AdWords Welcome Pack: How well is AdWords working for you?

Email 5 of 6

Hello,

With Google AdWords, it's all about results, and the best way to ensure you are getting value for your advertising spend is to monitor your account performance.

How is my AdWords account performing?

The first, and easiest way to measure your success is to review your AdWords statistics. Success with AdWords will be different for every business and will depend on your business goals. However, there are a few things to look out for that will indicate your ads are running successfully:

Impressions

The number of impressions tells you how many times your ad has been displayed to your potential customers. A high number of impressions means your ad has been seen a lot but is not necessarily a measure of your account effectiveness. You need to review this in relation to your clicks (how many people have clicked on your ad) to understand your ad's relevance to your audience. This is easily done by looking at your clickthrough rate (CTR).

Clickthrough Rate (CTR)

To get an immediate idea of how well a campaign is doing, check the CTR – how often people click on your ad after seeing it. As a rule of thumb, a CTR on Google under 1% indicates your ads are not targeted to a relevant audience. Look at this on the 'Campaigns' tab and view the CTR of your individual keywords and ads on the respective tabs.

Average Position

Check the Avg. Pos. column on the 'Campaigns' tab in your account to find out where your ad is appearing on the search results page. There are up to 11 ads shown on any search page so if your average position is 11 or more your ad is, on average, not appearing on the first page of search results. You should aim to show your ad on the first page of search results so your potential customers can more easily find your ad.

First Page Bids

If your ad is not appearing on the first page of search results, you will see first page bids on the 'Keywords' tab under the 'Status' column. High bid estimates can indicate that your keywords or ads are not as relevant as they could be.

Quality Score

Each of your keywords is given a quality score which can be found by clicking on the icon in the 'Status' column on the 'Keywords' tab. A keyword's quality score updates frequently and is closely related to its performance.

In general, a high quality score of 9 or 10 means that your keyword will trigger ads in a higher position and at a lower cost-per-click (CPC). Quality score looks at a variety of factors to measure how relevant your keyword is to your ad, and to a user's search query.

If you would like to improve these metrics, we suggest optimizing your account using our Optimization Tips.

I know how many people clicked on my ad, but how many became my customers?

While the number of clicks tells you how many people visited your website, it doesn't tell you how valuable those visitors are to your business. For this, you need to know how many of the people that clicked your ad went on to perform a desired action on your site (e.g. completed a purchase, signed up for a quote etc.). These actions are known as conversions.

AdWords Conversion Tracking is a free Google tool that lets you measure how many conversions are the direct result of clicks on your AdWords ads. Using this data, you can identify which ads and keywords are most successful in generating conversions and how much each conversion is costing you. You can then edit your campaigns accordingly to improve your return-on-investment.

If you'd like more information on how to track your AdWords success, check out our online AdWords Beginner's Guide.

Sincerely,

Laura

The Google AdWords Team

P.S. Next week we'll cover how to manage your account effectively.

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AdWords Welcome Pack: Show your ad on relevant websites

Email 4 of 6

Hello,

Did you know that in addition to showing your AdWords ad on Google search, you can also show it on websites that your customers visit?

The Google content network is a large, diverse network of different kinds of websites that partner with Google. On this network, you can show your ad to potential customers when they're looking at websites related to your product or services.

Why show my ads on websites as well as search pages?

Internet users spend the majority of their time online browsing websites. By advertising on both search and the content network, you can reach your target audience no matter what they're doing online.

The content network is made up of thousands of websites, from big household names to small specialised websites, such as blogs or forums. This means AdWords can match your ad to websites that are relevant to your product or service and that your potential customers visit.

How do I make sure the content network works for me?

When your campaign is opted-in to the content network, AdWords automatically targets your ads to relevant content on websites. This means your message is matched to the right audience at the right time.

For example, if you're selling digital cameras, our system may place your ad next to a news article that reviews the latest digital photographic technology. In this case, you know that a user who is looking at this web page is likely to be interested in buying from you.

The principles you apply to your search campaigns will also help your ads perform well on the content network:

• Follow ad best practices, like using a strong call to action in your ad
• Have clear themes in your ads that match your keywords
• Have a clear, relevant theme to your list of keywords

Together these basic actions allow our system to assess very clearly what your product or service is and match your ads to relevant websites.

Learn more about ad targeting on the content network.

How can I see how my ad is performing on websites?

You can review all of the websites your ad has shown on and see performance statistics on each site directly within your AdWords account. To do this simply select the 'Networks' tab within your campaign and click on 'show details' beside your content placements.

With this information, you then have the ability to focus your advertising on the sites that give you the greatest value for your money and get you the most sales or leads. Learn more about how to assess your ad performance on the content network.

Sounds great! How do I double check that my ad is eligible to show on websites?

To get your ads showing on relevant websites ensure that you are opted-in to the content network.

If you'd like more information about the content network, visit the online AdWords Beginner's Guide.

Sincerely,

Laura

The Google AdWords Team

P.S. Next week we'll cover how you can measure your performance and find out if AdWords is working for you!

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AdWords Welcome Pack: Write eye-catching ads

Email 3 of 6

Hello,

Are your ads as attractive to your prospective customers as they could be?

Your customers choose to go to your website over your competitors' based only on what they see in your ads. If your ads don't grab their attention, you could be missing out on valuable sales, leads or traffic.

I don't know what to put in my ad. Help!

As a basic rule, use clear, well-written, and specific ad text to highlight the differentiating characteristics of your product or service. The idea is to attract the attention of those who are looking for your product or service.

Remember to think about your ads from your customer's perspective, the video below will show you how!

Watch the video here!

Tips to create a compelling ad:

• Use a strong call-to-action (for example: 'Buy now', 'Call today')
• Include prices
• Include special offers and unique selling points
• Make sure the text is highly relevant to the keywords in each ad group
• Use your keywords in your ad
• Direct users to the most relevant landing page on your website with a specific destination URL for each ad

What does a good ad look like?

Here are examples of both a good and bad ad so you can learn what works.

The good… SLR Digital Cameras Sale Now On. Voted Best After-Sales Service. 80% Off Most Cameras www.CameraShopSite.com/SLR Destination URL: www.camerashopsite.com/SLR.html

What's right? This headline focuses on the specific offering and contains relevant keywords (eg. SLR Digital Cameras) This description details specific product offerings and benefits This destination URL leads to a landing page related specifically to SLR cameras

And the bad… online camera store we sell the main brands great prices here www.camerashopsite.com Destination URL: www.camerashopsite.com

What's wrong? This headline focuses on a company description instead of on core selling points and the keywords that trigger it This description is too general – it would be much better if it focused on specific products or services offered by the company – and it doesn't contain a call to action This destination URL leads to the company's home page, rather than to a page promoting a specific product or service

Please note these examples are fictional and are intended for illustrational purposes only.

I've written a good ad, but is it attracting customers?

You can check your ad performance on the 'Ads' tab in your account. Look at the clickthrough rate (CTR) of each ad to see how many people clicked on your ad after they saw it. Ads that produce a relatively low CTR (e.g. less than 1% on the search network) can often be improved by implementing the tips above and learning from the example.

You can easily test multiple ads in each ad group, each with different offers and call-to-action phrases, to see which ads perform the best. Even subtle differences could have a big impact on your success.

We suggest testing 2 to 4 ads in an ad group at a time. This will help you assess what works, at no additional cost. AdWords will rotate your ads and automatically show the highest-performing ads more often. Then, you can edit or delete the ads with the lowest CTRs and repeat the test to get the most successful ads possible. Learn more about how to assess your ad performance.

You can find all of this information and more in our online AdWords Beginner's Guide.

Sincerely,

Laura

The Google AdWords Team

P.S. Next week we'll cover how you can show your ads on relevant websites using the Google content network!

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A note from Google AdWords: Can we help you?

Hello,

We've noticed that your ads still aren't running on Google. We sent you an email last week with instructions for activating your AdWords account (we've included them below), but we wanted to reach out again and see if you needed any extra help.

If you're having trouble activating your account, or if you're not sure whether AdWords is right for your business, please let us know! We're here to help you get started and answer any nagging questions you have about AdWords. If you'd like help, simply reply to this email with your questions or concerns.

If you want to get started right now, you can activate your AdWords account and start showing your ads by following these instructions:

1. Sign in to your account at http://services.google.com/marketing/links/us-awalogin.
2. Click the "Create your first campaign" button.
3. Create your ad campaign. We'll walk you through the whole process, step by step.
4. Click the "Continue to billing" button.
5. Submit your billing information.

To learn more about AdWords, please visit the AdWords Help Center at http://services.google.com/marketing/links/us-awasupport. We look forward to providing you with the most effective advertising available.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA USA 94043

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about your AdWords account activation.

© 2009 Google Inc. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

AdWords Welcome Pack: Choose successful keywords

Email 2 of 6

Hello,

Keywords are the search terms (words or phrases) which trigger your ad, and they are critical to the success of your AdWords advertising. This email explains how you can choose the most effective keywords, assess your keyword performance and how this affects the amount you pay.

Top tips for great keywords

A great keyword is:

• Ideally, 2-3 words long
• Specific (keywords that are too broad or general will not reach users as effectively as keywords that are highly targeted)
• Directly related to the text in your ad
• Directly related to the page your ad links to (specified by the destination URL)

What keywords should I choose?

First, look at your website content and write down every word, word combination or phrase that describes each category of your business. This is the starting point for creating your keyword lists.

Include all brand and product names as well as plurals, synonyms and alternate spellings for each word or phrase. Capitalization does not matter. Take out keywords that are very generic, irrelevant, or obscure.

Then, group your keywords into close-knit themes and create a new ad group for each theme. Put your keywords into these new ad groups. For example, if your campaign is for digital cameras, you can group together mini digital cameras in one ad group and SLR digital cameras in another.

Try using negative keywords. Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing when a word or phrase you specify is part of a search term. If you specify the negative keyword -repair, for instance, your ad won't show for search terms such as digital camera repair.

Want more keyword information and examples?

How can I tell if my keywords are working well?

Check your keyword performance regularly in the 'Keyword' tab of your account.

An 'Eligible' status means your keyword is eligible to trigger ads. Click on the icon in the status column to get more detail on your individual keyword performance.

Then, one of the most important metrics to assess is the clickthrough rate (CTR), as it shows the proportion of people who clicked on your ad after they saw it. Keywords that produce a relatively low CTR (e.g. less than 1% on the search network) can often be improved. Implementing the tips above will help improve your keyword performance. A higher CTR will help to increase your ad's position on Google.

Learn more about what keyword metrics to look out for.

How do my keywords impact how much I pay?

If your keywords are well chosen and you follow the tips above, your ads may show in a higher position or at a lower cost.

AdWords bidding works on an auction-style system, with advertisers bidding for keywords that will trigger their ads to appear. As multiple advertisers will often bid on the same keywords, Google must determine which ads will show, and in what position on the page. To do this, it looks at both CPC bids and the quality of your keywords:

• Cost-per-click bids (Maximum CPCs) are the amount you are willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad
• Quality score relates to how relevant your ads and keywords are to searches on Google, which is determined by a number of things, including your CTR

Find out more about how keyword bidding and quality can affect your ads.

If you'd like more information about keywords, you can find all this and more in the online AdWords Beginner's Guide.

Sincerely,

Laura

The Google AdWords Team

P.S. Next week we'll cover everything you need to know to write eye-catching ad texts!

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Activating Your Google AdWords Account

Hello,

We've noticed that you haven't started running your ads on Google. You're just minutes away from advertising to potential customers interested in what you offer. You can activate your account by following these steps:

1. Sign in to your account at http://services.google.com/marketing/links/us-awalogin.
2. Click the "Create your first campaign" button.
3. Create your ad campaign. We'll walk you through the whole process, step by step.
4. Click the "Continue to billing" button.
5. Submit your billing information.

Once you're done, you'll be ready to start reaching new customers!

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team


Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA USA 94043

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about your AdWords account activation.

© 2009 Google Inc. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.