[Mike Seddon]

I wrote an article some time ago that was intended as a top tips for beginners to Adwords. I thought you good people here might find it useful. Here it is with my compliments.

The Beginners Top Tips for Success with Google Adwords


Are you thinking of using Google Adwords for the first time or have you recently tried it and gave up because you didn’t get the results you had hoped for?

There are many people who give up using Google Adwords because they are not getting the traffic they wanted or it’s costing them more money that they can afford or both!

A lot of people think that to be successful with Google Adwords you either have to be lucky or practicing some black art.

However the good news is that Google Adwords does work and you can make it work for you. By simply following the following steps, you will have a well performing Google Adwords campaign which will bring the right type of visitors to your website.

Many advertisers do not follow these basic rules and they get there advertising all wrong. So just by making sure you follow these basic steps you will already be ahead of your competition.

Understand the link between keywords, your ads and your website.

This is the golden rule for Adwords.

Google is all about relevancy.

Google wants to be sure that when one of its customers searches for something that they find websites that are relevant to that search. So you need to make sure that your list of keywords in your adgroup work well with the ads you have set for that adgroup AND that the page you send visitors to when they click on you ad also has relevancy to the list of keywords.

Keep this rule at the front of your mind when you set up your campaigns.

Avoid Broad Searches

When you set up your keywords for Google Adwords, the default setting is Broad Match.

What this means is that Google will match your keywords against a search if your words are present in the search regardless of the order of the words, whether they appear together, are plurals, etc.

As an example if you use the term used shoes as a broad match then the following searches in Google would match to your keywords

used shoes
used shoes shop
used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

As you can see this can give quite a few matches that may not be relevant to your website.

You should avoid broad searches and target you keywords with phrased and exact matches.

A phrased match is one where the keywords will only match if they are used in the exact sequence of your keyword. You enter a phrased keyword by putting quotes “” around your keyword.

So for our example, if I used “used shoes” then

used shoes
used shoes shop

would match but

used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

would not.

An exact match is one where the keywords will match only if that exact phrase is entered and no other words are used for the search. You enter an exact keyword by putting a square bracket [] around your keyword.

So for our example, if I used [used shoes] then

used shoes

would match but

used shoes shop
used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

would not.


Avoid using the Content network.


You can set up your campaigns so that you ads appear on both Google’s search network and its content network.

The content network consists of websites that allow Google ads to appear.

I recommend turning off the content option when you set up your campaign because you ad may not always appear on websites that a very relevant to the ad you are running.

Only advertise to locations that it makes sense to.


When you set up your campaigns you can select which countries you want your adverts to appear to. So for example, if you sell a product in the USA that you would not ship outside then there is little point for your ad to appear to people in Europe or China for example.

Pick the times you want your adverts to appear


You can select what time of day you want your ads to appear. So if you are trying to advertise to UK buyers who are surfing during the evening, then those are the times you should be setting your ads to appear.

Organise your ad groups and campaigns


One campaign with one adgroup and one massive list of keywords is doomed. This is the one single mistake that many first time users of Google Adwords make.

Before you start using Adwords, I strongly recommend you sit down with pen and paper to plan out your campaign and adgroup structure.

What works best does tend to vary based on what you are trying to sell. However as a guide for each campaign you should aim for no more than four or five adgroups each with ten to twenty good keywords. This will give you a set of campaigns which are easy to maintain and the keywords in each adgroup can be targeted effectively.

This is only a guideline though. I’ve actually had an adgroup with only one keyword and it performed wonderfully.


Use Landing Pages


So many people make the serious mistake of sending their visitors to their home page when they click on their ads.

You really want to send then directly to the page that is relevant to the ad you are running.

So for example, if you have an online clothes shop then for any adverts you are running for men’s gloves, you really want to send them directly to the page for men’s gloves.

So, don’t use your home page unless it makes sense. Send your visitors to land on a page that is relevant to the advert they clicked on. If you don’t have a page that is relevant to the advert, then why are you running that advert!

Use more that one Advert and TEST!


Always, always have more than one advert running for an adgroup. This allows you to see which advert is getting the best clicks through rate. You can then change the lower performing adverts and try to beat your best one. You will soon find that you have some very effective adverts.

However to test properly, you need to set the adverts to rotate evenly. This is set in the campaign settings. In the ad serving option under the advanced settings, make sure you select the radio button for Rotate: Show ads more evenly.

[admagic]

Originally Posted by Mike Seddon

I wrote an article some time ago that was intended as a top tips for beginners to Adwords. I thought you good people here might find it useful. Here it is with my compliments.

The Beginners Top Tips for Success with Google Adwords


Are you thinking of using Google Adwords for the first time or have you recently tried it and gave up because you didn’t get the results you had hoped for?

There are many people who give up using Google Adwords because they are not getting the traffic they wanted or it’s costing them more money that they can afford or both!

A lot of people think that to be successful with Google Adwords you either have to be lucky or practicing some black art.

However the good news is that Google Adwords does work and you can make it work for you. By simply following the following steps, you will have a well performing Google Adwords campaign which will bring the right type of visitors to your website.

Many advertisers do not follow these basic rules and they get there advertising all wrong. So just by making sure you follow these basic steps you will already be ahead of your competition.

Understand the link between keywords, your ads and your website.

This is the golden rule for Adwords.

Google is all about relevancy.

Google wants to be sure that when one of its customers searches for something that they find websites that are relevant to that search. So you need to make sure that your list of keywords in your adgroup work well with the ads you have set for that adgroup AND that the page you send visitors to when they click on you ad also has relevancy to the list of keywords.

Keep this rule at the front of your mind when you set up your campaigns.

Avoid Broad Searches

When you set up your keywords for Google Adwords, the default setting is Broad Match.

What this means is that Google will match your keywords against a search if your words are present in the search regardless of the order of the words, whether they appear together, are plurals, etc.

As an example if you use the term used shoes as a broad match then the following searches in Google would match to your keywords

used shoes
used shoes shop
used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

As you can see this can give quite a few matches that may not be relevant to your website.

You should avoid broad searches and target you keywords with phrased and exact matches.

A phrased match is one where the keywords will only match if they are used in the exact sequence of your keyword. You enter a phrased keyword by putting quotes “” around your keyword.

So for our example, if I used “used shoes” then

used shoes
used shoes shop

would match but

used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

would not.

An exact match is one where the keywords will match only if that exact phrase is entered and no other words are used for the search. You enter an exact keyword by putting a square bracket [] around your keyword.

So for our example, if I used [used shoes] then

used shoes

would match but

used shoes shop
used horse shoes
shoes used in modern dance
new and not used shoes

would not.


Avoid using the Content network.


You can set up your campaigns so that you ads appear on both Google’s search network and its content network.

The content network consists of websites that allow Google ads to appear.

I recommend turning off the content option when you set up your campaign because you ad may not always appear on websites that a very relevant to the ad you are running.

Only advertise to locations that it makes sense to.


When you set up your campaigns you can select which countries you want your adverts to appear to. So for example, if you sell a product in the USA that you would not ship outside then there is little point for your ad to appear to people in Europe or China for example.

Pick the times you want your adverts to appear


You can select what time of day you want your ads to appear. So if you are trying to advertise to UK buyers who are surfing during the evening, then those are the times you should be setting your ads to appear.

Organise your ad groups and campaigns


One campaign with one adgroup and one massive list of keywords is doomed. This is the one single mistake that many first time users of Google Adwords make.

Before you start using Adwords, I strongly recommend you sit down with pen and paper to plan out your campaign and adgroup structure.

What works best does tend to vary based on what you are trying to sell. However as a guide for each campaign you should aim for no more than four or five adgroups each with ten to twenty good keywords. This will give you a set of campaigns which are easy to maintain and the keywords in each adgroup can be targeted effectively.

This is only a guideline though. I’ve actually had an adgroup with only one keyword and it performed wonderfully.


Use Landing Pages


So many people make the serious mistake of sending their visitors to their home page when they click on their ads.

You really want to send then directly to the page that is relevant to the ad you are running.

So for example, if you have an online clothes shop then for any adverts you are running for men’s gloves, you really want to send them directly to the page for men’s gloves.

So, don’t use your home page unless it makes sense. Send your visitors to land on a page that is relevant to the advert they clicked on. If you don’t have a page that is relevant to the advert, then why are you running that advert!

Use more that one Advert and TEST!


Always, always have more than one advert running for an adgroup. This allows you to see which advert is getting the best clicks through rate. You can then change the lower performing adverts and try to beat your best one. You will soon find that you have some very effective adverts.

However to test properly, you need to set the adverts to rotate evenly. This is set in the campaign settings. In the ad serving option under the advanced settings, make sure you select the radio button for Rotate: Show ads more evenly.

As a basic guide:
The one main point I would add is to
use EVERY way you can, to highlight your ad over all the others.
So be sure your keywords are in the ad, and google will bold them for you. If you dont have the keywords in the domain name, or page, then invent a subdomain too. Get the reason "WHY THEY SHOULD PICK YOU" in the headline.

The Greatest Selection
of Used Ford Fiesta - and We
Wont Be Beaten on Price
used-ford-fiesta.cheapmotors.com

[Mike Seddon]

Originally Posted by admagic

As a basic guide:
The one main point I would add is to
use EVERY way you can, to highlight your ad over all the others.
So be sure your keywords are in the ad, and google will bold them for you. If you dont have the keywords in the domain name, or page, then invent a subdomain too. Get the reason "WHY THEY SHOULD PICK YOU" in the headline.

The Greatest Selection
of Used Ford Fiesta - and We
Wont Be Beaten on Price
used-ford-fiesta.cheapmotors.com

Agreed - I did say it was a beginners guide!

It's just scratching the surface of everything you can do.

BTW - I wonder how long it will be before Google start to check sub domains - got to be soon....

[admagic]

Originally Posted by Mike Seddon

BTW - I wonder how long it will be before Google start to check sub domains - got to be soon....

Im not at all convinced they will

They have only just done a review of acceptable practise, which doesnt bar it.

Since they allow you to use tracker ids, and explicitly allow you to specify a top level domain, even if sending to a lower page....it would be a mess for them to do anything other than check the TLD..

And at the end of the day, google are happy with anything that makes them more money, that does not decieve the customer as to which webite they are coming to. And since it is the going to the same TLD....the customer hardly can (or will) complain.

I have noticed a lotof people cheating. They use a tracker ids - they leave the TLD till google scan it, then immediately divert to an affiliate product , instead of their own page. I think google will be closing some accounts, because they say they are cracking down on it.

[Mike Seddon]

Yes. Google's priority remains the customer experience.

Their whole business model is making sure the user gets what they are looking for. That way they stay the top search engine of choice and that way advertisers etc will continue to use them as the channel of choice.

Nice model.

[CPLTD]

A superb insight Mike many thanks.

[fee]

Thank you for that Mike, brilliant.....