Explaining Google AdWords Policies and Invalid Clicks Issues

Invalid clicks are clicks generated by prohibited methods. Examples of invalid clicks may include repeated manual clicking or the use of robots, automated clicking tools, or other deceptive software. Invalid clicks are sometimes intended to artificially or maliciously drive up an advertiser's clicks or a publisher's earnings. Sources of invalid clicks may include:

•Manual clicks intended to increase your advertising costs or to increase profits for website owners hosting your ads

Match Features with Marketing Goals

Learn how to decide which AdWords targeting features most effectively meet your marketing goals.

Imagine that you have an advertiser that is launching a wedding planning business in Chicago, New York City, and a 50 mile radius around Los Angeles. They want to reach men and women between the ages of 25 and 65, who are actively searching for help on planning their own wedding or the wedding of a friend or family member.

Benefits of Optimizing Websites and Landing Pages

There are numerous benefits to optimizing website content:

•Increasing ROI on your advertising

•Teaching you about the likes and dislikes of your customers

•Trying out alternatives used by competitors

•Breaking down preconceptions about what works

Campaign and Ad Group Optimization Best Practices

Here are a few important steps and strategies to consider for any account optimization:

1. Know your goals

Before anything else, you need to understand your advertising goals. What do you want to achieve with your ads and how will you know if you succeed? For example, does a particular campaign aim to generate sales, increase traffic to your website, or promote your company's brand? If you're focused on profits, for instance, you'll want to know how valuable a click is rather than just how many clicks you're getting.

Tools and Strategies for Optimizing Ad Scheduling, Serving, and Positions

Ad Scheduling

Ad scheduling can help you better target your ads by selecting the times when you want to show ads. For example, if you offer special late night deals, you can set up a campaign to show those ads only at night. Ad scheduling also includes an advanced setting which lets you adjust pricing for your ads during certain time periods.

Optimizing Ad Scheduling, Serving and Positions

Overview of Optimizing Ad Scheduling, Serving, and Positions

For more control over the display of your ads, AdWords offers some advanced optimization features. We've outlined a few features that can help you influence the situations below.

When your ads show

Ad scheduling lets you specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your ads to appear.

Optimize for clicks and traffic

•See the effect of different keyword bids. You can optimize your keyword bids using the bid simulator or Traffic Estimator tools. Enter a new maximum CPC amount into either tool to see how your keywords might perform at that bid amount.

•Increase the bids for valued keywords to improve your ad position. Because ads with higher positions tend to receive more clicks, you're likely to gain an increase in traffic.

Optimize for ROI

•Use conversion tracking to track your cost-per-conversion. The cost for each conversion should be less than the amount you receive for that conversion. For example, if you receive $10 for each sale but spend $11 on clicks to get that sale, you should optimize to improve your ROI.

•Use advanced ad scheduling if your campaigns make more sales or other conversions during certain times of the day.

Tools and Strategies for Optimizing Bids and Budgets

Evaluate your keywords' value

The bottom line for any ad or keyword is how much value it generates compared to its cost. To determine the profitability of a keyword, you can track the conversions from that keyword with Google's free conversion tracking tool or Google Analytics. With this conversion data, you'll know how profitable your keywords are with their current bids and can identify which keywords could be more successful with adjusted bids.

Optimizing Bids and Budgets

Overview of Optimizing Bids and Budgets

Your budget and maximum bids are tools to help you control costs while you work to get the most profit from your ads. It's important to use performance data to determine where your advertising spend will make the most impact. Then, test and analyze how you divide your spend to find the strategy that best helps you achieve your advertising goals.

Focus on conversions, not CTR

It's important not to worry if your clickthrough rate (CTR) on Display Network sites is lower than what you're used to seeing on the Search Network. It's normal for CTR to be lower on the Display Network because user behavior on Display Network pages is different than on search sites -- users on Display Network pages are browsing through information, not searching with keywords.

Remember:

•A low CTR on a Display Network site doesn't mean you're performing poorly.

optimization strategies for automatic placements

•Use relevant keywords. The AdWords system always starts by looking through every possible page in the Google Display Network to find placements that match your keywords. Only the pages that match your keywords can show your ads. Therefore, it's very important to only use keywords that are highly relevant to your business, product, or service.

•Group keywords by theme. A placement is chosen based on its relevance to your entire ad group's keyword list.

Optimizing Display Network Placements

Overview of Optimizing Display Network Placements

With managed placements, you choose individual websites within Google's Display Network where you'd like your ads to appear. To use managed placements most effectively, make sure the content of the placements is relevant to the ads in that ad group.

Here are some optimization strategies for managed placements:

•Use only relevant placements. The right placements will help you find potential customers interested in exactly what you're advertising. To reach additional traffic, use the Placement Tool to find placement ideas that are relevant to your campaign.

Tools and Strategies for Optimizing Language and Location Targeting

It's important to set your ad targeting to reflect where and with whom you do business. Here are some ways to optimize your targeting.

Target the right language for your business

•Single language - Target the language in which your ad is written. For example, if your ad is written in English, target English-speaking users. Remember that Google won't translate your ad for you.

Who is your intended audience

All advertisers must choose a language and location to target, so it's important to understand what's right for you. Be sure to target only the languages and locations that are relevant for your business. For example, if you ship your products to locations within a certain distance of your business, target just that region. If your ads are written in French, target only users who speak French. By targeting the right audience, you'll make sure that your ads appear only to people who are potential customers.

Note that your location targeting settings will affect your ads on the Display Network as well as on Google. For example, if your ad targets France, it will not be shown to users in Japan, regardless of whether the user is searching Google or browsing a website in the Display Network.

Optimize ads for branding

•Try different ad formats. To promote brand awareness, try visual ad formats like image ads. Graphical messages can grab attention and allow a customer to engage with your brand. Incorporate different ad formats into your ad groups to entice a user to visit your website.

Track and learn from your ad performance

•Run an Ad Performance report and use that data to identify low and high performing ads. For high performing ads, you can try testing a small variation of that ad with different messaging or a different landing page to see if you can get even better results.

Optimize ads for CTR and traffic

•Be descriptive. Since your ad text is your chance to communicate your offerings to each potential customer, start by clearly identifying what you're selling. Also, use the space to describe specific benefits like "60-day Returns," unique qualities like "Award-winning," or other things that make your product or service stand out from other similar businesses.

•Include deals and benefits. If you offer a special discount or service like free shipping, highlight this in your ad.

Optimize ads for ROI

•Define a clear call-to-action. A clear call-to-action is especially important if your goal is to maximize your return on investment. Guide customers towards the action they should take once they reach your site (such as "Buy Flowers for Mom!" or "Order online today"). The call-to-action should reflect the action that you consider a conversion, whether it's a sign-up, a request for more information, or an actual sale.

Optimizing Ad Text

Overview of Optimizing Ad Text

Ad text plays a crucial role in determining the success of your AdWords advertising. A potential customer's decision to visit your site is based solely on your ad and how it relates to what the customer is doing on the Web at that moment. The content of your ads should capture a user's attention and set your business apart.

Optimize keywords for better ROI

Optimize keywords for better ROI

The bottom line for any keyword is how much value it generates compared to its cost. To determine the profitability of a keyword, you can track the conversions from that keyword with Google's free conversion tracking tool. Once you have conversion data, you can identify and delete keywords that accumulate high costs but very few conversions.