AdWords Study Guide

Chapter 1: Introduction to AdWords Chapter 2: Getting Started with AdWords Chapter 3: Targeting Chapter 4: Costs and Billing Chapter 5: Tracking Ad Performance Chapter 6: Optimizing Ad Performance Chapter 7: Account Performance Tools Chapter 8: Google Analytics Chapter 9: Managing Client Accounts

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Chapter 1 Introduction to AdWords
AdWords Basics Google and Google AdWords Google is a search engine Google uses keyword based advertising to target your ads to users searching for your product or service The text ad headline is limited to 25 characters (including spaces) Basic AdWords Features The CTR helps determine whether your ad is effective If you elect to show your ads on the Google content network, your ads will be eligible to show on websites that contain content related to your ad. Google ads can be targeted to any language or location available worldwide.

Benefits of AdWords There is no minimum spending limit with Google AdWords AdWords allows an unlimited amount of changes to an account per month Google Ads appear primarily on the right hand side of the screen or above the search results and are titled “sponsored links” Your ads will appear when a user’s search query includes a keyword that is part of your ad campaign You control the budget for your advertising campaign. You can set a daily budget and Google will stop showing your ad when you reach the daily limit. AdWords Policies Link Policy A Destination URL must Link to a working website NOT link to website under construction NOT require users to download software Sites can not have pop-ups on the landing page An example of an appropriate URL would be www.gmail.com Editorial Policy Punctuation Policy allows only one exclamation point in ad text Google allows certain common misspellings or variations of words in ad text (for example: E-Z or foto). If you can find the word in an online dictionary, it is probably ok Prices stated in ad text must be supported within 1-2 clicks of the landing page. Free offers in ad text also must be supported within 1-2 clicks of the landing page Superlatives are only allowed in ad text if the claim can be backed by a legitimate third party. Image Ads Policy

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Text in image ads must adhere to editorial policy guidelines A display URL is NOT necessary to include in an uploaded image Image ads are NOT allowed to be rotated or inverted Image ads must be rated family-safe only Images must be clear and readable No mock animated features may be included in an image ad Trademarks Google trademarks are not allowed in ad text. Google, Froogle, Gmail, Orkut, keyhole, and PageRank are all trademarks owned by Google. Advertisers are responsible for their use of other companies’ trademarks in their ad text and as keywords Google encourages trademark owners to resolve trademark disputes with advertisers directly, but will begin a limited trademark investigation after all mandatory information included in a claim is received Copyrights Google’s policy on copyright claims applies to ads, search results, and Google group postings. You can send a Google copyright claim form by ground mail or by fax Google Invalid Clicks Policy Repeated manual clicking, use of click robots, or automated clicking agents or tools are prohibited Invalid clicks are used to inflate publishers’ earnings through AdSense or drive up an AdWords advertiser’s costs. Google closely monitors campaigns for invalid clicks and automatically filters them out of any reports before you are charged If Google discovers you were accidentally charged for invalid clicks, you’ll receive a credit for those clicks Identifying Invalid Clicks If your web log shows identical IP addresses, it does not necessarily mean you have invalid clicks. Possible reasons for increase in clicks: Users may be comparison shopping AOL, Earthlink, and Comcast assign identical IP addresses to multiple users in the same geographic region Your ad may be too general Competition may have decreased Your ad may have been approved for the search or content network Seasonal products may be more desirable at certain times of the year Increase in CPC bid will show your ad higher on the page and increase clicks You should suspect invalid clicks if: Review your account for suspicious activity 2 or 3 times normal amount of clicks on a single day Number of impressions is equal to number of clicks Compare your clicks over time If one week is unusually different from another and can’t be explained Compare web log to Google reports Web logs should not have higher number of clicks than Google reports show If you suspect invalid clicks contact click quality control with the following info:

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Campaign, ad groups, and keywords associated with suspicious clicks The dates and times of the suspicious clicks A paragraph explaining why you believe the click activity is invalid according to trends in logs or reports Data in weblogs or reports that indicates invalid clicks Pricing and Ranking Paying for AdWords and Ad Ranking No minimum spending requirement. One time $5 activation fee You control your cost through: Daily budget Bids Quality score If your daily budget is set to less than the recommended amount, your ads may show intermittently throughout the day, but will not stop showing completely Higher quality score = lower CPC minimum bid You can set your CPC for each keyword or ad group in your campaign Keyword targeted ads are positioned based on rank number Rank number is determined by your quality score and CPC bid Google determines your quality score by considering: Your CTR The relevance of your ad text Historical keyword performance Your ad will never be locked out of top ranking position solely based on price Terms To Know Search Engine – A website that gathers and sorts information from the Internet based on a specified topic Search Field – Input box in the middle of the Google homepage Search Query – The keyword(s) a user types into the Google search engine to find information on the Internet CPC – Cost per Click – You are charged every time a user clicks on your ad, but not every time your ad appears in the search results CPM – Cost per Impression – You are charged every 1,000 times your ad appears on Google whether it is clicked or not CTR – Click Through Rate – Clicks/Impressions x 100 = CTR% Keyword Based Advertising – Advertisements that are triggered by users search query Daily budget – The daily spending limit for an AdWords campaign Text ad headline – The title of your ad - used to attract users interested in your product or service Display URL – Last line of an AdWords ad. It indicates the URL of the website the ad is linked URL – Uniform Resource Locator (also called web address) Affiliates – People who get paid commission to promote a merchants website Superlatives – Words that emphasize superiority over others (i.e. Best, Greatest, etc) Call-To-Action Phrase – Example “Buy here” or “Click here” are not allowed in ad text because they are unrelated to the content of the site Image Ad – A Google ad that includes an image Trademark – A word, phrase, logo, or symbol that identifies and distinguishes a product or service from others in the marketplace Copyright – The legal right granted to an author, composer, playwright, publisher, or distributor to exclusive

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publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work Invalid Clicks – Clicks generated through prohibited methods often with the intention of driving up advertiser’s costs Rank Number: The result of your CPC bid x Quality score Daily Budget: Spending limit you set on each campaign

Chapter 2 Getting Started with AdWords
Account Types, Setup, and Structure Starter Edition vs. Standard Edition Accounts Starter Edition – simplified version of AdWords used to advertise a single product Standard Edition – utilized by users with multiple ad campaigns and provides all the features AdWords offers You can graduate to a standard account at any time, but can not switch back to starter edition once you have upgraded You may want to graduate to a standard account if You want to sell more than one product You want to create more than one campaign You want to target multiple geographic locations You want to target multiple languages You can always edit your keywords after setting up an account AdWords Account Structure Account Your account contains all your campaigns and ad groups Email address, password, billing information, and account preferences are all part of your account information Campaigns Each Campaign has a name, start/end date, daily budget, ad distribution preferences, and language/location targets Each campaign is either keyword or placement targeted Each campaign contains at least one ad group Ad Groups Keyword or placement targeted Successful advertising= many small and highly targeted ad groups Versatility – you can run as little as one ad with a few keywords or up to 25 campaigns with as many as 100 ad groups each Account Navigation Campaign Management You can edit campaign language and location targets at any time You can search for words or phrases across all campaigns, ad groups, and ads in your account by using the “search my campaigns” box on the campaign summary page You can customize the columns on the campaign summary page

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Choosing Accelerated Delivery tells Google to show your ad as quickly as possible until your daily budget is met Ad groups within a campaign can be paused from the campaign details page Ad Group Management Keywords Tab Magnifying glass icon is used to see whether a keyword is showing ads and to check the quality score Edit your CPC bids Check to see whether a keyword is showing ads Pause individual keywords It is possible to pause an individual text ad My Account Tab Billing Preferences page View method of payment Change contact information Edit payment details Account Preferences Edit login, email address, password, display language Edit Google Analytics Billing Summary View invoices Access page View and control others’ access levels Invite others to share the account Grant users access Disable users access Report Center tab Contains detailed account statistics Generate reports for different levels of your account Starting Off Right, Organization, Keywords, Ad Text Selecting Keywords List 2 – 3 word phrases that searchers might use to find your product or service Use the keyword tool List plural variations, synonyms, and spelling variations Keep lists small and manageable Exact match keywords only show your ad when a searcher types in the precise phrase without any words before, between, or after Single word or general keywords are often too broad and can lead to too many clicks from uninterested users Use negative keywords to increase the accuracy of your campaign target Writing Targeted Ad Text Rotate your ads and automatically show your best performing ad more often The most effective headlines directly relate to the keywords being searched Your display URL does not have to be the exact same as your destination URL

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Using Different Ad Formats Image Ads Can be banner, leader board, small square, square, inline, large rectangle, skyscraper, or wide skyscraper format Can not exceed 50k file size Image ads can be created in groups that target keywords, placements, or both Video Ads ‘Click-to-play’ ads – the first thing a user will see is a static image It is best to deliver key message as soon as possible Before creating a video ad you must enable the content network Local Business Ads Can NOT appear on Google content network Before creating an ad you must create a local business listing in the local business center and on Google maps Format of Local Business ads is different on Google maps and Google search network Mobile Ads Ads that appear when users search on mobile devices Contain 2 lines of ad text with a maximum of 12-18 characters per line Your mobile ad can connect users to your business phone Mobile ads are either pay-per-click or pay-per-call Traditional Media Ad Formats AdWords can help you reach offline customers with print and radio ads Track performance in Report Center Only available to U.S. advertisers Free call reporting You can choose what newspapers and what sections of the paper to show your ad Print Ads Announce sales and promotions Communicate a branding message Target key audience segments Support multimedia campaigns Generate leads and promote conversions Audio Ads reach hundreds of AM and FM stations across the country Reaches over 82% of population Increase brand awareness Influence brand perception and appeal Cost effective Auction Audio Campaign Works like pricing of keyword targeted campaigns Set weekly budget and max bid per 1,000 listeners Ads broadcasted based on available time slots for your price Reserve Audio Campaign Provide more predictability than auction campaign You can reserve the exact time for ad to be broadcast
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Pay a set price determined by station Terms To Know Keyword Tool – generates potential keywords according to your existing campaign settings and account performance history

Chapter 3 Targeting
Search and Contextual Targeting The Google Network Search result pages like Google do not make up the majority of the web pages viewed on the Internet Search pages make up 5% of web pages Google Network provides an alternative to search pages Google automatically formats your ad to match the look and feel of different network sites Text ads can appear on search and content pages while image ads can only appear on content pages You can set bids separately for both search and content page ads Fine tune your ads for search targeting by: Target specific languages and locations Choose highly relevant keywords Use keyword-match types A low CTR on the content network will not affect the ranking of your ad on search result pages A low CTR on content pages does NOT indicate that your ad is not profitable Contextual Targeting An effective strategy for creating contextually targeted campaigns is to create overall keyword themes A Placement Performance Report provides the best information on your textually targeted campaign Use the site exclusion tool if you find that a particular site does not convert well over time Point all ads to the same destination URL Use the Google content network to: Increase awareness by using multiple ad formats Highlight your unique product to convert casual site visitors into buyers Use call to action phrases like “Buy now” Placement Targeting Introduction Ads with placement targeting do not share the ad space of a content page with any other Google ads Placement Targeting campaigns are useful for advertisers who want to build brand awareness Placement Targeted campaigns can be expanded text ads, image ads, or animated image ads Campaigns with placement targeting offer the ability to Expand your ad to fill all ad space on a page Pay on a CPM basis Choose which sites in which you want your ad to appear Exclude sites that do not provide a good ROI

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Creating a Placement-targeted Campaign The Placement Tool gives you four different ways to choose placements on which to show your ad The Site Tool helps you choose sites on the content network on which you wish your ad to appear You can choose sites based on categories, topics, similar URLs, or demographics Pricing and Ranking Ads with placement targeting compete with keyword targeting ads In order for an ad with placement targeting to appear, it must outrank the effective CPM bids of the top four text ads with keyword targeting combined Language and Location Targeting How AdWords Targets Users Google does not consider a users previous purchasing history when determining whether to show your ad Google does not translate ad text Google determines the location and language of a user through: Google domain (i.e. Google.fr) Query parsing IP address Language Preference Detection Language and Country/Territory Targeting Targeting ads to all countries and territories is ideal for businesses that sell products globally Country and territory targeting allows your ad to show anywhere in the locations you select Region and City Targeting Helps keep your quality score high and cost low Appear in a different format than Country/Territory targeted ads – ads include the chosen region/city in the last line of ad text Best for businesses that sell in a specific region or city and want to avoid extra clicks from country wide users Use the names of cities and regions you do not want to advertise to as negative keywords Customized Targeting Customized targeting is best if you wish to reach an audience in a very specific area It is possible to target an audience within a specified radius of your business location Three types of customized targeting Create a circle around a specific address Create a circle around a specific point (latitude/ longitude) Multi-point or polygon With multi-point targeting you can create target areas of any shape or size Keyword Targeting Keyword Matching Options Four types of keyword matching Broad – reach the widest audience/ allows other words included in search query, mixed order of

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words, related words (i.e. car = buy used car, used car = car used, car = vehicle) Phrase – triggers ad to appear when your keyword phrase is included in a search query/ can include extra words before and after keyword phrase (i.e. “buy car” = buy car cheap) Exact – most precise method of targeting/ triggers ad only when precise phrase is searched (i.e. [buy new car] = buy new car) Negative – prevents ad from appearing when irrelevant keywords are present (i.e. ‘buy toy car’ won’t show your ad if you specify toy as negative) The default setting for any keyword is broad-matched No punctuation is necessary for broad-matched keywords Quotes are used to specify phrase-match keywords Brackets are used to specify exact-match keywords You can change keyword match types at any time Implementing Keyword Matching Options Broad-match keywords provide the best possibility for a high number of impressions Exact-match keywords will provide less impressions, but a higher rate of conversions You can use multiple keyword matching options for different keywords in the same ad group Negative keywords can be applied to an entire campaign or to specific ad groups Combining Keywords and Placements Combining Keywords and Placements AdWords ad groups can have keywords, placements, or both If a placement is targeted by both keywords and a placement, the individual placement bid will take priority The keywords and placements you choose, along with your campaign settings, determine where on the content network your ad will appear Three possible ad group targeting combinations Keywords only Ads can appear on search or content network Placements only Ads can appear only on content network and only on pages you have specified Keywords and Placements Ads can appear on search or content network Keywords and placements work together to determine where on content network ads will appear Once you have created an ad group, you can add or remove keywords or placements at any time Keywords and Placements work together AdWords first matches keywords with possible sites on the content network AdWords checks to see which placements match the possible sites You Choose Search network – Google and/or search partners Content Network – Relevant pages across the network or relevant pages only placements targeted A Placement Performance Report (PPR) lets you see which sites are providing the best conversions for your ad Terms to Know IP Address- Internet Protocol Address is a unique number assigned to each computer connected to the

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Internet Query Parsing- Google uses the query entered into the search field to determine what language and location ads should show Content Pages – web pages in the Google Content Network that show AdWords ads Contextual Targeting – targeting determined by the page a user is currently on Broad–Match Keyword – trigger ad from a search query including related words or mixed words Phrase-Match Keyword – Ad triggered when keyword phrase is included in the search query Exact-Match Keyword – Most precise method of targeting/ triggers ad only when precise phrase is searched Negative Keyword – Prevents ad from appearing when irrelevant keywords are present in a search query

Chapter 4 Costs and Billing
Cost Control How AdWords Controls Costs Google rewards high quality accounts Your Daily Budget must always exceed your CPC or CPM bid Choose between standard and accelerated delivery of your ads Standard Delivery shows ads smoothly throughout the day Accelerated Delivery shows ads until the budget is reached Google may “overdeliver” your ad up to 20% more than your daily budget to make up for days when the budget was not met If Google exceeds your monthly budget you will receive a credit Preferred CPC bid allows you to set an average amount you want to pay, rather than the maximum amount Content Bids are available for keyword targeted campaigns and allows for different bids on the content and search networks AdWords reduces your costs with the AdWords Discounter and “Smart Pricing” Discounter reduces your cost to the minimum amount needed to win your spot, works all the time, and causes your actual CPC or CPM to be lower than your maximum bid Smart Pricing works all the time and reduces the price you pay for a click on the content network if data shows it is less likely to turn in to an actionable business result Billing Cycle Basic Billing Process All accounts are subject to a one time $5 activation fee The amount billed may be more than the credit limit since ads do not stop running between the time the billing cycle is triggered and the time the charge is completed. Prepay and Postpay options depend on your address and chosen currency Prepay – pay in advance of receiving clicks and Google deducts from your balance Postpay – you pay only after users click on your ads and you accrue charges Billing occurs every 30 days or when the account reaches its credit limit The Google billing threshold gets raised each time an account reaches its credit limit within a 30-day period

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The initial credit limit of $50 is raised each time an account reaches its credit limit within a 30-day period and the charges are paid. Credit limit increases from $50 to $200 to $350 to $500 Billing Details and Issue Resolution The Billing Summary page differs for prepay and postpay accounts Prepay will show balance remaining Postpay will how balance due Pending charges are advertising costs accrued since the last time you were billed and can be viewed on the Billing Summary page under Outstanding Balance Invoice Details page will show charges broken down by campaign as well as billing adjustments like invalid click credits If a payment is declined, Google suspends advertising for that account until payment is received Payments Outside The U.S. Payment Options Advertisers may not switch between Prepay and Postpay options Google Postpay options include Debit card, Direct Debit, and Credit card Using Direct Debit allows Google to withdraw accrued charges directly from your bank account Google accepts Visa, Mastercard/ Eurocard, American Express, and JCB Google Prepay options include Bank Transfer only When Google receives your bank transfer funds you will receive a confirmation email and your ads will start running VAT or EU Advertisers European Union Value Added Tax = EU VAT Customers living in the European Union, with exception to Ireland, must self-assess their VAT charges All European Union advertisers are effected by the VAT tax Advertisers enter their VAT registration numbers upon account creation An advertiser that does not submit a valid VAT number will be charged the Irish VAT rate Invoicing Invoicing Basics Advertisers that meet Google’s requirements may apply for Credit terms and monthly invoicing Advertisers on monthly invoicing must pay each invoice by credit card, check, or wire transfer To qualify for invoicing, an advertiser must spend at least $1,500 per month for 3 months and have an established credit history with AdWords Once on invoicing terms, the advertiser’s campaigns are no longer subject to suspension if a credit card is declined Credit terms are determined at Google’s discretion In order to receive credit terms and monthly invoicing you must submit a credit application and in some cases, additional documentation If approved, you will receive an offer of credit terms via email Upon accepting Google’s credit terms, you will need to confirm billing information and your account will be switched to monthly invoicing Terms to Know Standard Delivery – shows ads smoothly throughout the day
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Accelerated Delivery – shows ads until the budget is reached AdWords Discounter – reduces the cost of CPC or CPM to the minimum amount needed Smart Pricing – reduces the price you pay for a click on the content network that is less likely to turn into a sale VAT – Value Added Tax

Chapter 5 Tracking Ad Performance
Quality and Performance Basics How It Works Your keyword will be inactive for search if your CPC is below the minimum bid Quality Score is determined by CTR, Quality of ad text and keywords, and Landing page relevance A high Quality Score will decrease your minimum bid Keyword’s Quality Score, minimum bid, and keyword state can fluctuate often due to the dynamic nature of search A High CTR usually means your campaign is performing well A low minimum bid usually means you keyword is performing well Ads Diagnostic Tool allows you to see if your ad is showing for a particular keyword query Monitor your account to continually improve quality Ad Visibility and Trouble Shooting Account Wide Issues Billing information must be entered into AdWords before you can start advertising Email must be verified to see ads on Google If credit card is declined your ads will stop running until billing information is updated Not sure why credit card was declined? Make sure you entered the correct credit card number Check to make sure you haven’t reached your credit limit Check your cards expiration date Make sure your billing address is correct If everything on the checklist is correct contact your bank Campaign-Specific Issues To get full exposure of your ads from your daily budget, view the AdWords recommended budget If your ad’s target location does not include your location, you will not be able to locate your ad on Google Ads will not show for a campaign that is paused, deleted, or ended A paused, deleted, or ended campaign can be reactivated On the Edit Settings page you can: Edit the end date of a campaign Change the daily budget and compare to it to the recommended budget Change delivery method

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Change target audience and location Be sure none of your keywords are cancelled out by negative keywords Ad Group Specific Issues Your ads will NOT show if the CPC or CPM are greater than the daily budget If your ad is disapproved because of editorial policies it will only show after you have made the appropriate changes and re-submitted it for review Ads in paused or deleted Ad Groups will not show until the Ad Group is reactivated Sexually explicit ads will only show on pages with adult material Keyword and Site-Specific Issues Keywords that are inactive for search can be re-enabled by increasing the keywords Quality Score Keywords marked inactive for search can still trigger ads on content network sites A poor performing keyword can affect the Quality Score of an entire ad group or campaign Reports How to Create a Report Access the Report Center under the Reports Tab AdWords Reports allows you to: Monitor the performance of your campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords Identify important trends over time Generate spreadsheets to download Report Center allows advertisers to email reports, download report spreadsheets, and view both data and graphs for selected reports You can view your report data, graphs, or data and graphs together While a report is loading you can turn off your computer To create a report: Go to Create Report under the Reports Tab Choose what type of report to generate Keyword Performance Ad Performance URL Performance Ad Group Performance Campaign Performance Account Performance Search Query Performance Placement Performance Choose time period the report will be over– daily, weekly, monthly, etc Choose date range Choose which campaigns to include in report Name your report You can choose to run the report automatically every day, month, or set time period Additional Reports Features You can save your report within your AdWords account to view later The Report Center will only save your 15 most recent reports If you create more than 15 reports, the system automatically deletes the oldest Whenever a report runs you can have it emailed to multiple recipients

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Basic ROI and Conversion Tracking Understanding ROI ROI: Return on Investment a.k.a. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) CPA: Cost per Acquisition CPA can be a measure of advertising effectiveness ROI Percentage= (Revenue-Cost)/ Investment x 100 Introduction to Conversion Tracking To use Conversion Tracking, you must have an active ad and the ability to edit the HTML of your webpage Google’s Conversion Tracking tool is free In order to pause conversion tracking you must click the “Pause Conversion Tracking” button Steps To Set-up Cross Channel Tracking: Choose an advertising channel Create a campaign for this channel – a separate campaign for each destination URL Paste the tracking URLs into your related channel’s ads Insert JavaScript code (provided by Google) into your websites landing page Test your setup A Site Stats text block should appear on pages where you have placed the conversion tracking code Recommended placement of the text block is in the lower right hand corner of the conversion page (the page that thanks your customers for their purchase or visit) Do not hide or modify the text block Verify correct setup of Cross-Channel Tracking Check that you can see the ‘Site Stats’ text block on the pages that you’ve placed the code Test Data Gathering by completing a test conversion or wait for a conversion to occur to avoid incurring an ad click yourself Check cross channel reports Reporting may take up to 24 hours Advanced Conversion Tracking Introduction to Advanced Conversion Tracking Effectively tracking advertising costs is essential to understanding your ROI Use the Conversion Tracking tool under the Campaign Management Tab to set up advanced conversion tracking Four Main Types of Conversions Purchase/ Sale – tracks purchases and sales Lead – how many users request follow-up calls Sign up – sign up for subscription or newsletters Page View – how many pages a user views and time spent there Other – define your own conversion type Choose language and security level – https:// is more secure Define the value of a conversion (a sign up may be worth $25 to your company) Dynamic variables can be used in code for non-static conversion values Adding a dynamic variable to the ‘Total Value’ field of your conversion tracking code will allow you to calculate the accumulated value of conversions consisting of several purchases, each with a unique value Terms to Know

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Quality Score – determined by CTR, quality of ad text and keywords, and landing page relevance Report Center – AdWords tool that allows you to generate, email, and view reports on the performance of your account ROI – Return on Investment ROAS – Return on Ad Spend ROI Percentage – (Revenue – Cost)/ Investment x 100 Conversions – Purchase/sale, lead, sign-up, page view, or other Conversion Tracking – a way to edit the HTML of your webpage to automatically track conversions Site Stats Block – a block that appears in the corner of your webpage to confirm conversion tracking is working

Chapter 6 Optimizing Ad Performance
Optimization Overview Preparing to Optimize Optimization: Adjusting parts of your account to improve performance of your ads Start optimization by reviewing the webpage of the advertiser Go through the motions of a customer to understand how they would experience the site The ‘About Us’ page or something similar is a good place to start This page often offers good keywords to use in ad text Review the products and services offered Review existing AdWords campaigns to see what has worked well so far (and what hasn’t) Research competitor’s sites Figure out the similarities and differences in your products or services Find factors of your business to highlight in your ads Your Website Choosing Landing Pages Users need to find what they want on your site quickly Link the most relevant pages to your ads Landing pages should be easy to navigate Landing pages should include unique content that highlights your service or product above the competitors’ Clearly define what your business is Provide information without requiring users to register or log in Be honest and clear about how and why you would be collecting someone’s information Provide an easy path for users to get to products and purchasing page Make sure your page loads quickly – 4 seconds is best Your Account Account Optimization Optimization makes your ads more effective Increases the rate at which you connect with customers

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Raises your ads position on the search results page Increases your CTR Decreases your costs Three main areas for Optimization Campaigns – organize, modify location or language Ad Groups – edit keywords, ad text Website – choose more relevant landing pages, make page easier to use If your CTR is low or costs is high, it is time to optimize Advanced Optimization Features Ad scheduling – control the days and times your ads appear All ad groups within a campaign follow the campaign scheduling Enable ad scheduling on the ‘edit campaign settings’ page under ‘advanced options’ Set correct time zone You can raise and lower your bid during set time periods Optimizing Ad Position, Position Preference If you know your ad gets the most hits when in a certain position, you can set a position preference Position preferences are not guaranteed Selectively target less expensive positions in order to increase ROI Beneficial if you are only interested in position 1 and 2 – your ad will only show in those positions You can set highest and lowest preferred positions The AdWords system will adjust CPC to fit within preferred position Position preferences can be enabled for campaigns and individual keywords Position preferences do not work with Budget Optimizer tool The Report Center can show position preferences Does not work with preferred CPC bidding Specific Optimization Strategies Increasing Traffic/ Clicks Create new or unused unique keyword variations Use plurals and misspellings Create keywords for unadvertised products Create keywords for product categories Product types or Models Include more general keywords Generate lots of impressions Separate high traffic keywords into different ad groups Increase daily budget to increase traffic on all keywords Increase maximum CPC or Quality Score Ensure distribution preferences are set to maximize traffic Broaden Geo targeting settings Increasing Conversions Conversion Optimization requires understanding the Buying Cycle Consumers go through different stages while buying a product Keywords should address each part of the Buying Cycle Awareness/ Interest: Customer learns about product
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Consideration/ Purchase: Ready to buy – target with words like ‘buy’ and ‘purchase’ Retention/Advocacy: Target with words like ‘accessories’ to target loyal owners of a product Negative keywords help filter out uninterested users More specific keywords tend to convert at a higher rate Including prices in ad text may save you the cost of a click Adjusting CPCs to Maximize ROI Adjusting your CPC should be an ongoing process to reach your ideal CPC CPC affects position which in turn affects CTR and ROI Monitor your account after making changes since CPC can drastically affect CTR and Impressions Factors to consider before changing CPCs Length of time keyword has been running – It takes time to acquire the data to tell if a keyword is performing well Position – position affects CTR and ROI, try changing a poorly performing keyword’s position before deleting it Determining ROI How much value a keyword generates as compared to cost Track conversions from keywords If value per click is higher than average CPC there is a profit If average CPC is higher than value per click than there is a loss Increase CPC of profitable keywords for more exposure and traffic Decrease CPC of non-profitable keywords To determine your minimum bid Create a custom report for minimum bids Edit your keywords’ CPCs or URLs in your Ad Group Details page Edit your keywords in your Ad Group Details page Terms to Know Optimization – the process of adjusting your account to improve performance of you ads and produce a greater ROI Buying Cycle – the process consumers go through before purchasing; awareness, purchase, retention

Chapter 7 The AdWords Toolbox
Account Performance Tools The Keyword Tool The keyword tool is used to Find new keywords Find negative keywords Estimate traffic for existing keywords View expanded matches that may trigger your ads Ad new keywords directly to an ad group or download them The Keyword Tool provides results based on your existing campaign settings and account performance

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history If the keyword tool offers irrelevant variations, you should ad them as negative keywords When selecting keywords from the keyword tool, look for terms that are highly relevant to your product or service The keywords generated by the Keyword Tool have not been reviewed and are therefore not guaranteed approval by AdWords Site Related Keywords Tab – used to generate keywords based on the content of a webpage After adding keywords from the Keyword Tool, you can Estimate their potential traffic Add them to your ad group Download them as a .csv file Site Exclusion The Site Exclusion Tool allows you to stop your ad from being shown on certain websites in the Google Content Network The Site Exclusion Tool is located under ‘Tools’ on the Campaign Management Tab Site Exclusion is applied at the campaign level Analytics Tools The Traffic Estimator Used to estimate: Your ads position based on keyword selection and max CPC Your daily advertising costs by keyword or Ad Group The number of impressions and clicks your keywords will generate Your keywords status and minimum bid The traffic estimator is located on the Campaign Management Tab under ‘Tools’ My Change History Tool Located on the Campaign Management Tab under ‘Tools’ Used to view changes you have made to your account in the last three months Allows you to view changes within Daily Budget Keyword edits and additions Change in distribution preferences Changes made via the AdWords API If multiple people manage the account, you can view who made what changes The My Change History Tool will not display CPC changes made by the Budget Optimizer Changes made by the Ad Automator Ad approvals or disapprovals Password changes Troubleshooting Tools Ads Diagnostic Tool Used to: See if your ad is appearing on the first page of search results Determine why a particular keyword is not triggering your ad Identify why a particular ad or group of ads is not showing

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Access the Diagnostic Tool under the Keywords Variation Tab to get information on each individual keyword Or access the Diagnostic Tool from the Campaign Management Tab under ‘Tools’ Hover over the Magnifying Glass icon next to a keyword to be presented with details on that particular keyword Disapproved Ads Tool Tool displays: All ads in your account that have been disapproved The location of your disapproved ads The reason for disapproval Suggestions from AdWords to get your ad approved Date of the disapproval Disapproved Ads Tool is located on the Campaign Management Tab under ‘Tools’ Once you edit your ad it will automatically be sent for review by AdWords for approval

Chapter 8 Google Analytics
Google Analytics Basics Introduction to Google Analytics Google Analytics is used to report on the performance of your webpage Google Analytics provides reports on: Performance of all your ad campaigns How visitors use your website Understanding how users interact with your website is key to building an effective online business Helps answer questions like Why are visitors abandoning my shopping cart page? Is the design of my website inefficient? Which marketing initiatives work best? How are people finding my business? What do users do while visiting my site? What keywords generate the most conversions? Some of the things you can do with Google Analytics include: Evaluate ROI of all marketing efforts Evaluate visitor navigation to identify problem areas Track revenue and conversions Track any browser based events Define groups of users by age and gender Spend time exploring reports to fully understand the large amount of information provided To install Google Analytics to your website, simply place the Google Analytics Java Script tracking code within the body of the HTML on each page you want to track Introduction to Google Analytics Settings

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Profile – one complete set of Analytics reports for one domain Use multiple profiles to track several domains, sub-domains, or sub-directories You can have up to 50 profiles in your account Under Website Profiles Area you can: Add new profiles View reports for each profile Edit profile settings Delete profiles Editing Conversion Goals A conversion occurs when a visitor to your site completes an activity that you have identified as a goal, such as a purchase, signup, download, or page view A funnel is a series of pages a user must pass through before reaching the goal Editing Filters Filters are used to manipulate your data to depict your reporting objectives Exclude Filters – exclude specified data from your reports Editing Profile Users A user is someone that can log in to your analytics account Change first or last names and access type Access type can be administrator or ‘view reports only’ Add new or existing users Analytics and AdWords logins are separate Tracking Your Advertising Campaigns Campaign Tracking enables you to monitor the effectiveness of various marketing efforts AdWords Ads Other CPC Ads Banner Ads Email Newsletters Offline Advertising Reports allow you to compare different ads side by side Campaign Tracking Variables are identifiers you attach to the hyperlinks that lead to your website in order to track ads Reports will show where the clicks to your website are coming from Attaching Campaign Tracking Variables to a hyperlink is called Tagging Tagging is not necessary for all links since Google Analytics will track some types of referrals You can enable auto-tagging under the Account Preferences Tab Tagging is not necessary for AdWords URLs Links from search engines (organic) Links from referral sites such as portals and affiliates You should tag All non-AdWords paid keyword links Banners and other ads Links are tagged with the following Campaign Tracking Variables Campaign Name – track campaign name or product promotions, use auto-tracking feature for AdWords referrals Source – Track where customers found your hyperlink (i.e. Google.com or Email Newsletter) Medium – Helps to qualify the source (i.e. organic or CPC from the source Yahoo.com)

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For AdWords auto-tagged accounts the medium is automatically CPC Content - Optional Variable used to test different versions of an ad Called A/B content testing For AdWords auto-tagged accounts, the content variable is the first line of ad text Term – Tracks keyword or phrase that triggered the ad If you don’t manually tag your links, Google Analytics will automatically assign source and medium values that will show in your reports Automatically assigned source values are usually the domain of the reffering site Another source you may see in reports is “direct” which means the user had the URL bookmarked or typed it directly into the browser Automatically assigned Medium values will often follow the source value Organic – visitors referred by unpaid search engine result Referral – visitors referred by links that were not paid Not Set – visitors referred by links which were tagged with Campaign Variables, but not with a Medium Variable Direct/None – visitors used a bookmark or typed the URL Several Reports show traffic from tagged initiatives All Traffic Sources Report – displays all traffic that comes to your site Ad Versions Report – Traffic assorted according to content Campaigns Report Search Engines Report – View how well your paid keywords for a particular search engine are performing Terms to Know Campaign Tracking Variables – identifiers attached to the hyperlinks that lead to your website in order to track ads Tagging – the process of adding campaign tracking variables to links

Chapter 9 Managing Client Accounts

My Client Center The purpose of My Client Center (MCC) is to centralize and manage all your AdWords accounts Useful for advertising agencies, search engine marketers, and automated bid managers Useful for advertisers with very large campaigns that cannot be easily managed in one account With MCC you can access all your accounts with one password and move between accounts easily You can receive a My Client Center account by signing up as a Google Professional Sign up under the “Google AdWords Professionals” link on the Google homepage Google allows two or more of your clients to use the same keyword as long as they have separate accounts My Client Center allows you to Run a keyword report for a linked account View recent charges for a linked account

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Modify the daily budget for a campaign in a linked account The only way to edit a clients billing information, login, and password is to log directly into the clients account The Dashboard Report displays the following Status Alerts Start and End date Budget Account description Selling AdWords Selling the Benefits of AdWords Google AdWords is effective because your ads reach users at the moment they are interested in your product or service AdWords is particularly effective for Generating leads or sign-ups on your website Generating sales or conversions Brand marketing and brand awareness An advertiser only pays when a user clicks on their ad AdWords ads are seen by over 80% of Internet users in the United States every month AdWords allows for easy tracking of conversions Understanding the Basic Google Sales Pitch Four steps to creat an effective advertising campaign Create relevant keywords and ads grouped by goals Test multiple ad copies and keyword variations Use reporting tools to measure results Refine campaigns and keep what is working Once an ad campaign is created, it should be monitored regularly and modified for best results Four step client start-up process Define marketing objectives, metrics, and budget Deliver proposal, including messaging and budget options Receive client approval and sign-off Launch, monitor, and modify campaigns to meet objectives Share reports with client and refine Handling Common Questions and Concerns Why use Google over another search marketing organization? Approximately 50% of Internet users use Google as their primary search engine That is almost 2.5 times more than any other search engine 89% of Google users rated their experience as “strongly positive” Why use search marketing? Relevant, real-time, and extensive ad distribution Measurable results Total control of spending and targeting Generates leads or sign-ups on your website Generates sales or conversions Effective for brand marketing and brand awareness Respond to common objections such as “I don’t need to advertise” or “I don’t have the budget”

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Start with a budget of one dollar per day to demonstrate the possible return on investment AdWords will never charge more than the set CPC and with Smart Pricing, advertisers are charged the minimum amount necessary to show their ad AdWords API AdWords API Overview Application Programming Interface (API) is another way to manage your AdWords accounts through programs that you write AdWords API is most beneficial for online marketing agencies with multiple clients and for advertisers with technical backgrounds and/or programming skills AdWords API is a good substitute for screenscraping In order to access AdWords API, advertisers must already have a My Client Center account With AdWords API you could Create/Manage campaigns and ad groups Get traffic and performance estimates View clicks, click through rates, average position Retrieve account performance reports Modify Ad Syndication preferences Change account login information and password View basic API usage information Benefits of using API High efficiency Compatibility with many programming languages Innovative uses of AdWords Simple and quick to sign up Getting Started To sign up for AdWords API go to www.google.com/apis/AdWords Developer and Application tokens are necessary to access AdWords API Token – a combination of letters and/or numbers that identify your AdWords API activity Developer Token – one per account, shows user as approved developer Application Token – one per account (can apply for more), shows approved application for API usage Fee-based quota system Rate is 25 cents per 1,000 quota units The API operations quota is defined by the total account spend and the number of clients managed Updating the bids on 1,000 keywords would equate to 1,000 operations API Implementation Web Services provided by AdWords that give programmatic access to AdWords accounts include Data Services Criterion Service – provides information about targeting criteria, create and modify keywords and website targeting criteria Keyword Tool Service – generate keywords based on a website or specific keywords Account Service – modify AdWords account features Info Service – allows you to obtain basic information on your API usage Traffic Estimator Service – provides operations for estimating traffic for keywords, campaigns,

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and ad groups Report Service – allows you to request a report about the performance of your AdWords campaigns Data Services Campaign Service – create, update, access, list and perform campaign-wide operations such as changing the daily budget, pausing a campaign, or adding new ad groups Ad group Sevice – create, access, or update ad groups, add keywords and creatives Keyword Service – create, update, or access keywords, specify keyword type and text CreativeService – create, update, and access creatives API Data Services allow you to manage campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and creatives Use of batch operations is encouraged over single operations Terms to Know My Client Center – account management tool provided by Google Application Programming Interface (API) – a tool used to manage AdWords accounts through programs you write Developer Token – a combination of letters and/or numbers that identify your AdWords API activity – only one per account Application Token – a combination of letters and/or numbers that identify your Adwords API activity and shows approved application for API usage – can apply for more than one per account Batch Operations – API applied to a group of items at once

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