Optimization is a common term in the online marketing world that we use when speaking with clients, bosses, coworkers, and colleagues. It’s used in blogs, presentations, and proposals. But, do you really know or remember the actually meaning of the word?

I don’t mean that so much as an insult, rather as a honest question. Have you ever read the actual definition and thought about what it truly means?

“Optimization: an act, process, or methodology of making something (as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible; specifically: the mathematical procedures (as finding the maximum of a function) involved in this”

Optimization is not just a promise to make something better, not just increasing budgets, nor is it making something bad into “eh”. You have to analyze, strategize, and implement changes until what you are optimizing is “as fully perfect” as possible.

The word optimization seems to fade and lose most of its meaning in the second step of the process. In order to achieve true optimization you must continue to analyze, strategize, and implement changes on a regular basis. Look over your campaigns, really look, are they as effective as possible? Could the keywords you’re bidding on or the ad text be improved?

Here are some simple questions to review to get you started on the optimization process of paid search campaigns:

• How many active keywords are you currently bidding on?
• How many of those terms have not converted or resulted in any type of goal in over 30 days?
• Why are you still bidding on those terms?

Removing poor performing terms can instantly improve the performance of an account by cutting out unnecessary cost.

Next go back over the website you are marketing, look to see if anything new has been added or maybe you missed something before. Try taking a different approach with the products or services being offered. Look for new keywords to add or try different keyword match types. Write and test out new ad text often and remove old ad text that did not do well.

Also try testing different landing pages to see which ones may have better results. Talk to your client or web designer about creating new landing pages for you to test. Sometimes simply changing a font color can have huge positive effects. Don’t let yourself get frustrated if the campaigns don’t perform well on your first try, just keep testing new ideas. The key to optimization is remembering that it is a constant ongoing process not just a onetime effort.