Whether you’re a veteran planner/buyer of Search, many in the industry can agree that often times it’s a big beast to comprehend. Through a recent exercise done in-house at PGR Media, we took one of our clients back to the basics to once again wrap our arms around the Search beast.
Often times it can be beneficial to go back to basics. We analyzed keyword bids, ad copy, landing pages, the campaign set up, match types and the quality score. Once that process was complete, we studied the entire plan and looked for bid adjustments to improve performance and chose to pause elements that had not been successful. These optimizations were not necessarily huge shifts, but small tweaks made that drove stronger performance and ultimately, results.
Taking a 5,000 foot view of our current campaign allowed us to assess our campaign goals. We asked ourselves, “Is your campaign goal to drive clicks or conversions?” Those two goals might seem one in the same but that’s not always the case. Clients can set up campaigns based on the two goals, branded and non-branded, which allows buyers to easily optimize each campaign and report on the performance of each by goal.
Once you’ve outlined your goals, take a deeper dive into your program to look at your keywords, Ad Text & Landing Pages to see if they are all helping you get to that goal. While you don’t want to get “pause-happy” with your keywords, you definitely want to see if these keywords have a low Quality Score or a low CTR. Is the low performance due to ad text or landing pages or due to low bids?
Our first step is always the easiest – new creative. Adding promotional Ad Text or updating our Ad Extensions is a great way to drive higher clicks and improve Quality Score and CTR. We also recommend taking advantage of as many beta programs as possible, including Ad Extensions. Utilizing Call Extensions (800# in ad text), Call Out Extensions (detailed brand information including products & services), Sitelinks (always use Extended Sitelinks if possible to deep link to promotions, services and relevant products) and Review Extensions (third-party review of the advertiser’s business) will help your Ad stand out.
Lastly, create a check-list. List all the items you want to review:
Account Structure
Keyword analysis
Ad Text analysis
Bid Modifiers: match type, location, device etc
Ad Extension Analysis – utilize as many as possible
Landing Page Analysis – are you driving to the right page?
Settings basics – language, location (any to exclude?), Delivery method etc.
Competitive Analysis – is there anything to learn from competitors?
And lastly, happy searching!
Written by: Jaclyn Gary is an Interactive Media Director at PGR Media.
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