Top 10 AdWords Optimization Tips

Top 10 AdWords Optimization Tips: Delivered by Kevin O’Mahoney during the Breakfast Briefing at Google HQ in Dublin

Kevin O’Mahony is arguably the best of the best when it comes to Google Adwords. Hearing his suggestions during the breakfast briefing at Google headquarters in Dublin was inspiring. Here are the top ten Adwords optimization takeaways:

1. Understand CTR: CTR stands for Click Through Rate and is the most important metric in a Google Adwords campaign. A high CTR shows that you have a healthy campaign. High CTRs also have a huge impact on your Quality Score.

2. Answer Their Questions: Your Google Ad should answer the business questions your customers have when they do a search query. Your website should then elaborate on this answer for your customer. Make your ads and landing pages relevant by finding out what your customers are asking and then answering those questions.

3. Quality Scores Count: Many people assume that large companies and big spenders do better with Google’s algorithm. This is not the truth. Instead, the algorithm relies heavily on your Quality Score (QS). You can get a good QS by having relevant ads. When you have a good QS, you can compete against even the biggest companies and rank above them in search results.

4. Use Keywords Wisely: When you start an ad campaign, start with 5 to 15 keywords per ad group. If you have keywords that outperform others, give them their own campaign and budget. Doing so will boost your quality score and lower your cost per acquisition (CPA).

5. Use All the Ad Extensions: Make use of all 8 types of ad extensions. Doing so can increase the real estate of your ad copy up to 50% in search results, making your ads more visible to customers and more relevant. Remember, relevancy will help you increase your quality score. Using extensions will also help you win auctions.

The ad extensions include:

• Callout Extensions
• Call extensions
• Site Links
• Review Extensions
• Location Extensions
• App Extensions
• Structured Snippets
• Automated Extensions Report

6. Make Use of Remarketing Lists: If you use cookies for 180 days with an audience size of at least 1,000 people, you can start “remarketing” to your customers. The truth is that people who have already visited your site are more likely to convert to sales. This makes your remarketing list more valuable to your business. With Adwords, you can bid higher for customers that have visited your site before.

7. Create Dynamic Search Ads: Instead of just remarketing to your customers, target your marketing based on the specific pages they viewed on your site or the content they read. This allows your ads to be more relevant, thus increasing your quality score and lowering your cost per acquisition.

8. Automate Your CPC: Optimize your campaigns by using the power of the Google algorithm by enabling conversion optimization. The enhanced CPC will manage all of your CPC bids as the Google algorithm identifies which auctions are valuable to you. The enhanced CPC will increase your bid automatically, but only for campaigns that will be beneficial to you.

9. Automate Your CPA: Just as with your CPC, you can also automate your CPA. Simply state the most you are willing to pay for a conversion and Google will select auctions for bidding and increase bids as needed. Let Google do all the heavy lifting for you!

10. Use the Automated Rules: It is impossible to watch your campaigns all the time. Perhaps the holidays are approaching, or you have a vacation coming up. Set the rules to follow your plan of action and let things happen without you. For instance, you might make a rule that if your CTR increases by 5%, then you will want to all increase your keyword bids by 20%.

If you’d like to start running your own Google Adwords Campaign or need help optimizing one you already have, contact us today!

Google AdWords Optimisation