PPC Search Ad Campaigns

Video Campaign Object Model Ad Group Structure

Video Campaign Structure

May 25, 2021 No Comments

A secret to display campaign performance, is to create the video campaign structure by factoring targeting methods and ads by pairs, into ad groups.This creates video campaigns built around relevant groups of ads with relevant images and ad copy, resulting in better quality scores.

The combination of a high-quality targeting, careful ad copy development tailored to the offer, and properly structured ad groups creates a strong underlying foundation for display campaigns.

Conversion Value Setup For Display Campaigns

May 25, 2021 No Comments

For every PPC account and display ad campaign, we create a conversion value model for each type of conversion event and (related), select a method for click attribution modeling. When a conversion occurs, the value for that conversion is distributed (“attributed”) up through the sales funnel, with weighting as defined by the click attribution model.

In our conversion value model, what we are after is the gross margin (value) that each conversion action is producing. In the case of a display campaign that advertises products, the conversion value would likely be (sales price-sales tax)*(average gross margin).

Conversion value modeling is important because it allows for calculating the two most important metrics in paid search: return on ad spend, and advertising margin. But more importantly, it provides valuable information back to the automated bidding algorithms, which use machine learning to maximize the performance of the campaign.

Structure Shopping Campaigns

May 25, 2021 No Comments

Individual shopping campaigns are structured internally on two levels: Product Groups, and Ad Groups.

Product Groups provide a mechanism to group together similar products within the feed. You can create product groups using various attributes present in the feed. Typically this is used to bid similar products and product variants at the Product Group level.

Each product group is a subset of the feed. The bids are then controlled at the product group level. This can save a great deal of time while managing campaigns with sizeable feeds. When benefitical we utilize ad groups with ad-group level negative keywords to influence keyphrase matching.

8 Ingredients For High Performance Search Ad Campaigns

May 24, 2021 No Comments

Steve details 8 ingredients that should be present when developing high-performance search ad campaigns: a product marketing perspective; a strong keyword base, volume and CPC filtering; a semantically-based…

Search Campaign Structure

May 20, 2021 No Comments

The ad group structure flows naturally from groups of words that are semantically related. This is one of the secrets to developing search campaigns with high “quality scores” (QS). When search campaigns are built around relevant groups of semantically related keywords, good quality scores follow.

By factoring, we organize the keyword base into ad groups around semantic relationships. This is the process for creating a structured campaign – one with just keywords that mean the same thing in each ad group.

We then apply a workflow to assign keyword match types in a strategic fashion, to fit your market based upon an assessment of search intent.

Google PPC Auto Recommendations As Default

May 16, 2021 No Comments

Do you want to convert your PPC auto recommendations to apply without your intervention? Would you like all your keywords to be converted to a broad match, including even the loose synonyms that you do not want? Well, that day has arrived – and you don’t even need to agree to it. If your ad campaign has started to falter

Boost PPC Performance with Display & Search Campaigns

May 16, 2021 No Comments

Why is it important to set conversion values? Without it, you won’t know the two most important metrics in digital ad campaigns. Steve shows you how to estimate conversion values in this short video.

Product Feed Optimization Success

April 16, 2021 No Comments

In eCommerce Shopping campaigns, the quality of product feed optimization is critical to success. It’s an underlying foundation upon which everything else in a Shopping campaign will depend.

Without a well-optimized feed the campaign will never reach its potential. Shopping campaigns with weak feeds in competitive markets will reliably fail.

Many feeds contain thousands or tens of thousands of product SKUs. In addition to their sheer size, there is often great variability between products and brands. As a result, optimizing shopping feeds often requires a significant investment of effort.

Shopping platforms crawl (“spider”), and index 4 fields in the product feed: the Title, Description, Product Category, and Product Type. Data in those fields have to be set up correctly.

Video Campaign Ads

April 14, 2021 No Comments

When we develop video campaign ads it requires an extra level of effort, creativity, and attention to detail as compared to the process for developing text ads. We have a process that can be summarized as follows: select a still image (frame) from the underlying video, then develop ad copy around that video based upon the classic creative process.

Because video ads are advertisements versus direct marketing, the performance of video campaigns is even more dependent upon the ads themselves than text-based search campaigns. So we’ve tested different creative approaches to invent, improve, test, and optimize display ads.

Video ads are based upon an attention-getting image (frame) from a video, that also creates a mood and tone for the ad. So this is done after we have a solid handle on the competitive positioning and targeting.

Shopping Campaign Negative Keyword Discovery

April 14, 2021 No Comments

Negative keyword discovery is feature that shouldn’t be neglected when targeting a shopping ad campaign.

Negative keywords applied in a shopping campaign act as an inhibitor, or overlay on the positive targeting methods. They allow us to “shape” with a bit more more precision, who the ads serve to. For example, we might exclude certain age groups and/or income levels.

In addition to using negative keywords, it may be beneficial to exclude certain targeting audiences. “Negative” audiences frequently can improve campaign performance by making them more selective. Examples might include negative in-market audiences, interests, demographics such age, gender, income level, parental, homeownership status and other demographic information.

Video Campaign Negative Keyword Discovery

April 14, 2021 No Comments

Negative keyword discovery is a very useful feature that shouldn’t be neglected when setting up video discovery ad campaigns.

Negative keywords applied in a video campaign overlay and inhibit the positive audience targeting. They allow us to shape who video discovery ads, and audience-targeted inline video ads serve to with more precision.

In a video campaign, ads won’t show on videos that are related to the topic specified in each negative keyword.

Shopping Campaign Launch

April 13, 2021 No Comments

During the period immediately after a shopping campaign launch, we’re monitoring impressions and CPC’s. We’re also on the lookout for major issues such as a single product group consuming excessive ad spend.

Conversion tracking is checked for functionality and accuracy. Geo-targeting is monitored for any anomalies, CPC’s are checked for any out of line behavior, and the campaign is scanned for errors or warnings.

This post-launch optimization phase typically lasts 3 to 6 weeks for an average scale shopping ad campaign. A Shopping campaign enters semi-automated “orbit” once it has transitioned onto automated bidding

Video Campaign Launch Process

April 13, 2021 No Comments

After a video campaign launch, it will tend to gain serving momentum fast. Campaign behavior after launch varies by market and campaign design, with average-size campaigns usually developing a consistent serving pattern within a few days of launch.

During the period immediately after a video campaign launch, we monitor new search campaigns closely making a series of corrective adjustments across our post-launch checklists, dialing the campaign into the type of orbit we’re looking for. The campaign is continuously reporting valuable data about what’s going on. That allows us to optimize the campaign early on in its engagements and minimize wasted ad spend.

Display Campaign Launch

April 13, 2021 No Comments

After a display campaign launch, they will often burst in an erratic serving pattern during the first 2 or 3 days after launch. This varies by ad platform and campaign design. Average-size display campaigns usually developing a consistent serving pattern within a few days of launch.

Once a display campaign stabilizes, we look for major issues such as a single targeting method or ad group consuming excessive ad spend. We monitor the audiences that pull the campaign into auctions.

Typically we make a series of corrective adjustments across our display campaign post-launch checklists, dialing the campaign into the type of serving pattern, or “orbit” that we’re looking for.

Shopping Campaign Serving Parameters

April 13, 2021 No Comments

When setting up shopping campaign serving parameters, bidding is the central issue. Manual bidding at launch is the best way to force shopping campaigns to develop serving momentum quickly.

The manual bidding period provides a baseline to optimize against going forward. It also provides confirmation that we’re bidding up to the “Benchmark” shopping bid level.

When setting up serving schedules, our scheduling preference is usually to allow the campaigns to initially run 24x7x365 Many campaigns perform well at surprising times, during days of the week and hours of the day you might not expect.

In some b2b eCommerce markets, we will run campaigns on weekdays only and perhaps not overnight. There are time zone spans to consider, for example in the US, making sure East coast campaigns stay on late enough to shop up for West coast end-of-day business traffic.

Video Campaign Object Model Serving Parameters

Video Campaign Serving Parameters

April 13, 2021 No Comments

When a new video campaign is launched, we will set and adjust bids manually for the first week or two. This is the fastest way to ramp up a campaign, andit establishes a baseline to compare with results from other types of bidding.

Manual bidding is the best way to force a new campaign to serve on YouTube, so enough data can be accumulated to nurse the campaigns onto automated bidding.

Video campaigns allow Sitelink ad extensions which tend to perform very well so we configure those. We also like the new Lead Form extensions. In a video campaign Google can auto-fill most of the fields.

Display Campaign Serving Parameters

April 13, 2021 No Comments

When setting up display campaign serving parameters, our preference is usually to allow the campaigns to initially run 24x7x365. We can then use that data to optimize the campaign schedule, as we have measured what times and days of the week are most effective.

In some b2b markets, we will run campaigns on weekdays only and perhaps not overnight. There are some common mistakes to avoid, for example in the US making sure East coast campaigns stay on late enough to shop up for West coast end-of-day business traffic.

The reason for running campaigns (at least initially) 24×7 is that many campaigns perform well at surprising times – days of the week, and hours of the day you would not expect.

Shopping Campaign Web Analytics

March 12, 2021 No Comments

To configure search campaign web analytics, we link the associated Web Analytics accounts with the PPC ads account(s). We also configure an Analytics profile that’s set up to support monitoring and analysis of the paid search campaigns.

This will include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, Google Merchant Account, and similar Microsoft Advertising Accounts.

We may likely also request a login to the backend (Administrative access) area of your website. Typically this is needed when we anticipate installing plugin’s such at the GTM plugin, or a call tracking plugin.

Video Campaign Web Analytics

March 12, 2021 No Comments

To configure video campaign web analytics, we link the associated Web Analytics accounts with the PPC ads account(s). We also configure an Analytics profile that’s set up to support monitoring and analysis of the paid search campaigns.

This will include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, Google Merchant Account, and similar Microsoft Advertising Accounts.

Display Campaign Web Analytics

March 12, 2021 No Comments

To configure display campaign web analytics, we link the associated web analytics accounts. This will include Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, and any similar Microsoft Advertising accounts.

We may also request a login to the backend (administrative access) area of your website. Typically this is needed when we anticipate installing plugins such as the GTM plugin, or a 3rd-party call tracking plugin.

Google Tag Manager places a container on your website which facilitates the installation, removal, and modification of other tags, without requiring modification to the site itself. Its capabilities go well beyond that.

Google and Microsoft search console account(s) contain organic search queries and search engine crawl data, along with other information that can be helpful to campaign optimization.

PPC Search Ad Campaigns

Video Campaign Structure

Conversion Value Setup For Display Campaigns

Structure Shopping Campaigns

8 Ingredients For High Performance Search Ad Campaigns

Search Campaign Structure

Google PPC Auto Recommendations As Default

Boost PPC Performance with Display & Search Campaigns

Product Feed Optimization Success

Video Campaign Ads

Shopping Campaign Negative Keyword Discovery

Video Campaign Negative Keyword Discovery

Shopping Campaign Launch

Video Campaign Launch Process

Display Campaign Launch

Shopping Campaign Serving Parameters

Video Campaign Serving Parameters

Display Campaign Serving Parameters

Shopping Campaign Web Analytics

Video Campaign Web Analytics

Display Campaign Web Analytics

SEARCH All POSTS BY CATEGORY

OUR SERVICES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CASE STUDIES

PPC Search Ad Campaigns

SEARCH All POSTS BY CATEGORY

FIND TOPICS BY KEYWORD

OUR SERVICES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CASE STUDIES