Articles in The 'broad-match' Tag

Natural Progression of Campaign Optimization

by Gerard Tollefsen

An important aspect of running a successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign is to identify strengths and weaknesses of the campaign and optimize based on relative data.  There is a natural progression to this optimization process and it’s important to avoid knee jerk reactions if you do not see stellar results right out of the gate.  Here are some ideas to consider when first launching a PPC campaign and what to look for when optimizing the campaign moving forward.

1. Unless you already have a targeted audience or demographic in mind, it is always good to cast a “wide net” when first launching the campaign.  Be sure to conduct keyword research on popular search terms that are related to your business and identify the low, medium and high cost-per-click (CPC) terms.  To gain the greatest potential audience for your ads, set the match type in your campaign to broad match.
2. Once your campaign has been active for a few weeks (timing may vary depending on how many clicks you generate at the start of your campaign and your budget) take a look at which keywords are converting and which are accruing multiple clicks without conversions.  Isolating the campaign or adgroup with the lowest performance can be a first step in the optimization process.  If you see your click-thru rate (CTR) is low, this could be an indication that your ad copy is not effective in attracting qualified visitors.  Test different ad variations with different calls to action.  If your click-thru rate is acceptable and your conversions are low, this could be an indication that your landing page needs work.  Test different landing page designs, adjust content and message; even moving images can make a difference.
3. Be sure to analyze your keywords that are eating up a large portion of your budget without a return on your investment.  This could be a signal your campaign needs negative keywords.  Negative keywords can help limit your ad delivery on broad match terms that are relative to your business, but may also be associated with something completely different than your product or service.  For example, I have a client that sells Corona paint brushes, but I want to make sure the ads are not being displayed if someone is searching for Corona beer!
4. If you find the “wide net” strategy cannot be implemented because of your budget, look to adjust the match types of your keywords.  Test both phrase match and exact match types for your keywords to limit your ad delivery.  This helps keep your daily spends in check while still having your ads delivered to highly targeted search queries.
5. Converting keywords should also be optimized to ensure that you are gaining the highest return on your investment (ROI).  Review the average position of your keywords within the sponsored listings.  You may find that you can maintain a high conversion rate at a slightly lower position.  This can help bring down your cost per conversion, thus freeing up more budget to allocate to important keywords where the competition requires a slightly higher bid.

There are many ways to optimize a campaign but keep in mind there is no “standard operating procedure”.  Let the campaign data be your guide in the optimization process.  There is no better way to achieve success in your PPC campaign than to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and make smart decisions based on what the data tells you.  Stay the course and optimize with your main goal in mind.

Matching Your Keywords

by Ryan Faria

When creating an online campaign, much time is spent selecting keywords and even more time writing ad copy, but very little time deciding which match type to use for keywords.  Recently, I was working with a client who asked MoreVisibility to create a fresh, exciting search engine marketing campaign (SEM).  When I spoke to the client with respect to their previous SEM efforts, I was surprised to discover they had not been utilizing any variations in match type; in fact, they had only been using broad match.

Broad match keywords display the widest range of search query results possible.  Broad match will allow the keywords to be displayed in any order; with other search terms before, after or in between your keywords.  For example, if you were a farmer looking to create an SEM campaign for avocados; you may choose to use ‘avocado’ as a keyword.  However, if ‘avocado’ is used as a broad match keyword, the interpretations are endless and the search query results are limitless; even if a searcher is looking for an ‘avocado colored sweater’ or someone looking for ‘how to plant avocado trees’ then your ad would be displayed.  Typically, broad match keywords produce huge numbers of impressions and clicks, but very few conversions; especially when the search terms are general.

Phrase match keyword types are a useful match type, as they prevent words from being inserted between the keywords when a search query is conducted.  You can indicate phrase match keywords by putting keywords in quotation marks when adding it to Google.  Phrase matched keywords will not allow words to be inserted between your quoted keywords.  For example, more appropriate keywords may be “buy avocados” or “fresh avocados.”  These keywords are more targeted and when implemented as a phrase match type, reduce the amount of superfluous clicks and irrelevant searches.

Exact match is another useful tactic which prevent any words to come before or after the specified keyword or keywords when performing a search query.  Exact matching can be implemented by adding brackets to the keyword; for example by enclosing the keyword [avocado] inside the brackets, it is considered to be an exact match keyword.  This will then cause your ad to not be displayed for such queries such as, ‘avocado sweater’ as the keyword [avocado] is set for exact match status.  Exact matches will produce fewer clicks and impressions, but lead to more qualified visitors.

While campaigns have many components, one essential feature that should not be ignored is the keyword match type.  An effective match type will reduce the amount of unnecessary clicks, and leave more money for your advertising budget.  An effective SEM campaign utilizes a combination of different match types to target specific searchers and limit uninterested parties.