Google AdWords could be the best thing you’ve ever done for your marketing — or it just might be a complete waste of resources. If it’s the former, the trick is to stay ahead of the curve in order to maintain your strong return-on-investment (ROI). If it’s the latter, don’t give up; like many issues with technology, Google AdWords itself isn’t the problem. It’s how you use it.
In order to get the most out of Google AdWords, it’s important to understand what’s going on under the hood. Remember, you’re up against many different types of foes when you use AdWords: other AdWords campaigns targeting similar keywords, Google’s internal assessment engine, your own budget, even the quality of your website’s landing pages. Get a leg up on Google AdWords before you blow your budget by reviewing these seven key points — it just might be the jumpstart your AdWords campaign needs.
#1: The Big Picture
It’d be nice if Google served ads in a simple, linear fashion — things would be much easier to predict and manipulate. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the Google algorithm for AdWords is complex and it encompasses many different things. The primary variables driving ad displays are overall budget, expected number of clicks per day, and the amount of budget consumed.
#2: Click History
AdWords is a bit of a popularity contest. The more clicks you get, the more Google likes you — and vice versa. That means that Google may label a particular search as a bad one under the following circumstances: if it has been searched before and if it has not been clicked. In layman’s terms, that means that if you search for your own site and do not click on the results, you may negatively impact how and when your ad appears.
#3: Daily Budget
Google’s motto may be “Don’t be evil” but that doesn’t mean they’re giving away AdWords for free. If your daily budget is exhausted, your ads won’t display — simple as that.
#4: Daily Budget Spend
When you get a bit of extra money, do you like to spend it right away on the biggest, shiniest toy out there? Or do you prefer to be practical, spending it over equally valued items? AdWords budgets work in spreads; that is, the budget may be used evenly or accelerated. If the budget’s spread for the day has been exhausted, AdWords will pause between displays and limit your ad’s exposure.
#5: Your Quality Score
Google’s engines are designed to maximize the experience for the end-user. That means that quality counts — or in Google terms, your Quality Score matters. Google examines the content of your keyword selection, ad text, and the target landing page, assigning a Quality Score to each of them. If their Quality Scores are low, then your ad will be set to display for fewer impressions.
#6: Low Budget, Low Quality
If you’ve got a low Quality Score, then your ad exposure will already be fairly limited. However, when you factor in a low daily campaign budget, the level of exposure drops even further. For campaigns fighting both small budgets and low Quality Scores, it’s an uphill battle to get efficient exposure in AdWords.
#7: Geography
Your Google AdWords campaign may be targeted for a specific region. If the IP of the computer performing the search is outside of this region, your ad will not show up in search results — even if the computer is physically located within your target area.
These seven points are all variables, issues, and conscious trade-offs that need to be analyzed at the start of any Google AdWords campaign — and on a regular basis once the campaign launches. At Forward Push Media, we look at the pros and cons of each item and create a customized strategy for the best ROI possible. Because of the dynamic nature of AdWords, a successful campaign requires real-time insight as well as longterm planning. When executed properly, AdWords can become one of the best tools in your marketing belt, a thorough understanding of these seven points can be the foundation for your AdWords success
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