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Hacking AdWords!The Top 10 Greatest Hacks of All

Time

Presented by: Larry KimFounder/CTO, WordStream, Inc.

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About Me

Larry Kim (@larrykim)•Founder / CTO of WordStream•Commander of Quality Score Rebellion•Had Kid 5 Months Ago! #ppckid

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Today’s Agenda

• The 10 Greatest PPC Hacks of All Time!

You’re an AdWords Hacker … and a Traitor!

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Slides Can Be Downloaded From Slideshare!

•bit.ly/pubcon-2014

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#10. QUALITY SCORE IN ADWORDS

Why You ShouldCare About

Quality Score?!

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Quality Score Impacts Ad Rankings

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Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Click

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Quality Score Impacts Impression Share

Impression Share 2x More Competitive On Mobile!

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Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Conversion

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So Get a High Quality Score!

How is Quality ScoreReally Calculated?

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Expected Click Through Rate

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QS is Based on Your CTR vs. Expected CTR

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A Crazy Hack To Increase Quality Scores

• Allocate 10% of Budget To Raise Account Average Quality Scores

• Delete the Bottom Third of Your AdWords Account (Shift budget to Remarketing instead)

Example Crappy Account

• 2/3rd of Keywords Underperform Expected CTR,

• 1/3rd of Keywords Beat Expected CTR

The Junk Keywords Kill The Account

• Even the above average CTR keywords have very low Quality Scores!

Example Amazing Account

• 1/3rd of Keywords Underperform Expected CTR,

• 2/3rd of Keywords Beat Expected CTR

High CTR Keywords = Get Out of Jail Free!

• Even the Keywords with 0% CTR have Quality Scores of 7/10 or 10/10!!

What’s A Good Quality Score These

Days?

Typical Quality Score Distribution

• Today, Average ~5/10

• Previously it was 7/10

• As average values drift lower, above average QS worth up to 200% more than before!

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So What To Do With My Keywords?

• If Your Keyword’s Quality Score is…– 1to 3: Delete Immediately– 4 to 6: Fix / Optimize– 7 to 10: Don’t Mess with Success

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But.. High Quality Scores Aren’t Possible In my Industry!!

Real Estate Industry Quality Scores

E-Commerce Industry Quality Scores

Finance Industry Quality Scores

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But.. Google Says Not To Obsess About Quality Score!!

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Key Finding #1: Google is Downplaying Quality Score

Quality Score Is a Helpful Diagnostic Tool, Not a Key Performance Indicator •Why: Your Quality Score is like a warning light in a car’s engine that shows how healthy your ads and keywords are. It’s not meant to be detailed metric that should be the focus of account management-- Source: bit.ly/qs-whitepaper

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But Wait – What About This?!“QS is important in order for your ads to be successful … QS plays a key role in determining your ad's position and how much you'll pay for a click. In general, the more relevant your ad, the higher your QS – and the higher your QS, the better your position and the less you will have to pay for a click...Being successful with AdWords means getting your products or services in front of the people who are most likely to become your customers and a high Quality Score can help make that happen.”

-- Source: What is AdWords Quality Score and Why Does It Matter?" from Google (2011)

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Key Finding #2: They Withhold Key Information

Remember: Quality Score Graded on a Curve

Low CTR = Losing PPC Strategy

Quick Recap

• Below Avg. CTR = Low QS• Low QS means…

– Less prominent ad positions– Very low impression share– Huge CPC penalties

(+400% Tax)– High Cost Per Conversion

(+64%)

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The HIGH CTR Game for AdWords

• Be Very Picky. Bid on Only the Best Keywords and Get HIGH CTRs.

• Delete Junk Keywords (Bottom Third of your Account)

• PRO TIP: Use impression weighted average quality scores for Campaigns & Accounts (ignore keyword-level QS)

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#9. UNICORN ADS

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Which Ad Wins?

• Ad A– 2,423 Impressions– 453 clicks (1.4% CTR)– Average Position: 2.8

• Ad B– 36,223 Impressions– 760 clicks (2.1% CTR)– Average Position: 3.0

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Trick Question! They Both Suck• Neither ad is

worth declaring a “Winner”.

• Not even the 2.1% CTR in the 3.0 Avg. Position.

• Why??

What’s a Good CTR These Days?

(It’s Higher Than You Think)

Google Expects More Of Your Ads

Big Performance Inequalities Here

Crap Ads Vs. Unicorns!!

Percentile Vs. Expected CTR

Name

Bottom 50% Below Expected CTR

CRAP ADS

Top 15% 2X Higher Awesome Advertisers

Top 5% 3x Higher Super Awesome Advertisers

Top 1% 6x Higher!! Unicorns!!!

Unicorns Ads?! (6x Avg. CTR!)

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1. Keywords With High Commercial Intent

2. Dynamic Keyword Insertion? (DKI)

2. DKI Doesn’t Produce As Many Unicorns

3. Use of Ad Extensions?

3. Use of Ad Extensions? (Impact on CTR)

3. Ad Extensions has Small Impact on QS

3. Ad Extensions has Small Impact on QS

How To Write “Unicorn” Ads

(Top 1%, 6x Average CTR)

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Most Ads Suck (+90%)

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The Hack: Try Ads That Trigger Emotions!

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This Beats Avg. CTR by 6x !

.. Because All The Other Ads Suck!

Ad Unicorns are Rare & Beautiful Creatures!

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected CTR

Awesome Ads

Top 15% 1:6.7 2X Higher

Super Awesome Ads

Top 5% 1:20 3x Higher

Unicorns Top 1% 1:100 6x Higher!!

You Need To Test 100 DIFFERENT Ads..

The Bar is Very Low Here…

5% of Ads Soak Up 85% of Impressions

• You Just Need to Find 1 Unicorn Ad!!

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#8. CRAZY OFFERS

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What’s a Good Conversion Rate for PPC?

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Distribution Point

All accounts

Ecommerce

Legal B2B Finance

Median Conversion Rate

2.35% 1.84% 2.07% 2.23% 5.01%

Top 25% Conversion Rate

5.31% 3.71% 4.12% 4.31% 11.19%

Top 10% Conversion Rate

11.45% 6.25% 6.46% 11.70% 24.48%

The Top 10% of Landing Pages Have 3-5x Higher Conversion Rates

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Landing Page Unicorns?! (+3-5x Avg. Conversion Rate!)

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The Great Landing Page Optimization Fairy Tale

• We Changed the: – Font Type– Spacing– Button Color– Image– Etc.

• We got a 5% Increase in Conversions!!*

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PTD- Premature Testing Dilemma (aka “Optimizatitis”)

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Conventional Landing Page Optimization is Over-Rated

• Small Changes Result In Small Changes

• % Change You Think You Got is Often Just Noise or Wishful Thinking

Re-Arranging Deck Chairs On the Titanic..

Aim for 3-5x Improvements! (not 3-5%!)

What Do Landing Page Unicorns Look Like?

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1. Change Your Offer

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The New Offer

• How To Know If Your Offer Stinks:– 2% Conversion

Rate or Less– Ask Your

Prospects!

2. Radically Change The Flow

2. New Registration Flow

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3. Let Users Choose / Leverage Emotional Triggers

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Landing Page Unicorns are Rare & Beautiful Creatures!

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected Conversion Rate

Awesome Landing Pages

Top 25% 1:4 2x Higher

Unicorns Top 10% 1:10 3-5x Higher!!

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Note: This is the Same Landing Page with Different Spacing…

The Bar is Pretty Low

80% of Impressions go to 10% of Landing Pages

• You Just Need 1 Killer Offer!

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OMG - Just One Landing Page?!!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #mnsearch

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YES - One Unicorn is Usually Enough!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #mnsearch

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#7. GMAIL SPONSORED PROMOTIONS

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Subject Line and Teaser

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Email Ads! (HTML)

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The Hack: Target Your Competitor’s Emails

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#6. PEOPLE BASED MARKETING (NOT IN ADWORDS!)

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Custom Audiences in Facebook

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Tailored Audiences in Twitter

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The Hack: Think of PPC More Like Email Marketing

Email Marketing• Limit Number of Blasts To

Reduce Unsubscribes• 0.5-2% Unsubscribes Each

Blast• People Need To Opt Into Your

List• Tons of Unqualified Emails on

the List

People Based Marketing• N/A

• N/A• N/A• N/A

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#5. CRAZY MOBILE STRATEGIES

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Mobile Changes The Flow In a Big Way

OMG a Call Button!!

Mobile Changes The Flow In a Big Way!

Calls to Businesses worth on Average 3x More Than Clicks to Websites!!

4. Captured Lead

2. Calls Business

2. Clicks On Ad

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel

3% Avg. Conversion Rate

Mobile Conversion Funnel

1. Sees Ad 1. Sees Ad

3. Visits Website Landing Page

3. Lead Captured!!

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The Hack: Forget about Mobile Sites and Landing Pages!

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#4. QUALITY SCORE FOR GOOGLE DISPLAY NETWORK

Quality Score Exists on Google Display Network!!

Higher CTR = Lower CPC

Higher CTR = Lower CPC

A 0.1% increase/decrease in CTR yields ~20% increase/decrease in CPC!

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The Hack: Create Display Ads With Above Avg. CTR

1. Push Ads To Your Offers

Do a Conversion Path Analysis

Define audience segments using the pages that most often lead to a conversion event

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2. Push Ads To Your Content

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5% of Articles Generate 50% of Social Media Engagement

The Hack: Same Emotions Make People

Click on Ads and Content

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Mark Your Calendar!

• Remarketing and Retargeting in 2014

• Wednesday 3:50, Salon F– Erin Sagin – WordStream– Tim Mayer – Trueffect– Sean Dolan – PushFire– Rob Garner - Advice Interactive Group

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#3. REMARKETING LISTS FOR SEARCH ADS (RLSA)

Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)

• Customize Ads To Users Who Previously Visited Your Site

• On Average Doubles Click Through Rates (Raises Quality Score) and Cuts CPC’s in Half!!

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#2. IN-MARKET SEGMENTS

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In Market Segments & Similar Audiences to Increase Reach!

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#1. FIRST MOVER ADVANTAGE

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A Thousand New Features Each Year

• Over 1000 New Features in last 12 Months

• Innovation is Accelerating

• Much more if you Include Bing Ads, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

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+Post Ads on Google+

• Released in April 2014• Google+ Updates

Show Up All Over The Web as Ads!

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Impact on G+ Page Visibility Before & After

After

Before

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The Flywheel Effect: Paid Social Promotion Generates Organic

Engagement

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TrueView Ads on YouTube• People spend 6 Billion

Hours on YouTube / Month

• Pay Nothing if People Click “Skip Ad”

• Ridiculously Powerful Targeting Options

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Summary: The Top 10 AdWords Hacks of All Time!

1. Say No to Low CTR!2. Unicorn Ads Get Up To

6x Average CTR3. Unicorn Offers Get 3-5x

Average Conversion Rates

4. Forget About Mobile Websites and Landing Pages

5. Quality Score has Huge Impact on Display Ads

6. Use RLSA to Double Click Through Rates / Reduce CPC in Half

7. Expand Display Ad Reach with In-Market Segments

8. Get in People’s Gmail Inboxes!

9. Target Specific People on Facebook and Twitter

10.Always Be the First Mover!

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Flywheel Effect: Paid

Don’t Settle For Average – Be a Unicorn Among a Sea of Donkey Advertisers!

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Thank You PUBCON!• Download Slides Here: bit.ly/pubcon-2014