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View Full Version : How To Spy On Your Adwords Management Company!


Webtistic
6th November 2009, 13:28
From My Blog


Big Brother is alive and well and living (nowehere near Elvis) in Adwords land, but many advertisers who employ Adwords managers don’t seem to know it. Now, I am going to disclose how simple it is for advertisers to check that ‘Arnold the Adwords manager’ is actually worth those 20 hours a month he has been charging for.


Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some very reputable and professional Adwords and Pay Per Click management companies out there, endlessly toiling away for the good of their happy clients who are experiencing the promised land of super-conversions whilst procuring small islands in the Caribbean.


But, I have seen the work (or lack of) of too many charlatans in the PPC management space to know that all is not as it may seem. Indeed, my little ’secret’ can be not only revealing but SHOCKING.


So, I am going to disclose the secret (to many) that the less-than-scrupulous don’t want you to know. In fact, after disclosing this, I may have to go into hiding so that these people don’t hunt me down and try to eat my head.


It is super simple (but generally overlooked):


1. Login to your Adwords account
2. Click ‘Reporting’
3. Click ‘Change History’


http://www.davebird.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/change.gif (http://www.davebird.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/change.gif)



Voila! Now you can spy on exactly what changes have been made on your account by date and even by activity!


Has, the ‘constant optimisation’ been constant? Has the ‘ongoing split-testing’ seen any testing? Has the ‘keyword bid manipulation’ been manipulated? Now you know, and you can manage your manager’s management like a monkey in a manger.


After all, there is nothing wrong with a little transparency if you have nothing to hide…

Ali-v-8
6th November 2009, 13:38
wow. And what has been achieved.

The is a law. "if it aint broken dont fix it"
An adword manager will make your adds effective early on in the campaign then sit back and just monitor. If he kept constantly changing it then he didn't get it right.

What your saying is if the ad manager gets its right first time then penalise him.

Webtistic
6th November 2009, 13:43
There is no 'right first time' with Adwords, just like the concept of 'Aint Broken' doesn't apply.

I am saying that if you are being charged £30-£60 per hour and being charged for 10-20 hours a month, make sure you are getting something like the value in time spent.

I wrote the article because this week I had a look at an existing campaign on behalf of a potential client, and it actually was shocking how little was being done.

It prompted me to 'out' the scumbags out there.

DoLally
6th November 2009, 13:58
Don't disagree with Webtistic - if you are charging a shed load of money per month to "manage" a PPC campaign then sitting around looking at it and never altering a single thing means either a) you are a genius or b) you have been exceptionally lucky or c) the client isn't really getting value for money.

If you are truly managing an account, there are many different tests to run, different adwords to try, image ads, content network stuff etc etc - even google say review and refine followed by review and refine - eventually you "might" get to the eutopia of the best PPC campaign in the country - in which case you client will be SO delighted they will be back for you to do more :)

directmarketingadvice
6th November 2009, 14:07
An adword manager will make your adds effective early on in the campaign then sit back and just monitor. If he kept constantly changing it then he didn't get it right.

That's true in the sense that a successful campaign will need fewer and fewer changes as time goes on.

However, in the early months, there should be a lot going on.

What your saying is if the ad manager gets its right first time then penalise him.

No-one gets it right first time. And, even if someone managed to do that, they'd still be creating test ads to split-test against the originals... and then deleting them as they lose.

Steve

chrisor
7th November 2009, 08:13
Yeah that not the best way to think about it...

Adwords management is time consuming and many are happy that a company will maintain it for them which frees them up to do other things.

If its working fine then why are you worried?

Because there are some many cowboys out there people hear horror stories and just think they are being ripped off - when they might actually be with a good company.

I know there are cowboys out there, but give your adwords company the benefit of the doubt...