Description
Book SynopsisThe ultimate guide to Google AdWords is fully updated for its third edition This is the ultimate guide for those who want to quickly get beyond AdWords basics to learn and apply the advanced techniques and tactics that are used by Fortune 500 companies.
Table of ContentsForeword xxxi
Introduction xxxiii
Chapter 1 Understanding Search Theory 1
The Origins of Google AdWords 2
Google Enters the Arena 5
Google AdWords Select Revolutionizes PPC 6
The Psychology of Search 7
Turning Concepts into Words 8
Understanding Search Results 10
The Purpose of Ad Copy 11
Landing Pages Lead to New Customers 12
Advertising Is Not Advertising When It Is Information 14
Goal Alignment: Google vs. You vs. the Searcher 15
Best Practices for Applying Search Theory 17
Chapter 2 Performing Keyword Research 19
Understanding the Buying Funnel 20
Examining the Buying Funnel Phases 21
How Do Consumers Flow Through Your Buying Funnel? 22
Understanding Keywords 23
Types of Commercial Keywords 24
Finding Keyword Ideas 26
How Many Keywords Should You Have in Your Account? 29
Creating Keyword Lists 31
Using Long-Tail Keywords 33
Wide vs. Deep Keywords 35
Discerning Keyword Match Types 36
Broad Match 37
Modified Broad Match 38
When Should You Use Broad Match? 40
Phrase Match 40
Exact Match 42
Variation Match 43
Which Match Type Is Best? 44
Using Negative Match 46
Implementing Negative Keywords 46
Negative Broad Match 49
Negative Phrase Match 50
Negative Exact Match 51
Putting Negative and Positive Keywords Together 52
Researching Negative Keywords 53
Using Advanced Organizational Techniques 55
Adding Multiple Match Types to the Same Ad Group 55
Restricting Match Types by Ad Group 56
Restricting Match Types by Campaign 56
Taking Control of Your Ad Display 57
Best Practices for Conducting Keyword Research 58
Chapter 3 Keyword Tools: Extracting Valuable Data from Google 59
AdWords Keyword Planner 60
Generating Keyword Ideas 61
Advanced Options and Filters 65
Ad Group and Keyword Ideas 69
Traffic Estimates 76
AdWords Keyword Planner vs Third-Party Keyword Tools 82
Google Trends 83
What Services Should You Offer? 85
Determining Your Messaging 87
Determining Consumer Interest 88
Bing Ads Intelligence 89
Best Practices for Using Keyword Tools 90
Chapter 4 Writing Compelling Ads 93
Do Your Ads Reflect the Search Query? 94
Writing Effective Ads 96
Calls to Action 97
Touching the Emotional Core 98
Following Google’s Editorial Guidelines 99
Character Lengths 99
Editorial Requirements 100
Developing Unique Selling Propositions 102
Distinguishing Features and Benefits 103
Benefits, Features, and the Buying Funnel 104
When to Use a Feature vs. a Benefit 105
Employing Themes That Get Clicks 106
Utilizing Numbers in Ads 107
How Strong Is Your Call to Action? 110
Writing Informational Ad Copy 111
Utilizing Negative Ad Copy 114
Do Not Forget the Display URL 114
Controlling Your Mobile Ads 116
Spicing Up Your Ads with Ad Extensions 118
Sitelink Extensions 118
Call Extensions 125
Additional Extensions 127
Limited Betas for New Extensions 129
Showcasing Your Products with PLAs 129
Following the Law: Trademarks 131
Trademark Exceptions 134
The Quest for the Holy Grail of Advertising 135
Best Practices for Writing Compelling Ads 136
Chapter 5 Creating Landing Pages That Convert Searchers into Buyers 139
Does Your Landing Page Answer the Searcher’s Question? 140
Everything about Destination URLs 142
Using Destination URLs for Tracking 144
Complying with Destination URL Editorial Policies 151
Choosing Landing Pages That Increase Conversion Rates 152
Choosing Landing Pages Based on the Type of Query 153
Differentiating Local Business Queries 157
Using Segmentation Pages 159
Using Forms as Landing Pages 160
Thanking Your Customers 162
Crafting Perfect Landing Pages 164
Employing Usability, Trust, and Web Technology 164
Using Web Technology to Implement Usability and User Security 165
Psychological Factors That Increase Conversion Rates 173
Your Website’s Usability Goals 180
Best Practices for Landing Pages 181
Chapter 6 Learning Advanced Optimization Techniques 183
Optimizing for Traffic 184
Exploring Strategies to Show Your Ads More Often 184
Taking Advantage of Dynamic Keyword Insertion 190
Increasing Page Views 194
Optimizing for Conversions 198
Writing Ad Copy That Sells 199
Creating Landing Pages That Increase Conversions 200
Making Additional Conversions to Increase Your Profits 210
Best Practices for Advanced Optimization Techniques 213
Chapter 7 Demystifying Quality Score 215
What Is Quality Score? 216
How Quality Score Affects Ad Rank 218
Quality Score Factors for Search 221
Viewing Your Quality Score 225
Landing Page Quality: Making Your Pages Relevant 228
Spiderability 228
Relevance 229
Transparency 230
Navigation 230
Estimating Your First Page Bid 231
Understanding the Display Network Quality Score 233
Quality Score for Managed Placements 234
Diagnosing Your Quality Scores 235
Ignoring Quality Score 240
Increasing Quality Scores 243
Creating Highly Relevant Ad Groups 244
Ad Testing to Increase Quality Scores 246
Landing Page Fixes 248
What to Do if Your Quality Score Drops 249
Quality Score FAQs 251
Best Practices for Optimizing Quality Scores 254
Chapter 8 Beyond Text: Employing Image, Video, and Mobile Ads 257
Beyond the Desktop: Creating Mobile Ads 258
Reaching Smartphone Users 258
Smartphone Extensions 261
Reaching Other Mobile Users: WAP Mobile Ads 262
Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool 264
Beyond Static Text: Creating Rich Media Ads 266
Creating Effective Image Ads 266
Developing Profitable Video Ads 272
AdWords Ad Gallery 275
Best Practices for Employing Image, Video, Mobile Ads 278
Chapter 9 Understanding the Display Network 279
What Is the Display Network? 280
Advantages of the Display Network 281
Display Targeting Methods 282
Automatic vs. Managed Placements 283
Creating Search- and Display-Only Campaigns 284
Managing Ad Group Targeting 285
Creating a Successful Display Network Campaign 286
Creating Keyword-Based Display Ad Groups 287
Display Network Topic Targeting 292
Targeting Ads Based on a User’s Interest 296
Placement Targeting: Choose the Actual Sites Where Your Ads Are Displayed 298
Blocking Your Ads from Being Shown across the Display Network 305
Determining Negative Display Keywords 309
Smart Pricing: Measure Success with Cost per Conversion 310
Choosing CPM or CPC Bidding 312
Using the Display Planner Tool 314
Best Practices for the Display Network 320
Chapter 10 Utilizing Advanced Display Network Techniques 323
Remarketing: Bringing Visitors Back to Your Site 324
Define an Audience 324
Place the Script on Your Site 328
Create a Remarketing Ad Group 330
The 100 Cookie Rule 332
Remarketing Strategies 332
Don’t Creep Out Your Customers 340
Flexible Targeting: Mixing and Matching Every Display Targeting Option 341
Flexible Targeting Options 342
Bid Modifiers for Display 344
Flexible Bidding Examples 345
Optimizing Your Display Campaigns 351
Organizing Your Display Campaigns 353
Creating Scenarios to Understand and Reach Your Target Audience 357
Writing Effective Display Ads 359
Best Practices for Advanced Display Network Advertising 361
Chapter 11 Utilizing Advanced Geographic Targeting Techniques 363
What Is Geographic Targeting? 364
The Technology behind Location Targeting 364
How Accurate Is Location Targeting? 366
Reaching Users in Specific Locations 369
Finding Locations to Target 370
Radius Targeting 374
Location Groups and Bid Modifiers 375
Advanced Location Targeting Options 376
Location Targeting Considerations 378
Targeting Multiple Countries 378
Reaching Users in an Area Smaller than a Country 380
Treating Locals and Nonlocals Differently in Your Ad Copy 385
Automatically Inserting Your Address into the Ad Copy 387
A Case Study into Local Belief Systems 390
Viewing Geographic Results 391
Geographic Performance Reports 393
Best Practices for Geographic Targeting 396
Chapter 12 Saving Time and Scaling Accounts with AdWords Editor 399
AdWords Editor Overview 400
Choosing Your Viewpoint 400
Viewing Your Account in AdWords Editor 404
Scaling Your Account 408
Importing Keywords 409
Creating Thousands of Keywords and Ad Groups 411
Easily Creating Thousands of Ads 414
Optimizing Display with AdWords Editor 420
Best Practices for Using AdWords Editor 421
Chapter 13 Devising Profitable Bid Strategies 423
Setting Your Marketing Goals 424
Measuring Results with Google’s Conversion-Tracking Code 425
AdWords Conversion-Tracking Code 426
Google Analytics Tracking 430
Accessing Valuable Conversion Data in AdWords Reports 432
Tracking Phone Calls 434
Exploring AdWords Bidding Options 435
Focus on Clicks, Option 1 435
Focus on Clicks, Option 2 435
Enhanced CPC 436
Conversion Optimizer 437
Focus on Impressions 443
Flexible Bidding 443
Profitable Bidding Strategies 448
ROAS vs Profit 449
Revenue per Click 450
Taking Margins into Account 453
How Can Publishers Determine Revenue per Click? 455
Tracking Long Sales Cycles with Conversion Funnels 457
Calculating Your Max CPC 460
Setting Bids Based on ROAS 460
Bidding for Exposure 461
Bid Modifiers: Automatically Changing Bids by Time, Geography, Devices, and More 464
Location Bid Modifiers 467
Ad Scheduling: Automatically Changing Bids by Time Periods 471
Finding Conversion Information by Time Frames 473
Examples of Ad Scheduling Success 476
Creating Time-Sensitive Offers 479
Device Modifiers 480
Understanding Attribution Management 481
Examining AdWords Reports to Make ROAS Bid Decisions 484
Best Practices for Utilizing Profitable Bid Strategies 487
Chapter 14 Organizing Accounts Successfully 489
What Is an AdWords Account? 490
What Are the Limits of an AdWords Account? 490
Managing Multiple Accounts the Easy Way 491
Becoming a Google Partner 494
Developing a Successful Campaign Structure 496
Reasons to Create New Campaigns 496
Structuring Campaigns to Achieve Business Goals 497
Organizing an Ad Group to Increase CTR and Conversion Rates 513
Ad Group Organization for Mobile Bid Modifiers 515
Best Practices for Account Organization Strategies 516
Chapter 15 Implementing Testing Techniques That Will Increase Profits 519
Testing Is Essential to Increasing Profits 520
Testing Ad Copy to Increase Conversions 520
Ad Copy Messages You Should Test 521
Ad Copy Themes to Spark Your Creativity 521
Test Discounts Instead of Prices 522
Creating the Ad Copy Test 525
General Guidelines for Statistical Significance 527
Measuring the Results of Your Ad Test 529
Multi-Ad Group Testing 532
Testing Mobile Ads 534
Testing Landing Pages to Increase Conversions 535
Testing Where to Send Traffic 536
Landing Page Testing Factors 541
Making Ads and Landing Pages Work Together 547
Essential Items to Test First 553
Creating a Landing Page Test 553
Testing Profit per Click and Profit per Impression 556
AdWords Campaign Experiments 559
Best Practices for Testing Techniques That Will Increase Profits 561
Chapter 16 AdWords Reports: Extracting Actionable Information 563
Choosing General AdWords Report Settings 564
Customizing the Interface 564
Downloading Your Data 568
Using Reports to Optimize Your Account 571
Campaign Reports 571
Ad Group Performance Report 573
Ad Performance Report 573
Keyword Report 576
Display Network Reports 579
Dimensions Reports 581
Creating Custom Alerts 585
Best Practices for Using AdWords Reports 587
Chapter 17 Step by Step: Creating and Monitoring Your AdWords Account 589
Before You Create Your Account 590
Creating Campaigns 592
Creating Search Campaigns 593
Creating Display-Targeted Campaigns 597
Creating Managed Placements Campaigns 598
Other Campaign Types 600
Optimizing Ongoing Campaigns 601
Optimizing Search Campaigns 601
Managing Maximize Clicks Campaigns 605
Optimizing Display Campaigns 606
Optimizing Managed Placements Campaigns 608
Optimizing CPM Campaigns 609
Optimizing Other Campaign Types 611
Creating an Optimization Schedule 612
Best Practices for Creating and Managing Your AdWords Account 615
Glossary 619
Index 627
