Eternal number 1 in online advertising solutions, sponsored links represent more than half of online advertising revenue in Our country, with € 867 million net in the first half of 2014 according to XXX. In this market, Google adwords retains absolute leadership. How to succeed in an adwords campaign? What are the stages and the main principles? We take stock.
Principles of operation of Google Adwords
Definition
The Google Adwords program allows the advertiser to display a link to its site on Google search results, including on the first pages, pages so difficult to reach with natural referencing.
This link appears in rewarding ads, either at the top of the results (premium link) or in the right column. Ads consist of a headline, clickable, and two short, punchy catchphrases.
The Adwords program works on Google directly but also, optionally, on third party sites, Google customers, which use the search engine on their site. One of the known examples is Free.com.
Bids and cost per click
With each click generated by your ad, you pay Google an amount that you have defined in advance. It's the cost per click system, the CPC.
The system is said to be auction because the ads with the highest CPC are displayed above the others. If you set your click at $ 2 and your competitor set theirs at $ 1, your ad will be displayed above theirs.
You must therefore allocate a maximum daily budget to your campaign and when the budget is reached, your ad disappears from Google pages.
The importance of keyword relevance
You are free to decide which keywords you want your ad to appear on. For example, search for “Biarritz hotel” or even “cheap iphone 6”.
Some keywords are very popular, and therefore, are expensive. The more generalist they are, the more expensive they are. Some may exceed 40 € (per click therefore) as health insurance or even redemption of gold jewelry ...
To define your keywords, it is therefore advisable to specialize them. An ad for “3-star Biarritz hotel” will be more relevant than “hotel” altogether. This reflection on keywords is a long process.
Note that at the end of September 2014, Google modifies its operation somewhat and will take the liberty of making your ads appear on a galaxy of keywords around the keywords that you have defined. Your ad will therefore appear on search results with built-in misspellings. For example "hotel Biarritz" for "hotel Biarritz".
It is also important to provide for exclusions, in particular geographic exclusions or IP exclusions (those of your company for example ... which cannot bring you sales).
A 3-level funnel
An adwords campaign is piloted via a gmail account.
This allows you to create campaigns.
And each campaign is broken down into ads, made up of:
- A title,
- Two description sentences,
- A link displayed,
- A destination link (often deeper in the site for more relevance).
Steps in setting up an adwords campaign
Operationally, creating a sponsored link campaign is relatively straightforward. Managing it, analyzing its results and adapting its strategy accordingly is much less so.
To create a campaign:
- Connect to Adwords via a Google account
- Click on "new campaign" and name it
- Choose the sites where the ads appear (Google only or partner sites)
- Check manually define your auctions
- Indicate the default bid and the daily budget. This is the financial framework for your campaign. It can change all the way.
- Create an ad group (usually by product group)
- Create the ad and define the keywords (ensure that keywords, ad description and landing page are relevant)
- Click on configure invoicing
The ad is created.
Campaign management, analytics
To properly monitor your campaigns, Adwords must be associated with Analytics. You can do this from either portal.
Obviously, the main analysis will be a comparison between what the campaign cost you and what it earned you. For example, if no sales were generated by the clicks on your ad, it is because it is not relevant to the expectations of your target.
Campaign management, the daily budget
You should also plan a daily budget (by campaign, not by account).
The "automatic bid" option can be interesting when you start with Adwords since these are auctions recommended by Google. Be careful, this mode requires careful monitoring. If you specified an oversized budget, the option may increase your cost per click unduly.
More information
Other tips from CCM to use Adwords and Adsense properly
The Adwords help center
