PPC with AdWords - First campaign and a few questions.

by satrap
9 replies
  • SEO
  • |
Hi everyone,

I have always relied on SEO for traffic, but lately I am trying to diversify. And of those ways I ma trying to diversify is through PPC specifically through Adwords.

I am very new to Adwords and bidding and all that. So, pretty much clueless except some very basic knowledge.

I would love to get some tips from experienced warriors.

Let me tell you a few things so you can get an overall picture of what I am doing.

Please feel free to correct me if you see anything that I am doing which could be done better.

The most important thing I know is that mainly higher Quality Score means more and cheaper clicks.

So, I have set up about a 200 or so keywords tightly related, set up a decent landing page and got things going. My average Quality Score is about 7-8 (some reach 10 even).

Now, since I am a beginner I am taking it slow and putting $20 daily budget in place.

I set up Max PC: $0.10

My first day run brought me this numbers:
  • Clicks: 62
  • Impr: 1,360
  • CTR: 4.56%
  • Avg. CPC : $0.07
  • Cost: $4.10
  • Avg. Pos: 3.6

However, on many of the keywords, it shows that it's not showing my ad or showing it "occasionally" because of my "budget".

Now, what I fail to understand is that I still have almost $16 left from the daily budget, so why then it gives me the above reason for not showing my ad?

Also, how long do you usually run the campaign to get a real idea of how things stand.

For example, I am thinking about pausing some of the keywords with lower quality score so I can raise the over all quality score of the campaign in order to get cheaper and more clicks.

Is that a wise move, or would you with a while to get more data first?...

Also, I always hear that you have to have at least a few hundred (some suggest thousands) keywords for each ad. What are the benefits of lots of keywords beside from perhaps getting more clicks (since your ad may have more chance to show up)?

Sorry for too many questions. I am just trying to get a sense of how things work. So, any tip and/or advice is highly appreciated.
#adwords #campaign #ppc #questions
  • Profile picture of the author Vasuu
    First of all congratulations on getting started!

    The stats are very good for someone who just started. However, How do you feel about the quality of visitors? What is your objective of advertising? Are they aligned towards it? If so, you did a great job! Else, you must findout whats going on and tweak the campaign towards your goal.

    However, on many of the keywords, it shows that it's not showing my ad or showing it "occasionally" because of my "budget".
    If you got the clicks within couple of hrs, adwords would start showing this as your budget may not be sufficient for the full 24 hours.

    Also, how long do you usually run the campaign to get a real idea of how things stand.
    It depends on your objectives. If yours is a campaign towards lead generation, the conversion rate should be around 5% and many times this number is industry specific. Research on your industry and findout the number. For ex: E-commerce 1.5% to 2%. If the campaign is reaching your goals, run and optimize it for better returns. Else, I would recommend to stop and get a professional support, it saves lot of cash burning.


    For example, I am thinking about pausing some of the keywords with lower quality score so I can raise the over all quality score of the campaign in order to get cheaper and more clicks.

    Thats a good move. Also, Google gives actual search queries after couple of days. Look into that data and add irrelevant terms under negatives. Same time, if you see any query getting more clicks - add it in keywords with exact match type.


    Also, I always hear that you have to have at least a few hundred (some suggest thousands) keywords for each ad. What are the benefits of lots of keywords beside from perhaps getting more clicks (since your ad may have more chance to show up)?

    It is not recommended to add too many keywords under each adgroup. Generally experts add a maximum of 50-75 in each adgroup. The best strategy is to divide keywords into number of themes and keeping adcopy according to the adgroup theme. This way, a more relavent ad is shown to the user according to theme. More relevance -> better user experience -> better ctr -> better q.s

    Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    Your CTR is very good indeed but in the end, it is the ROI that really counts. Sometimes you can get a really good CTR but the clicks do not convert because it was not the user was looking for. You did not tell us though whether you are a merchant or an affiliate. If you are a merchant, you have access to much better tracking through Adwords.
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    Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

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  • Profile picture of the author aars14
    Try raising cpc or instead make a more customized campaign (region by region) with customized landing page and ads, it will help you in raising quality score.
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    "Stuck With Adwords/PPC Campaigns? Want to Increase Conversions? Setup New Campaign? Improve current Adwords Performance Contact Google Certified Partners." -Warrior Forum Thread
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  • Profile picture of the author drewfioravanti
    The most important factor of all is your ROI.

    You are doing things pretty well. And the advice above is good.

    I use very tight keywords for each ad group, and different landing pages for each ad group.

    Your quality score is good, but I am thinking that if you are using that many keywords your not targeting your visitors tightly enough.

    What I mean is even though you have a high quality score, if you are trying to sell to everyone on one page, you are not speaking to their specific needs.

    It is a good idea to create landing pages that speak directly to each visitor and not to the AdWords bots. Sure, the bots might tell you that everything is great, but the visitors are the ones giving you money.

    Focus on visitors not bots.

    That's why I create, basically, one ad group and one landing page for each keyword. That way you can speak directly to the visitors wants and keep your quality score up.

    Youre doing well. Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author patadeperro
    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    However, on many of the keywords, it shows that it's not showing my ad or showing it "occasionally" because of my "budget".
    In my experience Budget shows to Google who is erious about their biddings, meaning Google will always serve more traffic to those that have a higger budget, if you have to choose between increasing the bid or increasing the budget always increase the budget and you will get more traffic.

    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    Also, how long do you usually run the campaign to get a real idea of how things stand.
    What you are asking here is for statistical significance, use this tool to help you to define that:

    :::SplitTester.com:::

    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    For example, I am thinking about pausing some of the keywords with lower quality score so I can raise the over all quality score of the campaign in order to get cheaper and more clicks.
    Yes definitelly do that or even better,m extrat the keywords that have high impressions and low Quality Scores and create a new group for them with a different Add, the Quality Scores defines the relevancy of your keywords and your ad with the search the prospect is doing, so by creating a new ad group with different ads (more focused for the specific set of keywords) you will increase your Quality Score and will pay less per click.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    However, on many of the keywords, it shows that it's not showing my ad or showing it "occasionally" because of my "budget".
    If you increase your bid per click, you will get those keywords to get you traffic. You can even increase your daily budget too.

    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    pausing some of the keywords with lower quality
    You can even delete them if you want.

    Originally Posted by satrap View Post

    • Clicks: 62
    • Impr: 1,360
    • CTR: 4.56%
    • Avg. CPC : $0.07
    • Cost: $4.10
    • Avg. Pos: 3.6
    Those are good numbers to start with. Did you get any leads/signups?
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  • Profile picture of the author mymoney5243
    Personally I hate Adwords. Just because I think they have a captive audience and are way over priced. Have you tried bing ads? They work similar to Google Adwords but I find my results are much better.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi satrap,

      While it is important to look at your overall campaign stats, you need to be managing things at the individual keyword and individual ad level. There is a saying in this business "averages lie". Don't judge the health of your campaigns by looking only at the averages. Dig deeper and look at the performance of individual keywords, and individual ads, that is where the rubber meets the road.

      While your averages look ok, we know that often averages lie. Instead, focus on the poorest performers and the best performers. Learn why one works so well while the other works so poorly. Do this at the individual keyword, and individual ad levels.

      You should definitely pause poor performing keywords and poor performing ads, but not without understanding why they are performing poorly. In many cases you may be able to make adjustments and convert a poor performer into a good performer.

      Some people may assert that ROI (Return on Investment) is the most important metric, I have learned that it is not the most important metric. It is indeed important that you know your ROI and to make sure you have achieved a positive ROI at the individual keyword and individual ad level. However, I will assert that there is a metric that is far more important then ROI.

      The most important metric, in my opinion, is total profit for a given time period. Often a lower ROI will yield a higher total profit. If you were to make ROI as your primary factor it will lead to a higher ROI, but usually a lower total profit, due to the elimination of a substantial amount of profitable business that tends to get excluded when employing such a strategy.

      I have seen so many people fail because of their blind pursuit of pure ROI driven results. ROI is a metric you want to pay close attention to, but a $10,000 profit with a 50% ROI is always better than a $5000 profit with 100% ROI, which is even better than a $500 profit with a 500% ROI. I say superior total profits trumps superior ROI every time.
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  • Profile picture of the author networker2
    So, what was the ROI?
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