Recently, I was asked what to do when a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign has been running for a few months with no hiccups. In other words, what optimizations do you make to the campaign when it is running smoothly and providing good results? My reply was to continually test new things as your campaign can always perform better. Here are a few items I like to try:
- Vary the letter cases
- Try different calls to action (CTA)
- Add more keywords throughout the campaign
- Test different variations of landing pages
One of the first things I always test is different letter cases within the ad copy. Check out these ads with two different cases:
vs.
I have seen the same ad with varying cases have drastically different results whether that be through higher click-thru-rates (CTR) or conversion rates. Additionally, testing dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) better helps to match search queries to the ads. Trying different calls to action is good to test as well:
There are literally hundreds of permutations of ads you can write to contain different cases and punctuation, varying ad copy, and any other ideas you may think of.
There is always the opportunity to add more keywords to your campaign. You can expand the reach of your ads by testing terms in different match types. For example, if you are only bidding on the exact match of “designer coffee tables” you could also try it in phrase and broad match. You can take advantage of many free keyword expansion tools and can comb your site for new keywords. There are even tools that will make permutations of your keywords.
Testing different variations of your landing page(s) is always a good idea. Whether you do an A/B test or a multivariate test, play around with items on the page. You can tweak the content and shorten the registration form among other things. Google AdWords Website Optimizer is a great tool for testing variations of landing pages.
Keep in mind to always be careful whenever you test new ideas. Some ideas might have great results, but adversely some might not. It is important to keep a close eye on your tests as to not waste precious budget.
I have only touched on a couple of items as there is so much within PPC to test that you should never become complacent with your campaign. Remember, your campaign might be performing well, but it can always do better.
Tags: landing pages, pay-per-click, pay-per-click campaign testing, ppc
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 4:55 pm and is filed under Search marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Curious about the letter casing you mention – have you found one of those to consistently perform better than the other?
March 19th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I have seen both styles perform well from campaign to campaign and even ad group to ad group. I have no specific explanation as to why one might perform better than the other, only conjecture. My thoughts include:
– varying audiences perceive the ads differently
– the specific vertical of the ad
– the related punctuation (whether a period or an exclamation point is used)
Keep in mind as well that the most important item is whether the search query is spoken about in the ad. You can test all you want, but the user will not click the ad if it does not relate to the query.