Google PPC Campaign Trends in 2009

When the ball drops at midnight, add one more thing to your list of New Year’s Resolutions:
Don’t go crazy this year….”Google” crazy, that is! In the online pay-per-click advertising world, it seems to be a common practice for businesses to “google” their own keywords to see where their ads show up. This practice, however, has a negative impact on a business’s advertising campaign. Below is a list of reasons explaining the effects of “googling” (or searching) for your own keywords?

Whenever you search, but don’t click, the Google System thinks the ads are not relevant. This is crucial and affects the “Quality Score” of the keyword. Because you are not clicking, which of course you don’t want to do because of the cost of each click, Google assumes these keywords aren’t highly relevant to the searches and in turn lowers the quality score, which can potentially raise the cost per click on that particular keyword.
By searching on Google.com for these keywords and not clicking on them, Google also continues to push the ads down on the page before they are rotated up again. Whenever you search, it is important to remember there may be others in the same area (especially large metros) searching at the same time. Ideally, you don’t want your ads to stop showing or be missed by potential customers because of a low page position caused by your own searches.
Searching on Google.com also gives us false results. If a keyword is getting a high number of impressions and not clicks, it appears as if the keyword is not working well for a client and should be changed/eliminated, which would be detrimental for certain keywords.
Eliminating these searches on Google.com by clients will also allow Google to show the ads more often to actual searchers during your scheduled ad times and lower the cost per click (really important!)

But there is a solution! To alleviate this problem, Google has provided a special link for all advertisers to use when searching their own keywords. Just follow these easy steps:

Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool. Bookmark this link for easy access.
In the shaded blue area, type in the Keyword you wish to search.
Choose either the entire US or a State and even a City, if you prefer from the dropdown.
Click on the “Preview Ads” button.
By using this tool, you will be able to see your ads, as well as competitors, without any data being posted to your account.

So next time you get the urge to go “Google Crazy”, hop on the link and have a blast. Real time results without the negative impact. I’ll bet this is one New Year’s Resolution you CAN keep!

Posted by admin
In Uncategorized
On December 18, 2008