Better AdWords Basics

Why getting the fundamentals right, matters

It can be easy to let the AdWords basics slide – running campaigns can be both difficult and time-consuming. However, it’s important to keep on top of these basics so that your account is optimised and performing to its full potential.

Here are 8 search basics you should be prioritising:

1) Review the search terms report weekly or bi-weekly: it’s important to prevent your ads from being triggered by irrelevant searches. Otherwise, your results will not be a true snapshot – increased impressions, lowered CTR and in some cases wasted clicks. As a result, you should add these terms as negative keywords.

2) Install analytics tracking to review results accurately– tracking user journeys and conversions/goals can help to measure the success of campaigns, keywords, ads and ad extensions. Notably, it highlights what pages have been viewed, by who (new or returning visitors) and for how long (average page duration). It also demonstrates where users lose interest in the journey (bounce and exit rates); this can help to provide a bigger campaign picture on analysis.

3) Review your bidding strategy– it’s important to review results and see if you are using the most appropriate bidding strategy to achieve the highest ROI. This is of particular importance when using automated bidding strategies- it’s easy to let AdWords do all the work.

4) Review keywords– choose a relatively long date range and pause keywords that are either not converting, have a low CTR or a high CPA yet costing. This can ensure that your budget is being spent efficiently.

5) Review ad copy– see which ad copy is underperforming through A/B testing on headline 2 and/or descriptions and change the one that is underperforming every few months. This will help to ensure that ads contain relevant and eye-catching copy.

6) Review ad extensions– see which ad extensions are underperforming through A/B testing and change the ones that are underperforming every few months. This will help to ensure that extensions contain relevant and eye-catching copy.

7) Implement expanded ads– the advent of expanded ads has transformed AdWords advertising. You can now include more detail about your products and services to help increase CTR.

8) Include price points and USPs– including price points in ad copy and ad extensions can be difficult to get your head around, especially if you are not price competitive. However, it can prevent wasted clicks and reduce bounce rate by informing the user of what to expect should they click-through. Furthermore, USPs can help to set you aside from the rest of your competition and induce clicks in spite of price e.g. a 5-year guarantee may tempt users to spend that extra £50.

By maintaining these account basics, you can ensure that you’re making the most out of AdWords. Furthermore, it can alert you of any on-site issues. Stay tuned for Part 2 which will include areas such as custom ad scheduling, device adjustments, match types and more.