advanced ppc and what google told us behind closed doors

Advanced PPC

Frank Coyle & Joe Weller

April 15th, 2009

About Point It!

• Seattle-based Search

Engine Marketing Firm

• Incorporated April 2002• Incorporated April 2002

• SEO & PPC

Point It Seminars

• Logistics

– This webinar will be recorded. Look out for an

email with link by end of week.

– Ask questions via the Question tool– Ask questions via the Question tool

• Heads up

– Point It SEM seminars beginning late May

– PPC, SEO, Landing page optimization

– Lookout for notice in May

Advanced PPC

Expansion

Conversion

Measurement

&

Improvement

Agenda

• Expanding keywords and search networks

• Plugging the leaks in the Sales Funnel

• Segmenting your results to improve

performanceperformance

• Keyword performance management

• What’s with the Google Quality Score?

Search Based Keyword Tool

Search Based Keyword Tool

Search Based Keyword Tool

Advanced Search

Google Insights for Search

Aggressive Content Expansion

• Find successful

content pages

• Test Image ads to

achieve more volumeachieve more volume

• Display ad builder

• Bid 3x to own entire

sponsored links box

• Look at it as a test

• Measure results and

decide if worth

continuing

Nov-Jan Spend Conversions CPA

Content Network $10,185 295 $34.56

Converting sites $1,851 295

Non-performing sites $8,392 0

Content Network Results

• 82% of cost yields zero conversions• 82% of cost yields zero conversions

• Site exclusion not being used

• Break out and track the content network performance separately

Performance Measurement Tip

• Tip: Report to senior management the cost

savings of excluding sites (as well as

improvements to traffic quality) on a

monthly/quarterly/annual basismonthly/quarterly/annual basis

Search Partner Expansion

Cannot bid separately on Search partners, always tied to Google Search

Expanding Search Partners

• Search partners data is aggregated

• No way of knowing which search partner is profitable

• Should you go direct to the partners?

• Use Google Analytics to dig deeper

Search Partner Performance

Example Domain Parking Site

Ensure High Quality

• Can block domain parking sites on Content

AND ON SEARCH NETWORK

Expansion Summary

• New Search based Keyword tool

• Google Insights for deeper searches

• Analyze the search partners before going

directdirect

Sales Funnel

Qualified

Unqualified

Sales

Hot

Tracking Performance with GA

• It’s not the LP it’s the Funnel that matters

• Set up goals in GA to create the sales funnel

• Finding where the process is broken

Google Analytics Funnel

Leak

Leak

Leak

Plug the Page Leaks in the Funnel

• Form field drop off

• Measuring what is clicked on & Analyzing user

interaction with site

– Google Analytics Site Overlay– Google Analytics Site Overlay

– Crazyegg.com

– Clicktale.com

Form Field Drop Off

High High

drop-off

at email

address

field

CrazyEgg.com

170 clicks RSS NewsFeed

Links

170 clicks RSS NewsFeed

ClickTale

• Watch movies of

website visitor actions

– Keystrokes, mouse

actions, etc.actions, etc.

• Heatmaps

– How far do users scroll

down

– What part of pages do

they skip

• Form analytics

Sales Funnel Summary

• Plug the leaks

• Find the form drop off points

• Track visitor movements

Segmentation

Get some Focus

Source

Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, Direct, Other

Medium of Visitors

PPC, Organic, Referral

Site Behavior

# of pages viewed, site search, new vs. returning, time of day, geography

Purchase Behavior

Purchasers Non-Purchasers

Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, Direct, Other

Segmentation

Segmentation

• Segments: Quick Buyers, Slow Buyers, Average Buyers

• Behavioral Differences:– # of pages viewed: Average PPC buyers view 25 pages; spend 15

minutes on site, over 3x the site average (All Visitors)

– Site Search behavior: slow & Average PPC buyers use site search over 2x the site average (All Visitors)over 2x the site average (All Visitors)

– New vs. Returning: No new quick PPC buyers, slow PPC buyers are 80% return visitors, average ppc buyers are 60% returning visitors

– Time of Day: Time of purchase for 3 segments very similar: Sales Peak at 1pm for Quick buyers, 2pm for Average buyers, & 3pm for Slow buyers

– Geography: Buyers in 3 segments are evenly distributed throughout US

Keyword Performance Management

Save $$$ Immediately

1. Must be tracking conversions

– Lead capture, downloads, sales

2. Conversion analysis

3. Match type analysis

Conversion Analysis

• Find the top converting KWs

– 5% vs. 95%

– What to do about the 5% ?

– What to do about the 95% ?– What to do about the 95% ?

Top 10 Converting KWs

Keywords Conversions CPA

Computer Camp 390 $7.10

Cybercamp 366 $1.60

Cybercamps 328 $1.53

Top 6 KWs = 50% of conversions

Cybercamps 328 $1.53

Summer camp 274 $92.07

Technology camp 273 $12.34

Summer computer camp 178 $5.50

Computer camps 97 $12.78

Camp 71 $128.71

Tagged.com (Content network) 66 $132.68

Summer computer camps 59 $13.84

5 vs. 95

• Break the top 5% into separate LPs

– Of the top 5, there’s likely one that’s above all

others

• For the remaining 95%:• For the remaining 95%:

– Look at the bid prices and positions

– It could be the LP, not the KW/ads

– Perform the analysis before pausing

Nov-Jan # of KWs Cost Conversions CPA

Exact 8 $2,869 204 $14.00

Phrase 17 $704 56 $12.58

Broad 2,561 $31,724 849 $37.30

Total 2,586

Match Type Analysis

• Excessive use of broad terms

• Few campaign or ad group negative terms being used

• Examine broad searches to find popular search terms

• CPA out of control

Measuring Effect of Adding Negatives

• For a B2B Technology client, we noticed a

poor performing keyword (incident reporting

broad match)

• Previous 30 day period ($700 in cost, 4 • Previous 30 day period ($700 in cost, 4

conversions, $174 CPA)

• Used GA Raw Query Report to identify

negatives

GA Report to Add Negatives

OK

•Added

campaign

negatives using

this report

•Result following OK

OK

OK

OK

OK

•Result following

month: $165 in

Cost, $33 CPA &

5 conversions

•81% drop in

CPA

Quality Score

Quality Score Components

Heard at Google:

•CTR is most important

•About the interplay between these

three elements

•Performance (CTR) drives the •Performance (CTR) drives the

score, so

•Landing Page Content is NOT a

factor in Quality Score

•Keyword Matching Ad Text is

NOT a factor

Quality Score Benchmarking

Track

aggregate

changes in

Acct QS

over time

Track # of

keywords keywords

by QS

over time

QS

Indicator

Metric

Monitor

these

impressions

Summary

• Expand your KWs with the new Google tool

• Increase sales when you plug the sales funnel

• Gaining further insights with segmentation

• Cost savings with KW performance • Cost savings with KW performance

management

• QS is all about CTR

Q&A

Email:

frankc@pointit.com or joew@pointit.com

Point It Seminars

• Point It SEM seminars beginning mid-May

– PPC

– SEO

– Landing page optimization– Landing page optimization

– Point It Offices

– Evening sessions

– Lookout for notice in May

Survey Idea

• Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist @ Google

• 4 key questions:– How satisfied are my visitors?

– What are my visitors at my website to do?

– Are they completing what they set out to do?– Are they completing what they set out to do?

– If not, why not?

– If yes, what did they like best about the online experience?

• http://4q.iperceptions.com/

• Also: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/