20x ROI in Two Weeks via Four Steps
Google AdWords Optimization yields significant improvements in return on search marketing investment. Over the past two weeks, we’ve implemented four changes for one of our SEM clients that yielded a 19.5x ROI, cut their average Cost per Click from $2.11 to $0.80 and more than doubled Clickthrough Rate from 0.68% to 1.60%.
1. Remove Geo-Targeting from AdWords
Targeting costs money, no matter which media you use. The premiums for geo-targeting are usually much higher than the resulting increase in performance. Unless your market is geographically restricted, buy the entire US market.
2. Use AdWords Broad Match vs. Exact Match Keyword Matching
Exact match limits the number of impressions and, just like any other form of targeting, carries a premium price. Testing broad match keyword matching showed that average post-click engagement rates actually increased when we bought broad match keywords. Read more about Broad Match from Google AdWords support here.
3. Add Ad Group Level Site Link Extensions to AdWords Campaigns
Google recently added the ability for advertisers to target their site link extensions by Ad Group rather than just by Campaign. We saw a substantial improvement in CTR and a resulting decrease in CPC when we moved to Ad Group level site link extensions. Read more at Google AdWords support page here.
4. Optimize AdWords Text Ads
Write more ads! We quickly saw that several of our ads were performing very well, while others were duds. One of the advantages of search marketing is the ease with which you can create and test new ads. Through optimizing the text ads we achieved significant improvements in Clickthrough Rates.
It is important to note that these improvements in AdWords performance were not achieved by sacrificing quality. On the contrary, we continue to monitor Google Analytics metrics such as Pageviews per Visit, Length of Visit, and Paths to ensure that visitors are engaging with the site and not just one-click wonders. Our PPC visitors have the highest engagement ratings of any advertising-sourced traffic.
How can we help you with your Google AdWords Optimization?
