New Google Adword Feature ~ Search Query Logs

Google has recently added a new feature to Adwords, the ability to see the Search Query Logs.  This report allows you to see what search queries are being tied to your broad and phrase match keywords.  It also allows you to see performance of each with all the metrics and even conversion if you have conversion tracker enabled.  The benefits that this new feature offers are:

1. The ability to drive efficiency through adding negative keywords to block out traffic you don’t want.
2. The ability to bid on the exact variations of keywords you are being matched to that are performing at a decent clip.  Adwords rewards granularity and it is cheaper in some cases to bid on that exact match variation.  You can also track performance easier and potentially can create more targeted ads.

What to Think About When Creating Paid Search Ads

Obviously, first & foremost you must get the detailed limits for character use for the search engine that you are working on.  I will use Google in my examples, they allow a Title of 25 Characters, and two description lines each of 35 and only 35 on each line.  Then you have x amount of space for the domain name. 

 Writing a Google ad is an inexact science, there are so many different thoughts to take into account when writing your ad. Here is a list to name a few:

• Competition
• Product/Service
• Looking for Clicks & Only Clicks
• Looking to Qualify User before they Click
• Budget
• Testing

You must take into account the competitive landscape that will be around your ad.  You would like to make your ad stand out and be unique.  If you are offering a product/services that is different/better than the competition, make sure the users knows about it.  Also, you can try to generate ideas by looking at the competitors copies when trying to write your ads.  Try to use the search space leaders as a benchmark to compare your ads to.  What are they doing? Why are they doing it?  Put yourself in their shoes.

Your Product/Service plays a major role in your ad writing as well.  You could have a major competitive advantange with your product and you can spell it out in your ad.  If you are trying to chase the market leader, get creative and make your product look as appealing as possible.

If you are looking to just generate traffic through PPC and not get a sign-up/conversion than there are ways you can phrase the ad to make it look appealing to the user.  A Free Callout can work very well in certain situations to increase CTR as well as using ALL CAPS and (R) or TM Symbols.

If you are looking to qualify the user before they click on your ad then you should look to explain your product well-enough so the user knows what he/she is getting into.

Budget plays a role becuase you can have a more aggresive ad with a bigger budget or you can become very very conserative if you are on a tight budget.  There are many other ways to maximize your budget which I will talk about in other blog posts.

The final topic is testing.  Split run A/B testing plays the biggest role in writing successful creative.  Testing multiple copies and having the ads show evenly allows you to see which ad(s) provide you with the optimal CTR and Conversion Rate.  Then you can continue to test down the road after you have seen that type of ad that works for your product/service and accomplishes what you are looking for.