How to optimiza a PPC campaign
When we think of optimizing an adwords account we think of different levels, and those levels are
1. External - means changes outside adwords account, say for example landing page
a.Checklist
i. Landing page checklist – In this checklist we have various parameters and we pass the landing page through all those parameters, if it has the right call to action, if the landing page is easy for users, if it has the proper way to collect the lead from the user, if it influences the user to take a decision etc. Again the checklist varies from purpose to purpose, say for example if the purpose is to create a good brand image then the checklist would be different from a landing page whose purpose is to get more and more leads or to sale products online
b.A/B testing
i. Landing page – In A/B testing we try to find out the most important features for the landing page and we change those parameters and create multiple variation of the same landing page, then we start A/B testing with the help of analytics and we see which one is doing better. The same can also be done without help of analytics (doing A/B testing manually)
c.Analysis & Execution
Whichever parameter we find not passing with the checklist I change them, say for example right call to action, right color code etc. Sometimes I just create multiple landing page with completely different thought process to find out which one works better
2. Internal - means changes in adwords account, say for example keyword optimization, ad optimization
a.Checklist
i. Campaign structure – there is a basic standard stricture which I like to follow for most of the businesses, again it might vary depending on the purpose but most of the it fits into it, for example, we do not recommend running ads in CPM, we do not recommend running search and display in the same network, we do not recommend starting the campaign with a high budget, we prefer starting it with low budget and then gradually increasing it etc.
ii. Ads – Ads are very important since they are the interaction between you and your customers or clients. So putting the right message is very important. So few things which I check are
1. If your business USP is mentioned
2. If you have put the right call to action
3. If the display URL makes sense
4. If you are not violating all the policies
5. If it excites the user
6. If it is for sale, then it has to be very proper so that it does notget irrelevant clicks
7. If it is for engagement or branding then it should contain such messages about which people would like to know more
8. There are many other parameters
iii. Keywords – Keywords again are very important and risky as well, there should be right balance of volume and relevancy, if it has large search volume but less relevancy then it might cost you huge money without good return and the opposite is also not profitable until and unless you do not want to play very safe, say for example you have chosen few keywords with very limited search volume but very high relevancy but if it does not give you proper visibility then it does not make sense, running ads for very relevant keywords does make sense if you want to play very safe and do not want to take any risk but again, if there is risk, lesser is the probability of any gain. Match type is another important thing you need to watch since different match type works differently.
b. A/B Testing
i. Ads - we do some A/B testing with ads as well and create different type of ads with change in any one parameter, it can be the display URL, or it can be the call to action or anything else.
c. Analysis & Execution
i. Scheduling – At first we try to understand if scheduling makes sense for that particular business and if the ans is affirmative then I schedule it as per the analysis from time of hour, I schedule the ads when it gets better return.
ii. Quality score – this is a big big roleplayer for adwords since better your quality score is, less is the amount you pay, so it is very important to have higher quality score.
1. Keyword, ad and landing page in sync – here we make sure everythingis in sync, like the keyword has to be related to the ad, the ad should make the impression which will be continued to the landing page, so they are basically a series where everything is in sync.
2. Ad extensions – as per the latest adwords update, now ad rank will also be influenced with the presence of ad extensions and therefore it becomes more important now
3. CTR – CTR is another important factor for quality score and ad rank, better the CTR is, higher is the quality score and better is the ad rank. There are multiple level of CTR and different ways to improve CTR which ultimately influences the quality score, say for example not keeping low performing keywords (low CTR) in the same ad group, account CTR history etc.
iii. Location – If location bid adjustment makes sense for the business then we prefer them since they will bid adjustment allows you to show your ads more aggressively to those people of some region where your ads are doing good.
iv. Other bid adjustment – we also check if any other bid adjustment is feasible for the account and if yes, I go with it with keeping a close eye on it.