Google AdWords Strategies & Tips

Google AdWords Strategies & Tips contains the techniques, information and secrets for building a highly-effective campaign that minimizes your costs. Increase your click through rates (CTR), keep your costs reasonable and outsmart your competitors by taking advantage of the tips and strategies that we have learned by running AdWords campaigns for many of our clients.

1. Test ad positions - because the highest one isn't always the best.

Keep in mind, the number 1 position usually produces the MOST traffic. However, it does not always produce the BEST quality traffic. Stay out of the top three positions where the lowest quality impulse clicks are most abundantly found.

Being in position 4-8 can be more lucrative by bringing in the more educated and serious buyers and keeping that cost per click down. Don’t be afraid of running the ad on the second page for higher qualified traffic. Remember, the game is to hit the perfect balance between price and position. Remember, many bidders daily budgets cut off their campaigns near the end of the day. This means you get their top positions
for a fraction of the cost!

2. Split-test your ads in Google Adwords

It is critical to split-test your ads. Google Adwords has a built-in feature that lets you automatically rotate the appearance of your ads so different ads can be shown an equal number of times (or weighted more heavily toward the ad that gets more clicks if you prefer - you can change this in the campaign settings). The benefit of this approach is that you will be able to see which ad gets a better click-thru rate (CTR).

Since Google Adwords rewards a higher CTR with lower cost per click (CPC), it is crucial that you know which ad has a better CTR. Sometimes just swapping the ad text that appears on lines 2 and 3 will make a big difference in your ad performance.

So what do you do if you find that after split-testing two different ads a clear winner emerges? Simple. Chuck the lower CTR ad, keep the winner, and create a new ad to split-test against the current reigning champion. By following this split-test strategy, you will constantly be improving your ads CTR and lowering your CPC.

How do you know when a clear winner has emerged? Is it enough to have two ads that both have received 10 clicks each? Or should you wait until you have 100 clicks each before making the determination that one ad is superior to the other? Statistically, a total of 100 clicks between the two ads will mean the answer is fairly certain, while 200 clicks between both ads is an almost definite certainty.

Always run at least two, differently worded, ads for each campaign. Google will automatically show both adverts alternatively, and you can then see which advert gets a higher CTR (i.e. which ad people are more likely to click on). When you’ve had a good number of clicks you can decide which advert is most effective and delete the less effective one. Then create a new second advert and see if you can get a higher CTR with a different type of wording. This way you are constantly improving the wording on your adverts to make them as attractive and effective as possible.

3. Put keywords in your ad text in Google Adwords

Did you know that the keywords that are part of the text of your ads in Google Adwords will appear in BOLD ? If someone searches for "online money " and your ad text reads "earn online money ", then the phrase 'online money' will appear in bold when your ad is displayed. This makes a huge difference in the click-thru rate of your ads!

If you don't believe me, simply follow the tip mentioned above for split-testing your ads and create two ads, one with the keywords in the ad text and the other without. You will be surprised at how much better the Google Adwords ad with the keyword(s) in the ad text performs.