Tag: DIY-PPC

These articles are relevant if you are managing your own PPC.

Site usage data for search terms

Site usage data for the search terms that you paid for in Google ads can be very useful information in judging what keywords you should keep.

How do we judge if a keyword is useful in our Google account?

You would of course see the conversion data, the search queries (the actual terms which the user typed that triggered the keyword in your account), and other such data that is available in the Google ads interface.

However, if you have Google Analytics linked with your Google ads account (and this linking is highly recommended), then you can also see the engagement data for the search queries that triggered your ads.

For example, if you are bidding on a competitor name, then over time you will find out whether this keyword is converting (bringing business for you) or not. However, it can also be very interesting to see the website engagement data for such keywords.

You can see this engagement data in Universal Google Analytics in Reports > Acquisition > Google Ads > Search Queries section of the Google Analytics interface. Once you are in this section, Google Analytics will show you a Summary by default. In order to see more engagement data, click on the “Site Usage” link. (This site usage link is on the top of the graph that you see on the page and you can easily find this link by searching for the words site usage using the Find option in your browser.)

site usage data for search terms - engagement data for search queries

Once you have the Site Usage report open in front of you, you can see data like Pages/ Session, Avg. Session Duration, Bounce Rate, and Goal completions for the search queries (the actual terms that users typed) that you paid for in Google Ads.

Let us suppose you notice that people visiting your website after clicking on an ad that you show when people search for your competitor, engage well with your site but do not convert, then it may be that these people are looking for an alternative to your competitor (which can be you) but your content is not convincing enough to convert them. The site usage report can show you this data and you can take appropriate action on that basis.

In some cases, the competitors are so strong (they have such high brand recognition and interest) that most people looking for those competitors will not look at your site in depth. Even if such people reach your site by clicking on the ad that you showed for those competition keywords, they may not engage with your site. It may be better to avoid such keywords until you have something (some deal, some content) that can attract the fans of your competition to your company.

The site usage report for search queries can help you decide which competition keywords you should keep and which ones you should not bid on (till you are ready for your competition).

As always there are other uses of this information (report), and there are other ways to decide on the usefulness of your keywords but this tip is only meant to point out an available resource that you may consider when deciding on the success of your keywords.

How to make youtube ads that work – ABCDs of Effective Creative

A = ATTRACT
( Start at 30 seconds in the above video – https://youtu.be/vIY2BcoNO9A?t=30 )

Front-load your most interesting piece at the start. Hook audience attention from the start.

B = BRAND (When should you introduce your brand in the video?)
(1 min 15 seconds in the video – https://youtu.be/vIY2BcoNO9A?t=75 )

If your goal is upper funnel like Ad recall, then bring your brand name on the screen within the first 5 seconds, and then show it often throughout your ad.

If your goal is mid-funnel like Consideration, then let the audience first engage with your video (content), to understand your story, and then introduce your brand later in a way that makes them connect with your brand in a more memorable way.

C = CONNECT through emotion and storytelling
(2 min 14 seconds into the video at https://youtu.be/vIY2BcoNO9A?t=134 )

Use creative content and styles to connect with  your audience

Try fast pacing – new cuts, new scenes to make the video fast-paced.

Make sure to use both visuals and audio to make an impact.

D = DIRECT – Direct the viewer what to do next
( 3min 6 seconds into the video https://youtu.be/vIY2BcoNO9A?t=186)

Make sure you use an appropriate “call to action” to direct the users to what you are expecting next.

 

Google Analytics 4 property

Google Analytics 4 Property is the next generation of Google Analytics.

You should install it along with your current GA tag.

See this video to know more about it in simple terms –

The implementation can vary from case to case and the theme or other plugins shown towards the end of the video are not necessary.

This video is also useful to get started with GA4

Other resources –

What is Google Analytics 4 property

Upgrade to GA4 

Google ads target by age (Feb 2020)

Google ads target by age (or Google ads demographic targeting)

Age targeting is not available while creating the search campaign

When creating a new search campaign, if you try to look for age group targeting in the “Audiences” section of campaign buildout then you will not find age group targeting in the “Who they are” (Detailed demographics) targeting.

google ads target by age

 

How to target by age?

First create a new campaign, without trying to do any age targeting at the campaign creation stage. Now open this new campaign.

Go to “Demographics” – it is an option on the left hand side bar (left hand side page menu) when editing campaigns. See following screenshot.

google ads target by age - demographic targeting

Since you want to set the age (demographic) targeting at the campaign level, please make sure that campaign view is selected in the drop down on the right hand  side of the screen as marked by an arrow in the above screenshot. (You can set age group targeting at ad group level also.)

Now select “More” and then select “Exclusions”. Please refer to above screen shot – More is marked by an arrow.

Once “Exclusions” is selected, you might see something like the following screenshot –

google ads target by age - google ads demographic targeting

Select the age groups or other demographics you want to exclude and you are done.

Further resources

If you want to read more, please see these Google support article –

Read Google’s article on excluding demographic groups – https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2601123?hl=en&ref_topic=3122881

Read about demographic targeting options, how Google determines demographic information, and more details about the “Unknown” category in this article – https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2580383?hl=en&ref_topic=3122881

How to add demographic targeting to an ad group – https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2580282?hl=en&ref_topic=3122881

 

Google Ads Display Campaigns – Better audience available for a long time now

Summary : If you have not recently checked the audience targeting of your Google ads display campaigns, then please do so and (if suitable) please make use of the new targeting options like custom intent audience and life events which were not available earlier. 

This post is not for someone who regularly creates new campaigns. If you do, then you already know about these features.

This post is for the Do-It-Yourself business owners who may not have time to regularly check their accounts.

If you are managing Google ads and if you have not looked deeply into your ad account for a long time, then I urge you to definitely try and create a new campaign, just to see and use the new ad types, optimizations and targetting available in Google ads now.

Example, please see the following screen shot from the Google ads account of a basement renovation company in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. ( This screen is presented when trying to edit audiences of their currently running display campaign).

On the right hand side are the 7 audiences being used by this account’s display campaign.

Do you think that the audiences listed on the left hand side might be more relevant for the basement renovation market?

I definitely think so and in fact I have seen that custom intent audience can work really well.

I am aware that these audiences were not available some time back.

So the business owner (or the agency that created that account and then probably forgot about it) were not really wrong – they chose the best possible audience available at that time. However as you might have heard before – ad accounts are not “do-it-and-forget-it” properties.

This level of audience fine tuning is relatively new. Changes like these are one of the reasons why you should regularly check your Google ads account, to make sure that you are using all the new features relevant for your business.

So, if you are running your own ad account and have not recently reviewed your audience targeting, then it may be a good idea to do so today.

Useful info on Google ads policy disapprovals

If you are a PPC pro then this article might be a useful read – https://www.ppchero.com/google-policy-ad-disapprovals-a-story-of-false-flags/

If you are a business owner managing your own PPC, then most probably you may not have time to check your Google ads account everyday. In such a case, do follow the “Email Notifications” section of the above article, to set up email notification for ad disapproval.

 

Free VPN for accessing Google Ads (adwords) web interface

Most people would not need a VPN solution to access Google ads web interface.

However if are using a VPN for accessing Google ads web interface, and if that VPN solution happens to be  Windscribe for Chrome then you would know that Windscribe is no longer working well. (as of November 2019)

You could try https://setupvpn.com/ or  http://freevpn.zone/ , instead of Windscribe.

Paid (premium) VPN solutions also exist and may be better in some contexts, but I find that above free VPNs work fine too.

Google ads – Ad rotation “Optimize for clicks” does not always deliver the best results

  1. If you have a new ad that MUST run along side an old ad, it is advisable to manually switch campaign ad rotation settings from “Optimize for clicks” to “Rotate indefinitely” for some time.
    • Do NOT rely on “Optimize for clicks” because sometimes it does not give any impressions to the new ad – it does not test the new ad as it should. In my experience I have seen the algorithm fail too many times!
    • Sometimes the ad rotation algorithm decides in favour of the old ad in so few impressions that the new ad just does not get sufficient impressions to make any impact on the audience.
    • So manually switching ad rotation settings is advisable if you want to make sure that the new ad get a good chance to run along side the old ads.

  2. If you want to test a new ad, then also “Rotate indefinitely” might be better for some time. After some performance data is collected, then you could hand over ad rotation to the “Optimize for Clicks” algorithm if you want.

  3. In certain cases, where you want multiple messages to be shown to the same audience (for example if you want to highlight all the multiple product/ service benefits to your remarketing audience), again rotate indefinitely” might be a better option for you.

Without going into any details I will just link to an excellent article written on Adalysis in Sep 2018 –  https://adalysis.com/blog/google-ads-optimize-ad-serving-often-fails/

It’s over one year but the observations in this article are still very true. “Optimize for clicks” is not the best solution for all situations.

20 trigger words to improve your ads

The new AdWords expanded text ads allows 45 more characters. Its time to be more creative with the ad copy. Try these 20 trigger words to possibly improve your ad copy.

  1. You / Your
  2. Because
  3. Imagine
  4. Real / True
  5. Boost / Turbo / Speed / Instant / Now / No waiting
  6. Secret / Hidden
  7. Discover/ Unlock
  8. New
  9. Free
  10. Save / bargain/ value/ off / discount / deal / roll back
  11. More
  12. Amazing/ Incedible / Great / Awesome / Huge
  13. 100% Money back
  14. Act now / Today
  15. Everything / Everyone / All inclusive / Every where / Any where
  16. Easy / Simple
  17. Guarantee / guaranteed / warranty
  18. Proven / Reliable
  19. No obligation
  20. Premium / Elite / VIP

Detailed article :

How to improve AdWords ads? Make the best use of the additional 45 characters provided by the new expanded text ads.

I will come to the trigger words later but first I would suggest including more “BENEFITS” in your ads.

I think the best possible use of the additional allowed characters might be to add more product or service benefits to the ad copy.

There is a very popular saying in marketing – Benefits sell, features tell. When writing ads and landing page copy, this simple statement has always helped me get better CTR and conversions.

However many of my clients do not have any significant benefit over competitors. In fact I had to think of some differentiating factors when I started AdWords for some of them. This is very typical with small business and many business verticals where the product or service is almost commoditized. How does one differentiate ads is such a case? While there are many strategies available but the following trigger words could also help in attracting and motivating your target audience.

  1. You / Your – helps in getting attention, makes your ad more conversational and easier to relate to.
  2. Because – Everybody loves good reasons. Use “because” to build confidence by giving reasons. Due to limited space in AdWords, the word “because” was very difficult to use earlier. However now it may be possible to use this word more often.
  3. Imagine – paint a scenario to attract attention. This is a difficult word to use in ads because its tough to paint a scenario in so few words but it can be interesting. Example – “Imagine if you could… ” Or “Imagine pure indulgence….”
  4. Real / True/ Pure – Example, Real success, True wealth, Real solution, Real world techniques and so on..
  5. Boost / Turbo / Speed / Fast / Instant / Now / No waiting– Everyone wants fast results
  6. Secret / Hidden – Everybody wants to know the secrets!
  7. Discover/ Unlock – I use them very often with excellent results. (“Unlock your hidden potential”..)
  8. New – “New” has been a favorite word of advertisers since generations! Nothing new needs to be said about it! 🙂
  9. Free – probably the most overused word in advertising, and unsurprisingly it still works to improve CTRs.
  10. Save / bargain/ value/ off / discount / deal / roll back  – Everyone wants a deal!
  11. More – The desire to get more is universal.
  12. Amazing/ Incredible / Great / Awesome / Huge – Similar to above.
  13. Act now / Today – Work well when used for limited time offers otherwise this phrase just adds “noise” to your ad. (“Noise” in an ad is when you are saying things which are of no practical relevance. Ad space is precious. Use it wisely.)
  14. Everything / Everyone / All inclusive / Every where / Any where – people like to follow popular things (herd mentality still exists!). Solutions that include everything, work any where are always attractive to us.
  15. Easy / Simple
  16. 100% Money back – Reduces the friction of the offering.
  17. Guarantee / guaranteed / warranty – same as above
  18. Proven / Reliable – same as above.
  19. No obligation – same as above.
  20. Premium / Elite / VIP – works well to convey more desirability or higher quality.

Remember, trigger words are not magic bullets. They are just words to which people might respond favorably. When combined with other advertising techniques, they can significantly boost your results but real business reasons, real business USP which actually make difference to your customers makes for a much more successful advertising than any language gimmick.

These words could be helpful to gain that tiny (or sometimes significant) advantage over your competitors so do try to use them in your ads and share your feedback.

( Additional resource : A much more detailed and very popular article about power words is here. )