The Official Blog of Will Schwartz
 
A profitable Google AdWords campaign is money in the bank and can be the cornerstone of a very lucrative business.

But that's easier said than done!

I recently got an email form my buddy Howie Jacobson, author of AdWords For Dummies and a recognized PPC expert. Instead of paraphrasing I thought I’d just share it with you verbatim. Here goes…

When you've seen as many AdWords accounts as I have, you start noticing patterns of mistakes. I wrote about the most common AdWords mistakes in Chapter 17 of Google AdWords For Dummies, but just knowing about a mistake doesn't automatically mean you can fix it. For example, one of the most common mistakes that can deflate your AdWords account is to have an account without GAS.

GAS stands for Granular Account Structure. It means, each ad group consists of keywords that all relate to a single theme, so the ad is hyper-relevant for every searcher who sees it.

I see ad groups like this all the time: Keywords:
office supplies
red markers
yellow highlighters
pens
markers
pencils
mechanical pencils
Pilot G2 green pen

And the ad goes like this:

Office Supplies
Get your office supplies here. Great prices, next-day shipping
E-OfficeSupply-WebStore-Online.com

That's an extreme example, but it serves my point. Imagine the searcher who enters "Pilot G2 green pen" into Google and sees that ad. Actually, they probably won't even "see" the ad consciously, because the Reticular Activating System of their brain will delete it as irrelevant to their quest.

This one mistake can cost you in multiple ways:
  1. The searcher will ignore your ad, meaning few clicks and visits to your site
  2. Google slaps you with a low Quality Score, forcing you to raise your bid prices to compete
  3. When someone does click the ad, they arrive at an irrelevant 
    landing page and go back to Google for another search
In other words: Get Granular People!

Yes, it takes a bit of extra work. But it pays off big time!

A good exercise is to approach your ad groups and ad copy from the “other side”. Put yourself in the mind of the searcher – your ideal customer – and explore the best, most laser targeted SOLUTION to your ideal customer’s problem.

Ask yourself:”what do I want to SEE when I type in my search phrase?”

Make a tight knit keyword group around that phrase and write your ads accordingly.

For more great AdWords Strategy check out my mentor (and Howie’s too) Perry Marshall.

For more Howie check out his AdWords Blog @ http://askhowie.com/

 

 


Comments

Doug Cox

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:26:10

Great info. on keyword importance. That is the name of the game.

 

Jeff Donovan

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:30:30

Great Adwords advise Will

 

Leslie Beirne

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:33:24

such great info - and a GREAT way to help people save money getting started with Adwords!

 

Gene Elliott

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:49:38

Thanks for the information, Will.

 



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