Managing PPC Keywords

I had a email from a client this week. He was concerned that his Google advertising spend for the first quarter this year had almost halved compared to 2009. Was everything OK?

Yes, everything was OK . . . and still is. The number of clicks from the adverts was about the same as 2009, the Click Through Rate was better and the average Cost Per Click had dropped significantly.

The difference was all to do with 'honing the keywords'. Making sure that every keyword was working in broad, phrase and exact terms, that negative keywords were kept up to date and bounce rates monitored.

He was no longer paying for irrellevent clicks, overpriced search terms or keywords with high bounce rates.

It's the sort of work that requires marrying the PPC performance to the Analytics stats and making value judgements. It's not rocket science but it does take some organisation, wading through hundreds (and hundreds) of keywords and checking performance levels against costs.

If there is an exciting side to Search Engine Marketing this isn't it.
But get it right and you can cut Cost Per Click by up to 50%. In this case the Google spend for the quater was £1459 against £2684 the previous year. My client saved £1225 in one quarter on one AdWords Campaign, which is good for his business . . . and also good for mine.

PPC - The Cost Per Click is Rising

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is on the increase. I know this even without the latest stats because Cost Per Click prices are soaring as advertisers increase their bids to gain the top keyword spots. I do this for clients if necessary.

But it isn't always necessary. Sometimes business owners want the top spot for a given keyword without assessing what happens after the advert has been clicked and the visitor arrives on the landing page.

As a PPC advertiser at this point you should be asking a few pertinent questions:

What happens next? Is the visitor staying to view the site? If not, why not? What is the Landing Page Bounce Rate? What pages are viewed next? And the most important question: What do you want the visitor to do? View a certain page, buy something, download a file/brochure/newsletter?

If you don't know the answer to these questions you could end up paying for keywords with a high CPC pointing to a page with an 80%+ Bounce Rate. Yes, you are winning the bidding battle but you're loosing the war, and wasting money in the process.

So if you are running a PPC campaign try asking yourself:

• Am I targeting the best keyword(s) for my business?
• Are there less competitive keywords with a better Click Through Rate (CTR)?
• Is the advert giving out the right message?
• Is the Landing Page designed to serve the advert?
• Is the Landing Page performing?
• Am I getting value for money from my PPC advertising?

You need to be able to answer these questions in a positive way, and not just once, but on a regular bass.