Category Archives: Google AdWords

Enhanced Campaigns Step-By-Step Update Process

Now that AdWords has announced their major system update to enhanced campaigns, the option to upgrade your current campaigns will start appearing in your accounts. This post discusses the steps to make the switch and highlights a few key new settings to explore.

If your campaign is eligible to be upgraded to the new system you’ll see the following message:

Next, you’ll get the option to adjust your bids for mobile. Make sure to review past mobile performance for each campaign before making a decision. You can choose to keep mobile bids the same as desktop and tablets, increase them, or decrease. If your mobile CPA has been higher than from other devices, I recommend decreasing mobile bids. Unfortunately, you do not have an option to adjust tablet bids. They will be the same as your desktop bids.

Next, you’ll get the following message that you have upgraded.

Once you upgrade, you’ll be able to make changes to your sitelinks and ads, among other new features. Here are a few setting you may wish to explore:

Sitelinks – Navigate to your sitelinks to upgrade to the new version. Once you do, you can customize your sitelink extensions for mobile versus desktops/tablets. You’ll also be able to use a custom schedule for each sitelink. Best of all, there is now an option to create ad group level sitelinks.

Ads – Click to edit an existing ad if you’d like to make it mobile-preferred. These ads will be given preferences on mobile devices.

Location bids – Navigate to your campaign location settings tab to edit bids by location.

If you have multiple campaigns, switch to enhanced with smaller volume campaigns while you learn the new features and get used to the interface updates. Best of luck!

What You Need to Know About AdWords Enhanced Campaigns

AdWords announced today a major change called enhanced campaigns. This change will affect all advertisers and will impact ad serving. Below, I discuss the major changes, challenges, questions, and resources.

Key Changes

Manage bids across devices, locations and time within a single campaign. Many advertisers split up campaigns by devices, so they can optimize bids and budgets and use different settings for desktops, mobile, and tablets. Moving forward, advertisers will be forced to use the same campaign for mobile, tablets, and desktops. You’ll be able to adjust bids for each device, but not budgets. This could be problematic for advertisers who have much smaller budgets for mobile, for example. One great new feature is the ability to adjust bids (by using bid multipliers) for regions/cities that are more profitable.
Ads customized to user context. Showing the right creative, sitelink, app or extension based on user context and device capabilities. You’ll be able to set “preferences” within each campaign to show ads, apps, extensions or sitelinks depending on device. Ad copy management and optimization might get even more complicated.
Advanced reporting. We’ll be able to track new conversion types such as calls, digital downloads, and cross device conversions.

Questions, Challenges & New Features

I was able to run some of my question by our Google rep and I am summarizing the highlights below.

Budgets. My first question was if we’ll be able to set different budgets by device and the answer is no. We will not be able to set different budgets for desktops, mobile, and tablets. In enhanced campaigns, budgets will continue to be managed at the campaign level via an individual campaign budget or a shared campaign budget. Similar to hybrid campaigns today, this budget may run across all devices, and advertisers will not be able to set device-specific budgets within an account or a campaign.
Bidding: For desktop/tablet bidding, you’ll set a dollar amount. Mobile will function as a % of desktop. It will not be possible to set individual keyword-level bids on mobile. This is definitely a concern, especially for advertisers tracking conversions closely and with strict CPA goals.
Opting out of mobile/tablets. The good news is that you can bid down mobile keywords 100% to opt out completely. The bad news is that tablets will always have the same bid as desktop, so you cannot opt out or adjust bids specifically for tablets.
Pausing ad groups/keywords by device. You can pause mobile at the campaign level only, by bidding down 100%. However, you won’t be able to do this the other way around because all bids will be pinned to the desktop/tablet bid. For example, you could set your desktop bids to $0.05 and then bid up on mobile by up to 300%, making an effective mobile bid of $0.15.
Reporting. One of the advantages of having separate campaigns for different devices is aggregate reporting. For example we can easily filter out all mobile campaigns and compare their performance against tablets or desktops. Having all devices lumped into one campaigns will make this much more difficult. AdWords is not planning any major reporting changes at this time. You will still be able to see reporting for mobile/tablet/desktop, using “Device” as a segment, but device numbers will need to then be multiplied across all campaigns to get your totals.
Mobile ads/URLs. Some of my clients use different URLs for mobile ads. Advertisers will still be able to create mobile preferred ads but there is no such thing as mobile only ads, which we could previously accomplish with separate mobile campaigns. However, mobile preferred ads will almost never show on other devices, unless your ads for other devices are missing or disapproved. On the side, universal ads will almost never show on mobile, unless you are missing mobile ads or they are disapproved. So, generally speaking, mobile URLs or mobile only ads should not be an issue if you set your ad preferences.
Automated rules. Automated rules will be compatible with enhanced campaigns. However, it does’t sounds like you’ll be able to set rules for tablet-only campaigns, since all tablet bids are shared by desktop. Again, this is not ideal, as it would be nice to automate bidding for tablets specifically based o tablet specific conversion data. AdWords does not yet support adjusting mobile bid modifiers via automated rules. It may be in the pipeline later this year.
Call forwarding: Google will no longer charge $1 for the call forwarding feature. Also, you’ll have the option to show your own phone number in ads on desktops and tablets, previously only available through call forwarding a number Google assigned you.

Resources

For more information and resources, you can visit the Enhanced Campaign Microsite.
In-depth guide with step-by-step directions to upgrade can be found in this PDF.

Timeline

This change will start rolling out slowly to all advertisers over the next few weeks but we will not be required to fully switch over to enhanced campaigns just yet. All advertisers will need to eventually migrate to enhanced campaigns by mid-2013. I recommend you start slow by migrating your lower volume campaigns while you learn the new features and capabilities.

Edit Your AdWords Campaigns in Bulk

AdWords just released a bulk editing feature that you can easily access within the interface. You can now make edits to thousands of ads, keywords, bids, destination URLs, and other attributes from within your account.

I’ve found the new bulk edit most useful for editing match types and bids, and for making ad text changes that apply to numerous ad groups and campaigns. Just highlight the ad groups or keywords you’d like to edit. The Edit menu is now a drop down button with various options to choose from.

Here is an example of how this will look like if you’d like to edit CPC bids in bulk. In your AdWords account, go to tab Keywords and select the keyword you’d like to adjust bids for. Go to Edit and choose Change max CPC bids… and click Preview to see what changes will be made.

You can even review the recent bulk edits you made from within the Edit menu.

UI bulk editing should make AdWords management a lot faster and save us having to use AdWords Editor for some of the more complex account management work.

Should You Use Shared Budgets in AdWords?

The new shared budgets feature in AdWords is great for those looking to streamline management and not stress out about going over their set ad spend amounts. You have the option to assign specific campaigns to your budget and AdWords will distribute spend across those campaigns. Another advantage of this feature is that if there is more traffic available via certain campaigns, AdWords will maximize ad visibility across campaigns you assign to shared budgets to increase your clicks.

You can find the tool via your AdWords campaign management page under the Shared Library section. Simply name your budget, assign campaigns you want included and set your daily budget amount.

While this is a good option for advertisers who do not have the time to manage their campaigns and adjust budgets frequently, I would not recommend it to more savvy advertisers with multiple campaigns, who are watching conversions closely. Your campaigns are likely converting very differently, and I recommend adjusting budgets based on conversion data, rather than traffic, which is what shared budgets will accomplish for you.

One creative way you could use shared budgets is to assign your top performing campaigns (that you already know tend to convert better for you) a higher percentage of your total available marketing dollars. For example, if you have a total budget of $100 per day, you could create a shared budget of $70 for your top converting campaigns, and a separate budget of $30 for your low performers.

Avoid Losing Traffic By Discovering Negative Keyword Conflicts in Google AdWords

If you’ve been wondering if any of the negative keywords you’ve been adding to your AdWords campaigns are preventing your actual keywords from showing up, you are in luck. AdWords just released a new tool that points out negative keyword conflicts as you navigate your campaign management page in AdWords. This is a great feature that can help prevent traffic losses if you happened to mistakenly negative out an important keyword.

If you do have negative keywords that are blocking your keywords, you’ll see a message such as this one:

If you click on the View link from within the message, you’ll get a full list of the offending negatives as well as the option to delete them. Of course, it’s possible that you added a negative keyword after finding out that a certain phrase did not work for you, in which case you might just want to delete the actual keyword from your campaign, rather than deleting the negative.

Bing Ads (previously adCenter) has had this feature for some time now, so it’s good to see that AdWords has added it too.

AdWords Releases Advanced Phrase and Exact Match

AdWords recently released improvements to their advanced matching options, slightly expanding phrase and exact match, so that users that are typing in misspellings and very close variations of your chosen keywords will still see your ads. This change will help boost traffic on phrase and exact keywords without bringing in irrelevant queries like broad match tends to generate.

A lot of advertisers have been vary of broad match, because of the sometimes irrelevant expansions by the system and have chosen to use phrase and exact match instead of broad match altogether.

If you’d like to opt out of this new feature, you can do so in your campaign settings page, where you will now see a new section Keywords matching options. There. you’ll be able to select your preferences to include or prevent close variants.

I still recommend checking your search query reports to ensure you are utilizing the match options effectively and excluding those irrelevant queries.

How Long Does It Take For You To Covert a Customer? Find Out Through AdWords Search Funnels

AdWords Remarketing Set-Up Best Practices

Remarketing can be a great way to reconnect with your customers as they navigate away from your site and continue to browse the display network. However, it can also be bit intimidating to set-up. In my previous post, I discussed the value and the basics of remarketing. Here, I will outline how to get started and create a remarketing campaign in your AdWords account.

Create A New Remarketing Campaign

First, create a new campaign in AdWords. This campaign should be opted out of search and into the display network only, targeting the broad reach option, as shown in the screenshot below.

Select Audiences

Then, go to Shared Library in your AdWords account and click on Audiences, which is where you will be able to create an audience and generate code to be placed on the appropriate pages. I discussed defining your audiences in my last post, please refer to it for more information on how to segment your visitors.

Select New Audience -> Remarketing List and choose a name and a cookie duration for your list. I recommend you start with a default 30 day cookie. When you save your audience, you will need to place the code on the corresponding pages of your website.

AdWords used to require 500 users in your audience list for your AdWords ads to start running. Now, your audience count needs to only reach 100 users for ads to be eligible to run. This is good news for smaller businesses and sites that do not get a ton of clicks as well as for more specific audiences.

Create Custom Combinations

You may want to create several audiences and then use custom combinations to reach the proper user base. For example, to reach only the non converters, you will want to have two audiences for all visitors and those that converted. Then, you will want to create a custom combination to target all visitors minus those that reached your conversion page.

Add Audience To Remarketing Campaign

Once you have created your audience, you will have to target it via your remarketing campaign. In your remarketing campaign, create an ad group, set your bid, and click on the Audiences tab. There, click on Add Audiences, choose the Remarketing Lists column and add in the audience you defined in the previous step.

Bidding

You can use CPC (Cost-Per-Click) or CPM (Cost Per 1000 Impressions) bidding, but I recommend going with CPC bids if you are direct response focused. You will want to start with a higher bid for more exposure, I recommend beginning with a $2 Max CPC and adjusting, as you monitor impressions, clicks and conversions.

Last Thoughts

Like with any campaign, you will want to monitor closely and adjust, based on performance. There are many more ways you can further sub-segment your audience, such as by cookie duration or display topics. Continue to experiment to custom targeting and messaging that resonates best with your customers.

Boost Conversions and Increase Brand Awareness With AdWords Remarketing

If you are like me and have been doing a lot of online shopping this holiday season, you have probably been remarketed to. Have you noticed ads on random sites that seem to ‘know’ what you recently searched for or want to buy? Yep, that’s likely remarketing.

With remarketing, you can serve your ads to users who previously visited your website as they go on to browse the display network. Remarketing can be an extremely powerful method of reminding your potential customers of your brand or reconnecting with them as they click on your ads but navigate away from your website.

If you are advertising with Google, you can set up remarketing through your Google AdWords campaigns. To get started, you’d need to first define your audiences or who you’d like to target, create a separate campaign for remarketing, and you would need to place some code on your website. Below, I am outlining some basics about remarketing and things to keep in mind as you set it up.

Remarketing Costs

The costs are the same as for other AdWords campaigns. You only pay when someone clicks on your remarketing ads or sees them (depending on if you’re using CPC or CPM bidding methods) and you set your own bids and budgets. If you are direct response focused, I recommend going with CPC bidding.

Defining Audiences

Your remarketing ads should be different for the various segments and audiences you are looking to capture. So, the first step of setting up a remarketing campaign will be to define your audiences or who your ads should reach. Here are some recommended audiences:

All Visitors: Anyone who came to your site. This is the most basic way to set-up remarketing but also the least targeted.
Non Converters: All visitors minus those that purchased a product or became a lead. Targeting such audiences can remind your non converting visitors of your brand and entice them to come back to your site and convert. You could get really specific here and target visitors who saw a particular brand or product and then show them the most relevant ads highlighting that particular brand.
By Products or Services: You could target users who visited specific pages on your site with custom ads and messages.
Topic Layering: You could further subdivide any of your chosen audiences by adding in topics in AdWords. This would segment a given audience by type of site they are browsing on the display network. For example, you could chose to show your remarketing ads to all non converters who browse finance related sites.
Converters: You could target those who already purchased a product or became a lead and continue to nurture your relationship with these visitors. Most direct response focused marketers do not see this audience as a priority, as it is more of a branding strategy.

Customizing Ads

I recommend doing a combination of text and image ads for greatest reach. Your message should be customized to the audience you are trying to reach. For example, if you are targeting visitors who did not convert, your ads should remind them why they should go with your brand or you can offer customers special discounts for coming back.

After you set-up remarketing, continue to test and experiment with audiences and settings until you find a method best suited for your goals. It is a robust tool for both branding and lead or sales generation. As you tailor it to your many unique audience segments, you can make a powerful connection with your customers.

Click-To-Call in AdWords Can Make Your Phones Ring

If you are a business that values calls more than website visits, you should be taking advantage of click-to-call mobile features in AdWords. With click-to-call, when people are searching on their mobile devices, they have the option to call you instead of clicking through to your website, thus saving customers an extra step and helping you get more engaged prospects.

To get started, I recommend creating a separate campaign that’s opted into mobile devices only. Next, you will want to go to the ‘Ad Extensions’ tab in your campaign management section, and select with ‘Location Extensions’ or ‘Call Extensions.’ The screenshot below shows an example of ‘Call Extensions’

You do have the option to enable the ‘Call-Only’ format so that only the phone number is clickable when your ad is shown on mobile devices capable of making phone calls. Please note that call-only phone extensions don’t work in conjunction with enhanced CPC or CPA bidding, so you should use Maximum CPC bidding if you’d like to take advantage of this feature. There are also issues with call-only creatives showing on BlackBerry devices, so you might want to target iPhone and Android specifically if you go with the call-only feature.

The calls cost the same as a click, but make sure you increase your bids so that your ads are showing in the top positions for maximum visibility on mobile devices. I also suggest you consider enabling ad scheduling so your mobile campaigns only run when you have someone available to take calls.