40+ Questions to Ask About Your Pay-per-Click Campaign
Before getting started, it is a good idea to learn everything there is to know about your website and service. The more you know, the easier it is to be creative with keyword selection/expansion & ad creative/banner designs. Beside that, knowing what sets your website apart from the competition could be your best advantage if used correctly.
the website
- What are the goals of the website? What is being counted as a conversion (acquisition)?
- Goal value – What is the cost per acquisitions (CPA) goal?
- How will we be tracking these goals?
- What does your website have to offer? Why are you promoting these products? Who wants your products? Why would visitors buy your product instead of the other guys on the 1st page? Anything about your website that makes user experience unique?
- Visitor Demographic – What is your desired traffic type?
- What is the daily budget?
- Any historic stats confirming keywords to use? Any keywords client really wants?
- Sales, Coupons, Free Shipping, etc.?
- Affiliations, member of, Awards?
the account(s)
- What engines are you using? PPC Account Login Info
- Geo-targeting – Is there a desired Area, Country, City or Language?
- Content & Placement network? (Google AdWords)
- How is reporting handled?
- Are you sending visitors to special landing pages? Can you optimize or create landing pages?
tracking & conversions
- How are visitors being tracked? Analytics login info.
- Are all conversions an goals setup for automatic tracking?
- Are keywords being tracked individually? URL’s Appended?
- Goals created in analytics? What goals are being tracked and where are they being tracked and reported?
- Tracking codes on webpages?
Ok, now we have the information we need to begin what really counts; optimizing the accounts..
account optimization
- Keyword Match Type Optimization?
- Individual keyword bids/bidding?
- Ad Group Bidding?
- Placement Network Optimization?
- Content Networking Bidding?
- Keyword Status’ and History?
- Day/Week part bidding?
ads
- Multiple Ads Running at All Times. Setting set to rotate?
- Keyword in Title and Ad Text (Q-score)?
- Ad creative destination URL (special pages for ads?)
- Dynamic Keyword Insertion?
which keywords matter? (sometimes it’s not the keyword)
- Keywords with Highest Cost
- Keywords with Most impressions
- Keywords with most Clicks
- Keywords with Most conversions
- Keywords with lowest Cost per conversion
- Keywords with Highest CPA or No Conversions
- Keywords with Highest conversion rates
- Keywords with Highest CTR
- Keywords with Most Clicks
- Keywords with Highest cost per click
- Keywords with Lowest cost per click
Keyboard Shortcuts for Google’s AdWords Editor
This post is for pay per click marketers that spend more time in Google’s AdWords Editor than they do on the actual Google AdWords interface/website. Here is a list of keyboard shortcuts for AdWords Editor that could help speed up your AdWords Editor processing time. I personally only use about 20 of these (the ones bolded). But, here is a list of all the I could find.
Ctrl+O – Open Account
Ctrl+R – Get Recent Changes
Ctrl+S – Post Changes
Ctrl+A – Select all Items in Data View
Ctrl+Z – Revert Selected Changes
Delete key – Delete Selected Items
Ctrl+C – Copy Selected Items
Ctrl+X – Cut Selected Items
Ctrl+V – Paste Items
Ctrl+Shft+V – Paste Items into selected ad groups
Ctrl+1 – Jump to Keywords tab
Ctrl+2 – Jump to Sites tab
Ctrl+3 – Jump to Negatives tab
Ctrl+4 – Jump to Text Ads tab
Ctrl+5 – Jump to Image Ads tab
Ctrl+6 – Jump to Mobile Ads tab
Ctrl+7 – Jump to Ad Groups tab
Ctrl+8 – Jump to Campaigns tab
Ctrl+K – Add Keyword
Ctrl+Shft+K – Add or Update Multiple Keywords
Ctrl+Alt+K – Delete Multiple Keywords
Ctrl+B – Add Site
Ctrl+Shft+B – Add or Update Multiple Placements
Ctrl+Alt+B – Delete Multiple Placements
Ctrl+L – Add Negative Keyword
Ctrl+Shft+L – Add Multiple Negative Keywords
Ctrl+M – Add Campaign Negative Keyword
Ctrl+Shft+M – Add Multiple Campaign Negative Keywords
Ctrl+Alt+M – Delete Multiple Campaign Negative Keywords
Ctrl+E – Add Campaign Negative Site
Ctrl+Shft+E – Add Multiple Campaign Negative Sites
Ctrl+Alt+E – Delete Multiple Campaign Negative Sites
Ctrl+T – Add Text Ad
Ctrl+Shft+T – Add Multiple Text Ads
Ctrl+Alt+T – Delete Multiple Text Ads
Ctrl+I – Add Image Ad
Ctrl+Shft+I – Add Multiple Image Ads
Ctrl+J – Add Mobile Ad
Ctrl+Shft+J – Add Multiple Mobile Ads
Ctrl+Alt+J – Delete Multiple Mobile Ads
Ctrl+G – Add Ad Group
Ctrl+Shft+G – Add or Update Multiple Ad Groups
Ctrl+N – Add Keyword-targeted Campaign
Ctrl+Shft+N – Add Site-Targeted Campaign
Ctrl+D – Add Draft Keyword-targeted Campaign
Ctrl+Shft+D – Add Draft Site-targeted Campaign
Ctrl+W – Exit AdWords Editor
If you know of any shortcuts that I missed, please comment them.
Read MorePermanently Remove Old Deleted AdWords Campaigns (Sike!)
The other day I decided to ask my Google rep if I could completely delete (old deleted) AdWords campaigns. Here was my question;
“Is there a way to delete deleted campaigns for good. Where they wont even show up anywhere in editor or in the AdWords interface. Like completely delete…vanish.”
My oldest AdWords account literally has over 30 deleted campaigns & more than several hundred ad groups. Just recently I paused all the campaigns in that account and because of the view I had my account set to; “all active” I was reminded of some of my old accounts… (oh, the memories) It was kind of nice to see how much better my AdWords campaigns are created and structured now compared to then. But, I wanted my deleted campaigns gone for good. After all I deleted them for a reason. If I thought I might need them again, I would’ve just paused them.
Anyway, here is what the rep had to say…
“Thank you for your email. I understand that you would like to permanently remove the deleted campaigns from your AdWords account, and also, from AdWords Editor. Please know that while it’s possible for you to delete an active ad, keyword, or campaign, it isn’t possible to permanently delete these. Your historical account data is just as valuable to your ongoing advertising experience as your active campaign information. Therefore, this information remains with your account so that we can provide you with the best advertising performance possible.
You can customize your account view to hide or show deleted items. To learn more see https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=69944&hl=en_US.
Also, please know, depending on your specified preferences, AdWords Editor hides or displays deleted and ended items in your account. You can also specify whether you want AdWords Editor to download deleted and ended campaigns and ad groups.
To view deleted items, follow these steps:
1. If you’re using Windows, go to the Tools menu > Settings. If you’re using a Mac, go to the AdWords Editor menu > Preferences.
2. Uncheck the box labeled Hide all deleted and ended items. Then uncheck the appropriate boxes below it.
3. Click OK.
To download deleted and ended campaigns and ad groups:
1. If you’re using Windows, go to the Tools menu > Settings. If you’re using a Mac, go to the AdWords Editor menu > Preferences.
2. Uncheck the boxes next to Hide all deleted and ended items and Hide deleted and ended campaigns.
3. Check the box next to Download deleted and ended campaigns and ad groups.
4. Click OK.
5. Go to the Account menu > Get Full Account. This downloads your account, including the deleted and ended campaigns and ad groups.
I hope that this information is useful for you.
If you have additional questions, please visit our Help Center at https://adwords.google.com/support to find answers to many frequently asked questions. Or, try our Learning Center at http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/ for self-paced lessons that cover the scope of AdWords.
We look forward to providing you and your clients with the most effective advertising available.
Sincerely,
Google Rep
The Google AdWords Team”
Turns out it’s not about saving your campaigns in case you need it again one day. It’s all about ‘historical data’. This worries me more since some of the accounts are ones I started back when I didn’t have a PPC clue or they belong to client’s who have accounts I took over after months to years of bad quality scores and editorial rejections.
Knowing this… Think About it, Maybe sometimes it pays to start fresh.
Read More