searches for your exact keyword, without any other terms in the search. To use an exact match keyword, simply surround the entire keyword with square brackets. [women s hats] Phrase Match With phrase match, your ad can show when someone searches for your exact keyword, or your exact keyword with additional words before or after it.

10 Using phrase match can help you reach more customers, while still giving you more precise targeting. To use a phrase match keyword, simply surround the entire keyword with quotation marks. Broad match This is the default matching option. With broad match, your ad may show if a search term contains your keyword terms in any order, and possibly along with other terms. Your ads can also show for close variations of your keywords. Matching will include misspellings, synonyms, related searches and other relevant variations You can use it with negative keywords to avoid highly irrelevant traffic. Broad +Match You can add a modifier, the plus sign on your keyboard (+), to any of the terms that are part of your broad match keyword phrase. By adding a modifier, your ads can only show when someone's search contains those modified terms, or close variations of the modified terms, in any order. The modifier won't work with phrase match or exact match keywords. Setting keyword match options AdWords enables you to identify how closely to match against the keywords. By default Google will match against; Plurals Mis-spellings Close variants This is controlled in the campaign settings area of the relevant campaign. Match types suggestions Google pays no attention to case / symbols used within your keywords. There is no need to provide capitalised keywords within a campaign. A well performing AdWords campaign will have the majority of spend being associated to Exact Match keywords. Exact Match keywords are easier to write focused ads for. Splitting your campaigns into very small ads that are highly targeted may be tempting to keep relevancy, however this can have a negative impact through low search volumes and overall quality score. Adding keywords and you re not sure, test it in a campaign. You ll be able to see impressions and review clicks. No clicks - no charge. Broad matching may be a great way to start. Finding new keywords can be easier that working out a variant of one already being used.

11 Exercise: Keyword match Phrase Broad Phrase [Exact] Keyword: Audi A5 Coupe Search Query: Buy Audi A5 Coupe Keyword: car insurance comparison Search Query: Car Insurance Comparison Website Keyword: Chinese restaurant supply Search Query: Chinese restaurant supply Keyword: iphone 5 USB lead Search Query: lead to connect iphone to my computer Keyword: Car Search Query: Vauxhall Vans Keyword: Free Chinese Food Search Query: Chinese Food Keyword: Organic Spinach Noodle Search Query: Brew Organic Beer

12 Using negative keywords to provide relevance Negative keywords can be used to ensure the user has richer experience by showing more relevant ads. If we expand on the example of televisions a search for a specific size / brand should provide an advert that relates directly to the search query, reducing and pushing the user to a specific set of products within the website. Making use of negative keywords can significantly reduce spend and unwanted traffic to a website using paid advertising. Exercise: Identify negative keywords phrases for the following products. windows suits Campaign Types

13 Google provide a range of campaign types that have different features. There are currently 4 different options for creating new campaigns within AdWords. Search network and display network Search network only Display network only Shopping When creating ad campaigns it is advisable to create separate campaigns for each specific area. This helps with separation of the campaigns across the various areas. Each Campaign Type allows for additional features to be selected. To remove any issues in the future with campaign types it is recommended that you choose ALL FEATURES at this stage. When creating Campaigns and Ad groups make sure you have a sensible naming convention to enable you to easily recognise the various campaigns. Structuring Campaigns The first step to successful AdWords is to know what you want to achieve. How are your products / services structured within the website? Do you want to create targeted location adverts? Do you want to mix the types of campaigns operated? Make sure you have a clear naming mechanism that ensures you can easily identify the ads later on. Ad Groups An Ad group contains the various adverts and also the keywords used to display the particular ads. There is no limit to the number of ad groups you can create, however bear in mind lowering the quality score due to underperforming ads, search volumes due to widening the reach too far. Look at ad groups that are relevant to the keywords bringing people to the website how do they split out. Structuring a Campaign

14 When creating the campaign there are a range of features that you should pay attention to in regards to configuration. All Ads need to be tracked for analytics and this is an account setting with Adwords. Typically the tick box is not selected by default and needs to be enabled. Geographic targeting of ads is done at the campaign level so it you are wishing to target ads for different regions of the UK / countries of the world they will need to be setup as separate Campaigns. Selecting a language option does not mean Ads are automatically translated you will need to provide a properly translated version of the advert that displays. Think about the user experience with this tactic as the landing page should also be translated. Set a sensible budget for your daily spend. Creating a Text AD Text based Ads are constructed using the Ad interface. They consist of 3 key lines: AD Title: Description Lines: Display URL: blue link in the search listings 25 Characters in Length 2 lines of description 35 characters in length appears in green 35 characters in length You should always create more than 1 advert per ad group this enables you to test AD copy. Creating a Good ad There are many ways to create good ads. Some standard points to consider when creating the Ad copy are: Relevancy Google will bold keywords that appear within your advert. FBA remember Feature, Benefit, Action. Promote Offers through the copy. Symbols are valid inputs - / % / Think about what the user is looking for Make use of all the spaces Ensure it makes sense Grammar is important along with spelling Remember a top listed ad will be longer If writing to position 1 / 2 / 3 include a.

15 ad Rules Google has a number of rules to follow when creating an advert, if these are not met then they will disallow your ads until corrected. Excessive use of CAPITAL LETTERS Claims that cannot be verified Cheapest in the UK No trademarked terms No text speak they expect full words Excessive punctuation one exclamation mark per ad click here is not permitted Misleading offers that do not exist on the website No phone numbers within the ad Tips for Creating an ad Do Some Competitive Research Take a high-end shoe designer like Christian Louboutin. The typical competitors are other super highend, luxury shoe retailers like Stuart Weitzman or Manolo Blahnik. For a print advertising campaign, Louboutin is probably focused on creating ads to compete with these companies. With PPC, however, they may actually find that they are up against discount sites that sell luxury shoes, department stores and even design-your-own shoe sites like shoesofprey.com. Google your top five most visible keywords (based on number of impressions). Since these words are getting the most impressions, they will give you some insight as to who your true competition is.

16 Action: Create an AD for your Campaign Headline (max 25 characters): Description line 1 (max 35 characters): Description line 2 (max 35 characters): Display URL (max 35 characters): www. Destination URL (max 1024 characters): www.

17 Action: Review the landing page Landing page is: www. Rate your landing page: No Yes Does this page provide useful and accurate information about the product or service in your ad? Is this page relevant to your keywords and ad text? Can users easily find what the ad promises? Does the page honour the deals and offers promoted in the ad? Does the page deliver the goods and services as promised? Does the page share information about your business? Is the page focused on driving your PPC objectives? Does the page present a strong call to action? Are other distractions kept to a minimum? Score (out of 90)

18 Tips: focus, focus, focus relevant content call to action PPC Campaign: Conversion Action: Improving the landing page I have rated my current landing page with the following score: To improve the landing page I will consider the following:

19 PPC Campaign: Launch Campaign Action: Set up your PPC advert PPC advertising service provider: Location & Language Write your ad Choose keywords Budget & currency

20 Product Listing Ads If you sell product then PLAs are worth looking at. PLAs display in general search results providing both an image and price for the product. They are driven through advertising and differ from Text based Ads in that they are driven based on the following factors: Title of product Description of Product Negative Keywords PLAs are not triggered through the use of keywords Google will analyse the product feed sent across to Merchant Centre and match products based on the users search query and display relevant product ads. Merchant Centre feeds are structured from your ecommerce solution and contain specified fields that allow PLAs to be targeted. Google is changing this area consistently as they are keen to ensure the user experience is maximized. The product feed can now contain user defined variables as well as items covering brand names. Tips for PLA Adverts Group your adverts into structured product groups. Top-Sellers Group your best-performing products in one ad group. This way you can dedicate more attention to the products that need an aggressive strategy most. Bid high on this ad group. Some Brand You should do some research and see if customers are searching for particular brands that you carry. If you find that there are a few brands that convert better than others, give them their own ad group and implement a more aggressive bid strategy for these so they get more exposure. Product Types This is the same deal with the brand-level ad groups. If you find that as an apparel retailer, your shorts are converting much better than any other category, you ll want to segment these and bid higher so the group as a whole gets more exposure.

21 Seasonal Products Link into seasonal events, and so if you carry related items in your inventory, you ll of course want to give all of these relevant, seasonal products more exposure this time of year. All Products This is the catch-all ad group of all your products where the remainder of your products not categorized in more segmented ad groups will be accounted for. This Workbook was written for Optimising Business Broadband for Shropshire and Staffordshire by James Pennington of the National B2B Centre. You can find others on related subjects at For more information on this programme visit You can contact the programme for help on or