I caught up with some of SilverDisc’s paid search masterminds, Lorna and Mary, to grill them on their specialist subject - online marketing.

Hi Lorna! You’ve worked at SilverDisc and in online marketing since 2006. What’s your favourite thing about the job?

It’s an industry where the products and best practices are constantly changing, so we always have to keep on top of the latest developments - it really keeps you on your toes! I also really enjoy the insight that we get into user experiences online, from the keywords that people use to the way they navigate around a website.

What do you think the best AdWords development has been since you started working at SilverDisc?

I would have to say the introduction of the ad extensions features. There’s an ad extension to suit every type of business - from the click-to-call call extensions feature that benefits businesses without a great mobile site, to the product listings ads that help ecommerce advertisers to promote products more visually. Generally, the ad extensions give us more ad space, which increases our chance of getting those all-important clicks!

On the topic of AdWords developments, if you could make one improvement to AdWords, what would it be?

Looking into the future, I would rather keep device targeting as it is at the moment. The new Enhanced Campaigns approach means that we have no control when it comes to targeting our ads to tablet devices. It is very important that advertisers ensure that their websites are compatible with mobile and tablet devices, as they are so popular now, but I think it is only fair that advertisers have the final say when it comes to deciding where their ads are displayed.

Other than the keywords ads that you create, what outside factors can influence your PPC performance?

One of the most important factors is the usability of your website - make sure that conversions can be completed with ease. It is also important to keep an eye on your competitors to make sure that you can compete with them in terms of price and product range. Depending on your industry, you might also find that your conversion rates are affected by seasonality. Unsurprisingly, I have found that few people want to buy garden furniture when it’s raining!

Having looked into lots of AdWords accounts, what do you think is the most common mistake made by people advertising on AdWords?

It is really important to check your search query reports to make sure that you aren’t attracting clicks from irrelevant search terms. Add in negative keywords to make sure that your ads don’t appear for unrelated queries as they can lower your click-through-rates and conversion rates.

Finally, a burning question... would you rather have the ability to read minds or go invisible?

(After considerable thought) Be invisible – that would be quite good!

Hi Mary! You have worked at SilverDisc for a few years now. What’s your favourite part of working in online marketing?

We get the chance to work with a mix of clients, meaning that we get to speak to lots of different people about their business and products, learning lots along the way. And, as Lorna mentioned, it’s fun to keep on top of all of the industry’s latest developments and trends.

What would you say is the biggest advantage of pay per click advertising?

You’re in charge of the keywords that your ad appears for, meaning that you can put yourself in front of the people who are actively searching for your product. On top of that, you only pay when someone clicks your ad. As a whole, it is much more quantifiable than traditional media. You can also use the data that you get from your PPC campaign to guide the keywords that you focus on when it comes to SEO.

What common questions about PPC are you most frequently asked by clients?

Lots of people, very understandably, ask why they are not appearing in position one for their chosen keywords. In most cases it’s because the clicks are too expensive and we can’t achieve a good ROI if we’re spending that much on the clicks. It’s often more profitable to appear slightly lower in the results, where the clicks won’t be as costly. I have also been asked if it is advisable to bid on your own brand name, so I wrote a blog post about it!

Google has a huge market share so most advertisers just focus on AdWords. What is your view on Bing? Do you think it is worthwhile?

Yes – definitely. Clicks will often be cheaper than AdWords because there are less competitors, meaning your ROI could be better than AdWords if you achieve the same conversion rate. Bing is also the default search engine on the new Windows phones, so there are a good number of Bing users who probably won’t make the same search on Google. Don’t let those potential customers slip through the net.

Not including your own, what’s the best online PPC campaign that you have seen?

John Lewis have a great remarketing campaign. As far as I can tell, they don’t start showing the remarketing adverts straight away (unlike most advertisers using remarketing) so the display ad genuinely acts as a reminder about the product you were looking at. In terms of paid search, I have noticed that Dominos are always very quick to update their ads and ad extensions with their latest offers.

Conversely, what’s your favourite example of a online advertising campaign that has gone wrong?

I wrote a blog post about some social media campaigns that had taken a bad turn. My favourite was the McDonalds #McDStories hashtag which was hijacked by lots of funny tweeters. Although, perhaps it got more attention that way!

Finally... which of the Avengers would you rather be?

Obviously Iron Man because he is a billionaire! But really, anyone but Hulk...!

Have you ever visited a company’s website only to later find you are being followed around the internet by their ads? If the answer is “yes”, the chances are you are being remarketed to

.What is Remarketing?

Remarketing enables you, as an advertiser, to show ads across the web to people who have already visited your website. You can even make the ad specific to the pages a person has viewed. So, say your customer was lingering on a page on your site with those fabulous, bright pink shoes you sell; you can start showing them display ads containing the fabulous, bright pink shoes. Or if they have bought the shoes you could show them display ads promoting the handbag that goes perfectly with them!

Remarketing works well because the people you are targeting have already engaged with your brand on your website. You have already put the hard work in through great SEO or PPC or other forms of advertising to get them to visit to your site, now you are making sure they remember your brand while showing them products that they have already demonstrated an interest in.

A great example of remarketing done well is this from the Bodyshop; after I visited their “colour crush eyeshadow” page…

I was shown these adverts which showed several of their products including the “colour crush eyeshadow”. 

There are plenty of reasons why your click through rate (CTR) is important. The obvious one is that a better CTR means more clicks on an ad. CTR also plays a big part in AdWords’ quality score calculations too, and the better your quality score is the less you’ll pay for clicks.

Bearing the above in mind, this week’s blog post gives you ten tips on how to improve your CTR.

1. Choose the right keywords and make good use of negatives
Your ad will never achieve a good click through rate if it appears for search queries it is not relevant to. Run search query reports to see what keywords are generating ad impressions. Look out for queries that are not relevant to your ads and add these as negative keywords. Take a search for “motorbike rider insurance” for example; the ad highlighted below is for equine insurance, not motorbike insurance.

Petplan could easily avoid appearing for motorbike insurance searches by adding negative keywords like “bike” and “motorbike” to their PPC campaign. Read more on negative keyword optimisation.

2.  Make ad text relevant to your keywords
Simply making sure your ad text contains the keywords you are targeting will increase your CTR. It’s useful to remember that keywords will become bold if they are present in your ad text. It will catch people’s eyes if they see the keywords they just typed into Google in bold and in ad text.

3.  Highlight offers and USPs
All too often we see ads that give people little reason to click on them. The space you have to write your PPC ad is small but there is plenty of room to detail what you’re offering and to highlight your USPs. For example your ad text should mention if there is an end of season sale running, or if you offer free delivery and/or returns. These are the kinds of things that entice people to click.

4.  Include a strong call to action
If you ask people to do what you want them to do in your ad your CTR will improve. Ask them to “Get a Quote Now”, or “Buy Online Now”, or “Sign Up Today” – but never write “Click Here”!

5.  Tell potential customers what’s in it for them
This goes beyond highlighting USPs and including calls to action, instead it's about wording ad text in a way that tells someone what’s in it for them if they click through. For example, in an ad offering gym membership you could just say: “Sign Up for Membership Now” or you could say “Sign Up & Get That Bikini Body”. In reference to a design software download you could say: “Download Design Software Now” or you could say “Download & Increase Productivity”, if you are selling sales training you might say “Book Your Sales Training Now” or you could say “Increase Sales Numbers – Book Now!”

6.  Make the most of ad extensions
CTRs are higher for ads where ad extensions are in place. Even though the ad extensions might not be clicked, an ad with an extension in place occupies more space on a search results page thus drawing the eye in. Take a look at the ads below; Littlewoods is occupying way more space with all its ad extensions enabled in comparison to the Ecosoftware ad that goes unnoticed:

7.  Use extended ad headlines
If an AdWords’ ad’s first line is clearly a sentence, and ends with proper punctuation, then description line one will be ‘moved up’ to become part of the ad’s headline when displayed at the top of Google’s results. You can use this space to give more prominence to any offers or great USPs life Giftlab.com have done below:

8.  Increase position
An ad that is always at the bottom of the search results for highly competitive terms will ultimately have a lower CTR. It is worth considering increasing bids to increase your position – if you do this it’s important to monitor your ROI closely.

9. Check your ad settings
AdWords’ default ad settings mean ads with better CTRs are displayed more often; however, during ad tests for example, you may choose to rotate your ads evenly. It is possible that these ad setting changes have been forgotten and ads with low CTRs will be showing as often as those with much better CTRs. It’s always worth double-checking your ad settings.

10.  Test, test, test!
One of the beauties of online marketing, and in particular AdWords PPC campaigns, is everything can be monitored and tested for true effectiveness. You should test ads with different promotions, calls to action and USPs to see which ones achieve the best click through rates. When looking at ads with the best CTRs try to figure out exactly what is about that ad that generated the better click through rate - was it an offer or a call to action – then factor this knowledge into your new ad text. Pause ads that have lower CTRs and always remember to set reminders when running ad tests to make sure you revisit them to check the results. It’s also a good idea to make a note of what you were testing, for example, a call to action.

If you want a hand, or some advice, on running a successful PPC account, including increasing CTRs, then we’d love to hear from you: contact us.

You may have heard that in the last few weeks Google have introduced AdWords enhanced campaigns. For those of you who haven’t already separated out your mobile and desktop campaigns according to best practice, you’re in luck!

An AdWords enhanced campaign targets all three devices - mobile, tablet and desktop computer - in one campaign. While you could do that before, you can now select mobile preference when writing ads and sitelinks, as well as adjust your bids for mobile devices. 

Back in April AdWords introduced “Account Labels”, a feature that offers account managers the ability to tag campaigns, adgroups, keywords and ads with a label. Labels essentially allow for custom groupings in your account. Once you have set your labels, you can run reports to view the performance of the items that you have grouped together – it’s a simple idea, but it offers lots of useful practical applications when it comes to managing your AdWords account!

Wondering how you can take advantage of this relatively new feature? Here are 4 interesting uses for AdWords labels:

1. Simplify ad testing: Help yourself to carry out A/B tests by labelling your ads to distinguish between differences in ad-copy. For example, you could label ads containing a new promotion in the headline in order to compare click-through-rates with another set of ads with a different offer in the headline. Another idea would be to label ads depending on the destination URL in the ad, allowing you to test the conversion performance of different landing pages.

2. Monitor new keywords: When you add a new trial keyword to your account, try labelling the keyword with a “test” label along with the date it was added to the account and the date you intend to review its performance – this is a great way to keep track of the recent changes you have made without having to refer to your notes or AdWords' bulky change history feature.

3. Compare different keyword themes: Let's say you rent cottages in Dorset. You might run numerous adgroups containing variations of the keywords "dorset break", "dorset holiday" and "dorset weekend." The terms "break", "holiday" and "weekend" might generate very different results for your campaign. Label the keywords with the theme they belong to (i.e. "break", "holiday" or "weekend") so that you can easily compare the performance of those keyword themes across adgroups.

4. Make life easier for your colleagues: If someone else is going to be looking after your account when you are out of the office, label the keywords or adgroups that you want your colleague to keep a particularly close eye on. For example, you might label a campaign with a note to increase the daily budget if it begins to max out before the end of the day.

That's how we've applied our labels, so do let us know if you've developed any unique uses for the AdWords label function!

Google AdWords ad extensions are a great way to improve the performance of your PPC ads. Ad extensions use more space in the paid search results and can significantly improve your CTR – these are just two reasons why you should be using ad extensions in your AdWords PPC campaigns.

There are lots of ad extensions to choose from including sitelink extensions, seller ratings and social extensions, and I think many advertisers would agree that keeping track of the different ad extensions and knowing which ones to use for your business can be tricky. That’s why we have compiled a simple guide to AdWords ad extensions to help!

Sitelink extensions

Take users deeper into your site, and closer to converting, with sitelink extensions. Sitelinks are ideal for taking users directly to content that you think they might be interested in so when choosing sitelinks, think about your popular product lines, new releases and best deals.

You can have up to ten sitelink extensions in a campaign, which are supposed to take users to unique landing pages, but many advertisers actually use them as an extension of their ad text and send them all to the same landing page. For example, the sitelink extensions in the below ad, which was triggered for a search on “watches”, actually all take users to the homepage rather than a page for branded watches or to the watches recently advertised on TV.

To make better use their sitelink extensions, this advertiser should consider taking people to specific areas of the site like “mens watches”, “ladies watches” and “branded watches”. Google are starting to become stricter when monitoring sitelinks so make sure your sitelink extensions go to unique landing pages to avoid them being disapproved!

Call extensions

If your PPC campaigns target mobile phone devices then call extensions are a must! Call extensions are used to insert a click-to-call phone number next to your ad so that people can call you directly from the search results. But don’t disregard call extensions if your campaigns target desktop computers as they are still a useful addition if you want to increase calls. If you offer a service which you want people to book or reserve quickly over the phone then call extensions are ideal. The below example shows call extensions in an ad for a hotel, even though the ad is targeting people using desktop computers.

Google recently introduced ‘call forwarding numbers’ to let advertisers see call metrics like call duration and area code. On mobiles you are only charged for the cost-per-click, like before, but campaigns targeting desktop computers with the forwarding number will be charged a minimum of £1.00 per call. You can opt out of using the Google call forwarding number so make sure you do this if you don’t want to incur the extra costs. If you can’t decide whether to use the call forwarding number, ask yourself how many calls you get and whether it would be valuable to get a deeper insight into those calls.

Social extensions

Link your Google+ page to your AdWords ads with social extensions to boost your social presence. Once you have linked your Google+ page to your ads, searchers will be able to see the number of Google+ followers you have and go directly to your Google+ page to engage with your brand. If a Google+ user has a friend in their circles who has +1’d your brand then it will also say this in the ad - increasing the chances of them clicking your ad or visiting your Google+ page. To read more about Google+ and why you should have a Google+ page, read Mary’s blog post Google+ and Why You Need A Google+ Brand Page!

Seller ratings

If you have received thirty reviews in the past twelve months on review sites around the Internet with an average rating of four out of five or better, then you’ll be pleased to hear that your PPC ads are eligible to display seller rating extensions. Seller rating extensions can improve CTR by inserting a star rating into your ads to show people that you are a recommended retailer. Seller rating extensions are absolutely free - you just pay for clicks on your ad like normal. 

Location extensions

Location extensions insert your address into your ad so that people can easily find you and get directions, which is particularly useful if your campaigns target mobile phones. It’s important to remember that location extensions should only be used if your business operates from a physical location like shops and restaurants. If your business operates online then think about using call extensions instead. 

Product extensions

If you use Google Merchant Centre you can show people specific products you sell with product extensions. Google displays products it thinks are suitable based on the user’s search query, along with an image, price and title. Product extensions are ideal if you are a retailer with an e-commerce site looking to increase online sales. With product extensions you just pay the CPC that you would normally pay when someone clicks your ad to go through to your site. It’s free if someone simply clicks to expand the product extensions box. The below examples of product extensions appeared on a search for “lawnmowers”. 

If you want more advice on how to use Google AdWords ad extensions in your PPC campaigns then get in touch and we will be happy to help! 

“Why bid on our own brand name?” is a question we are often asked as PPC account managers. It seems a reasonable question – after all, a brand owner often ranks really well organically for their brand terms And assuming that’s the case then why waste money on appearing on your own term? 

  Answer: “So you make more money and your competitors make less”

Spending money on keywords that “belong” to yourself is frustrating but protecting your brand is important. Bidding on your brand terms has become an important part of protecting your brand.

“Why am I bidding on my brand name?”

Even if you are top of the organic results, there are potentially three competitor ads and a map showing other competitors above your organic listing. The ads above you may also have site links, star ratings or other ad extensions pushing your organic listing further down the page. 

For example, a search for “sheilas wheels insurance” shows Sheilas’ Wheels are top of the organic results; however many of their competitors have PPC ads showing on this particular keyword. Sheilas’ Wheels do have a PPC ad showing in ad position two though:

While the searcher is looking for your website, if other companies show above you they may be easily convinced to look elsewhere. 

Searchers looking for your brand term are more likely to convert than other searchers.  You have probably already put the hard work in through other marketing and it would be a shame to waste all that hard work by not ensuring you are at the top of the page. If it is your own brand term Google should recognise your ad and keyword as being highly relevant so you receive a good quality score and a low CPC. It would be a shame to lose a conversion when it may have only cost a few pence.

“Why are my competitors showing on my brand?”

Many people new to PPC have misconceptions about the keywords their competitors are allowed to bid on. The initial thought is often “It is my brand term; it is trademarked and belongs to me!”  Therefore other people’s ads should not be showing on it.

Sadly a brand term being trademarked does not mean other people cannot bid on that particular keyword or even that your brand term cannot appear in someone else ad.

What your competitor can’t do is be misleading; they are not allowed to pretend to be you.

If your brand term is showing in someone else’s ad this does not always mean they are pretending to be you. Google allows resellers and informational sites to use brand terms in their PPC ads providing that their landing page is relevant.

 “How do I stop competitors showing on my Brand Term”

If you’d like to really stop someone using your brand terms in their ads there are a few steps you can take:

• Ask nicely – If you call or send them a letter they may agree to stop bidding.
• Send a trademark complaint to Google or Bing – this should stop those misusing your brand term from using it in their ads, though this does not apply to resellers.
• Bring in the lawyers - If they are not nice you could bring in the lawyers and send them a cease and desist letter. This is usually the way to go if someone is maliciously using your brand term, representing themselves as you or they have been increasingly evasive and difficult to deal with.
• Contracts with resellers – Even if you send a trademark complaint letter, resellers can still write ads that include your brand term in the ads, if you don’t want them to show you can ask them to stop, you are their customer after all. However before you do this you may want to consider your business model. If they are particularly important to your revenue stream, bring new visitors to the site or often outrank your main competitors then there’s a good chance you don’t want to change your current set-up.

Here’s an example: Suppose you are a hotel owner, you have your own site that people can book through, however you also sell beds through Booking.com and Hotels.com. When you search on your hotel name your resellers appear above your organic listing. While you may not view this as fair, if they are filling the majority of your beds then they are providing you with a good service, you may want to consider that before you talk to them.

Yes It’s Worth Bidding on Your Keyword Brand Terms!

Whilst you may not view these searchers as new customers to gain they are your customers to lose.  Bidding on your own keywords ensures that you are present or at the top of the page when customers look for you.

Owning your brand space is one reason to bid on your brand term. However it is not the only reason. Next week Louise will be going through her top reasons to bid on brand terms.

As a PPC manager there are key signals we look out for to make performance measurement easier and quicker. We use these as indicators to let us know if further investigation is needed, whether it's because we think there's a problem, or because performance is good and we want to see if we can maintain or improve it.

However, sometimes these signals aren’t always what they seem and measuring performance on them can be dangerous.

Here's our list of five common PPC myths:

1. Spending more results in more conversions 

Spending more does not always mean more conversions. There are three main ways to throw cash at a campaign: increasing your max CPC bids on existing keywords, targeting more expensive broader keywords and increasing campaign budgets.

Increasing max CPC bids: This is likely to lead to higher ad positions and ads in higher positions tend to receive higher CTRs. Ads with high CTRs get clicked by more people meaning more potential customers could be visiting your site, so therefore you could expect to see more conversions. However, if you have limited campaign budgets you could end up spending more on fewer clicks and therefore could end up seeing fewer conversions. 

Targeting expensive broad keywords: Bidding on broad keywords with high search volumes will definitely get you more impressions. However, unless the product you are selling is relevant to what people are searching for you will not necessarily see any more clicks or conversions. For example, if you have a women’s boutique shoe shop and start bidding on the term “shoes”, your ad will show for “men’s shoes”, “children’s shoes”, and “cheap shoes” - none of these terms are relevant so you shouldn’t expect an increase in (relevant) clicks or conversions. Whilst you can add negative keywords to filter out irrelevant impressions, your ad will still show for those people who are searching on “shoes”. These people could still only be interested in men’s shoes meaning your ad still won’t get clicked and certainly won’t lead to a conversion. 

Increasing campaign budgets: Making sure you have a large enough campaign budget for your ads to show throughout the day is important and can aid conversion rates. If someone clicks your ad in the morning but isn’t ready to buy at that time and then performs the same search in the afternoon you want to make sure your ad is still showing so they can find you easily. If your ad is not there then they will find someone else to buy from.  If generally you are not seeing many conversions you might want to check that your website is optimised and that you are bidding on relevant terms before you increase your campaign budgets.

2. Higher CPC bids will always lead to higher ad positions

AdWords uses many things to determine your ad’s positions in an auction. Two of the things considered include the max CPC bid and the quality score of a keyword. Increasing a max CPC bid won’t guarantee a better position as you the person above you could be bidding more or have a better quality score or both. Even if you increase your bid you may still be positioned below your competitor.

In order to make sure you pay the lowest CPCs for the best positions concentrate on your quality score as well as your max CPC bids. 

If your position does improve with a simple CPC increase then great! However remember that the person below you could always bid more next week. Before bidding more remember to consider your ROI/performance targets. If your ROI is good even when you’ve increased bids you're in a good position. However if your ROI is poor be careful not to end up in a bidding war you can't afford. 

3. The more keywords the better

There is no need to put every possible keyword you can think of into a campaign, it won’t help performance. If you use modified broad match most of the long tail keywords will get picked up. Adding tons of low volume keywords to a campaign means you will have an account full of keywords that never see any impressions – this can actually be detrimental. 

Take a look through your search query reports to see keywords that frequently generate ad impressions – where relevant add these keywords to your campaign. Remember that you don’t need to add plurals, misspellings and close variants as now even exact and phrase match options will pick these up. Go for quality, not quantity.

4. Location targeting

Be careful when using location targeting, Google uses IP addresses to determine where a customer is located, however IP address aren’t always accurate. 

5. Enabling all ad extensions

While ad extensions do make your ad stand out and can lead to higher CTRs, you need to consider what type of business you have and whether all of the ad extensions are suitable for you.  If you are an online business operating from your home address you may want to rethink adding location extensions to your ads. Do you really want your home address showing in an ad and people turning up at your door?  If you add call extensions to an ad people are possibly going to call you before they even look at your website, if you are happy to talk to anyone, great! However if you would like people to know more about you before calling or if you have multiple numbers that they can call, you might want to make sure they visit your site before picking up the phone.