The state of Adwords Advertiser Accounts have changed over the years where it was once very common to find an account without negative keywords and now it is rather uncommon. In time, advertisers have either become savvier to Adwords best practices or they have hired agencies to implement strategies.

But how far have they really evolved?

I can tell you for certain that the Google’s profit algorithm has evolved even further and is always 10 steps ahead of its advertisers. So my job is to make sure you guys are keeping up with the times.Search queries happen to be a major part of the account research we do here at our ppc management company. Looking at what people actually type into Google tells us a lot about the visitors you are attracting and what they are looking for. Routine search query analysis is a paramount component for many advertisers but we feel most have just gone part of the way to maximize its usefulness.

3 Things to Analyze with Search Queries

Irrelevant Queries-This is the area where we’ve actually seen progress from Adwords’ customers. They pull a [Search Term] report, look through it, and add negative keywords for any irrelevant searches. Easy enough.

Incorrect Adgroup-This is where we start to see major problems. Incorrect adgroups refer to when the search query is relevant to the business offering but not the specific adgroup it is in. When this happens, the visitor can sees the less targeted ad and; if clicked, is sent to the wrong landing pages.

Example: query=dark bold coffee when adgroup=light body coffee; you might sell them both but you want the dark bold queries to go to the dark bold page, not the light body page.

This error is commonly overlooked because when Adwords managers review the query list, they are looking for discrepancies in the query defined but not which adgroup it belonged to. Problems with incorrect adgroups lead to lower CTRs, lower quality scores, higher CPCs, higher bounce rates, higher conversion costs, etc. A process which guides traffic down the appropriate avenues will have a positive impact on the account.

General Queries-This is the easier fix but often a more dangerous culprit. General terms tend to have more volume, competition, and cost associated with the clicks. So when general terms are plagueing the account, they are often putting a big dent in the wallet.

General terms can describe your business offering in either an overly vague sense or a more general category sense. When queries are general, it helps to evaluate how general it is and if it should be considered a candidate for your keyword list.

Example: query=coffee beans when adgroup= light body coffee; you certainly sell coffee beans but maybe they want to see the entire coffee selection of light and dark body types.

When general queries go to specific landing pages, the visitor often mistakes that page for the entire product offering. They are more likely to bounce and have the same negative effects as incorrect adgroup discrepancies. They are actually one in the same.

Sometimes you find that a general query doesn’t refine the visitor to be qualified enough to be a good paying customer for you. In this case you don’t want your ads to show for general queries. For example, “coffee” by itself might be too general for your taste (pun intended) but you would like ads to show for “gourmet coffee” and “dark roast coffee.”  Negative exact matched keywords are in order for these. i.e. [coffee]

Some questions that come in are:

• What match setting is the best?
• What percentage of our match settings should be broad?
• What match setting has the cheapest CPC?
• Which match settings make the optimal blend?

All of these questions infer that we are really missing our mark when explaining the subject. What we are saying is there is no definitive best or worst, appropriate percentage, or optimal blend that works for every advertiser. There is only the optimal blend for each individual account. The only way to really understand what blend is optimal for you is to look deep into your account’s search queries. When we are looking at search query analysis [See Search Terms button on the Keyword Tab] we are trying to observe who is clicking on the ads and where they going after. Search query analysis can be very overwhelming when you are looking at thousands of terms. In fact, this is why most advertisers end up rolling out match settings of mostly one type or another. It’s a quick fix for qualifying visitors when you don’t want to go through a long list.

There are dangers that coincide with all the match settings. Broad match means your ads can come up for almost any query. This is good because you receive the most amounts of possible impressions but you could possibly attract irrelevant visitors or ones which are better suited for a different ad group. Phrase match leaves a little variance still but cuts back the number of impression you’ll have. And exact match lets you control the query 100% but you only receive a fraction of the total impression share available to you.

So it really boils down to: Qualified Visits vs. Traffic Volume.

In order to find “your optimal blend”, it will take some time on your part to find what settings give you the most “qualified traffic volume.”

Some things you should keep in mind when analyzing search queries:

1. See how many negative keywords you can implement before changing the match setting. If this lowers your CPA toward your target, you might not need to add phrase match.
2. If the queries are too difficult to control and you routinely see a major onset of irrelevant inquiries, test a phrase match settings alongside your broad match version.
3. Pay notice to your conversion cost. If it is closer to your target, you might also find that the broad match version’s conversion cost has increased. Go back and review the broad match query report. Look for high volume relevant terms with low conversion cost. Add those in phrase match form to the adgroup’s keyword list until your phrase match volume is as high as possible. Pause the broad match setting keyword.
4. If your keyword is already exact match, and you have an extremely positive ROI for that keyword, consider loosening the match setting to drive more impressions. Beware your conversion cost might increase. If so, try and offset with negative keywords. It is okay to increase conversion costs as long as your net sales profit is higher overall.

An alternative to using standard match settings are to use Broad Match Modifiers. BMMs are somewhat a hybrid match type. They allow you to pick and choose what parts of the keyword have to be present in the search. Beyond that, the keyword is still open for broad match impressions and queries. BMMs are created by adding a plus “+” directly in front of each keyword in the term. i.e. “+Adidas +shoes” means that the query had to include Adidas and shoes but can also include other words. There is no order structure in which keyword have to be. So a “shoes Adidas” query would prompt that ad. The caveat to using BMMs is that you have to include every possible keyword version including both plural forms.

We’ll post soon to talk more on BMMs but for now, this is a good way to consider a strategy for match settings. In the end, you don’t want to manage match settings because one version has the cheapest CPC or because it’s easier to just make everything phrase match. You’ll want to do what is optimal because it returns you the highest amount of qualified, low cost per conversion visits and net sales profit.

An unmanaged AdWords account is a lot like a B-rated horror flick and every day thousands of business owners walk into their own dark basement. Without a flashlight they are subjecting themselves to the hidden horrors that lurk in the dark. These business owners are allowing themselves to get slaughtered, financially speaking, by setting up Pay Per Click campaigns without understanding Google’s rules.

Pay Per Click is a thousand tiny knives slicing open the throat of your business. A click is a click and they add up fast. This is especially true when you’re paying for clicks regardless of how relevant they are, whether those clicks convert to a sale, or how much your products cost. The results can be savage. Advertisers commonly complain about spending up to $60k on AdWords yet they still can’t make a sale.

When the Keyword Search Pros look inside an unmanaged AdWords account it’s like turning the lights on in that dark basement for the first time. What we find will rattle even the most seasoned bones.

Every week we manage new accounts that had no previous strategy whatsoever. We see the same keyword in 5 different ad groups, with 7 different ads, and 10 different landing pages. There’s no way to track who clicked on what, when, where, or why. It’s obvious our new client with the unmanaged account has just blown hundreds or thousands of dollars on visitors who had no intention of buying anything.

Survive the horror movie that is your AdWords account:  Keep it simple. Use the keyword tool to discover what people are actually searching for and build out ad groups based on tight themes relating to your product.

The formula for a sale is easy:  Relevant keywords trigger relevant ads. Relevant ads take customers to relevant landing pages. When relevant landing pages display relevant products to customers looking to make a purchase a conversion is made.

One of the biggest culprits in the AdWords financial slaughter-fest is Broad Match Keywords. This is the default setting for an AdWords Campaign. Broad Match brings volume which is important. Let’s say you’re using “office supplies” as a keyword for your office supply business, your ad will then be shown in any search for office humor, office jokes, and/or office suppliers. You may get 500 clicks from people looking for jokes about their boss, or the hit TV show “The Office”. If you’re a jeweler selling rings and put “Ring” or “Rings” in broad match, then you’ll get horror movie fans looking for “The Ring” and Guns N Roses fans looking for the controversial rock anthem “Get in the Ring”. Make sure to use the Match Search Query tool to discover what people are actually typing in to find your ad. Don’t just assume broad match clicks come from a relative term.

Next in the line-up of suspects are the moochers. The web is chock full of information- some good, some bad, and most free. If you’re trying to sell your product you’ll want to make sure to add “free” and “no cost” as Negative Keywords otherwise you’re getting clicks from people looking for freebies.  Make it clear in your ad that you are selling a product or service, even better is to indicate the price point in the ad. This pre-qualifies your traffic to make sure you don’t get window shoppers wasting your ad spend. If you forget this you may end up subsidizing thousands of idle web surfers.

Consistently monitor your AdWords account every day and track which keywords are performing and which aren’t. As a business owner it’s your responsibility to ensure your money is spent wisely. Optimize your advertising dollars to avoid a financial bloodbath.

Keyword Search Pros saves clients huge sums of money by analyzing all the data relevant to their online business. We keep you safe by creating AdWords campaigns that offer you a positive ROI with no wasteful spend. We’re the shotgun toting Sherriff that saves the day at the end of the horror flick. When we roll into town and save you from your Adwords Campaign you’ll be thanking us. But that’s okay; that’s what good guys do.