Over the last few weeks as areas across the country have begun to slowly reopen, many of my private clients who paused their online advertising back in March have decided to relaunch their Google Ads Campaigns.
I’m excited to announce that I’m seeing preliminary results based on advertising over the last few weeks and those results have been very good for business owners.
Each one of my private clients’ accounts has been more profitable during May than they were in February of 2020.
Here are what I believe to be some reasons for the increase in profitability using paid Google ads:
Less Competition On Google
It is a fact that many advertisers paused their online advertising in March or April of this year.
Google works by displaying ads in the most prominent position based on a real time auction. When determining how high an advertiser’s paid ad appears within Google search results, Google uses a combination of an advertisers bid and other factors such as relevancy to the user search query to determine what is called ‘Ad Rank’.
The higher the Ad Rank the more prominent on the page an ad will appear. The more prominent an ad appears, the more likely an ad, whether a product ad like in Shopping or a text ad as in Google Search, is to be clicked on by a potential customer.
With less businesses advertising, it translates into less competition and cheaper bids for those who advertise meaning higher Ad Rank and more prominent positions within Google.
Right now, I have seen some of my private clients with their average cost per click 50% or less than what they were paying earlier in the year for the same search terms!
Combine cheaper bids with the relatively same conversion rates and it is no wonder that profitability has been substantially higher.
And although I’m not sure how long this phenomenon will last, current advertisers are certainly taking advantage of cheaper clicks thus reducing their costs per click thereby helping to drive their profit margins higher.
There is also an opportunity to reach more shoppers. Less competition online means less options for shoppers. This may not be a good thing for consumers, but it is a REAL good thing if you are one of the remaining choices.
Increasing Business In The Long-Term …
I always like to remind clients that advertising using paid Google ads is not a short game.
Not only is advertising in Google about optimizing profits per sale, but it is also about the average lifetime value (ALV) of a customer.
Advertisers are paying for that first sale, but how many future sales will an average customer make from your website after their initial purchase?
This is the data you need in order to calculate Average Lifetime Customer Value. Increasing the ALV depends on factors like staying in contact with past customers (how often are you emailing your customer base), how happy customers are with your products (are you doing everything you can to exceed customer expectations) and how smooth was the initial transaction (did they receive their order in the manner promised).
Combine good service with good products and you have the initial recipe for increasing your average customer lifetime value.
2. More People Shopping Online
What has happened in the past few months is like nothing we have ever seen. In California, we have been asked to stay at home for almost 3 months and counting.
That not only means that the grass in the backyard has been getting worn out, but it also means that personally I’ve been buying a whole lot of stuff online some I need, much I don’t.
Do you know what?
In the action of increasing the amount of shopping done online over the last few months, I’m not alone.
It isn’t just the people who are already accustomed to shopping online either that are increasing how much they are shopping.
Nope.
In addition to regular online shoppers, there are people that have never previously shopped online that have had no other choice due to stay at home orders.
Including especially some generation Xers and a whole lot of Baby Boomers, the stay at home orders has created a whole new wave of online shoppers and it is a big wave!
In 2019, online purchases made up 16% of commerce. Many experts predict that the COVID-19 pandemic will change the way shopping is done and specifically how online shopping is done forever more.
In 2020, online shopping could skyrocket to as high as 50% of all sales. As new shoppers become more accustomed to shopping online and become more adept at doing so, this percentage could increase even higher than 50% over the next few years.
If you are selling products online, you should be filled with optimism. If you are not selling products online, you should be thinking about how and where you can start.
3. People Ready For Normalcy
Let’s face it. After weeks or even months at home, people are ready for normalcy. And I’m not talking about purchasing that 10ft inflatable pool for the backyard, although yes I did recently order one or even that new videocam and yep I bought one of those too.
Instead, I’m referring of the new baseball batting helmet for little Johnny or a new volleyball for the beach.
Items that return a sense of normalcy even though the activity for which they are bought may still not be back at full capacity.
Demand has picked up online, due to what I believe is people’s desire for a sense of normalcy.
Combine this demand for normalcy with lack of competition and many advertisers are seeing more profitable sales even when logic may dictate that it would be better to hold off on resuming advertising for certain product lines.
Final Word
If you were using paid advertising before COVID, there is no reason not to resume advertising now. When I say resume advertising now, I’m not referring to next week or even next month, I’m referring to today.
If you are not quite ready to take a full plunge but want to just put your toe in the water, then you can resume on a limited basis.
Restart your advertising with just your best-sellers or restart your advertising bidding at reduced level (say 50%).
In what method you decide to restart advertising, know that the opportunity is high right now to see cheaper clicks and higher profit levels from your online marketing. The time for being timid with your ad budget is gone and customers are again wanting your products.
However, like that 48-hour sale at Macy’s, be warned that this sale (the Google ads sale on cheap clicks) may be over before many know that it even began!
Remember to stay safe and stay healthy!
Looking for More Information on Google Advertising?
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A service that I offer through True Online Presence is a complete review
of a company’s AdWords account. Coined the T.O.P. AdWords Assessment, this assessment
includes having me spend 2-3 hours reviewing a Google Ads account structure and
provide ratings on the account based on key metrics that I have found to strongly
correlate with success.
The key metrics that I use to rate an account’s health include: Match
Type/Keywords; Adjusting Bids Device/Location; Segmenting Campaigns; Shopping
Health (for e-commerce); Conversion Goals (for professional services); Activity
Level; Ad Extensions, Ad Testing and Budgets.
Advertising on Google is unlike any other advertising medium as it can
deliver red hot leads.
You can reach potential users while they are searching for an exact
service or product. They can find you right in the middle of their buying
process! However, like other marketing channels Google needs to be configured
correctly and tended often to provide advertisers with optimal success.
A Recent Review
Last week, I had a company purchase an AdWords review. Due to my private
client workload and running The Academy of Internet
Marketing, I don’t accept too many T.O.P assessments anymore, but this was
requested by a website design firm that I have known for quite a while.
They requested for one of their clients, a professional service company
located in the Midwest spending about $200 a month in AdWords. Although not a
huge monthly investment that still that comes to approximately $5K in the last
2 years and who wouldn’t want to make sure they are spending $5K prudently?
The reason that I choose to share this assessment was the due to the bare bones’ nature of their AdWords account which allows me to really detail in this article what is needed to run a successful Google marketing campaign.
First Some Background
The company, a legal entity, first started using AdWords 2 years ago.
Professional Service companies are a bit different to evaluate than an
e-commerce company as there is no add to cart button to press. Instead what is defined
as a conversion is up to the advertiser to decide. This company had decided to define
their sole conversion as phone call received.
Since inception 2-years ago, AdWords has generated 21 phone calls. For
these call the company had paid $131 for each call generated (CPA – cost per
acquisition).
Quick note, that with this sort of review I do not have the conversion
statistics of how many of those calls became clients or how much a client is
worth, I’m just looking at straight analytics based on data available and I am evaluating
the account on the 7 key metrics listed above.
So, let’s get started…
Match Type/Keywords
One of the most important things a search campaign can utilize to be
successful is the proper use of match type. Match type determines which
keywords trigger an ad to appear. There are 5 match types – broad, phrase,
exact, broad-match modifier and negative.
This account is using all broad match. Using broad match is going to
bring in the most traffic, although also the most unqualified traffic. To be
successful with eliminating unwanted searches especially with broad match, you
need to be highly vigilant with the adding of negative keywords. Unfortunately,
for this account there have been 0 negative keywords added.
Over the last 2 years, the broad match search terms ‘divorce & family
law’ and ‘divorce and family law’ have racked up about $500 generating no phone
calls/conversions.
These keywords in the broad match form has caused this attorney’s ads to
appear for keyword searches such as ‘types of family law’ and ‘family law
61354’. With the average cost-per-click of about $4 it is important to not
waste money on unrelated clicks.
I would recommend that this account change all their keyword match types
to phrase and broad match modifier and use the search terms report to add
negative keywords to block unrelated search terms.
For directions, I referred the company to the following articles:
This account is set to only bid in certain cities and counties where this
firm offers services. When you look at a map this makes for an odd pattern.
Unless they only can practice in certain counties, they may be better advised to
add a search radius of X miles from a certain city.
For device, all 21 phone calls have been generated from mobile devices. Remember, the only conversion action being tested is phone calls.
I can see a phone extension for mobile ads, but not for desktop. They
should expand the phone extension for desktop and may want to consider looking
at a 3rd party phone tracking system such as Call Rail, so they can
determine where not only Google calls are coming from, but all other phone
calls generated from other marketing channels.
Segmenting Campaigns
A mistake that many companies make when creating their AdWords account is
not having enough/segmented campaigns. This account is no different. There is
only one campaign which is sending traffic directly to the home page.
This attorney offers custody services, divorce services, criminal law and
other family law; however, all traffic is sending ads directly to the homepage
regardless of which ad they click.
Making a user click around to find a specific service once they land on
your website is a mistake. Related keywords need to be segmented into similar campaigns
in order to have ads for specific keywords direct users to the exact service
they are searching.
Conversions
The only conversion goal for this account is for a phone call.
If a user that clicks on the account and is not immediately ready to
contact the attorney, they most likely will not make that call even if they may
be semi-interested in the service.
Setting up different conversion goals such as a lead magnet will allow to
capture contact information.
Examples would be offering a free report such as ‘The Top 10 Mistakes
People Make When Choosing a Divorce Attorney’ or ‘The Top 10 Mistakes When
Filing for Divorce’. A lead magnet is a great way to capture prospective
client’s email or phone number and enables an advertiser to open a line of
communication with potential clients.
Retargeting is also another very effective way to stay in front of a
potential client. When a user goes to a website a ‘cookie’ is automatically
placed on the user’s browser. This allows both professional services and
e-commerce companies to use retargeting ads to those users after they leave the
website and are browsing throughout the Google Display Network.
Here is a great article that I wrote referring to lead magnets that I
encourage professional services to read:
Running ads on Google is not designed to be a set-it and forget-it strategy.
Monitoring an account needs constant revisions for adjusting bids, adding new
keywords based on searches and eliminating searches through negative keywords.
An account that is well managed should see at least weekly changes to
bids and keywords as well as testing ads (more on that in the next section).
Using the change history tool, I’m showing a grand total of 27 changes in
over 2 years. This is a definite sign of neglect in this account.
Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are snippets of information that Google allows advertisers
to append to their ads. Relevant ad extensions for professional services
include sitelink extensions, callout extensions, location extensions (great for
professional services), call extensions, message extensions, structured snippet
extensions and price extensions.
At a bare minimum, all advertisers whether professional service or
e-commerce should be using call extensions, sitelink extensions and callout
extensions on every ad.
Ad Testing
Google first introduced expanded ads in 2016 and have since updated the
amount of text even further.
Currently, advertisers are allowed the following character limits:
The more information you can
provide a potential client or buyer the more successful your ads are going to
be in generating traffic. It is a mistake to not take advantage of all of space
that Google allows when writing ads.
In addition, each ad group
should contain a minimum of 3 ads optimized for show best-performing ads.
Google provides the testing
inside their system, but you need to be running multiple ads for it to take
effect. Over time, ads with higher click-through-rates (CTR) will automatically
be served more thus increasing your CTR and increasing your Quality Score.
Having a high-quality score
can greatly reduce the cost of ads over time.
For information on quality
score, refer to my article:
When determining your daily budgets
in Google Ads, you need to make sure of a couple of factors:
You are comfortable spending the amount you set
your daily budget over the month. If you set your budget at $10, for example,
your daily spend could be up to double $20, but your total will not exceed an
average of $10 for the month or $300 total ($10 x 30).
Especially if you are running profitable ads, you
want to make sure you are capturing all available traffic. One of the most
effective ways to do this is by viewing your Search Impression Share; the Impr.
Top % (which is the percentage of time your ads appear above organic results)
and the Search lost abs. top IS (budget), which shows how often your ads were
not shown above organic results due to a low budget.
By combining these 3-key
metrics, advertisers can determine if they have a high enough budget in place
to capture all possible leads.
Last bit of advice
Google
AdWords has a lot of moving parts that need to be considered when running a
successful advertising campaign. One thing is for sure is in order to have
superior results, you need to make sure you are constantly monitoring.
The good
news is that many of your competitors are probably not optimizing using all the
tools Google provides, so by monitoring and being aware of the key metrics
listed above you will more than likely have a huge advantage over your
competition.
The key
metrics that I dig into when reviewing an AdWords account are in no way an
exhaustive list of what can and ultimately should be done; however, they are
what I consider to be the most important metrics of a well-run Google AdWords
account.
Looking for More Information on Google Advertising?
If you have the dedication and are ready to take your online sales to the next level, then The Academy of Internet Marketing was created for you. It provides the tools in the form of knowledge of what works today. Join us and see what makes us special and together we will grow your business.
If you are ready to take your online advertising to the next level, I welcome you to take a trial. It only costs $1 for complete access for 2 full weeks.
Happy Marketing!
Andy Splichal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Splichal is an online marketing strategist with more than a decade and a half of experience helping companies increase their online presence and profitable revenues. Although this blog focuses on driving profitable traffic through Google AdWords, True Online Presence offers additional services for lead generation as well as other proven marketing strategies customized for each client.
Regardless of which type of advertising medium you use to run your ads,
one truth is essential to your success: you must be able to track response including
when, where and how potential customers responded to your ad.
For off-line advertising this may be a bit broader, such as which
magazine or newspaper on which date did a customer respond to you ad. This is
traditionally tracked by using a special trackable URL or trackable phone
number specific for each location the ad appears.
Fortunately, for us who advertise using PPC, tracking can be pinpointed
down to the exact search terms a customer used to find your ad along with a
slew of other data including the exact time your ad was clicked and the device
the potential customer used to click on your ad.
To access this information in Google, one must become familiar with the
Search Terms report.
Growing up, I loved working with puzzles with the challenge of having all the pieces fit together to create something that sometimes could be pretty amazing if I say so myself:>
Make no mistake, Google AdWords is a on-going puzzle and the Search Terms report for advertisers who discover which search terms are leading to their ads being shown it is a big piece of unlocking the AdWords puzzle regardless of whether your campaign is a Search or a Shopping campaign.
This is where you are spending the money, so you need to know on what. Think of advertising on Google as a purchase of sort, which in fact it is as you are purchasing traffic.
You wouldn’t go to the grocery store with a list and come out with a
random bag of groceries would you?
Of course not, you need specific items.
Well, you are purchasing traffic and you want to make sure you are
getting specific traffic and nothing else is sneaking into your bag (back to
the grocery metaphor).
By reviewing your search terms campaign regularly, an advertiser can
reveal instant information about the quality of their PPC traffic.
This information can be most useful to discover the following:
What search terms are converting.
Which search terms are receiving traffic but are not converting.
Whether or not search terms advertisers feel are relevant are generating traffic.
We will review why each of the reasons is important along with what to do
with what you discover, but first we need to see where to access the user
search terms report that shows which terms are generating traffic to your ads.
Here are the steps:
Open any campaign or ad group (note, keywords can be viewed at the account, campaign or ad group level).
Click on ‘Keywords’ in the left menu.
Click on the ‘Search Terms’ link below. (For Shopping campaigns, the sub-menu under Keywords only has Negative Keywords and Search Terms. For Search campaigns, the sub-menu under Keywords contains Search Keywords, Negative Keywords, Search Terms and Auction Insights).
Search Terms That Are Converting –
Shopping Campaigns
The way to handle search terms that are converting is going to be
different depending on whether you are optimizing a Shopping campaign or a
Search campaign. It is also going to depend if you are looking at the Search
Terms report at the Account, Campaign or Ad Group level.
In order to be the most beneficial, especially when there are a substantial
number of conversions, you are going to want to look at the most granular data
possible, which means looking at the Search Terms report at the Ad Group level.
One of the most effective ways to use the Search Terms report is in discovering which keywords searches are converting and for which of your products. You can also view your click-through-rate (CTR) of any keyword searches. CTR is calculated by diving Clicks by Impressions.
If you discover a search term that has conversions; however, it has a relatively low CTR this is a great indicator that you may want to consider changing either your product title or product description.
Since only the product title, image, price and retailer name is shown in a Google Shopping ad, modifying your product title to closely relate to the search terms that have historically converted will help to improve your CTR as well to help increase your conversion rate for those keyword searches.
Search Terms That Are Converting –
Search Campaigns
Optimizing your Search campaigns using the Search Terms report is going
to be a bit different since you as the advertiser determine which keywords your
products are eligible to display.
When you discover a Search Term that has converted, you will want to make
sure you are advertising on that search term using your desired match type.
Typically for high converting search terms, you are going to want to set
your match type as an exact match type. This directs your ads to show on this
search term or close variant. You can then control the bid for that exact match
type within the Search Keywords tab in order to control and increase your
Search Impression share.
By adding the keyword as exact match, you can also work on the quality
score of your keyword. Also, if you find a keyword that is a high converting,
high earner, you may consider optimizing the product name, product description
or both in order to increase conversions for those high performing keywords.
In addition, you may want to review your Search ads to ensure that these high-converting keywords are included within your ads as well as possibly within your sitelinks.
Search Terms That Are Not Converting
– Shopping Campaigns
With Shopping campaigns, when your products appear in searches is based
on Google’s algorithm that matches your item title and description along with
your bid to a customer’s search.
This can lead to many times, your product ads appearing for irrelevant
terms.
By using the Search Terms report an advertiser can easily identify those
terms that are spending ad budget, but not converting into sales.
Once non-converting search terms are identified, advertisers can add
these search terms as negative keywords at the ad group, campaign or even
account level. In addition, non-converting search terms can be added to a
negative keyword list making it easier to apply across multiple campaigns.
Just like search terms, negative keywords can be added in an exact,
phrase or broad match type.
Search Terms That Are Not Converting
– Search Campaigns
Adding negative keywords to Search campaigns is going to be very similar
to adding negative keywords to Shopping campaigns.
Once you identify non-performing keywords, you can add as negative
keyword as an exact, phrase or broad match at either the ad group, campaign or
in a negative keyword list.
However, there is one important difference.
Since the advertiser is bidding on specific keywords, you are the one who has made your ad eligible to appear for non-relevant keyword searches.
Therefore, besides adding the negative keyword you should figure out
exactly why your ad appeared for an irrelevant keyword search.
Common reasons for ads appearing for a non-relevant keyword search can
include using the wrong match type. Perhaps you are using a broad match type
that is bringing in too generic of traffic. You may consider either changing or
adding the keyword to either an exact match or phrase match. This would allow
you to lower or pause your bid on the broad match keyword thus helping to
reduce the times your ads appear for non-relevant search terms.
Are Relevant Keyword Searches
Generating Traffic? – Shopping Campaigns
Assuming you have done your homework and researched keywords, the Search
Terms report is a great place to determine whether researched keywords are
generating traffic and whether they are generating sales.
If you have identified through keyword research a keyword that historically
has quite a bit of traffic on Google but is not generating traffic to your campaign,
there are typically two main culprits.
First, Google does not deem your product to be relevant to that search
term. In order, to remedy this issue, you will need to either change your
product title, description or both to be more relevant for the keyword that you
are trying to gain traffic. By making your product listings more relevant for a
targeted keyword, you increase the chances of your product ads appearing for a specific
search term.
Second, your bid is too low and therefore not competitive. If your product is optimized for a keyword and is still not appearing or at least not appearing often, your bid may be too low. In order to see if this is the case, you can either use Google’s bid adjuster to see what Google recommends for a bid or you can view your search impression share for a particular product ad that you believe should be receiving more traffic.
Are Relevant Keyword Searches
Generating Traffic? – Search Campaigns
Remember with Search campaigns, you control the
keywords where your ads appear. Therefore, if you are not appearing for
a specific keyword search, there are a few reasons.
First, you are not bidding at all or you are not bidding high enough on
the keyword for your ad to display for that search term. If you are looking for
traffic for a specific search term, consider using an exact keyword match type.
This will help your ads appear for an exact search term or slight variant
without appearing generating broad traffic.
Second, if you are still not appearing for a specific search term and are
using an exact keyword match type, chances are it is because your quality score
for that keyword search is too low.
Advertisers can bid on any term that they wish; however, if the ad or the
URL where the ad directs is not relevant to the keyword they are bidding on,
then Google will not show their ads for those keyword terms.
You can view your quality score within the Search Keywords tab by adjusting your columns and adding the Quality Score. Typically, advertisers should strive for quality scores on all keywords of 7 or above. If a quality score is below 7, advertisers should consider either moving the keyword to a different campaign or ad group that is more relevant to the keyword either through the ad or the URL it is advertising; pausing the keyword; or adjusting the match type of the keyword.
Final Word
Think of
running a successful Google Campaign as a big puzzle. Trying to determine what
you are spending money on; where you should increase what you are spending and
where you should decrease what you are spending is a huge part of completing
your puzzle.
By
effectively using the Keyword Search Terms report, advertisers have a tool to
complete this puzzle. However, the keyword search terms report needs to be
monitored because keywords that convert can change and non-relevant keyword
searches that cause ads to appear are an on-going issue within campaigns and ad
groups.
The good news is that by monitoring your Search Terms report with an effective plan of action you can optimize for more profitability and effectively work to stay ahead of your competitors using Google Ads.
Looking for More Information on Google Advertising?
If you have the dedication and are ready to take your online sales to the next level, then The Academy of Internet Marketing was created for you. It provides the tools in the form of knowledge of what works today. Join us and see what makes us special and together we will grow your business.
If you are ready to take your online advertising to the next level, I welcome you to take a trial. It only costs $1 for access.
Google has
introduced a new way for advertisers to manage their Shopping campaigns aptly
named ‘Smart Shopping campaign’.
However, who are Smart Shopping campaigns designed for and what
advertisers would benefit from implementing “Smart” shopping campaigns opposed
to Standard Shopping campaigns?
So, what is Google’s Smart Shopping
Campaigns?
Google’s promotes
their Smart Shopping campaigns as a way for advertisers to simplify their
campaign management while maximizing conversion values and expanding their
reach.
Campaigns that use the Smart Shopping setting are eligible to appear across
Google’s Search Network, Display Network, YouTube and Gmail.
A Smart
Shopping campaign will take priority over Standard Shopping campaigns. This
means that if a product is listed in a Smart Shopping campaign as well as a
Standard Shopping campaign, the Smart Shopping campaign is the campaign that
Google will use to serve a retailer’s ads.
How do Smart Shopping campaigns work?
Google uses
an advertiser’s existing product feed as submitted to Google Merchant Center and
combines eligible products with Google’s machine learning to serve ads across
their list of networks – Google’s Search Network, Display Network, YouTube and
Gmail.
A merchant
determines their budget and Google automatically tests ads for different combinations
of products and keyword searches promising to deliver retailers the maximum
amount of conversion value for their ad spend.
What is required for Google Smart
campaigns?
Before an
advertiser can setup Smart Shopping campaign, they will need to make sure they comply
with some initial setup procedures that include:
Conversion tracking will need to be
configured along with transaction-specific values.
The website will also need to add a
global site tag to the website and have a remarketing list with a minimum of
100 active users.
Finally, advertisers will need to
meet all requirements for Google Shopping campaigns as well as follow the
standard Google Shopping ad policies.
How can you tell if Google Smart
campaign is working?
If an
advertiser wants to test using a Google Smart shopping campaign, it is advisable
to allow the campaign at least 2-3 weeks for Google algorithm to work. Don’t turn off the new campaign within a day
or two, give Google time to test their Smart Shopping algorithm to see if Google
is providing desired results before evaluating performance.
Second,
advertisers will want to make sure the budget and products are comparable to
historic data from past Standard Shopping campaigns when evaluating.
Note, if
using a ROAS goal, initially advertisers may see a decline in the number of
clicks and impressions they are receiving. This is normal as Google tries to
deliver conversions within the settings of the campaign’s profitability goals.
So, what is the upside of using
Google’s Smart Shopping campaigns?
Using Smart Shopping campaigns can provide retailers with extended reach beyond the Google Search Network. With Smart Shopping campaigns also delivering ads to the Display Network, YouTube and Gmail, retailers may find additional sales beyond the Google Search Network.
Also, for
retailers with limited-time or knowledge to properly manage their campaigns,
Google Smart Shopping campaigns are an ideal way to simply define what
profitability they would like to achieve without the time-consuming task of
optimizing for negative keywords, bids, device bidding and the many other
factors that go into running a successful Google Shopping campaign.
What is the downside of using
Google’s Smart Shopping campaigns?
Advertisers
do not have control over where or how many times their product ads are appearing
across different networks. Google DOES NOT provide data on what networks or
keywords are driving conversions.
Google’s
Smart Shopping algorithm supposedly works by providing maximum conversion
value, but Google does not provide specifics on the how, where, what and why. Instead
they ask for retailers to give Google the blind trust that Google will spend the
advertiser’s money efficiently.
This is kind
of like putting the fox in charge of the hen house as Google charges again
based on the bids that they are creating for the advertiser’s product listings without
the advertiser having any control over specific bids or even being able to review
where ads or showing or at what bids.
Additionally,
advertisers are not allowed to opt out of certain networks making Google Smart campaigns
and all or nothing proposition as far as where ads are eligible for display.
So, what is the bottom line?
Advertisers,
especially those with limited-time or knowledge of how Google Shopping works may
want to test to see if running Smart Shopping campaigns are more profitable
than running Standard Shopping campaigns.
Being able
to show ads across different networks, may be profitable for advertisers.
However, be aware that you are giving up quite a bit of control and trusting
that Google will be providing ‘maximum conversion value’ beyond what can be
achieved running Standard Shopping campaigns.
Last bit of advice
For my
private clients, I would advise that typically a well-run Standard Shopping
campaign should deliver results and insights into their business that are not
available with Smart Shopping campaigns.
With the
proper use of negative keywords and the ongoing optimization of past results,
the upside of being able to control where product ads are eligible to appear
outweighs the promises of letting Google handle your account and letting Google
control your bids and placements while trying to maximize your profits.
However, like anything there is no or at least, if you keep budgets low, little harm in testing. I have seen results vary based on product line and there is the possibility of an upside with increased exposure across all Google networks.
Looking for More Information on Google Advertising?
Andy Splichal is an online marketing strategist with more than a decade and a half of experience helping companies increase their online presence and profitable revenues. Although this blog focuses on driving profitable traffic through Google AdWords, True Online Presence offers additional services for lead generation as well as other proven marketing strategies customized for each client.
What do you think is worse? Taking a strong punch to the gut or receiving a thousand of paper cuts? Truth is that both are probably very painful in their own way. Similarly to a poorly optimized Google Shopping Campaign.
Let me explain…
When it comes to a poorly optimized Google Shopping Campaign, typically it is more of the later. While there is not a single switch to turn on or off that which will stop the financial bleeding, there is an array of factors that generally causes the slow bleeding to your bank account. Those small cuts will eat into your potential profits when using Google Shopping every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
Like the title implies, there are literally thousands of paper cuts that can costs a Google account to bleed money; however, I don’t have time to go into all of them. Below are the 3 most frequent ‘cuts’ that I come across when performing personal AdWords Assessments for customers include the following:
1. Not properly implemented Google Analytics – Without Google Analytics or some other analytics program installed that properly tracks conversions and spend, it is nearly impossible to know key metrics such as ROAS and ROI. Why is this important? Because without being able to identify numbers, you cannot adjust product bids (either up or down) in order to maximize sales and minimize costs.
2. Not adjusting mobile bids. This is an easy fix if analytics is properly installed. It also, is a relatively quick fix. However, just because it is easy to implement, don’t think that means that it is not important. In fact, it is so important that I created an entire training video on the subject. If you haven’t seen it already – check it out by clicking on the link below:
Mobile clicks seldom have the same conversion rates or the same average conversion value as desktop bids and bidding the same across all devices is one of those papercuts that really hurts!
3. Set It & Forget It – Just because you optimized your campaign fully last week, last month or even last year, in no way does that mean that your account is still running at an optimal level today. The bulls eye is always changing when it comes to finding the right bids on the right devices and using the right keywords when it comes to using Google and Google Shopping. Unfortunately, many business owners are unable due to time or due to lack of knowledge spend the time it takes to keep their account running at an optimal level.
I can’t remember seeing an AdWords account that doesn’t have room for improvement and typically lots of improvement. With so many moving parts, Google AdWords in particular Google Shopping can be difficult to manage unless you or someone on your team has spent years going through the ‘Google Learning Curve’.
Given my mission to help business owners stop wasting their money on poorly performing Google AdWords campaigns, I offer a complete personalized AdWords assessment in order to reveal what paper cuts are affecting your bottom line.
I only offer 10 of these assessments per month, so if you want to see increased results quickly, I invite you not to miss this opportunity.
For a limited time, I’m offering a $100 discount on the assessment, plus the assessment is 100% fully guaranteed.
Don’t delay and let me reveal what can be done to immediately increase the profits in your Google AdWords and Google Shopping campaigns.
Happy Marketing! Andy Splichal
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Andy Splichal is an online marketing strategist with more than a decade and a half of experience helping companies increase their online presence and profitable revenues. Although this blog focuses on driving profitable traffic through Google AdWords, True Online Presence offers additional services for lead generation as well as other proven marketing strategies customized for each client.
