What do you want to know about Google Adwords?
- Thread starter intelligentppc
- Start date
S
#ServicedOffices
Google Adwords (etc) vouchers... is the free credit simulated or actual?
I did an Adwords campaign a couple of years ago with free £75 voucher (minimum of £25 paid to get it I believe)... in my eyes I felt as if the adverts never went live until the free credit ran out and went into my own monies... I couldn't really trace the "clicks" to visitors entering my site except for a few of the stated amount of click throughs.
Of course, £75 is a very little amount in PPC but really, why even bother with a fake start so you can get to grips with the Adwords interface? Instead of a "free trial" with £75, it should surely be marketed as a demo where nothing really goes live.
Anyone else with similar experiences?
After a while, into our own credit we had to increase our bids as Google started to avoid showing our adverts (I get the more you pay the more likely you are to get a slot but with a £100 daily budget and the number of Adsense and visitors using Google Search... you are likely to get displayed at some point, even on a low-end Adsense publisher's website). This was after a week of them saying increase bids for more success.
Anyhow, long story short... we decided to discontinue with Adwords after a couple of months and stick full emphasis on SEO... more cost effective.
My second question is.... (well forth) Is Adwords better value for money now?
I keep reading how many Adsense publisher's have had month on month decrease in revenue - over a year - I assume this is down to advertisers spending less etc. This must mean you can do an Adword campaign for cheaper than before? Or is Google simply not spreading the love anymore?
Upvote
0
For the second question the answer I guess it would be - it depends. It really depends on your industry and sector you are in, how competitive your product/service sector is, hence the keywords you bid on. Obviously understanding AdWords inside-out and optimising the account structure/bids helps, though the landscape of cost efficiency for the area you want to advertise in would probably always stay the same.
One of my colleagues was an absolute PPC guru has previously worked for multiple global agencies and also worked for Google. He also runs his side project selling electronic compents - for this business he invested quite a bit of money as well as on PPC ads. He collected 10 thousands of possible keyword variations in his field and set up the best possible bulletproof account structure, however the CPA still way too high eventually he had to drop the channel which he knows the most.
Upvote
0
We all know that long term results is better than any PPC channels but it will always depends on how it will utilize on the right path according to its needs and limitations when it comes to PPC. Most of the business usually used long term and they are most likely to invest to achieve reputation and trust from the targeted audience.
Upvote
0
S
#ServicedOffices
Hi seanxie, yeah I appreciate that. I just feel though unless you are either a) an massive company with huge marketing budget or b) a small-but-established company that is willing to spend (for instance) £40 to get £70 worth of business, with enough margin to make a little profit... Adwords is no longer really much of an option. Which explains the explosion in business trying facebook adverts.
My experience is Google gives you a honeymoon period on Adwords where you don't do too badly whilst they start upping the ante, trying to push more and more money out of you. Makes sense of course for their bottom line. However, unless XYZ Plc happens to create a big marketing drive out of nowhere out-of-the-ordinary (i.e. not in the known seasonal trends to the market you are in and know about) there is no reason why you would then need to double your bids to keep the level of success you already had.
So many players, so many different variables... but I think Google is taking the #### and when you have been on the other side of the table too as an adsense publisher, it makes you wonder how despite a quite generous revenue split ratio... how some clicks will literally get you pennies (in fairness some pay off as much as a few quid), yet you would be unable to get a slot on such a low bid (when considering adding Googles commission on that amount too). When you have tweaked your allowed adverts to exclude the low paying, poor taste and bad conversion adverts... there is low real-life probability of that occurring.
Would appreciate if anyone could answer the first question - its not a criminal issue as its not your money (not Googles either, just a virtual credit) during the period where it occurs.
My experience is Google gives you a honeymoon period on Adwords where you don't do too badly whilst they start upping the ante, trying to push more and more money out of you. Makes sense of course for their bottom line. However, unless XYZ Plc happens to create a big marketing drive out of nowhere out-of-the-ordinary (i.e. not in the known seasonal trends to the market you are in and know about) there is no reason why you would then need to double your bids to keep the level of success you already had.
So many players, so many different variables... but I think Google is taking the #### and when you have been on the other side of the table too as an adsense publisher, it makes you wonder how despite a quite generous revenue split ratio... how some clicks will literally get you pennies (in fairness some pay off as much as a few quid), yet you would be unable to get a slot on such a low bid (when considering adding Googles commission on that amount too). When you have tweaked your allowed adverts to exclude the low paying, poor taste and bad conversion adverts... there is low real-life probability of that occurring.
Would appreciate if anyone could answer the first question - its not a criminal issue as its not your money (not Googles either, just a virtual credit) during the period where it occurs.
Upvote
0
- Original Poster
- #10
Of course the exact answers to these questions depend on your business' individual circumstances, but here are some general tips:
1) Budget - work on the basis of 10% conversion from click to 'lead', or application assuming that application form is short-ish. For e-commerce aim for 2% but expect to see lower if your site isn't properly optimised for conversion.
2) Target audience - the beauty of Adwords is that you can choose the keywords you want to show for. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and think of keywords this way. If you're a plumber obviously you want things like 'plumber in (your location)' but also look at 'leaking tap' with location filters on.
3) Tools - your brain. Use Google Keyword Planner by all means but bear in mind that everyone uses it. The best way to get the cheapest keywords is to think outside the box. For negative keywords the same applies. Base these on your data too, by looking at Details > Search Terms > All.
Hope this helps.
Upvote
0
Upvote
0
I've used Adwords previously to scale up profitable marketing spend and more than treble income, but similar tactics have not worked anywhere near as well this year.
Different market conditions, more mature competition and the Borg-like spread of Amazon in the last few years have no doubt made getting a return far more difficult.
Different market conditions, more mature competition and the Borg-like spread of Amazon in the last few years have no doubt made getting a return far more difficult.
Upvote
0
I've heard this one quite a few times, AdWords doesn't work for me...
The tools that Google are providing for us are great however, if not put in the right hands they can be a little dangerous to say the least.
I met a guy 6 years ago who was about to give up on AdWords "it doesn't work" I asked if he could give me 4 weeks with the campaign and he called me 2 weeks later to turn it off!!
We managed to rebuild the campaign and a few days after putting the adverts live he couldn't manage the amount of work coming though. This went on for a few months whilst he managed to rebuild the business around the AdWords campaign.
Happy to take a challenge on here lets see if AdWords really doesn't work for you.
The tools that Google are providing for us are great however, if not put in the right hands they can be a little dangerous to say the least.
I met a guy 6 years ago who was about to give up on AdWords "it doesn't work" I asked if he could give me 4 weeks with the campaign and he called me 2 weeks later to turn it off!!
We managed to rebuild the campaign and a few days after putting the adverts live he couldn't manage the amount of work coming though. This went on for a few months whilst he managed to rebuild the business around the AdWords campaign.
Happy to take a challenge on here lets see if AdWords really doesn't work for you.
Upvote
0
Although you are most probably right that the conditions have increased and different markets are becoming more savvy, there are lots of new toys within AdWords that make this work even better than before. Call outs and other extensions are great additions, Re-Marketing if used correctly can have a massive effect on ROI and the dominance above the fold on SERP is vital.
Upvote
0
M
Mail Workshop
Is Express for more generic search terms then as we are trying to target long tail keywords.
Upvote
0
- Original Poster
- #22
Express is dangerous. This is from their website:
"To get started with AdWords Express, you’ll set up a budget, and based on the type of business you have, we’ll come up with a list of search phrases that will trigger your ad and potential related sites where your ad can appear. We’ll continue to maintain and update your search phrases over time."
Bear in mind that Adwords is hugely competitive. This has pushed click prices up to the level where many businesses can't compete and give up. The only way to gain a competitive advantage with Adwords is to MINIMISE WASTAGE. This means only showing your ads to people who are very likely to convert into a sale for your business. There are several ways of doing this - things like not showing your ads to smartphone users if you don't have a mobile-optimised website. Things like having an extensive negative keyword list. Like focusing on the long-tail, as you said.
By using Adwords Express you are effectively handing over 90% control of these things to a company which makes money every time one of your ads is clicked. Why ANYONE would do this truly escapes me...
"To get started with AdWords Express, you’ll set up a budget, and based on the type of business you have, we’ll come up with a list of search phrases that will trigger your ad and potential related sites where your ad can appear. We’ll continue to maintain and update your search phrases over time."
Bear in mind that Adwords is hugely competitive. This has pushed click prices up to the level where many businesses can't compete and give up. The only way to gain a competitive advantage with Adwords is to MINIMISE WASTAGE. This means only showing your ads to people who are very likely to convert into a sale for your business. There are several ways of doing this - things like not showing your ads to smartphone users if you don't have a mobile-optimised website. Things like having an extensive negative keyword list. Like focusing on the long-tail, as you said.
By using Adwords Express you are effectively handing over 90% control of these things to a company which makes money every time one of your ads is clicked. Why ANYONE would do this truly escapes me...
Upvote
0
M
Mail Workshop
Is there any point in using negative keywords if you are using exact match only?
For example, if one of my exact match keywords was "bulk shipping software", if someone searched for "free bulk shipping software" would the ad still appear or would I have to have entered "+free" in a broad match for this to appear? Thanks, Simon
Upvote
0
Exact match does what it says on the tin, targeting "bulk shipping software" will only trigger your advert if someone searches for "bulk shipping software" and not "free bulk shipping software" or "automated bulk shipping software" etc
With Broad Match
+free means that "free" must appear in the search term
-free will not trigger your advert if free is in the search term
Upvote
0
AdWords is a real challenge for newbies.
If you're not prepared there is a high risk you will burn some cash without getting (or getting very low) results.
To become an AdWords expert it may take you at least 1-2 years with hands down experience.
And you have to be prepared/willing to make some mistakes along the way, as you learn some of the dark parts of AdWords.
If you don't have the time or patience I would go with a consulting company. Even if you don't have the cash to spend on an external company to fully create/manage your campaign, at least you can hire them for some preliminary/valuable advice for your specific niche, for your specific website, for the design/copy of your ads, landing pages, etc..., etc...
If you're not prepared there is a high risk you will burn some cash without getting (or getting very low) results.
To become an AdWords expert it may take you at least 1-2 years with hands down experience.
And you have to be prepared/willing to make some mistakes along the way, as you learn some of the dark parts of AdWords.
If you don't have the time or patience I would go with a consulting company. Even if you don't have the cash to spend on an external company to fully create/manage your campaign, at least you can hire them for some preliminary/valuable advice for your specific niche, for your specific website, for the design/copy of your ads, landing pages, etc..., etc...
Upvote
0
Look at Adwords as your one salesman, in many companies you would get a sales person for say £20, 000 to 30, 000 per year who would drive around your local area and maybe get sales of double there costs, good people would obviously cost a great deal more
With Adwords you get a salesperson who travels either the whole town or City or County, Country or World reaching places your employed salesman would never reach and most likely earn the company many times his salery
With Adwords you have the ability to hire your sales person on say £20 per day or £100, 000 per year giving you fantastic flexability with no extra costs and the ability to increase or decrease the cost or where they visit daily
Small companies just have to be more clever with advertising than the big guys, which means normally finding a neache area to work in be it adwords or any other form of advertising or selling
Good luck
With Adwords you get a salesperson who travels either the whole town or City or County, Country or World reaching places your employed salesman would never reach and most likely earn the company many times his salery
With Adwords you have the ability to hire your sales person on say £20 per day or £100, 000 per year giving you fantastic flexability with no extra costs and the ability to increase or decrease the cost or where they visit daily
Small companies just have to be more clever with advertising than the big guys, which means normally finding a neache area to work in be it adwords or any other form of advertising or selling
Good luck
Upvote
0
Exact match is no longer exact match. Now Google will match your exact match to what they regard as synonyms and close variants.
(Which may turn out to neither synonyms nor exact matches!)
The same is true for phrase match.
Basically, everything is a form of broad match these days.
Steve
Upvote
0
Erm the big brands use Adwords. But you infer that building a brand and PPC are mutually exclusive??? Did you know that the big brands that spend a million per month on Adwords are more interested in the traffic than actual conversions because they're in it to build a brand.
Upvote
0
No not necessarily. It depends if they are noticing good ROI. You state "for most business" - how can you just make sweeping statements like this? I think you meant "for many" businesses.
Upvote
0
Latest Articles
-
When the Algorithm Gets It Wrong: What eBay's AI Moderation Problem Tells Us About Platform RiskA thread appeared on UKBF this week that, on the surface, looks like a...- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Should you crowdfund? A framework for UK founders in 2026Three articles into a series on what crowdfunding actually costs, the...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
The polls, the reframing, and the billion dollarsHow three letters from the early years of Star Citizen's development...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
The values trap: what the Punks actually ownedWhy BrewDog's Equity for Punks investors were structurally locked out...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
When belief is the business modelWhat BrewDog's collapse and Star Citizen's billion-dollar climb are...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
