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So, about this AdWords thing...

by PBMax
18 replies
  • PPC/SEM
    • |
I've been doing SEO for about five years, but I've only ever dabbled with it's nemesis from across the street (aka AdWords) once.

About 4 years ago a client insisted we use AdWords. I'd never used it before, but I figured out the U/I, built the ad, set the dollar amount to be spent a day, and we were off. A week later he called freaking out that his $800 budget was blown in less than the first week.

I checked and the stats said my ad was always in "placement #1". I don't think that meant on the results page, but rather it meant it was always chosen over other similar ones to be shown when relevant. I could be wrong.

However, I'm interested in getting into AdWords for the fairly solid guarantee that my clients will get on page #1 for some low to medium comp keywords. Is there a 1-2-3 one-pager guide or something?
#adwords #ppc #thing
  • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
    Hmm.. a 1-2-3 pager for Adwords.. must be some really small font hehe

    "placement #1" looks to me like you have set it as a default Search+GDN setup and that is your GDN options based on keywords you put in.. let me guess... 0.1 - 0.2% click through rates and low (ie no) conversions?

    If I were you, I would find someone here who can help set it up for you because the last thing you want it to destroy a budget again and lose a client not just for Adwords but for your SEO!

    If I were to give advice to a first timer...

    1. Use Exact Match for 1 and 2 word keywords
    2. Phrase match for everything else
    3. Search only campaign.
    4. Be granular in your adgroups and the keywords within these.
    5. Keep your initial budget low so you dont blow your cash learning.
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    • Profile picture of the author PBMax
      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      Hmm.. a 1-2-3 pager for Adwords.. must be some really small font hehe
      Nice.

      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      "placement #1" looks to me like you have set it as a default Search+GDN setup and that is your GDN options based on keywords you put in.. let me guess... 0.1 - 0.2% click through rates and low (ie no) conversions?
      Don't know what "GDN" means, but I may have clicked that in the process at some point. Yea, he got pretty much nothing for conversions, but a % I can't tell you.

      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      If I were you, I would find someone here who can help set it up for you because the last thing you want it to destroy a budget again and lose a client not just for Adwords but for your SEO!
      If it's anything like Facebook Ads, I can figure it out. I don't like outsourcing unless I absolutely have to.

      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      If I were to give advice to a first timer...

      1. Use Exact Match for 1 and 2 word keywords
      2. Phrase match for everything else
      3. Search only campaign.
      4. Be granular in your adgroups and the keywords within these.
      5. Keep your initial budget low so you dont blow your cash learning.
      1. Gotcha.
      2. By "phrase match" do you mean try to land LSI search queries?
      3. Is this an option? If so, I like it.
      4. I assume you mean take baby steps?
      5. Again, baby steps?
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      • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
        GDN is the Google Display Network.. So basically a display network that can use your text ads as a display ad.. lots of volume here but you are not actually targeting people searching for the keywords you have added in. (keywords just need to be on the page)

        Its not really like Facebook ads at all.. its a largely complex system for search. I would suggest (if you don't want someone to help you) doing Google's fundamentals training and exams. They will help.

        To answer the last set:

        1. Gotcha.
        2. By "phrase match" do you mean try to land LSI search queries?

        ok so there are different match types. NEVER simply put you keyword in as is. When I say exact I mean put [brackets around your keywords] and when I mean phrase match i mean "these quote marks". best to check the fundamentals exam to work out what these are.. but for now.. believe me when I say don't put the keyword in there without these elements.

        3. Is this an option? If so, I like it. - Sure is!
        4. I assume you mean take baby steps?

        No I mean group the keywords into themed adgroups. For example if you are selling books your setup would look something like this:

        Adgroup = Cooking Books
        Keywords = Cooking books, cook books, recipe books, best cook book.

        Adgroup = Golf Books
        Keywords = golf books, books on golf, golfing books,

        Etc..

        5. Again, baby steps?

        yes.. start small to work it out.. its not a straight forward auction system by any means... the above is simply scraping the surface.

        I have a guide on my website if you run into problems.. goes through various elements but again.. suggest you start with Google's fundamental exam training:
        https://jimmydata.com/adwords-guide-home/
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        • Profile picture of the author PBMax
          I went ahead and dove in. It really seems to take you by the hand, but we'll see where it takes me.

          I opted for some of the suggested keywords they showed that I felt were obtainable, and I also entered in a few of my own.

          Just one ad group, but only 7 keywords I'm testing.

          Also, I didn't put " " or [ ] around them because it says they are already "broad match." Do I need to add those things?

          ALSO, I did select "search only" so that is something I didn't do before. No image this time.

          OH, AND...do I need to use qualifiers (ie. ____ in Dallas, etc) like I sometimes do for backlinking, or do Google's geo-location search results take care of that for me?
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  • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
    Ok cool..

    Yes I recommend putting [] or "" around them.. otherwise it can be a disaster.

    In terms of the targeting you can set geo targeting to look after that most of the time
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    • Profile picture of the author PBMax
      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      Ok cool..

      Yes I recommend putting [] or "" around them.. otherwise it can be a disaster.

      In terms of the targeting you can set geo targeting to look after that most of the time
      I narrowed my focus on 6 keywords - all low comp and suggested bid - after using the Keyword Planner.
      • 2 exact match keywords with 3 words in them
      • 3 phrase match with 3+ words in them

      My daily limit is low - perhaps too low - but I'll hopefully see some movement to gauge my next move.
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      • Profile picture of the author dburk
        Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

        I narrowed my focus on 6 keywords - all low comp and suggested bid - after using the Keyword Planner.
        Hi PBMax,

        (eek) Trying to use low competition keywords in AdWords is typically a big mistake. There is usually very good reason that those keywords are low competition, most likely because they stink for advertisers. In most cases you will get the worst possible results from those low competition keywords, all your ad spend budget gone and nothing to show for it.

        The most profitable keywords will almost always be high competition keywords, why else would the competition be high, right? In fact, the most profitable keywords are often not only high competition, but also very high average CPC. It is the consistent profitability of a keyword that tends to drive the avg CPC higher than other keywords. Look for those as potential golden nuggets.

        HTH
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  • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
    Cool.. let us know how you go
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    • Profile picture of the author PBMax
      Originally Posted by wbakhos View Post

      Cool.. let us know how you go
      I will. I just added 4 extensions which were approved - one "limited" because I use "Google" in it twice.

      Not sure where these extensions go, or if they are placed under my ad when it shows. I wish I could see how it was laid out, but I just see the regular ad on the dashboard.
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      • Profile picture of the author DigitalMatt
        Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

        Not sure where these extensions go, or if they are placed under my ad when it shows. I wish I could see how it was laid out, but I just see the regular ad on the dashboard.
        Google has an Ad preview tool where you can see what your ads look like including the extensions: http://google.com/adpreview
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  • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
    There are several types of ad extensions. the most common being:

    - Sitelinks - links under the ad
    - Callout - little callout text (non clickable)
    - Calls - ie Phone calls
    - Location - maps

    Using them is good.. takes up real estate on the page and helps with Adrank.. but again.. bit of a long story on its own
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    PBMax, I really admire your desire to learn PPC. But you are taking on a lot at once and this is not good for you or your client. If you are going to do PPC for them, you need to have their best interests at heart, it is their money you're spending. I think you should hire someone to do it for you, someone who can be a mentor so you can learn from them. At the very least, build your own campaign to learn from and spend your own money.

    When Adwords started in 2002, you could have done this more easily. That's because Adwords was nothing like it is today. There was only search, no GDN. Quality Score was not quite what it is today. The minimum bid was five cents. Your ads would stop if they didn't get 0.5% CTR and to restart, you had to pay $5. No keyword insertion that I recall. There was no such thing as ad extensions. No remarketing. No site links. No Google Shopping. Even campaign settings were not what they are today and some things have changed dramatically since (not always for the better IMO).

    You are just a baby in Adwords and trying to learn and understand it all in a few days. You need to walk before you can run. You are overwhelming yourself with information. Even I after all these years learn something new all the time.
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    • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
      .. And a quality score that was easy to understand.. send traffic to landing pages all day everyday for 10c a pop.. ahh the good ol days.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by LucidWebMarketing View Post

      You are just a baby in Adwords and trying to learn and understand it all in a few days. You need to walk before you can run. You are overwhelming yourself with information. Even I after all these years learn something new all the time.
      Hi Lucid,

      Amen to that.

      Google has been adding enhancements and new features at breakneck speed ever since they upgraded the platform to enhanced campaigns. Over 200 new features were added to the platform during the 2014 calendar year, and that pace continues into this year as well.

      Every full-time campaign manager must now also work the equivalent of a part-time job, just to keep up with all the new features and enhancements each month. Even though all of our agency account managers have 3 or more years experience managing AdWords campaigns, we still have to budget many hours to training each month to keep up with platform changes.

      A new guy just getting started has no idea what he must learn until he is up to his chin in metaphorical quicksand. The basic interface in AdWords makes it easy to get started, however the things that can and will go wrong number in the hundreds, if not thousands. That is why AdWords discontinued their individual certification program and now only offer training and certification to Agencies and their staff. Google realized that for clients to be properly serviced they really need the resources of an agency to handle AdWords campaigns for a business.

      It has become increasingly difficult for a full-time account manager to keep up, even more difficult for a part-time manager that has other responsibilities.

      Adwords is currently making a strong push to convince new clients to signup with an agency to manage campaigns for them. They have even started to shift their own ad campaigns to promote badged "Google Partner" agencies rather than signing up direct with AdWords self-service platform.

      For now, business owners can still signup directly and manage their own campaigns, but I wouldn't be suprised if that option goes away at some point in the future. It's easy to see why, for the most part new businesses that sign with agencies are happy, have well run campaigns that are profitable, and cause little grief for Google. Businesses that signup and manage their own campaigns tend to frequently have the opposite experience: Disastrous campaigns that lose money, cause lots of compliance issues, and end up unhappy AdWords customers.

      Think of it this way, the knowledge, training, and experience that it takes to run an AdWords campaign well could be roughly the equivalent in scope to the knowledge, skill, and training that an architect needs to create well designed blueprints for your new home. Considering that a typical small business will spend as much on advertising over the course of a year or so, as a new home might cost, would you hire someone with no prior experience or training to design the blueprints for your new home? If not, then you probably shouldn't hire an inexperienced and untrained AdWords campaign manager to run your campaigns. Potential cost over-runs are going to be likely in both scenarios, right?
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    • Profile picture of the author PBMax
      Originally Posted by LucidWebMarketing View Post

      PBMax, I really admire your desire to learn PPC. But you are taking on a lot at once and this is not good for you or your client. If you are going to do PPC for them, you need to have their best interests at heart, it is their money you're spending. I think you should hire someone to do it for you, someone who can be a mentor so you can learn from them. At the very least, build your own campaign to learn from and spend your own money.

      When Adwords started in 2002, you could have done this more easily. That's because Adwords was nothing like it is today. There was only search, no GDN. Quality Score was not quite what it is today. The minimum bid was five cents. Your ads would stop if they didn't get 0.5% CTR and to restart, you had to pay $5. No keyword insertion that I recall. There was no such thing as ad extensions. No remarketing. No site links. No Google Shopping. Even campaign settings were not what they are today and some things have changed dramatically since (not always for the better IMO).

      You are just a baby in Adwords and trying to learn and understand it all in a few days. You need to walk before you can run. You are overwhelming yourself with information. Even I after all these years learn something new all the time.
      I am doing it for myself first until I figure it out. I think there's a lot of assumption in this response to be honest...
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Getting one the first page of Google's search results will cost you a lot more money.

    If you don't want your funds to run out fast, bid lower and also set your daily ad budget to $20-$100.

    If you don't set a daily budget, your funds will disappear really fast.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBMax
    Contrary to popular belief in here, I've only spent $17 the entire week. Yes, I've only garnered 3 clicks but several hundred (free!) impressions across my 4 Adgroups. I don't call this a disaster at all.

    With SEO, you spend WAY more money and time just trying to get to page 1, let alone get clicks on it.

    I'm chalking this up to win and I'll continue to do Adwords battle. Sure there's a lot going on in there, but the basics are just that, basic.

    Also, targeting low to medium comp keywords doesn't seem like it's hurting me too much...

    PLUS, tried Bing and it wasn't near as good. No clicks, hardly any impressions. I was told it was cheaper, but actually you have to increase your max bid much higher there to play the game.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cosmit
    Originally Posted by PBMax View Post

    I checked and the stats said my ad was always in "placement #1"
    LOL you blew all your client's money on overpaying for #1 position
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