The Maine SEO Blog

David Szetela, of Clix Marketing, gave a really great presentation for Search Engine Strategies on segmenting with Pay Per Click. You can follow David on Twitter here.

PPC Segmenting = Targeting

1. Targeted Campaigns
2. Diverse Keyword Lists
3. Brand Term Segmentation
4. Intent-targeted Landing Pages

Segmenting Campaigns

1. Geotargeting
2. Search Networks
3. Content Target Types
4. Devices
5. Dayparting

Geotargeting Campaigns

Segment Search Networks

Search and Content campaigns should never be mixed, even though that is the default behavior.

Segment by device

Unless your campaign is designed specifically for mobile devices, uncheck the iPhone/mobile devices box off.

Segment by Hour/Day

Don’t make your dayparting decisions based on intuition. Microsoft Ad Center is the only paid search provider which gives data by hour of day. AdWords, unfortunately, does not give you

Segmenting Ad Groups

• Directly affects profitability
• Affects CTR, which affects QS, which affects CPC
• Goal should be high CTR/QS and high conversion rates

Szetela Ad Group Rule: All keywords in an ad group should have at least two words in common.

For example:

• Keyword list:
• Hawaii travel
• Hotels in Hawaii
• Flights to Hawaii
• Hawaii beach vacation
• Hawaiian holidays
• Maui Hotels

Segmented list into 3 smaller list

List 1:

• Hotels in Hawaii
• Hawaii hotels
• Find Hawaiian hotels

List 2:

• Hawaii vacation
• Vacations in Hawaii
• Hawaiian vacations

List 3:

• Maui flights
• Flights to Maui
• Cheap Maui flights

Here is the original ad (left) vs. the new three, segmented ads (right):

Segmenting Ad Groups with AdWords Editor

David estimates that using the Google AdWords Editor takes about 1/10 the time as using the web-based editor.

Segmenting Brand Campaigns

[David gives full credit to Craig Danuloff and this blogpost for the following.]

• Brand pure keywords (acme widegets, acmewidgets, acmewidgets.com, amcewidgets)
• Navigational brand keywords (acme widgets site, acme widgets homepage, acme widgets Portland)
• Brand related keywords (acme’s CEO name, acme’s patented manufacturing technique)
• Brand plus keywords (acme widget ball bearings, acme shipping policy)

Use Negative Brand Keywords

Use “-acme ball bearings” because you want “we are the manufacturer” ads to show, not the generic “we have great ball bearings” ads  to show.

Landing Page Segmentation

Land PPC visitors on different pages depending on the buying cycle phase

Early phase/Late phase Pages

Early phase

• Several choices
• Browser/Shopper Navigation
• Multi-option Layout
• Soft offers

Late phase

• One choice
• Little/no off-page navigation
• Sparse layout
• Single hard offer

Example: Software

• Early phase: Download a white paper; browse features
• Mid-term phase: Download trial software (keyword: “compare”)
• Late phase: Buy software

Q&A

Q: How do I find search queries?
A: Four places:

1. AdWords user interface (click on tab in interface and see keywords and what Google matched to)
2. Run search query report in AdWords interface
3. Log files out of your FTP server
4. Search query reporting from paid search reporting systems

Q: Do you create all three match types for every keyword?
A: Yes; except for 1- and 2-word broad matches. But we do use phrase match for both versions (e.g. “red widget” and “widget red”)

Q: Do you feel AdWords content network is better for branding?
A: Search network is for demand satisfaction. Content network is better for demand generation; evoke, build, and create demand. And no, it’s not exclusively for branding.

Q: Do you pause underperforming keywords or keep them active?
A: Theory: there’s no such thing as a bad keyword. If you have research saying a keyword is being used and it’s not performing, maybe it’s paired with the wrong ad and/or landing page.

Q: Do you recommend starting with specific segments or starting broad and getting specific?
A: If you have less time and start broader, just make sure you’re able to pay frequent attention to be ready to create more targeted and specific ads.

Q: Best resource to learn more about segmenting brand terms?
A: Read at least two books (including David’s Customers Now); Mark and Motive training.

Q: What search engines do you advertise with?
A: The big three; Facebook; every once in a while 2nd tier SEs like Ask.

Q: Where are the biggest short comings with segmenting?
A: Three things:

1. Most advertisers neglect turning off content network when they’re running search campaigns.
2. Ads directed to mobile devices – turn it off!
3. Huge keyword lists with very little resemblance to one another. Low CTRs (under 1.5%) – ad is poorly written (no benefits or calls-to-action) or keywords are too generalized.

Q: Where do you see Twitter fitting in as a tool for segmenting in PPC?
A: Twitter and Facebook are two additional sources of traffic to a site; then there’s organic search, PPC, and email. Armed with great Analtyics tools, advertisers will be measuring the affect of each medium on the conversion path (so you know the value of each step in the path). For example, the first visit comes from Twitter, the second two come from PPC, and the last three come from Facebook before the customer converts. Current Analytics only give value to the last.

Q: In content advertising, is there less segmenting necessary?
A: When you use the content network, think of sites your audiences hangs out at. If the set is small, you have a small set of ad groups; if it’s large, you have a large set.

Q: Is there a maximum number to a list of keywords?
A: You can’t have more than 2,000 keywords in a list; if you beg, you can have 5,000 keywords. (But that probably doesn’t follow Szetela’s rule of having each keyword have two similar terms.)

Q: Do you think automatic matching should be turned off in most cases?
A: Yes; it means “match my broad match keywords to even broader match keywords” – it’ll match “red sneakers” to “purple slippers”.

Q: What are the best practices for finding the CPC initially?
A: Start with conservative estimates; take your target CPC – and conversions and CTR are low – then go backward to the cost you’re willing to pay per click.

Maybe you bought a directory listing at the Yahoo Directory. Or maybe you’re trying to leverage AdWords. Perhaps you (gasp) bought a link from a link farm. Or even advertising on a local news website.

Regardless of where you’re spending your money; at the end of the day, all of these incoming links are intended for one purpose and one purpose only: conversions.

If a free link you got after spending a few minutes courting a blogger aren’t getting you any conversions, well, what can you do really? But if you’re actively spending money for those links, the traffic had better be converting, right?

There’s an easy ways to check. Head over to your Google Analytics account.

First things first, do you have Google Analytics Goals set up? Do it immediately if you don’t.

Incoming Links

With goals in place, go to the Traffic Sources section, then Referring sites.

Now click your Goal(s) tab. You should have a pretty good idea now about which referring websites convert and which ones don’t.

Why does it matter?

Perhaps your links you’re not paying for are converting at a far higher rate than expensive directory listings or advertisements. Make sure you look at many months’ worth of data before you make any big decisions. But these conversions might help show you your expensive paid efforts aren’t worth the money.

AdWords Campaigns

If your goals are already in place, go to the Traffic Sources section, AdWords, then into AdWords campaigns.

Just like for referring sites, click on your Goal(s) tab.

Why does it matter?

Again, do you want to be bidding for keywords that aren’t converting? Same thing as referring keywords: gather enough data to make deleting keywords/ads/campaigns plausible.

Note: This is the Google Analytics version of AdWords conversions. In order to get the robust version of conversion tracking, make sure you use AdWords’ Conversion Tracking.

Nicki Hicks
Are you throwing away money?

If you use Google AdWords, you should be using the conversions measurement. If you’re not, never fear, all you need is Analytics!

I’ve been using Google AdWords conversions for quite some time now, but haven’t noticed (until today) that you can import your Google Analytics goals (as long as your AdWords and Analytics accounts are connected) as AdWords conversions. That way, you only need to install one set of code: your Google Analytics code. Evidently, the ability to do so has been available for almost a year!

Confused yet? These screen shots should help explain.

Under the Reporting tab, click “Conversions.” Without any conversions set up, you should see a screen that looks like this:

Again, you’ll need to connect your AdWords and Analytics accounts to see this screen.

Click “Import from Google Analytics”. In the past you would have had to insert a code (and you still can), but now you have the option to sync your Analytics goals.

Click import, and you’re good to go!

Nicki Hicks
Google: Making life easier one day at a time

1. Structure your campaigns in the same way as your website – or your landing pages. In other words, you have your parent pages (campaigns), category pages (ad groups), and landing pages (individual ads). That way, like ads and ad groups live together.

2. Go specific, not broad – hence multiple campaigns/ad groups/ads. You want to address a specific need with each ad and, starting out, you might need to have a wide variety to see what works for you.

3. I like to start by seeing what other people are doing. Search for your keyword and see what the other ads are saying – will yours be able to compete? (Then once you’re done, go back again and double check the ad can still compete.)

4. Start with your keyword analysis and after bidding on your keywords, reiterate them in your ad. (Double check bid amounts on your keywords with Google’s Keyword Tool.)

5. Hit pain points…many, many pain points.

6. Include a call-to-action or incentive as appropriate. Is it “Buy now!” “Free shipping!” “20% for a limited time”. Think about what would make your audience not only click, but convert.

7. Direct your ad to a killer landing page that gives the searcher exactly what they were expecting (and more!).

8. Give other ads in the same ad group the same feel with a different spin; remember they’re all targeting the same keywords. Use percent served to mold and change the ads depending on what you find.

What did I miss? What other tips can you offer?

Nicki Hicks
8 Quick Tips

You’ve gone through the process of setting up AdWords, but there are so many tabs, so much to do, and so many statistics! Here’s a glossary of need-to-know terms.

At the Campaign Level…

AdWords accounts are separated first by campaigns. Depending on how many ad groups you’re running, the need for multiple campaigns may vary. For many of our small business clients, only one campaign is necessary.

• Campaign: The names of the campaigns – so be sure to create more specific names than Campaign 1, Campaign 2, and so on. Click on one to drill down into the ad groups of each.
• Budget: The daily budget set per campaign.
• Status: The state of the Campaign. Google will alert you whether the campaign is paused, deleted, limited by budget, etc.
• Clicks: How many total clicks (including all of its ad groups) the campaign has received.
• Impr.: Impressions. The total number of impressions (how many times your ad appears) for all ad groups in the campaign.
• CTR: Click Through Rate. A percentage of clicks per impressions; again, out of all ad groups in the campaign.
• Avg. CPC: Average Cost Per Click. The number will give you the average amount you pay per click on average for all the ad groups in the campaign.
• Cost: Total amount spent for the entire campaign, based on the date range set.
• Avg. Pos.: Average Position in the Paid Search Results.

Note that all of the statistics are dependent on the time range set in the top right corner of the screen. (By default, AdWords will be set to yesterday.)

At the Ad Group level…

Each campaign can have an endless number of ad groups. Typically, all of the ad groups should be related. If you find you’ve created too many ad groups within a single campaign, this is where I would suggest creating another campaign.

You’ll see many of the same statistics in the ad group section, with the addition of:

• Search Max. CPC: Search Maximum Cost Per Click. This is the highest dollar amount you’re willing to pay for any given click within Google’s search network (or search engines).
• Content Max. CPC: Content Network Maximum Cost Per Click. If you chose during setup to have Google automatically bid on content network (or blogs and websites within the Google network), then your Content CPC will be set to “auto”. Otherwise, this is the maximum dollar amount you’re willing to pay for any click within the content network.

At the Ad level…

Individual ads exist at the deepest level. Like ad groups, you can have any number of ads. Remember: all of the ads in an ad group target the same keywords.

You’ll see a lot of the same statistics at the ad level with the addition of:

• % served: Percent Served. If you have multiple ads in an ad group, you can choose to allow Google to serve them either evenly over time, or ad rotation. With ad rotation (which I would suggest), Google will serve up the ad with the better click through rate, slowly showing it more and more over time. With % served, you can see which ad(s) are performing better, and edit/change others as necessary.

That’s it for the biggest statistics within Google AdWords.

Nicki Hicks
Now get tracking!