Pay Per Click: AdWords Optimization and Opportunities Handbook

Pay Per Click: AdWords Optimization and Opportunities Handbook

Table of Contents Executive Summary.......3 Google Display Network...4 Campaign Opportunities...14 Remarketing...14 Mobile...21 Video...27 Product...31 Advanced Settings...35 Ad Extension Types...37 Setting Up Ad Extentions...45 Additional Opportunities...46 Automated Rules...47 Engagement Campaigns...49 Opportunities Tab...50 Measuring Success...55 Conclusion...67 2

For many companies, handling their own AdWords advertising starts and ends with basic account setup and management. Optimizing and advanced settings typically sink to the bottom of the priority list. Most of the time, it s because optimization is thought to be challenging, time consuming, or unfamiliar, but not because it s unimportant. The value of optimization, however, goes beyond just the basic account management. Optimization is a key driver of performance, and, just like some of the basics, it has a significant impact on the overall performance of an account. Follow our comprehensive guide to missed opportunities within your pay per click account. These easy-to-implement, impactful techniques are common mistakes that smaller or inexperienced AdWords advertisers frequently overlook that can help transform underperforming AdWords accounts into fully blossoming ROI machines. TWEET THIS: Optimization is a key driver of performance. #clickops 3

Google Display Network The Google Display Network (GDN) typically gets a bad rep. We see many advertisers run their ads on Google Search Network but not on Google Display Network because they believe it is not as cost effective and it is just waste of money. Major Misconceptions of the GDN ROI on search is always better than Display Display has lower click through rates Display is for branding only, not direct response GDN is the world's #1 ad network, reaching more than 83% of global Internet users. The reason that people tend to waste money on the GDN is that they don t know how to use it. If you can imagine, the GDN reaches over 80% of the entire Internet with Google s vast network of partners, so it would be easy to blow through an advertising budget pretty quickly if you don t control it. Evolution of Display Targeting The GDN has evolved into a targeting dream. There are many options now available that were never available before. You can target placements, gender, age, interests, topics, remarketing, and keywords all in your ad groups. You can also adjust your bid based on placements or targeting options. Reasons why you should use the GDN Reach people at all different levels of the purchase cycle Vast reach of over 80% of the entire Internet and over 83% of Internet users Opportunity to build more creative appealing ads to create user engagement GDN has many targeting options available giving you maximum control People love a story: Tell the story of your business using the GDN 4

The GDN is great for a wide variety of goals including everything from branding to direct response campaigns. It all boils down to your campaign strategy and how you target. When you should implement the GDN When you are looking to sell more products/services online When you are looking to engage current customers When you have a special offer or promotion When you are looking to build customer loyalty When you are looking to build brand awareness When you are looking to expand your reach When search auctions are too competitive When you want to use visually engaging content When you want to target a specific interest group When you need to target your audience demographically When you have seasonal message When you have an event TWEET THIS: Separate your search and display network campaigns. #AskPG The first thing you must do when setting up your campaigns is separate your search and display networks. Most experienced advertisers know the importance of managing them separately, however new advertisers may not be aware and that s when you might see someone blow through their budget with little or no conversions. Separating out your campaigns is critical to being able to bid and target differently. We ll talk later how you can use both your search and display campaigns together in your strategy. 5

Before you build out your campaigns, define your goals and what you are trying to achieve. This will help you structure a plan to achieve this goal by selecting the right targeting options. Campaign Settings and Targeting Options There are several different targeting options available on the GDN to help you build a strategy that will assist your company s goals. You can use targeting options separately in each ad group, or you can use more than one for more precise targeting. Targeting options include: Placements Google gives you the option to select specific web sites that you think would be most appropriate for your message or strategy. You can show your message on specific pages, videos, RSS feeds, mobile sites and more. You even have the option to add negative placements that would prevent your ads from showing on sites you don t find relevant. Contextual Targeting Contextual targeting is when Google finds the best placements for your ad across the GDN based on your keywords in each ad group. This will help show your ads to the most relevant audience that is more likely to convert. Interest Categories Google gives you the option to select interest categories where your ads will show to people interested in products or services similar to yours based on their interests. Your ads will show to them whether or not they are browsing pages that are relevant to your services or not on the GDN. Topics Google also lets you select topics and will show your ads on pages that are directly related to the topic you choose. Remarketing Remarketing allows you to show to your website visitors while they are browsing the GDN after they have visited your website. We ll talk more specifically about remarketing in a further section. 6

Keep in mind when building your ad groups for Display targeting: Adding too many targeting options in any one ad group will limit your reach. How To Use Targeting Options You own an online boutique for women s clothing. You could use the following to reach customers: Create an ad group that includes summer dress-themed keywords and you may be matched to a blog about summer dresses. Find a site that talks about women s fashion trends and add it as a managed placement to show your ads on that site. Target your customer by including an interest category for women s apparel. Using the examples above, lets say we are trying to target specific area while at the same time we are targeting contextually, we can add in geographic targeting to the same ad group. Another example of combining targeting options for more precise targeting would be to include keywords with your managed placements so your ads would only show on the pages within your managed site that are relevant for your keywords. In our final example you can include age groups with your interest target if you want to show to 18-34 year olds for women s apparel. You have many difficult combinations to target your audience when combining targeting options. Keep your campaign goals in mind when selecting your options. 7

Use Frequency Capping to control the number of times an ad will show to the same person on the GDN. You set it per day, per week, or per month and you have the option to select whether that applies to each ad, ad group, or campaign. Why would you want to use it? Because it helps you control how many times any one person can see your ad This is especially helpful with a limited budget campaign. You wouldn t want to spend your whole budget showing your ads to the same people. You can adjust the frequency capping in the settings at the campaign level. 8

There is wide variety of different ad types you can use in your Display campaigns including: Text ads used to run on the search and display network Image ads static or animated; great for grabbing attention Video ads used mostly with YouTube Mobile ads used on mobile optimized campaigns; have different specs than traditional ads App ads used to promote your App Keep your ads fresh and updated regularly. While updating ads, it s a good time to review your ad testing you have in place. Google Offers a Free Ad Creator If you don t have an in-house designer or the capability to create ads, Google offers a free tool to help. You can create several different creative ad types using Google s ad creator. Simply select the Ad drop down menu and then choose Ad Gallery. 9

Once you are in the Ad Gallery, you have a few different ad types to choose from including dynamic ads, video ads, and general-purpose ads. Use Google Search and Display Networks together There are many benefits to running Search and GDN campaigns simultaneously. In this section, we ll show you some of the stats that clearly indicate the benefits. Average lift of search activity when display is added is 155% The relationship of Search and Display After being exposed to a display ad, consumers were more likely to: 136% search brand keywords 86% click on a sponsored text ad 140% click on an organic link 10

Negative Keywords and Site Exclusions Don t forget to use the exclusion options in the Display campaigns. This will help you control where your ad will show. The Campaign Exclusions, found under the Display Network tab at the campaign level including options for display keywords, topics, interests, gender, age and site category options. Campaign Exclusions include: Site category options include: sensitive content, type of placements, video content, experimental and ad location, to control where you don t want to show your ads. Create a placement report to find placements that are not relevant or not profitable to add as a negative. 11

Display Bid Options The GDN offers 2 bidding options, CPM (cost per impression) and CPC (cost per click). Each option would depend on your campaign goals. If your main goals is to drive people to your website or sales, CPC could be a better option for you. If your main goal is branding and you want more reach, CPM would be a better option. If you are using CPM bidding, you should enable viewable CPM which is now available in the bid strategy settings. Viewable CPM is an advanced feature that calculates an impression when 50% of your ad has been seen for a second or longer. It is recommended to increase your bid for the viewable CPM over standard CPM, however you should experiment to see what works for you. 12

Implementing a bidding strategy will help you get the most out of your campaigns. You could implement bidding in both the ad group and targeting level. You can adjust your bids for things like certain locations, certain times during the day, devices and, through targeting, you can even adjust for audience demographics. For example, lets say that you own an urban women s clothing boutique and your target audience is women ages 35-44. You know that your target is online looking to shop Friday from 6 pm 9 pm, Saturday and Sunday 10 am 2 pm, within a 15-mile radius around your store. You can increase your bidding to match these targeting options during this time to reach your audience more effectively. Here is where you can find the locations and ad schedule options in the campaign level. Experiment with your bidding strategy based on your campaign goals and see what works best for you. 13

Don t stop there. Campaign Opportunities In previous sections we talked about the opportunity to include the Display Network to your search campaigns. Now we ll dive a little further in with some more options and opportunities for both the search and display networks. Remarketing campaign: Remarketing is also known as retargeting. Remarketing is a feature from Google that lets you reconnect with visitors of your site who have some interest in your brand and target them with ads on the GDN. For example, if a visitor leaves your site without completing a specific action you want them to take, then remarketing can help you connect with those potential customers again. The fascinating thing is that you can show them a tailored message or offer that will encourage them to come back based on the content of your website they visited. Remarketing can boost conversion rates 300-400% compared to standard ads Google 2012 TWEET THIS: Implementing a bidding strategy will help you get the most of your campaigns. #AskPG 14

Why You Need Remarketing Its simple: Use remarketing to match the right message to the right people at the right time, when they are ready to buy. Assists with lead nurturing to pull people through the purchase cycle Reach your customers when you know they have interest in your product or service Helps you to tell your story, engage and show your brand s personality Create custom lists and custom strategies to reach different people for example, someone who has converted with a follow-up offer or up-sell. You can adjust which sites your ads show on to have more control over where your ads are showing. You can customize lists so you show to people at different time intervals: every 30 days, every day for a week, after a period of time. The system allows the customization to set up your remarketing strategy. Re-engage lost customers Here s how it works: Remarketing + People visit your website. Visitors are added to your remarketing lists. Show them your ads while they browse the web. Dynamic remarketing + Connect your Google Mechant Center account. Show them tailored ads, based on products they ve viewed on your site. 15

Setting Up Your Remarketing Before you can begin to create a campaign and start showing your ads to your audience, you will need to place a remarketing tag on each page of your website. This code will track the visitors of your website and place them into lists that you create based on certain criteria. Instructions for adding the remarketing tag to your website: 1. Get your remarketing tag code from Google 1. If you didn't get the tag code via email when you set your remarketing campaign, you can still find it in your AdWords account. Just follow these steps: Sign in to AdWords at https://adwords.google.com. Go to your shared library In the audiences section, go to the Remarketing tag box at the top. -Click the View tag details button and then click Setup. -Click View remarketing tag and instructions to get the remarketing code you'll need to add to your site. 2. Add your remarketing tag code to your entire website 2. Copy the remarketing tag code and paste it at the bottom of all pages, before the closing "</body>" tag. TWEET THIS: Use remarketing to match the right message to the right people at the right time. #clickops The default membership duration for visitors to remain in your remarketing list is 30 days. Google allows you to edit this. Set your main remarketing tag for 365 days so you can keep people in your list to remarket to them later in the year. 16

Once the tag is published in your website, the next step is to create remarketing lists in AdWords. Remarketing lists are what allow you to customize who you re remarketing to. Remarketing lists contain a collection of cookies from people who have been on your website pages. You can be creative with creating your lists, so that you can show your ads in the future to those groups of people. The most common strategies for setting up your remarketing campaigns and lists include: Visitors who have not yet converted Visitors who have converted Visitors of any page of your website Visitors of a specific category or page in your website Reconnecting with visitors who have abandoned the shopping cart Up-selling or cross-selling to existing customers Learn how to create a remarketing list by visiting the Google AdWords Help Center for Remarketing. To learn more about advanced remarketing strategies, contact us today. Remarketing campaigns work great with both image and text ads. Be sure that your ads are relevant to your audience and your ads are targeted to the list you are following. 17

Setting Up Your Campaign Now that you have your tracking tag pasted in your site and you ve built out your lists; you are now ready to create your remarketing campaign and ads. STEP 1 Setting up your campaign Remarketing campaigns are displayed to visitors on the Google Display Network. So setting up your campaign is as easy as creating any other campaign in your AdWords account. Be sure to choose the Display Network option, then choose Remarketing option. As with any other campaigns, you can choose your budget, bidding, location options, delivery method, etc. Then you are ready to add your lists and your ads. STEP 2 Adding your remarketing list to your campaign Select the campaign you would like to add the remarketing tag to. Navigate to your Audiences tab and click the green +Remarketing button. Choose your Ad Group from the drop down. Choose Your Remarketing List for this ad group under the Targeting drop down menu. Then Save. 18

Keep in mind that each of your lists must collect 100 people before Google will start showing your ads. Now you can sit back and watch the remarketing cookies collect and soon your ad will be remarketing to your visitors. STEP 3 Include your ad copy and image ads to your ad group Once your remarketing list is in your ad group, you can include your ads that are relevant for that audience. Separate out each different audience within its own ad group, so that you can remain relevant with your ad copy and landing page. For example, on your website you sell dresses and each different item has its own page in your site. A visitor shopping the site lands on the page with yellow dresses. You would want to setup a remarketing list and ad group for those visitors who are interested in yellow dresses, so you can follow-up with them through remarketing with ads that include yellow dresses. Lets say that another visitor came and visited several categories of dresses. They would be added into a custom Remarketing list that will show them an ad with several dress styles. To implement the strategy above you will need to create a custom combination list. Keep in mind, you can also cross-sell items. Bid higher for remarketing ads because we know remarketing visitors have already been to your website and already know your product. Experiment with different bids to see what works best for you. 19

REMARKETING pages in website added into remarketing lists SPECIAL OFFER shown on ad specifically for that page SPECIAL OFFER SPECIAL OFFER Take an extra Take an extra Take an extra 50% 50% OFF your order SHOP NOW OFF your order SHOP NOW 50% OFF your order SHOP NOW SPECIAL OFFER Take an extra 50% OFF your order SHOP NOW CUSTOM REMARKETING custom remarketing list SHOP NOW shown on ad with different dresses pages in website 20

Mobile campaign: Many people believe that advertising on a mobile device is not worth the effort. We consistently hear people say that no one buys from a mobile device, so why should I waste my time on advertising through mobile. Well, I will tell you. The mobile landscape is changing. Desktop computers were once the primary way of accessing the Internet but mobile devices are quickly closing the gap. Projected M-Commerce Sales by 2015 are $119B Worldwide and $23.8B in the U.S. More importantly, 67% of people start shopping on one device and then continue on another. So now, more than ever, it s important that when they are doing their research or shopping online, your ads show to them, no matter what stage of the purchase cycle they are in or what device they are using. multi-screening 64% of smartphone owners in 2013 used a mobile web browser to research product features 59% used a mobile web browser to find a store location 53% to find coupons and deals 21

How To Optimize Your Campaigns for Mobile Setting up Mobile Ads There are 2 types of mobile ads: High-End mobile ads and WAP mobile ads. High-end mobile ads show on mobile devices such as smartphones with full browsers and can display similar to websites like you d see on a desktop. WAP mobile ads are used for smaller mobile devices where people browse mobile websites that are designed for smaller mobile devices. Both types of mobile ads are available in text or image ads. WAP High-End Mobile Ads High-end mobile ads are very similar to ads on a desktop and follow many of the same guidelines, however WAP ads are a little different. We ll walk you through each ad type below. How to Create Mobile Ads Search Network There are 2 options for creating text ads for mobile on the search network. 1. Standard text ads for High-end mobile devices with full browser. You can find this option under the campaign or ad group level ads tab. Select the +Ad group button, then text ad. Be sure to choose the mobile device preference option. Note: In your ad text be sure to include any special offers for mobile users. 22

2. WAP Mobile Text Ads Navigate to the +Ad green button, then select WAP mobile ad from the dropdown menu. Be sure the WAO text ad radial button is selected. Keep in mind that WAP mobile ads only allow for 18 characters for the headline and one description line of up to 18 characters. With the limit of space, you want to be sure you get to the point quickly when creating your ad copy. Display Network The display network allows you to use both text and image ads. Since we've already covered text ads, lets review image ads. 1. High-end mobile devices use regular image ads. When you select image ad, you have the option to create an ad or upload an ad. Keep in mind that mobile ad sizes vary from desktop, so be sure to check out the supported ad specs. 2. WAP Image Ads When you create a WAP image ad you would choose the +Ad green button under your ads tab, then select the WAP image ad option. Be sure to select the WAP image ad radial button option and upload your image for your ad. The sizes for the WAP image ads are different than any other image ad sizes. WAP ads are the only option for smaller mobile devices, so be sure if you want to target smaller mobile devices (non high-end), you need WAP ads. 23

96% of users 48% have encountered a website not optimized for mobile felt frustrated or annoyed by it Get Ahead of the Game with a Mobile Site Now more than ever, it s critical to invest in a mobile-friendly website that is mobile-responsive. People are using mobile for shopping, finding deals, and researching online. Hints to know your website is not mobile friendly: 1. You can t click on buttons or links using your thumb because they are too small 2. You have to resize the page to read it. 3. The images are not clear or too small. 4. The navigation is not easy to use. Find out more about Google s recommendations for creating smartphone-optimized websites in the Building Smartphone-Optimized Websites page in Google. TWEET THIS: One hint to know your website is not mobile friendly: buttons that are too small. #clickops 24

Adjust Your Mobile Bidding Once you have your mobile ads ready, its time to adjust your settings. Although campaigns by default target all devices, there are a few steps you can take to more strongly target your mobile campaign. Bid adjustments are used in any campaign, but can be even more helpful when you re bidding on devices to target your campaign to mobile. You can adjust your bids for devices, ad schedules for certain times of the day, or for locations. This is especially helpful when you want to bid more competitively or control how your ad shows during that time or on that device. Devices you can bid more or less for searches happening on mobile devices. Example: You have one ad group for yellow dresses that performs well on mobile devices. You can increase your bid for mobile in that ad group by 20 or 30%. So if your bid was originally $1, it would now be $1.20 or $1.30, increasing your chance of reaching more traffic on mobile. Location you can adjust your bids in specific cities or geographic areas around your location, depending on how far your customers might travel to your business. 25

Scheduling you can adjust your mobile bids for specific times of the day, week or even certain hours of the day. This option is great, for example, if you are a local pizza restaurant and you have a special offer for dinner buy 2 for $10 you can adjust your bidding during 6-9pm and add a click to call so they can call directly from the ad to get the offer. We ll talk a little more about the phone call extension in a later section. Keep your call to action simple and focused on activities people may do more often on a mobile device such as: direct calls to your business, or click a link. 26

Video Advertising: Grow Your Business with Video Advertising With the emotional power of video, YouTube s massive audience, and AdWords incredible targeting tools, you have the ability to reach new customers in your hometown and around the world. There s no better way to share your story, efficiently engage a growing audience, and build your business online. Why You Should Consider Video Video advertising is eye-catching, interactive and creative Online video viewership has hit an all time record high Reach your target audience right where they are Video reaches a massive scale Get more sales with extremely engaging ads Drive more traffic to your website with different ad types Engage your audience by showcasing your product or brand story 80% 52% WATCHED A VIDEO AD ONLINE TOOK ACTION AFTER VIEWING THE AD OF WEB USERS OF WEB USERS 15% OF WEB USERS VISITED THE STORE 12% OF WEB USERS MADE A PURCHASE Link your YouTube channel to your AdWords. You can do this through your Shared Library link on the left side menu under All Video Campaigns. 27

How does AdWords for video work? Just create your ad, set your budget, and choose options that speak to your target audience. AdWords takes care of the rest, automatically positioning your video in front of the people who are reading, searching for, or watching online content related to your business. Setting up your Video Ad Campaign Navigate to the All Video Campaigns link on the bottom left menu in AdWords. Similar to other campaign setup, you have the option to select your budget, delivery method, location and languages, as well as an optional setting to select a video from YouTube for your ad. 28

Video advertising is similar to other Display network settings: You can target based on demographics, interest, placements, topics, remarketing, search keywords and content keywords. Video advertising lets you connect with your customers on either YouTube or the vast Google Display Network. Test a variety of video ad formats to see which works best with your audience. 29

Video Ad Formats There are a few different video ad formats that you can choose from for your advertising needs. In-Stream Ads play a video before, during or after another video from a YouTube partner. Viewers see a 5 second promo and then have the option to watch or skip it. You only pay if someone watches at least 30 seconds. In-Search Ads appear in video search results on YouTube. You only pay when someone watches your video. Create an engaging ad. Don t make your video look like an ad in the beginning and turn people away. Make it a creative, fun experience and you will get more interactions. In-Display Ads appear along side other YouTube videos or on websites that match your target audience. You pay only when someone watches your video. To learn how to setup your Video Ad Campaign, visit the Google AdWords Help Center for Creating Video Ad Campaigns. 30

Product Campaign: If you re a business that offers products for sale, if you don t have Product Listing Ads (PLA), you re missing some prime real estate on Google and because they are more visually appealing, PLAs are stealing conversions from organic and other non-pla search results. PLAs are a unique ad format that allows you to include product information such as an image, promotion, price, product details, and your store or business name. Product Listing Ads appear in their own box on Google Search, separate from text ads, and on Google Shopping. The great thing about product listing ads is that it s very visual, so searchers can see your product image and price in the results. Google PLAs are taking over the market place, at 79% ahead in revenue over Nextag, Amazon, Shopping.com, Pricegrabber, and Shopzilla. Product listing ads show along side text ads Why You Need Product Listings 1. Better quality leads when people can see the actual product image and they click to move into the next step, you know that they have a higher interest and are more likely to convert. 2. Better click-through rates on product listings versus text ads. 3. Better reach because your product listings show along side text ads, so for each search you are shown in both places. 4. Product listings are easy to manage through a data feed and some times can be automated. 31

How to Set up Product Listings In order to set up product listings, you will need an AdWords account and a Google Merchant Center account. Visit the Google Merchant Center to create an account. Once your account is created, you will need to link your merchant center account to your AdWords account, setup your campaign in AdWords and manage your product feed in the merchant center. Linking your Merchant Center to your AdWords: 1. In your Merchant Center account, click Settings and then click AdWords. 2. Enter your AdWords customer ID. You can find your customer ID at the top of any AdWords page when you're signed in, near your email address. 3. Click Add. Next you ll need to setup your first Data Feed. Your data feed is your listing of products including the attributes that Google requires in order to show your products in the search results. 32

You can access your data feeds by clicking on the link in the left side of your merchant center dashboard, called Data Feeds. First select New Data Feed to start. Then you will want to consult the feed specification link in order to get the information you need to create an approved data feed. Check Google Merchant Center often to be sure your data feed is running error free. 33

Google will ask you to provide some Basic Product Information in the data feed such as: Unique ID for each item Title of the item Description of the item Google Product Category choose the most appropriate category for your product Product type Image link Link to the item on your website Availability Price Brand of the product You can use Google spreadsheets to provide your product data that will be directly incorporated into your Google Merchant Center account. You can either update the existing template that they provide or submit a Google spreadsheet that you create to upload your feed information. To learn more about product feed specifications you can find everything you need to setup in the Google Merchant Help Center. 34

Optimizing product feeds: You can optimize your product feeds by including details in your title and description fields of each product. Product feeds do not allow for keywords, so your title and description will determine your products eligibility to show in searches. Create multiple entries for each product and include your keywords in describing your product to allow it to show for different search terms. The great thing about Product Campaigns is that there is no cost to setup or maintain; you simply pay per click, similar to how you do for a text ad. Build multiple ad groups for your PLA campaigns using a different ad and offer in each to test which offer generates the best results. Call us for more details on strategies and tips for your PLA campaign 617.674.2100 35

Advanced Settings Google AdWords provides some cool little settings called ad extensions. Basically how they work is they are additional information that you include in your campaigns and ad groups that will show with your ad above search results and sometimes in the Google Display Network. It s a shame that only a few advertisers actually utilize ad extensions to their full potential. Ad extensions can assist with making your ads more relevant to your potential customers because you can provide additional information such as an address, a phone number, additional links to pages on your website, ratings and reviews from raving fans and more. Ad extensions add a little something extra to build validation and that prime real estate at the top of the search results is all yours! Ad extensions can assist with increasing your CTR and boosting conversion rates. Google Reports Ad Extensions Can Increase Conversion Rates by 30%! +1 TWEET THIS: Ad extensions can assist with increasing your CTR and boosting conversion rates. #clickops 36

There are several types of ad extensions to choose from, including: Sitelink extension: The sitelink extension allows you to include additional links to pages on your website, below your ad. Customers are able to find different options to choose from and navigate to that web page with just a click. Make sure your sitelinks are relevant for your campaigns. Did you know that you have flexibility to create different sitelinks to different pages with different titles for each? You can also designate sitelinks at the campaign or ad group level. So you have the option to get very specific with your sitelink extensions in each of your campaigns. Test your sitelink text and change it often to see what creates a better response. 37

Add a description to your sitelink to include an offer or more information to entice people to click. Use the description field to promote an offer. You can set up your new sitelink with a description under the Ad Extensions tab. Select Sitelink Extensions and then add an extension. Note that you need to add 2 lines of description text to be valid. Test different sitelinks during different times of the day using the scheduling option. For example, if you are a restaurant you could run sitelinks about your breakfast menu in the morning, lunch menu mid-day, and dinner menu in the evening. 38

Social extension: The Google+ social extension allows you to link your G+ page to your AdWords campaigns so customers can see all your +1 s. Search ads with annotations have a 5-10% lift in click through rates You can set up your social extension under the Ad Extension tab in your AdWords account. Here is what it looks like: Pink Dress Sale - Pink Dress Sale up to 50% Off www.pickofdresses.com/ 1 (800) 853 2222 Huge Selection of Pink Dresses - Shop Now! Pick of Dresses has 1,000 followers on Google+ Free Shipping on Pink Dresses Free Gift Wrapping Available February Sale Social extensions are completely free to use. You will not be charged a click if a user chooses to visit your G+ page. Use your social extension to build trust and social validation. 39

Call extension: The call extension allows users to click and call your business directly from the ad. Call extensions, also known as click-to-call when on mobile devices, allow you to add a phone number to your ad so customers can quickly call you directly. One of the great benefits of call extensions is that Google provides you with detailed reporting on the calls you receive from your ads, right in AdWords. Call Scheduling. This feature from Google allows you to schedule when your phone number shows, so you can control it to show only when its convenient for you such as during business hours. 40

Google allows you to assign a phone number to the ad group level of your campaign. So you can have those users call a specific department or relevant location. Use Google Call Forwarding to be able to measure and track call data. When adding your phone call extension to your add group or campaign, be sure to set up Report phone call conversions. You can specify a time frame of a call duration that will be counted as a conversion, such as 30 or 45 seconds. 41

Location extension: Location extension lists your address so that nearby users can find you easily. Location extensions are especially helpful if you have a brick-and-mortar location. Location extensions make it easy for people to find and visit your store location by sharing your business address and phone number. Using Location Extensions Can Increase CTR by 10% According to Google Desktop: Location extensions merge your business address and phone number with your ad text. Mobile: Location extensions allow you to include a link to get directions to your business, and may also show how far your customer is from your business location. Got lots of locations? You can easily use AdWords Editor or AdWords API to save yourself the hassle of entering them all manually. Location extensions are great if you have 1, 50 or 10,000 or more stores. 42

Seller ratings: Seller rating is a powerful tool to build trust with potential customers and there is no cost to include them with your ads. You can showcase your best ratings and reviews right below your ads. The reviews are a great way to show your potential customers your many 5-star ratings. Google won t show your rating if it s less than 3.5 stars. So no need to worry, only your best reviews will show. You must meet certain criteria in order for your ratings to show in Google. Seller ratings are pulled from a number of sources including Google Shopping, Google Trusted Stores as well as a number of independent review websites. To see the full list trusted review sites and find out if you are eligible, visit the Seller Ratings page on AdWords help. 43

App Extension App extension lets you showcase your mobile app through an ad extension. Increase awareness or drive app downloads. To learn more about linking your app to your text ad, you can visit the Linking Your App page in AdWords help. Review extension Review extensions are a great way to highlight your customer reviews right in your ad. We know how important having testimonials and awards can be and what better way to build trust and click through rates. The review extension includes awards, third-party rankings, and a positive quote from a review. Here s how it will look in your ad: To learn more about the review extension, visit the Highlight third party review page in AdWords help. When using the review extension, don t use the same review in your ads to avoid duplicate reviews. 44

Setting Up Your Ad Extensions Getting your ad extensions set up is quick and easy. Simply login to your account, navigate to your campaign tab, click the ad extensions tab and you ll be able to choose from the drop-down menu which type of ad extension you would like to setup. Each ad extension is different, so you will want to walk through the setup for the ad extension you would like to include in each of your campaigns. Keep in mind, that campaigns can have multiple ad extension types at the same time. Keep your ad extensions fresh and relevant by making sure your update them regularly. 45

Don t Miss Out On Ad Extension Opportunities The great thing about ad extensions is that it offers so many more opportunities for your customers to interact with your ad and makes it more relevant; plus, with most of the ad extensions, you don t pay for more than the cost of a click. Ad extensions are also available at the campaign and ad group level. 46

Additional Opportunities Automated Rules: Automated rules are another complimentary feature Google provides to assist advertisers with their campaigns. They can be used to save time while making necessary adjustments to your account. Let s say you have a promotion that only runs for 24 hours and ends on New Years Eve. Chances are, you don t want to be sitting at your computer when the ball drops to make changes to your campaign to pause the promotion. Setting up automated rules allows you to make adjustments in your campaigns when you re not there. When you would use automated rules Pause under performing items Adjust keyword bids to maintain your ads position Set up emails to alert yourself of budgets close to depletion Schedule promotions or sales launches or stops Increasing or decreasing budgets Automated rules can be set to run at specific frequencies, such as one time a day, daily, weekly or monthly. You can even set a specific time of day and date range. Automated rules can be used in many different ways and with many different combinations, so use your creativity and think outside the box when setting up your rules to be really effective. Keep in mind that you can create automated rules at many different levels such as, keyword, ad group, or campaign level. TWEET THIS: Setting up automated rules allows you to make adjustments in your campaigns when you re not there. #AskPG Automated rules are a great way to help you be more efficient in your management; however, a word of caution: You must manage your rules. 47

Automated Rules Example In the example below, we ve setup a rule in the campaign that pauses the campaign if we go over our designated cost per acquisition (CPA goal). When naming your rules be very specific so you can more easily identify and manage them in the future. Visit the Google AdWords Support Center for a Step by Step Guide To Creating Rules Be sure when scheduling automated rules that you set the time while keeping in mind that the time zone the account was set up in might not be your current time zone. 48

Engagement campaign: Engagement Ads allow you to captivate and connect with your audience through more interactive rich media ad formats. AdWords offers a wide range of Engagement formats that help you connect with your customers and you only pay when someone engages with your ad. Why you should use engagement ads. 1. Reach the right customers: You can target your ads using the different targeting methods on the Display Network. 2. You pay only when users interact with your ads for example, when users activate your message by hovering over your ad. 3. Choose your ad format: a. Lightbox transforms a standard display ad into a large format when someone interacts with the ad b. Hover to Play transforms into a full display of sight, sound and motion of video into a standard rectangle after a few seconds of the user hovering over to start the play. Who should use engagement campaigns Engagement campaigns can benefit advertisers focused on brand goals who are looking to captivate audiences and who would prefer to pay only when customers actively engage with their ads. Rich media engagement ad campaigns boost brand visibility. Using this campaign type, advertisers who already have online resources like videos or catalogs can create interactive ads in just minutes. To learn how to setup your Engagement Campaign visit the Google AdWords Help Center for Engagement Ads Campaign. Use the engagement ad builder. It has a user-friendly interface and gives you exactly which elements you need to create your ad. 49

Opportunities tab: Google has created an entire tab in the main menu dedicated to campaign improvement and opportunities. The tool looks at your settings, search trends, performance history and makes recommendations that could improve your account. You will find recommendations for: Bidding Budgeting Keyword opportunities and match types Account structure or setup Extensions Here is what the opportunities tab looks like in the new interface. Keep checking the opportunities tab regularly. As a note of caution, choose the opportunities you want to apply carefully as some of them may not make sense for your campaign strategy. 50

Ad Copy Testing Ad copy testing is one of the building blocks of a successful PPC campaign. It s critical to seizing every advantage in PPC, but sadly many companies don t implement it. Ad copy testing is as easy as creating 2 or 3 ads in each ad group in order to test to determine the better performing ad. Ad testing can be done in any campaign, or any ad group. Ad Copy Testing Can Boost Performance You can experiment with testing different headlines, offers or promotions, and calls to action to learn which appeals more to your target audience. Creating the Best Ads Highlight what makes your business, product, or offer unique Include prices, promotions, and exclusives Tell your customers what they can do with a call to action Include at least one of your keywords in your ad text Match your ad to your landing page Capitalizing the first letter of each word in the title of your ad helps make the words stand out. TWEET THIS: Ad copy testing is one of the building blocks of a successful PPC campaign. #AskPG 51

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Determine Ad Performance Run your ad settings to rotate evenly. By rotating evenly, each ad in the ad group will show at the same rate, and you will be able to determine which ads outperform others. Ad Testing After a period of time your ads have accrued enough data to make a judgment with either clicks, impressions, or conversions depending on your goals. You can run an Ad Performance report to determine the better performing ads. Then you start the process all over again by removing the underperforming ads, leaving the best ad and writing new ads to test against it. Calls to action can make all the difference. When creating calls to action, keep your landing page and what action you want your visitors to take in mind. You want the call to action to fit with your keyword strategy, landing page and ad copy. 53

Testing with Experiments Google offers a great tool with Experiment. Experiment allows you to test different elements of your campaigns to be able to optimize and make adjustments. You can find the Experiment option in your settings tab for each campaign. You can use the experiment tool to run experiments to determine the best bids to help you achieve your goals. We use the experiment tool to run tests on ad positions using different keyword bids. By testing different bids, our ads show in different positions and we can determine the most profitable. 54

Experimenting with Landing Pages To determine better performing landing pages, use the Experiment in Analytics under the Behavior tab. Experiment allows you to determine which landing page design is more effective in increasing a conversion. You can find the Experiment tool in your Google analytics account. We ll talk through a few more opportunities in analytics next. Measuring Success Google provides a powerful tool for anyone who has a website. Whether large or small, Google Analytics is one tool you should have implemented. Not only is it one of the most powerful analytics platforms, but it s completely free to use and easy to implement. The second most powerful tool that Google provides through AdWords is conversion tracking. We find that many advertisers are not measuring or tracking their results in PPC. 55

Without understanding who s visiting your website, what keywords are creating conversion, what activities visitors are doing, how can you make informed decisions in your marketing and advertising efforts? The answer is, you can t. First and foremost, if you don t have analytics set up for your website, the first step is to get it set up. Analytics Implementation STEP 1 Sign up for an account on the Google Analytics website STEP 2 Setup your tracking code for more information you can find the instructions in the Google Analytics support site. Next you will want to be sure that you link your AdWords to your Google Analytics accounts, so you will be able to flow data such as, goals and transactions, site engagement data, remarketing lists, and click/cost data. To learn more about how to link your AdWords and analytics accounts, visit the Link Google Analytics and AdWords page of the Google support site. You can link more than 1 AdWords account to 1 Analytic profile or account. 56

Enable auto-tagging through AdWords to allow Google to automatically tag your destination URLs. You can do this through your My Account tab, under Preferences in AdWords. Setting up this feature will allow you to see more detailed data about your AdWords campaign when reviewing your analytics data. 57

Tagging Google automatically tags your URLs when your setup your auto-tagging through AdWords, but if you re also using other platforms such as Bing, Yahoo, Facebook you can easily tag and track that traffic through analytics by tagging those URLs. You can tag your URLs using the Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder. You simply fill in the form with your campaign information and voila! You have a fully customized URL with tracking parameters so you can track those visitors through analytics. 58

Tracking conversions Conversion tracking is another area that we see many advertisers don t take advantage of, and it s one of the most critical pieces in managing your AdWords account when your goal is to generate leads or sales. In order to understand which keywords, ad copy, and campaign strategies are creating results you must have conversion tracking in place. A conversion is an action that you define as valuable to your advertising efforts, such as a lead, sale or sign-up on your website. URL tagging goes beyond just advertising platforms. You can use it in your social media efforts. Say, for example, you have a link back to your website blog from a post, tag the URL with the URL Builder and you ll be able to identify that traffic through your analytics. Be sure to be as descriptive as possible to be able to identify each link. 59

Conversion tracking setup Conversion tracking can be set up by accessing your Tools and Analysis tab in AdWords. Next you ll need to add a snippet of code to the webpage after a conversion occurs. This could be placed, for example, on a thank you page, after someone fills out a form. Use the Search Funnel under the Tools and Analysis tab to see more detailed data to understand what assisted in generating the conversion. The Search Funnel allows you to see the path a visitor takes to lead up to a conversion. 60

Detailed Google Reports Take advantage of the detailed reports Google provides to be able to determine performance for items such as: Keywords Campaigns Ad groups Ads Location Time Running these reports will assist you with making informed, educated decisions in your advertising account. Ecommerce Tracking for Analytics Ecommerce websites should enable ecommerce tracking. Ecommerce tracking allows you to see more detailed information about sales made through your online store. Setting up ecommerce tracking requires some technical knowledge and is usually done by developer with coding experience. To find out more information about ecommerce tracking visit the Set Up Ecommerce Tracking page in Google Analytics support. 61

Setting Up Goals Goals are similiar to conversions. They measure when a visitor completes a specific activity on your site. You set up your goals in analytics. Goals can be set up in the admin section of your analytics. When creating goals include a dollar value for each goal. Goal Types: There are 4 basic goal types destination, duration, pages or screens per visit and event. Example goal: Destination would be great to set up if you have a download form on your website, where the visitor completed the download and was taken to a thank you page. You could set up this thank you page as a destination goal. 62

Search Terms Keeping an eye on Search Terms for optimization. What are search terms? Search terms are the actual keyword that visitors type to trigger your ads. There are 2 reports that are critical to your optimization of your PPC account and they are the Matched Search Queries from Analytics and the Keyword Search Terms in AdWords. Both of these reports give you great insights into the exact keyword terms visitors use to find your ads and convert on. First we ll explore the Search Term report in AdWords. You can access the report by selecting the keywords tab in AdWords. Then select the Details drop down menu, followed by the All search terms. TWEET THIS: Keep an eye on Search Terms for optimization. #clickops 63