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]
