Do AdWords New Features Pass the Test?

Sarah Dahlin, Director of Client ServicesJaime Allyne, Client Manager

February 23, 2011

Presentation AgendaAbout Point It

• Launched in April 2002

• Seattle’s largest independent search marketing firm

• PPC & SEO

• $50 MM in managed media

• 17 team members, 40+ yrs of SEM experience

• Servicing clients across all verticals and revenue models

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Presentation AgendaAgenda

• AdWords New Ad Formats

• See the results of our head-to-head tests

• Automated Rules

• What we learned and what we would change

• Display Campaign Optimizer

• How to set it up and how to make it work for you

• Q&A

Presentation AgendaAdWords New Ad Formats

• New display URL format

• What is it?

• What did we test?

• What did we expect?

• Were we correct?

• New extended headline format

• What is it?

• What did we test?

• What did we expect?

• Were we correct?

Presentation AgendaDisplay URL Changes

Google’s Intent: to standardize the appearance of ads

Previous FormatAdWords.Google.com/Support

New Format adwords.google.com/Support

Presentation AgendaDisplay URL Test

• Organic listings entirely in lowercase display URL

• Does capitalization in paid search ads improve CTR?

Display URL with capitalization

in the subdirectory

Entirely lowercase

display URLVS

Presentation AgendaAnticipated Results

• In previous tests, capitalization has had a positive impact on CTR

• Our guess:

• Display URL using capitalization

Our pick:

Presentation AgendaActual Results

Our pick won…. But we also saw a few things that surprised us!

Presentation AgendaImpact on Metrics

• CTR results:• 3.61% with capitalization• 3.15% without capitalization

• Unexpected results:• Conversion Rate, CPA• Calls for more testing!

Presentation AgendaNew Headline Format

• Headline and description line 1 appearance

• Since February 3rd, Google has been testing a new headline format

• Ads must be in top positions

• Description line 1 must end in punctuation

• If your ad falls within these parameters, it will now look like this:

Presentation AgendaHeadline Test

• This new ad format is expected to have a higher CTR

• The longer headline allows for more information about the product or service

• Since Google anticipates that CTR will improve, we decided we would give it a try!

Presentation AgendaAnticipated Results

• We expected the extended headline to out-perform the short headline

Our pick:

Presentation AgendaActual Results

• Based on CTR alone… our pick did not win

• However, we did see some interesting trends that we will definitely continue to watch…

Presentation AgendaImpact on Metrics

• We saw slight improvement on our extended headline ad, 11.22% versus 10.51%

• The extended headline version had a much lower conversion rate, 3.37% versus 5.48%

Presentation AgendaAdWords Automated Rules

• What are automated rules?

• What can they be used for?

• How to set up automated rules

• What we tested

• Ad group rules

• Ad copy rules

• Keyword rules

• What to watch out for

• What we would change

Presentation AgendaWhat are Automated Rules?

• For day to day management and optimization

• Can be set on different levels:

• Campaign

• Ad group

• Ad copy

• Keyword

• Run at a time that you specify

• Email alerts

Presentation AgendaHow to Set Up Automated Rules

• From the Campaign, Ad Group, Ads or Keywords tab click on the drop down menu:

Presentation AgendaHow to Set Up Automated Rules

• Based on the type of rule you would like to set up, fill in the appropriate information

Presentation AgendaWhat We Tested

Automated Rules:

• On ad group, ad copy, and keyword levels

• Based on ad group names

• Based on text in ad copy

• Based on performance parameters

Presentation AgendaAd Group Rules

• Creating Ad Group Rules

• Example of Use: Product Discontinuation

• Product A, Version 2.0 3.0

• Our automated rule:

• Created for campaign “Bids”

• Paused all ad groups containing “ifb”

• Set to run at 2PM on February 15th

Presentation AgendaAd Copy Language Rules

• Creating Ad Copy Language Rules

• Example of Use: Promotional Ad Copy• Spring Clearance Sale, Free Gift with Purchase

• Our automated rule:• Created on Ads tab

• Paused all ads containing specified promotional language

• Set to run once on February 15th

Presentation AgendaAd Copy Performance Rules

• Creating Ad Copy Performance Rules

• Examples of Use:

• Controlling costs for ads

• Pause ad based on cost or CPA

• Optimizing for fluctuating volume

• Account with low volume on

weekends

• Set two separate rules for

pausing and enabling

Presentation AgendaAd Copy Performance Rules

• Our automated rule (for pausing):• Pause ads with less than

10 clicks

• Based on data from previous 24 hours

• Set to run every day at 2pm

• Our automated rule (for enabling):• Enable ads with more

than 100 clicks

• Based on data from last week

• Set to run every Monday at 5am

Presentation AgendaKeyword CPC Rules

• Creating Keyword CPC Rules

• Example of Use: Automatic Bid Optimization

• Our automated rule:

• Increase CPC bids 10% for keywords with:

• CPA less than $35.00

• Average position worse than 2.5

• Based on data from previous week

• Set to run every Monday

Presentation AgendaAutomated Rules Results

• To view your results, navigate to the “Manage Rules” section

• View details on all of your rules

Presentation AgendaWhat to Watch Out For!

• When setting up rules, start out slowly

• Set up a few test rules, to gauge performance

• Be careful with

• Time periods

• CPC rules

• Text-based rules

• Rules will not run during system down time

Presentation AgendaWhat to Watch Out For! (Continued)

• Don’t make too many changes

• Rules expire after 1 year

• Compatibility with other optimization tools

• Check in frequently

Presentation AgendaWhat We Would Change

• Ad group or ad copy pausing/enabling is best aspect

• We would allow the ability to do this… without using “rules”

Presentation AgendaAdWords Display Campaign Optimizer

• What is the display campaign optimizer?

• Are you eligible?

• How do you set it up?

• What we’ve seen

• Things to look out for

Presentation AgendaWhat is the Display Campaign Optimizer?

• The AdWords Display Campaign Optimizer (DCO) automatically optimizes bids and targeting

• Uses set CPA goal and budget

• You need only a CPA target and creative

• Creative can be text ads or image ads

Presentation AgendaDCO Requirements

• 15 display network conversions a day over the past 30 days

• Daily campaign-level budget that is equal to 20x your target CPA

• Let the campaign auto-optimize

Presentation AgendaDCO Setup

• First identify your target CPA and budget

• We selected a target CPA of $110

• This gave us a daily budget of $2,200 ($110*20)

• The next step is to create a new campaign that is set to target CPA bidding

Presentation AgendaDCO Setup

• Under advanced campaign settings, set targeting mode to “Automatic campaign optimization (Display Network only)”

• Then, simply create one ad group with text or image ads, and push live! No keywords or placements needed

Presentation AgendaWhat We’ve Seen with DCO

• Initial results have been favorable

• In the beginning, we saw CPAs as high as $475 (versus our target of $110)

• CPA has settled down to around $130

• Budget increases can cause CPA fluctuations

• Conversion volume has increased with budget

Presentation AgendaThings to Look Out for with DCO!

• Resist the urge to make manual optimizations!

• You may need to reach out to your AdWords rep for help

• Be careful when making placement optimizations across multiple campaign

Presentation AgendaSo, Which Features Passed the Test?

• AdWords New Ad Formats

• New display URL format

• We’re still stuck in the past, so we’re not entirely happy with this one. However, the ability to use capitalization in the subdirectory looks to still have a positive impact.

• New extended headline format

• So far, we’re not liking what we are seeing with conversion rate… but more testing is needed.

Presentation AgendaSo, Which Features Passed the Test?

• Automated Rules

• These are pretty tricky to set up, and they might cause you some unanticipated issues if you aren’t careful

• Bottom line, we’d love to see a simpler tool that would allow for pausing and enabling ads, ad groups and keywords!

• Display Campaign Optimizer

• So far, we think it’s great. However, you do need a sizeable budget and the self-control to sit back and let the tool do the work for you!

Q & A

Sarah Dahlinsarahd@pointit.com

Jaime Allyne

jaimea@pointit.com