Search Advertising - Campaign Management

Campaign Management

Search engine advertisements are purchased on the basis of keywords. Ad buyers engage in running actions for keywords, with popular keywords costing several dollars per click through.

Search engines use algorithms to determine the position of ads according to click through rates. Ads with poor click through rates can be pushed down to the bottom of the first page of search results or onto subsequent pages. Even though advertisers are only paying for click throughs, the algorithms assigning ad positions based on ad popularity provide incentives for optimizing keyword selection and other cost control measures. Without cost control measures, it is possible for ad buyers to spend twenty five to fifty percent of their ad budget ineffectively.

Cost control measures can include:

• Campaigns can begin slowly, so as to test the effectiveness of keywords and ad texts. It can take three months of testing before a campaign is ready to scale up. Beginning campaigns can spend US$20–$40 per day, whereas major campaigns can exceed US$1000 per day. Multiple campaigns can be run alongside each other.

• Negative keywords can be used to exclude search queries that do not relate to the ads to be shown. A seller of replacement windows for buildings, for example, could use the negative keywords ‘software’ or ‘programs’ to avoid their ads appearing in response to search queries for information about Microsoft Windows software.

• Word order within keyword combinations can have an effect on click through rates. Word order in buying ads according to keywords can be controlled through the use of quotation marks. Continuing the above example from the perspective of a seller of replacement windows, the keyword “replacement window” may have a higher click through rate than “windows replacement” or for related keyword combinations where syntax is not specified and that could be associated with Microsoft Windows software rather than windows for buildings.

• Broad search means that an ad is served up in response to any search query that contains the keyword, regardless of any other words that may have been used in the search query. Eliminating broad search can be helpful in cases where there are a large number of potential keywords or where the advertiser seeks to keep ad spending at a minimum. A replacement window company located in Trenton, New Jersey could eliminate broad search in favor of location-specific keywords such as “replacement windows Trenton” and other locations within their market area. Each search engine has its own procedures for controlling broad search options for individual keywords.

• It takes time to identify and select potential keywords. Rather than bidding on a small number of popular keywords, advertisers can expand their keyword lists to more than 200 and seek to include keywords that their competitors are not utilizing. Keywords that are less sought after are cheaper. To identify keyword options, enter ‘keyword tool’ into a search engine. The use of competitors' trademarks as keywords has been controversial in the U.S. and around the world.

• Search advertising campaigns can produce immediate results—but they often need immediate attention. Poorly performing ads need to be pulled, keyword lists adjusted, and bid amounts modified to prevent over-spending. Search advertising campaigns that are set up and allowed to run on autopilot can produce less return on investment than campaigns that are monitored more than once a week.

• Perform market research with search analytics services in order to identify market trends and opportunities. These services often reveal what keywords are profitable for other websites in your target market. In addition, they show seasonal and emerging keywords allowing you to plan a more timely marketing campaign.