does your ppc speak european?
TRANSCRIPT
Does your PPC speak European?
Gianluca BinelliFounder | Booster Box | @ktzstyle
AgendaWhat we are discussing today
● What does European even mean?
● 5 Tactics:
○ Language Targeting
○ Currency Implications
○ Structure and Survive
○ Ad Testing in real life
○ Our BFF: the Search Term Report
Unless else specified images in this presentation are taken from pixabay.com@ktzstyle
Who am I?● 6.5y at Google
● Google Online Marketing (B2B in EMEA)
● Advisor for Google Capital
● Booster Box
● Probably lowest amount of Twitter followers than everyone else in this room
@ktzstyle
What does European even mean?
Source: Yahoo Answers@ktzstyle
Europe is crowded
Source: Wikipedia
Europe USA
742M
324M
Population by Region Another relaxing morning of commuting
Multiple data point to a solid finding
@ktzstyle
and it is fragmented ...
● 50 Countries
● 24 Official Languages
● 11 Currencies
Source: Wikipedia @ktzstyle
...very fragmented
Source: Plugsocketmuseum.nl
we cannot even agree on sockets
@ktzstyle
...but as an aggregate it is worth it
Source: WorldBank
GDP by time
@ktzstyle
...also from the agency side
Source: emarketer
Western Europe Media Ad Spending
is almost
50% North America
@ktzstyle
and it is (sometime) cheaper than US
Source: wordstream @ktzstyle
and it is (sometime) cheaper than US
Source: economist @ktzstyle
There are 3 kinds of people in the world
People who already have a Pan-European PPC Operation
People who do not have yet a Pan-European PPC Operation
People who do have any PPC operation
@ktzstyle
What we are not discussing today
1. Planning and Goal Setting (How to identify the right market?)
2. What people want in different countries?
3. When are the seasonality peaks?
4. Setting up the team (Local vs Central)
5. Localization vs Translation
Interested about these questions? Check out this great preso from Maddie Cary
@ktzstyle
5 Tactics to set up a Pan-EU Operation
1. Language Targeting
2. Currency Implications
3. Structure and Survive
4. Ad Testing in real life
5. Our BFF: the Search Term Report
@ktzstyle
Language Targeting
Language Targeting
● Unlock less competitive traffic
● Deploy one simple tactic: secondary language campaign
● Why? 3 reasons:
○ Language Minorities○ Polyglotism○ Migration Trends
Discover new portions of traffic with less competition
@ktzstyle
Reason #1: Language MinoritiesLanguages are not delimited by borders
● The EU has +60 indigenous regional and minority languages, spoken regularly by up to 40 million people.
● There are language minorities across Europe and autonomous communities (eg Catalan in Spain)
Source: wikipedia@ktzstyle
Do you like coffee?
Yeah. We want these beans too
The spillover effect of language minorities
@ktzstyle
Question: What is the most common mother tongue in Europe?
Who wins the popularity contest?
Source: europa.eu, wikipedia
Funny fact: R Pearson = .76
and at football? Germany
@ktzstyle
Question: What is the most widely spoken language in Europe?
The most popular language: English (38%)
Source: europa.eu
Reason #2: Polyglotism
@ktzstyle
Reason #2: Polyglotism
Source: europa.eu
54% of Europeans can hold a conversation in at least one additional language, (25%) two additional languages and (10%) in three languages
● Only 39% of Europeans are saying they can communicate online (Email, Twitter, FB) in a foreign language.
● 26% of Europeans can do that in English
@ktzstyle
So can we just keep it in English?As an initial trial it could work, but conversion rate would probably increase with localized version
Source: europa.eu
● 90% of European internet users prefer to surf the internet in their own language
● 44% feel they are missing interesting information because web pages are not in a language that they understand.
@ktzstyle
● Migration is one of the key components of population change in Europe
● Both Intra EU Migrations and Extra EU Migration
● 18.5 million persons who had been born in a different EU Member State from the one where they were resident.
Reason #3: Migration
@ktzstyle Source: europa.eu
Conclusion: secondary languages
● Languages are not delimited by borders
● 26% can hold a conversation in English
● People move a lot in Europe (Intra-Extra)
Example: Turkish speakers in Germany
@ktzstyle
What languages to target?Guidelines looking at generic traffic volumes
What about my business? Look also in your Google Analytics > Audience > Language
@ktzstyle
What do we need to set it upWe need to localize 4 elements
● Keywords○ Remember the negative keywords (typically the shared negative list)
● Ads○ Do we need a local domain extension? Let SEO Decide and use Display URL
in the Ads
○ Even if the language is the same we can let the user know that we are shipping to her country (eg works particularly well when you target autonomous communities). Tip? Use Geo Ad Customizer
@ktzstyle
What do we need to set it upWe need to localize 4 elements
● Landing Pages & Funnel○ Remember to update Pricing, Shipping Options and to use international
Payments methods. You might even want to include in your costs International Shipping Insurance.
● Customer Service○ Remember to clarify Your Hours of Operation within your Time Zone and to
switch on International Phone Numbers (or add your country code)
@ktzstyle
Oh Snap! I do not have localize assetsWe can start in a scrappy manner
● Start with what we have (eg we have campaigns in English, we can scale to IE, UK)
● Countries where English is a secondary language
● Create a Pan-European campaign in English (good discovery campaign, then localize)
Same Sunset: Scrappy vs Epic
@ktzstyle
How to set up language targeting?● Case 1: The keys for a new market at
home - Create a Secondary Language Campaign in a Domestic Market
● Example: UK Business can create campaigns targeting Polish speakers in the UK.
● Action: Create a new campaign targeting the same market(Geo: UK, Language: Polish)
@ktzstyle
How to set up language targeting?● Case 2: You found “more of your
tribe” abroad - Use your Primary Language Campaign Abroad
● Example: UK Business create campaigns targeting English Speakers in Spain
● Action: Copy the existing campaign and target the new market (Geo: ES, Language: English)
@ktzstyle
How to set up language targeting?● Case 3: You already have an
international operation - Scale Up
● Example: Spanish Business operating in France can scale to North Africa
● Action: Use all your Primary Languages Campaigns in other countries where that language is spoken as secondary language, by copying the existing campaign and target new geographies
@ktzstyle
Currency Variations
Currency VariationsMany currency = Many variations
@ktzstyle Source: google finance
Currency variations
● Bids and Budgets
● Retail Price
● Delivery Cost
Fluctuations impact 3 elements
@ktzstyle
Bids and Budget
● Focus on big fluctuation (eg Brexit): ○ This is what probably most advertisers do
○ Do not panic (“I am going to open an account in a new currency!” is panic)
● Check currency variations periodically for reporting & budgeting purposes
(eg Weekly, Monthly,...)
● Include the currency fluctuations in your bidding system
(Daily or multiple times per day) Check this script from Brainlabs
Taking in consideration currency we could do 3 things (from High to Low Priority):
@ktzstyle
How to pick a currency● Local or Home Currency: Example: US Advertiser (USD) targeting France (EURO) on
an industry where competition bid in EURO
○ Local Currency: If account is set in EURO then: Reporting/Budgeting challenge
○ Home Currency: If account is set in USD then: Bidding challenge
● If you are lucky enough to have found cheap targeting method (around $0.01): you could take advantage of other currencies (eg if you bid in Romanian Leu)
@ktzstyle Source: google finance
Structure
What structure should I pick?
● Forget to separate: We need (at least) new separate campaign (there are no reason to use international bids modifiers)
● Forget to take in consideration that we are serving multiple Time Zones, that we have Multiple Budgets and Multiple Currencies
Errors to avoid when picking a new structure
@ktzstyle
What is the ideal structure?
Type PRO CON
In the existing account(s)
Simple and easy to control budget
allocation at product line / category level
Only works with (relatively) simple
structures
One account for each language
group
Easier to scale intra-language
learnings
Confusing if the language groups have
different market condition (eg CPCs ES
vs LATAM)
One account for each country
You could use different
Currency (if you really really want it) & Time Zones
A lot of work to scale cross country
learnings
Where ideal means “as painless as possible”
@ktzstyle
How to survive
● Campaign Name
○ Type of Campaign | SubType | Country | Language
● AdGroup Name
○ Match Type | Keyword in English | Variation
● Shared Negative Lists
○ Brand protection
○ Seasonality events
○ ...
Define a structure and naming convention and stick to it
Eg. when you can translate the word X in english in 2 variations in French and you still want to keep a 1:1 structure
@ktzstyle
Bonus tips #1
Take in account different holidays
(eg in Israel weekends are Friday to Saturday)
when setting daily bidding
Sunday is the new Monday in Tel Aviv
@ktzstyle
Bonus tips #2
Additional Character Limit
Google AdWords allows using additional characters on the Title and Description for ads targeting Eastern European (eg RU) and
Asian Countries (eg JP)
details
@ktzstyle
Bonus tips #3
● Take into account different demographics
● Low internet penetration: check ad scheduling (Workplace = the internet access)
● Device usage (Mobile Only markets)
Write a horror
story in 3 words
No Internet access
@ktzstyle
Bonus tips #4● Identify incremental portions
of traffic with Greeklish
● = Greek language written using the Latin alphabet:
○ English: Good Morning
○ Greek: Καλημέρα
○ Greeklish: Kalimera
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing
Ad TestingChallenges with international Ad Testing
● Challenge #1: How do you know that what works in a market would work everywhere?
● Challenge #2: How to make sure to reflect the key messages in the localization?
● Challenge #3: How to maintain a consistent product positioning?
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #1How do you know that what works in a market would work elsewhere?
Let’s say we found that saying “Start Today!” increase CTR by 10% vs the existing ad “Start Now!” in UK. Can we scale it to Europe?
● Option 1: We just roll it out and pray for the best
● Option 2: We replicate the test until we have a statistically significant result at Regional level
● Option 3: We test it everywhere until we are sure it works in every single country
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #1We replicate the test until we have a statistically significant result? How to select the sample
● Option 2 a): Divide the countries by tiers (for revenue contribution) and replicate the testing in each tier
● Option 2 b): Divide the countries by cultural similarities (eg German speaking, Nordics, France-Italy-Spain, etc..) and replicate the testing in each tier
● Option 2 c): We test it everywhere as a limited portion of traffic (eg 5% of traffic)
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #1What if you still get inconsistent results
Country Winning Copy
UK Start Today!
FR Start Now
PL Start Today!
DE Start Today!
ES Not a relevant difference
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #1Summary
● Use multiple markets in your advantage
● Big = Fast You would reach conclusions in less time in bigger countries
● Avoid Overload Avoid concentrating too many tests in the same countries (prioritize for non urgent test smaller countries)
● Be Your Travel Personality Far from home sometimes you can dare to be someone else: dare to test new products, new pricing methods, new product positioning.
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #2How to make sure to reflect the key messages in the localization?
In general for localizing you have 3 options:
● Option 1: Machine based (eg Google Translate)
● Option 2: Contractor
● Option 3: PPC Specialist with Language Skill
SPEND TIME EXPLAINING WHY AND
WHAT YOU ARE TESTING
@ktzstyle
Ad Testing: Challenge #3How to maintain a consistent product positioning?
Once a quarter stop testing and do a “meditation week of realignment”
where you scale everywhere the learnings you developed
(Ads and KWs)Stop the engine
@ktzstyle
Search Term Reports
Search terms reports are dauntingWhen you are running it across multiple languages
First we setup (even a basic) automation
● Define what is a good / bad keyword● Example of thresholds:
○ IF Impressions > 1000 and CTR >1% and CR >3% and Conversions > 5 in the last 30 days = THEN Good Performance
○ IF Cost > 100$ and Conversions = 0 in the last 30 days = THEN Poor Performance
● Automate the STR (example: Script from Google Developers)
@ktzstyle
Extinguish the firePoorly Performing Keyword? you do not need to know what it means to exclude it
@ktzstyle
Process for scaling upGood Performing Keywords and Negative Root need localization
STR
Google Sheet
Good KWs
Bad KWs Exclude
Evaluate
Google Sheet
RULES
CAN WE ALSO EXCLUDE THE
ROOT KW? DO WE HAVE A LANGUAGE SPECIALIST?
YES
NO = GOOGLETRANSLATE(text, [source_language, target_language])
= GOOGLETRANSLATE(text, [source_language, target_language])
DO WE HAVE A LANGUAGE SPECIALIST?
YES
NO
EMAIL ALERT
CAN WE ADD AS POSITIVE
KW?EMAIL ALERT
@ktzstyle
