From: Ben
Subject of Question:Adwords Advertising
Your Question for Gorilla is: My click through rate (ctr) on Adwords isn't very good. It's usually below 1%. I'm getting a lot of impressions but not a lot of CTR. What do I need to do to get more CTR? Should I do something more with my keywords?
ANSWER:
This is a great question and one I often hear from new clients. Many people do not fully grasp how Adwords and other PPC advertising actually work. But before, I go any further I want to make sure that everyone knows that Click-Thru-Rates (CTR's) are just one piece of the puzzle.
Let's dive into some possible issues:
The first thing that always comes to mind with High Impressions and Low CTR's is Bid Amount. If you look to the Column for Average Position you will probably find that you are showing up in the 8+ position. This means that on most computers your add will be showing below the fold.
The fold is any part of the webpage that you have to scroll down to see. This means that while your ad is technically showing on the page, it is out of view from the competition. This means that the 7 people above you are getting most of the exposure. They are also going to get higher CTR's because they are the first ads that are seen by the reader of that page.
When it comes to Google Adwords, it is often a better strategy to bid aggressively in the beginining of a campaign.
Here is why:
What is the one thing Google loves? Relevancy. Google will actually reward you when you place a relevant ad. So if you bid aggressively up front you will be in the higher positions on the page. This will most likely increase your CTR's. When your CTR's are higher, Google views that ad as something that their users are interested in. Because of that, you will be rewarded with a lower Bid Amount to reach the same position. You can then gradually begin decreasing your bid amounts and maintain the same position in the search results!
The second part of your question refers to your keywords.
Without seeing your list of keywords I can offer you a few suggestions:
1. Your current set of keywords may be too broad. For example, let us say you are in the business of selling printers. If you are just bidding on the keyword "printers" you are in a very competitive category with very few buyers. The word printers is going to be reserved for some one who wants general information on printers and is not likely to buy at this time. But lets say you sell a specific model named Super Printer 5000. That is a very specific type of printer and when people search for Super Printer 5000 your ad will show. Not only that, but Super Printer 5000 is very targeted to EXACTLY what someone is searching for. Also, people who search for Super Printer 5000 are more likely to buy a printer.
2. You could be running 1 ad with too many keywords that do not acurately reflect that actual text of the ad. Break the ads up and make them more specific to your keywords.
3. Split test your ad. You are able to run multiple versions of ads. You should always run at least 2 versions of ads and see which one performs the best. Lets say AD #1 gets 1.3% CTR and Ad #2 gets 1.6% CTR then you have a slightly stronger ad with Ad #2. I would toss in a 3rd Ad and see where that one falls. Then after 24-72 Hours get rid of the lowest CTR Ad and test another one. Continue testing the ads and continually raising your CTR's.
This is a great question from one of our readers. It actually came at the perfect time since I am now working on a series of posts what will be related to Pay-Per-Click Ad Campaigns. Check back tomorrow when we dive in starting with Headings.
