Pay Per Click Optimization Chapter 3

The advice in this chapter will help you rewrite your ad copy to boost click-through rates (CTRs), optimize landing pages to improve conversion rates, and organize ad groups to increase the overall effectiveness of your PPC advertising. These methods will generate more leads and sales, garner valuable market intelligence, and build brand awareness.

This chapter begins with a quick overview of terms and the basics, but it assumes a general understanding of PPC advertising. Then it reviews the differences among the advertising programs offered by the top three search engines. The rest of the chapter explores the details of PPC optimization with a strong focus on Google AdWords.

We recommend the following tips for effective PPC advertising:

• Choose appropriate, profit-driven goals
• Target campaigns and keywords to the right audience
• Set up ad groups with closely related, tightly themed keywords
• Write ads that feature your keywords and the interests of potential visitors
• Create goal-driven landing pages with clear calls to action that target your keywords directly and focus on the interests of potential visitors
• Set bids to meet realistic, profit-driven goals

That's PPC in a nutshell. An outline of the chapter follows:

• Pay-per-Click Optimization
• Pay-per-Click Basics and Definitions
• Figure 3-1. The cycle of PPC optimization
• The Pay-per-Click Work Cycle
• Figure 3-2. The pattern of effort over time for PPC management
• Common Problems with Pay-per-Click Optimization
• Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Everybody Else
• Differences in Bulk Editing: Uploading Spreadsheets Versus the AdWords Editor
• Differences in Geo-Targeting
• Differences in Minimum Bids and Quality Scoring
• Summary of the Differences Among AdWords, adCenter, and YSM
• Goal Setting, Measurement, Analytics Support, and Closing the Loop
• Calculating Return on Investment
• Goals and Values
• Tracking and Metrics
• Closing the Loop
• Targeting and qualifying visitors
• Qualifying visitors who are late in the sales cycle
• Relevant landing pages
• Closing the loop offline
• Using Metrics to Set a Budget
• Return on Investment and Profit
• Pay-per-Click Return on Investment and Goals Summary
• Keyword Discovery, Selection, and Analysis
• Keyword Research
• Step 1: Look through your site and identify major themes
• Step 2: Research the competition for your root terms
• Step 3: Use a keyword research tool to generate variations from your list of root terms.
• Step 4: Choose the right keyword set
• The Right Keywords and the Myth of the Long Tail
• Target part and model numbers
• Broad matches versus direct bidding
• Figure 3-3. AdWords Editor's Find Duplicate Keywords tool
• Figure 3-4. Selecting and deleting duplicate keywords
• Organizing and Optimizing Ad Groups
• Guidelines for Grouping
• Example Themed Ad Groups
• Figure 3-5. AdWords Editor's Keyword Grouper
• Optimizing Ad Groups After Launch
• Optimizing Pay-per-Click Ads
• Measuring Ad Performance
• Optimizing Ad Copy
• Creating ad copy variation
• Testing ads the easy way: AdWords optimized ad serving
• Testing ads the hard way: Confidence interval testing
• Dynamic Keyword Insertion in Ads
• Pay-per-Click Ad Optimization Summary
• Optimizing Landing Pages
• Landing Pages for AdWords
• Figure 3-6. The Quality Score column in AdWords
• Landing Pages for Visitors
• Figure 3-7. A sample PPC landing page
• Complete conversions with clear calls to action
• Use persuasive copy
• Support the ad claims that triggered the visitor's click
• Include multiple conversion points for different stages of the buying cycle
• Display large images of products or services
• Forgo navigation menus
• Testing Landing Pages
• Optimizing Bids
• Penalties for New Accounts
• Initial Bid Strategies
• Bid Gaps
• Figure 3-8. Bid gaps in an old-style Overture auction
• Adjusting Bids
• Automated Bidding
• The Big Picture
• Branding
• Bid Optimization in Action: The E-Grooming Book Example
• Other Pay-per-Click Issues
• The Content Network
• Figure 3-9. The AdWords Site Exclusion tool
• Figure 3-10. Link to edit negative keywords in AdWords
• Click Fraud
• Trademark Issues
• How do I stop advertisers from bidding on my trademark?
• Can I bid on competitor trademarks?
• Should I bid on my own trademark or company name?
• Conclusion and Summary

Footnotes

Bid Optimization in Action: The E-Grooming Book Example

In this example, Judy has two rich uncles, one of whom gives her credit card service free of overhead and another who provides her with free web hosting. Judy's uncles make this example simpler, so we're delighted that she has them.

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