Google Ads – Seven Top Tips Continued
Top Tip 5: Negative Keywords
The most important tip of all – if you are going to pick-up just one tip from this blog and implement it, this is the ONE! Negative keywords are used to stop adverts appearing as the result of Google searches on certain words. This avoids wasted click-throughs and preserves our budget for our target market. For example, the keyword “computer support” has approximately 300 related keywords that a CW IT Services advert could appear to in Google search engine results. Some of these we want our advert to appear to, such as “computer help”, “it support”, and “pc support” etc. Others we don’t want it to appear to such as “24hr computer support”, “cheap computers”, “build your own PC”. This is because we don’t offer any of these services or products.
The Google Keyword Tool is great for finding the keywords related to the main ones we are using. We find it best to export the results to Excel, insert a new column and mark Y/N to each keyword based on whether it is related to the service we offer. We then organise this column by N and copy those keywords that we don’t want our advert to appear to into the Negative keywords area in our Ad Campaign configuration on Google.
Implementing negative keywords could help you save at least a third of your Google Ad campaign costs.
Top Tip 6: Turn off Content Networks
There are two networks that are switched on by default on when you set up a Google Ad campaign. One is Google search engines and the other is Content Networks. These are the places where adverts appear.
Content Networks are other websites that have been enabled to show Google Ads. They’re not as effective for advertising as Google search engines for two reasons. Firstly, when someone searches in a Google search engine they are actually looking for something specific. Therefore they are more likely to be interested in a product or service than if they just notice it on another website they are browsing. Secondly, negative keywords do not work effectively on Content Networks and this can lead to more advert impressions on other websites and in-turn more click-throughs. A higher percentage of these click-throughs will be wasted as people are more likely to be just browsing than to be specifically interested in your business.
CW IT services turns Content Networks off for our own and client advertising campaigns. We also advise when providing training on how to set-up Google Ad campaigns. One of our clients now saves £50 a month by turning this off and it hasn’t led to a drop in sales.
Top Tip 7: Landing Page
This is the page that a person lands on when they’ve clicked on an advert in a Google search engine. This doesn’t have to be a websites home page. For example, if someone searches for computer support and clicks on a CW IT Services advert, the click would lead to our IT support page. We know from their keyword search that this is what they are specifically interested in and it means they don’t have to navigate through our website to find the relevant information. If someone has to navigate from a home page to find the information they are really interested in, they are more likely to just quickly exit the website and try another advert. This is not only a wasted click-through but also a potential customer lost to a competitor.
Implementing the Seven Top Tips
Depending on how many Google Ad campaigns you are running, it can take from one hour to several hours to implement these seven top tips. Google Ad campaigns should also be monitored on a weekly basis to maximise page placements for the adverts, the keyword budget and to gradually introduce new keywords and ads over time. We appreciate that time is money, so if you are worried about how long this would take and would prefer to concentrate instead on what you do best, call in CW IT Services to help set-up and run your Google ad campaigns. We have Bronze, Silver and Gold packages to all suit all budgets. You may even find the money you will save from having these top tips implemented (as other clients have found) will pay for our ongoing services, in addition to driving more new customers to your website. Contact us to find out more.
Share your own top tips
CW IT services hopes you’ve found these seven top tips campaign useful and interesting. We think they will help you to minimise wasted click-throughs and to maximise your budget. Please feel free to comment and if you have your own top tips please post them as we would love to hear them and share them with others.
Thanks
Chris
@CW IT Services
CW IT Services have partnered with AME Solutions to provide an Internet and Social Media workshop for small businesses who would like help in this area. Click here for details.
We are also co-hosting a Developing Online Sales Strategy seminar with Higher Associates on 8th October. Click here for details.
Tags: Google Ads, Google adwords, internet adverts, internet marketing, pay per clicks, PPC
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August 12, 2010 at 4:43 pm
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