Any PPC advice is almost always going to be preceded by a disclaimer of “every account is different” and that does not change with this set of flags. When we do client account reviews, no two are ever the same. But to assist those who are just getting started and want to fix some leaks in their campaigns, we are going over the largest Red Flags we come across. We will to tell you what to look for and then some ideas on how to fix them.

Flag #1: Low CTR

• Fix 1: Look at where the bulk of the traffic is coming from. Typically it’ll be the content network or broad keywords. Identify those that are bringing tons of traffic but no clicks or conversions. Utilize negative keywords and sites.
• Fix 2: If you have fixed keyword and content network leaks, look at the ad copy in relation to the keywords in the group. If you click through rate is low, it could because your ad isn’t targeted to what the person is looking for. Make another ad group if you have to.

Flag #2: Low quality score

• Low quality score is a combination of keyword relevance to ad and landing page. Most likely you need to look at the keyword that has a low quality score and think about intent of someone searching for that. Check your ad copy to make sure it is the same and answer’s the searchers question/intent. Make a new ad group if the keyword is too different from the others in the group.

Flag #3: Low conversions

• If everything else in your campaign is working – plenty of impressions and clicks, high quality score, then the answer lies in your landing page. Are you giving the searcher what they want? Are you pointing them to your preferred conversion? Do some testing on the landing page. Make sure its targeted to the keywords and has a good call to action.

Flag #4: Low impressions

• This is the hardest of all flags. Not enough traffic. There are two main conclusions: 1) you might be too targeted 2) you might need to do some outside marketing to drive traffic.

1. You want good directed traffic, but sometimes you have to take some risks. Ask customers, vendors, customers, or even family to describe your products. Ask them how they would search. Check your competitors sites. Try some more keywords, and go a little more broad, and then rein back in once you identify the traffic.
2. Sometimes people don’t know that your product or service exists. Utilize social media to drive traffic to search engines using your keywords. If local, think about traditional media such as radio and print to educate and empower.

Flag #5: High Spend

• Fix 1: Broad Matched Keywords – Check to make sure all of your keywords are not set to broad match. Sometimes that opens up too many avenues. Be sure to test Exact and Phrase match if you are spending too much.
• Fix 2: High Bids – Remember that you don’t have to be #1 for every keyword. If you are spending too much and not recovering your spend in sales, drop your bid. It has been proven time and again that being 3-5 can sometimes have a better ROI.
• Fix 3: Non-targeted Keywords – Try to bid on keywords that are your product, not the general category.
  Ex. If you are a sunglasses seller, don’t bid on “glasses” or “prescription glasses.” While some might be looking for sunglasses, or might want them and not know it, the intent of the typical searcher doesn’t match with your product.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Pay Per Click, PPC, PPC Monday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.