Discussion of Google Adwords Campaign Optimization

[SubmissoR]

I would like to start a thread about using Google adwords.

Does anyone have any tips from experience using adwords? How should it be approached as opposed to Overture? Things to do, and avoid?

I see a few e-books out there for selling for about $50.00, explaining how to get good ROI, but I figured I would get better information here if I just asked!

[SubmissoR]

Ok, I will explain further.
I have a client paying $40/day using the old adwords program, paying by impression.

I put the same 4 words from the old campaign into adwords select, it predicts we will only be spending $37 a day....

[ihelpyou]

hmm. I don't know enough about adwords to help you. Anyone?

[Chaash]

Hi,
Since CPM( google adwords program) is cost per impression and CPC( google adwords select) is cost per click, there will be a difference in the price.
one thing seems to be confusing here is that, in the CPM(adwords program) program i dont think u have an option to choose the daily budget, it is only in the cpc( adwords select) where in u can select a daily budget.

[kykex]

Adwords select is a little different from other pay-per-click like Overture because you set a max bid for ALL your keywords. So obviously it might be a problem (like you bid to high for some and not enough for others). Fortunately you can split your campaign into different sets of keywords with different max bid.

Also, no need for PPC optimizer softwares, Google takes care of it for you.

Personally I get much better results with the new adword select than with the old system.

Voila.

[Mertu]

I haven't used either myself (yet), but...

In the old adwords program, you pay whenever the ad gets displayed. To me, that's like wasting money. You pay even if the person searching is like me and has "banner blinders" (either from conditioning or software).

With adwords select, you only pay if someone actually clicks on the link. Given similar setup and keywords, I would bet on a better ROI on the select program than the old--based just on the percentages.

If possible, I'd suggest the client suspend the adwords campaign and try the select program for a month. If the results aren't as good as the old program, switch back. As far as basic campaign costs, they should lose $2 at most (the $5 activation fee minus the $3 difference between the program costs).


Sean

[SubmissoR]

So I suppose that ebook I see everyone selling on how to use google adwords just filled with hype then. I figure it must be the same as all those books selling "search Engine Secrets."

There is no extra info there, just: use a lot of keywords, bid low, and use different campaigns to keep you bids low.

[nitewing2]

Hi,

Just picked this up over at !Burst media forums about Google adword program:

Pop-Up: Our Editorial Guidelines states that we do not allow links that generate pop-ups when users enter or leave your site. We consider a pop-up to be any window, regardless of size or content, that opens in addition to the original window. Our experience is that pop-ups make the information seeking process less efficient and discourage users from clicking on ads.

HUUH?

I click on a lot of sites and get pop ups, what gives?

Ann

[haystack]

In some cases, the original Adwords campaigns are cheaper than the Adwords Select. If you have a high click through rate on your ads you're probably going to do better paying on an impression basis rather than by the click.

I've seen this most often in cases where a search term happened to have poor quality algo search results and few ads along the right column. It's probably because it's the most relevant thing on the page, so it gets clicked on the most.

On the pop-up thing, I have one site that was causing pop-ups on exit due to a hosed up DNS record that was referring to the site's initial startup page (brand new site) rather than the real homepage. I kept getting automated emails from Google suspending this ad group until I figured out what's going on.

-Ed Kohler

[kykex]

"I click on a lot of sites and get pop ups, what gives?"

Ann you sure it's not the results of spywares on your comp? You may want to use the free program "ad-aware" or else to check that.

- Niko.

[Advisor]

Originally posted by SubmissoR
So I suppose that ebook I see everyone selling on how to use google adwords just filled with hype then. I figure it must be the same as all those books selling "search Engine Secrets."

There is no extra info there, just: use a lot of keywords, bid low, and use different campaigns to keep you bids low. If you're talking about Andrew Goodman's special report for 21 ways to maximize your Google AdWords listing, then it's absolutely not hype.

The report has saved many people from abandoning under-performing Google AdWords campaigns. It's not just surface stuff, but real world, in-depth ways to mazimize your ROI on your Ads. The key thing Andrew talks about is how to get your clickthrough rate up and your price per click down. I've personally widdled my price per click down to 5 cents for all my words, and my clickthrough is up.

When I originally started my AdWords campaign, I was paying over a dollar for some keywords, which was just plain dumb. Andrew gives great information that really works. Now, I have never done Overture, so perhaps if I were already familiar with that some of what Andrew says may have been more obvious to me. However, I know tons of people who have purhased his report that already do Overture stuff, and they've been very pleased with it. In fact, I sold over 131 of his special reports through my newsletter, and have not heard one bad word about, nor had any requests for refunds.

Needless to say, I heartily recommend it. Yes, it is worth every penny of the very reasonable cost.

You can read my full review of the report here. (http://www.highrankings.com/issue016.htm#stuff)

Good luck!

Jill

[JohnDee]

Here's one tip I learned through trial and error. I should mention that I am running a campaign for an *extremely* competitive set of keywords.

When I first set the minimum daily spend to $1 (as advised by my client) it seemed that the ads were only getting a (very) few impressions per day.

When I upped this to $25, my impressions began to soar.

Note that the actual daily spend is now around $1.

Your milage may vary... Monitor daily at first.

Try increasing your maximum bid until you have established a decent average position (3?), then drop it down progressively. I didn't try this yet but it makes sense. Anyone else got a take on this?

Of course you should ensure that you have plenty of targeted keywords in a campaign.

I noticed a very strange result in two campaigns - *the* most popular keyphrase (according to Overture's suggestions tool) has had zero clickthroughs even after 400 impressions! Whereas with the same ads I have hit 100% (on one/first click :scattered: )and other keywords with very decent CTRs.

Anyone have ideas why this is happening ?

So... Experiment - have fun :bouncy: Don't be shy!

Am I on the right track Jill? I didn't read the book yet!

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums JohnDee! :hi:

Thanks for sharing your experiences!