I always find talking about bid management for your PPC campaigns as interesting. I do not know, call me a geek but with pay per click marketing being so dynamic it only makes sense to be on top of your PPC bid management game. Here is a two part series which will list of some advanced PPC bid management strategies you can us to maximize your search marketing dollars.
Long Tail Keywords
I never thought of the day that I would be saying to cut back on your long tail keyword phrases being used but just because you have a ton of keyword phrases in your Ad Groups does not mean more sales. I am not saying to cut all of them out but it makes more sense from a resource standpoint to cut back on the long tail keywords you have and focus on the terms that are generating income for your business. When you really look at your overall campaign you will see the 80/20 rule at it’s best. Optimize the 20%! This is going to give you the max Quality Score you can achieve because your click through rate will remain higher.
Grab Visitors Sooner In The Buying Cycle
Yes, web consumers go on the web to buy but more than ever they are using the internet to window shop. Starting incorporating keyword phrases that emphasize value, incentives, or savings. If the majority of keywords you focus on are designed for the visitor ready to buy you are cutting out the ones that need to be incubated. Look at testing ads, keywords, and landing page copy to reflect value such as “discount”, “sale”, “free”, “coupon”, etc. Do not forget to use your negative keywords as well. The more impressions you can shut down that will never receive a click, the better your Quality Score will be.
Choose The Right Bid Options
Google has four bid options to choose from and they are set at the campaign level. You need test each one to fine the right paid search bid option that is right for your business or client. Set maximum bid is the one that Google defaults on all accounts. Bids can be set at the ad group or keyword level; however, you will rarely pay your maximum cost-per-click (CPC). Actual CPCs will vary widely by keyword or day because of Adwords’ ad rank formula and the AdWAords discounter. (Ad Rank = Quality Score (QS) x maximum CPC. It represents where your ad will show up in the search results.)
The biggest advantage to set maximum limits is that it’s compatible with all of Adwords’ advanced features. It is also the only option that is compatible with position preference and advanced ad scheduling. If you are bidding by position or changing bids by time of day, this option is your best choice.
The big drawback of using set maximum limits is that your actual costs and CPCs can and will vary from day to day. This gives you little control over what you actually pay. Set maximum limits is also a very time consuming bid strategy option and does leave you open to higher costs. If you have keywords that you know you can spend a certain amount on you may need to get your max bid higher than that so that your true bid cost is at your acceptable CPC. You also are at risk to pay the max CPC!
Preferred cost bidding gives you the ability to set your average CPC you are willing to pay, not a maximum CPC. Each actual cost per click may vary, but overall your average CPC will be close to your bid price. When you use this bidding process, Google automatically calculates the maximum CPC and it won’t show you! In order for the bid strategy to work you must exactly know what you want to pay per keyword or ad group.
Of course the biggest disadvantage to using preferred cost bidding is that you don’t control your maximum CPC; you only control what you want to pay. Also you lose the ability to have a position preference and scheduling your ads.
Budget optimized is designed to keep you in a monthly spend you can afford. Using this bid option will change your keyword bids to maximize your traffic. This is done by Google’s automated system and is designed to spend all your money you had indicated that you are OK with spending. It is great if you care about really one thing, your monthly spend. If you care about what keywords are returning the best ROI and using them more this is not the bid option for you.
Pay per action is for Ad Sense network advertisers only and you pay only when the desired action is taken such as a lead form competed. The major advantage is that you, the advertiser are only charged when this action is taken. This is a great bid option when you need to create more branding opportunities for your business or you know what your action cost has to be less than. Publishers also know what your willing to pay and conversion rates so if they feel they will not make money from you they will not allow you on their site. This can really hurt you from getting listed and taking advantage of this bid option.
Beat Your Brand Up!
It does not take a Phd to realize that brand terms convert the best but seem to be cut out the quickest when budgets need to be trimmed. To me this is the dumbest thing you can do is to stop your brand terms or even your trademarked terms.
So why would you want to keep your brand terms in play when you need to cut back? Here are some reasons:
- You control the message better than a organic listing. Organic listings, great as they are, do not give you the ability to say exactly what you want when you want.
- Keeping your competition out. Since last year Google has allowed the use of your competitors to bid and use your trademarks.
- Keeping affiliate costs down – If you use affiliates to drive your business they will surely use your brand terms. If you are using them this helps from them bidding on these terms.
Part 2 coming soon!
