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    PPC management for ecommerce: 28 tools to explore

    Friday, September 9th, 2022

    Managing ad campaigns can be daunting and laborious.

    Once campaigns are launched you need to actively manage them by monitoring and making adjustments on a regular basis.

    This, along with other marketing tasks, can be overwhelming for managers, causing important notifications and optimization opportunities to be missed.

    Why use a campaign management tool?

    Campaign management software and tools allow advertisers and brands to streamline and automate different aspects of their advertising including planning, execution, bulk editing, sharing, monitoring, reporting and analysis. 

    Other reasons teams may choose to use management software are:

    But when it comes to management tools, there is no one size fits all. Some tools manage search and social, while others only manage search and e-commerce. If you’re with an agency that only manages Google Ads, a tool like Adalysis may be a good choice. On the other hand, if you’re in charge of managing a brand’s Google, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, and Twitter ads, you’ll have a tougher time finding one solution that meets all of your needs. 

    Pricing and features

    Several platforms such as Marin, Skai, and Quartile don’t have prices listed on their website. But a quick Google search told us that their monthly fees can go up to as much as $2,000 or more. 

    Management platforms ampd and AdEspresso by Hootsuite seem to be on the lower end of the spectrum, starting at just $49 per month. 

    It’s also important to note that most platforms base their monthly fees on the total ad spend of the accounts being managed. For example, Adalysis starts at just $99 per month for ad spending up to $50,000 per month. From there, fees are incrementally increased by about $100 per month, with custom quotes provided for portfolios spending above $500,000.

    28 popular PPC campaign management tools

    Whether you’re with an agency, working with an in-house team, or as a freelancer, ad campaign management platforms can be a tremendously helpful tool for time management and efficiency.

    There are hundreds of tools available to use and new ones are being launched every day. So, in no particular order, we’ve compiled a list of the 28 most popular ones, ranging in platform, price, and features to help you successfully scale and optimize your campaigns. 

    Here’s a graphic comparing the platforms – but keep reading for more about each platform.

    Marin Software a.k.a MarinOne

    MarinOne was founded in 2006 and is based in San Francisco Calif. They provide a unified platform for search, social, and e-commerce advertising and management. Features include helping digital marketers convert precise audiences, win new customers, and make better decisions. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: MarinOne has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    Skai (formerly Kenshoo)

    Skai enables marketers to make smarter decisions and gain better outcomes with actionable intelligence in making customer connections. The platform includes a suite of data-driven products for market intelligence, omnichannel media activation, testing and measurement, enabling brands and agencies to make predictions, improve strategic planning and drive growth on customer channels.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Skai has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    Quartile

    Quartile is an e-commerce cross-channel advertising platform. Built on machine learning technologies, the platform automates and optimizes e-commerce advertising on Google, Facebook, Amazon, Instacart, Walmart, and more. Quartile pairs technology with leading marketing experts who can create a strategy that’s tailored to different business goals. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Quartile has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    Adspert

    Adspert is based in Berlin and supports e-commerce companies in maximizing their profit on Amazon, eBay, Google and Bing by optimizing their PPC campaigns. Brands and agencies utilize the artificial intelligence algorithm to improve their advertising performance and save time in their day-to-day operations.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Pricing is in Euros and starts at €99 per month for the lite plan, which manages Amazon ads up to €6,000 in paid sales. Visit their website for more details. 

    ChannelAdvisor

    ChannelAdvisor helps brands and retailers worldwide improve their online performance by expanding sales channels, connecting with consumers across the entire buying cycle, optimizing their operations for peak performance, and providing actionable analytics to improve competitiveness. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: ChannelAdvisor has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    Optmyzr

    Founded by former pioneers at Google, Optmyzr helps advanced marketers achieve greatness in their pay-per-click programs. The SaaS-based system’s simplicity, power and innovation automate key tasks and elevate PPC professionals’ capabilities and relevance in the era of digital marketing. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Optmyzr starts at $249 per month for managing ad spends up to $10,000. Visit their website for more details. 

    Pacvue

    Pacvue is the enterprise platform for e-commerce advertising, sales, and intelligence. Combining unified retail analytics with the tools needed to take recommended actions, brands and sellers use Pacvue to grow their business across Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and other marketplaces. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Pacvue has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

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    Intentwise

    Intentwise’s technology platform empowers professional advertisers, large-scale aggregators, and high-volume agencies with recommendations, automation, competitive intelligence, and data infrastructure for Amazon, Instacart, Target, Walmart, and more.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Pricing is tiered and starts at $500 per month. Visit their website for more details. 

    Perpetua

    Perpetua provides growth optimization and reporting technology for e-commerce businesses. On the platform, brands and sellers create goals based on strategy and rely on Perpetua’s always-on optimization to execute tactically. Reporting tools will also surface the most important metrics needed in order to quantify and examine the investment of advertising dollars into your business.

    Channel integrations: 

    Pricing: Pricing is tiered and starts at $250 per month for one retail platform and up to $5,000 in ad spend. Visit their website for more details. 

    bGenius

    bGenius bid management software gives online marketers the opportunity to optimize and manage campaigns in different search engines in one system. bGenius was not built for automated bid management, although it is possible. The system provides suggestions based on your input in combination with your Search Advertising, Web Analytics and Back Office data. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: bGenius has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    TapClicks (formerly AdStage)

    TapClicks, Inc. is a marketing technology company for agencies, media companies, brands, and enterprises. Its integrated Marketing Operations Platform includes sales enablement, workflow and order management, analytics, and automated reporting — all within a single intuitive user interface available on demand in the cloud. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: TapClicks has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.  

    emarketing

    emarketing is considered one of the largest Google, Microsoft and Amazon partners in Europe. With four offerings repricing.com, intelliAd, intelliTracking and DataFeedManager, emarketing covers the entire marketing value chain (connections to marketplaces, advertising, performance measurement, pricing) for advertisers.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: emarketing starts at $349 per month. Visit their website for more details. 

    ADFERENCE

    ADFERENCE launched one of the worlds first Amazon PPC tools that uses automation to optimizes ad campaigns for both sellers and vendors. They are also recognized as one of the largest Google CSS partners in the German-speaking market and part of Amazon’s official Solution Provider Network (Amazon SPN).

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: ADFERENCE starts at 219€ per month. Visit their website for more details. 

    AdScale

    AdScale elevates businesses Google and Facebook campaigns using customer data & AI-Powered marketing. Users can easily run data-driven campaigns across channels on one platform.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: AdScale starts at $49 per month. Visit their website for more details. 

    Loqstoq

    Loqstoq unlocks full potential of Google Ads and Facebook Ads to promote Amazon listings. Loqstoq is a fully self-funded, self-directed venture and are looking for user feedback on what features to add to the platform.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Loqstoq doesn’t have pricing or membership info on their website, but if you’re interested you can apply to join their private Beta program. 

    Stackline

    Stackline is a retail intelligence and software company founded by a group of industry veterans and headquartered in Seattle, WA. Our technology optimizes e-commerce marketing performance for thousands of the world’s largest brands and retailers.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Stackline has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info. 

    Trellis

    Trellis helps Amazon e-commerce merchants increase their product sales with an easy-to-use ad optimization platform. Trellis saves time and removes complexity by continually optimizing bids, budgets & keywords to deliver maximum campaign performance.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Trellis starts at $199 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    Adchieve

    Adchieve works with customers who have a leading position in their market: that fits the winner’s brand and status. Therefore, Adchieve’s motto is engineering success. Adchieve works together with customers that offer a large and varied assortment and want to stay ahead of their competitors.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Adchieve has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.   

    Semrush

    Semrushs’ paid marketing tools help annalyze competitors, carry out keyword research, and create compelling ad copy for advertisers looking to automate their campaign management. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Semrush plans starts at $119 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    Acquisio

    Acquisio provides software that facilitates customer acquisition using ad platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Microsoft Advertising. Acquisio was one of the first SaaS companies to apply advanced machine learning technology to advertising. Their high-frequency optimization algorithms perform nearly 2.5 million campaign adjustments per day for 400 clients running over 300,000 campaigns. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Acquisio has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.   

    Karooya

    Karooya builds products to help minimize some of the repetitive tasks in PPC campaign management. We help GoogleAds and Microsoft Ads advertisers eliminate wasted ad spend on irrelevant traffic to their campaigns, with ourNegative Keywords Tool.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Karooya has a free plan available. If you’re interested, visit their website for more info. 

    Teikametrics

    Teikametrics is building the first Marketplace Optimization Platform that helps thousands of sellers and brand owners easily optimize their performance, across the most valuable marketplaces and business verticals.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Teikametrics has a free plan available. If you’re interested, visit their website for more info. 

    Treadswell

    Tradeswell is the operating system for real-time commerce. They operate through a quantitative trading platform that uses real-time algorithms and insights, to reveal and execute the optimal actions companies need to grow. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Treadswell has not provided pricing on their website, but prospective users can book a demo on their website for more info.   

    Ampd

    Ampd is the ad automation toolkit that puts Google Ads to work for business. We offer the fastest, simplest, mosteffective way to amplify your efforts and ad dollars.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Ampd plans starts at $97 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    Jungle Scout

    Jungle Scout is an all-in-one platform for selling on Amazon. Founded in 2015 as the first Amazon product research tool, Jungle Scout today features a full suite of management solutions and powerful market intelligence to help entrepreneurs and brands manage their Amazon businesses.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Ampd plans starts at $29 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    AdEspresso

    Using AdEspresso customers can split test every aspect of their Facebook Ads Campaigns, discovering which creatives and demographic targets deliver the best result. AdEspresso also performs conversion tracking on external websites allowing users to optimize by leads & customer acquisitions.

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: AdEspresso plans starts at $49 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    Madgicx

    Madgicx is an Autonomous Ad Optimization Platform for Facebook, Instagram and Google ads. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Madgicx plans starts at $149 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    Adalysis

    Adalysis is a workflow suite for Google Ads & Bing Ads. The platform scans your data and automatically creates recommendations for you to take to improve your PPC performance. The analysis and recommendations span your account from ad testing to n-grams to budget spend rates, and much more. 

    Channel integrations:

    Pricing: Adalysis plans start at $99 per month. Visit their website for more details.  

    The post PPC management for ecommerce: 28 tools to explore appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Smart Shopping campaigns in Merchant Center will automatically upgrade to Performance Max

    Friday, September 9th, 2022

    Any new campaigns created in Merchant Center will now be Performance Max campaigns.

    Completing the transition. In July we reported that Google was beginning to automatically upgrade Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max. The upgrades were to begin in Google accounts between July and September.

    Additionally, Google just announced that any campaigns in the Merchant Center would automatically be upgraded as well, and any new campaigns created would be Performance Max. Any campaign settings and budgets will also be transferred over.

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    To upgrade or not to upgrade. If you’re confused about what to do or not sure if you should upgrade your campaigns yourself, here’s what you need to know:

    1. The automatic updates from Google should finish sometime this month
    2. If you are still running Smart Shopping campaigns in Google, use the one-click upgrade tool to switch your Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max
    3. If you are running Smart Shopping campaigns through Merchant Center, pause it and create a new Performance Max campaign, or let Google upgrade it automatically and look for the “Performance Max (Upgraded)” notification in your account
    4. Once the upgrades are complete, double-check your budget and settings to ensure that everything is set to where you want it
    5. Read the FAQs from Google and the announcement about Merchant Center upgrades here

    Why we care. Google’s constant reminders about the automatic upgrades can be confusing and redundant, but if you’re still running Smart Shopping campaigns, all you need to do is upgrade them yourself, or wait for Google to do it for you. The transition to Performance Max should be finished this month.

    The post Smart Shopping campaigns in Merchant Center will automatically upgrade to Performance Max appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Instagram is cutting back on its shopping features

    Friday, September 9th, 2022

    Instagram is planning to scale back on its shopping features to focus more on e-commerce efforts that directly drive advertising.

    A change in priorities. In an internal memo this week Instagram staffers were told that the Shopping page would eventually disappear “given shifts in company priorities.” The memo states that Instagram isn’t going to abandon shopping altogether, but instead test a simpler, less personalized version of the page known as “Tab Lite.”

    TikTok Lite. Instagram has come under criticism as of late for focusing too much on Reels and short-form videos, giving the platform more of a TikTok feel rather than the photo-sharing app it used to be. Celebrities like Kylie Kardashian made headlines when she shared a post urging Instagram to “stop trying to be like TikTok.”

    There is a petition on Change.org to “Make Instagram Instagram Again.”

    Will Instagram retreat. According to Reuters, this latest effort is an attempt by Instagram to move away from some of its longer-term projects to double down on video.

    Why we care. Advertisers and brands who relied heavily on Instagram shopping features may need to find another way of promoting their products. Tough there is no word on when the changes will take effect, advertisers should start preparing for the changes as soon as possible.

    The post Instagram is cutting back on its shopping features appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    What is quality content?

    Friday, September 9th, 2022

    Quality content is subjective. Some people will want a beginner-level summary while others want more depth and expert insights. Quality content will be better than the content that currently exists and readers will find it useful, memorable and are likely to share the content.

    As SEOs, we typically write about things that people are searching for. This makes the content useful, but if you read many top-ranking sites, they often say the same things. Reading the first few results might feel like you’re reading the same content over and over again.

    There are a lot of buzzwords like 10x content or skyscraper content, but all you really need to do is to make something better than what exists.

    When writing new content, you have an advantage. You can see the content that ranks, and that’s the bar you need to exceed.

    Let’s look at how to do that.

    How to create quality content

    Creating quality content is part science and part art. It also requires a lot of hard work and expertise.

    SEOs have access to a ton of data. We can see:

    Many people making a query intend to find basic information in a quick and easy format. Content that is organized, simplified, and easy to read and scan is useful.

    Much of the content created by SEOs is intended to rank in search engines, but it’s also useful for users. We tend to cover what users are searching for and answer questions about the topic. For many users, that kind of content makes for a great introduction to a topic.

    The problem is that, in many cases, we’re just faking expertise, or we have writers who are faking expertise.

    To create quality content, you need real expertise. 

    You can differentiate your content from what currently exists by:

    Many of the pages that are currently ranking have likely been ranking for years. They may have updated and refined their content in that time to make it better.

    Existing content may also have a lot of powerful and relevant links. There’s a phenomenon where top-ranking content tends to get more links, making it difficult to beat.

    You have to be extraordinary and put in the effort to overcome content like that. It won’t be easy. 

    If you want to beat them, you likely need a team of people. 

    Each person adds valuable skills needed to create quality content.

    Creating this kind of content takes more effort than most companies are willing to invest in. Without showing some sort of initial results, it can be hard to get buy-in. Once you have a couple of hits or some initial results, it can be much easier to argue for the resources needed to create this content.

    A trap I find many companies fall into is creating content as a one-off task rather than an iterative process. You can always improve your current content when you have more resources and want to get better results.

    For example, this is actually my second time writing this article for Search Engine Land. I originally wrote a piece about quality content for them back in 2016, and I have a lot more experience and expertise to share now than I did all those years ago.

    How to measure quality

    Measuring quality is hard because it is subjective. Many SEOs will look at things like word count and keyword density, but these are bad metrics. Some queries, like a person’s age, can be fully answered with one number. You don’t need their entire life story. 

    There’s no one right way to measure quality. 

    SEOs may want to look at:

    Businesses will want to measure:

    You may also want to consider things like user satisfaction.

    Search engines have the difficult job of figuring out what are good results for many different users with many different wants and needs. In general, they tend to show a variety of content that meets different user intents so that each person will likely find something useful to them. 

    Let’s take a look at some of the guidance search engines have provided for creating content.

    How search engines think about quality content

    Google created many algorithms intended to determine what content is best for users. They also provide a lot of guidance on what they are looking for. 

    Some of the terms they use to describe the type of content they are looking for are:

    Most of those are subjective adjectives and are hard to measure. Still, they provide a lot of guidance with the questions their engineers are asking themselves and even the guidance they give their quality raters.

    Google Webmaster Quality Guidelines

    Google has quality guidelines, which are:

    Basic principles

    Specific guidelines

    Avoid the following techniques:

    Follow good practices:

    Google on how to create valuable content

    Then there’s this section (archived via the Wayback Machine) from Google’s Webmaster Academy course, which provided guidance on how to “create valuable content.”

    As you begin creating content, make sure your website is:

    Useful and informative: If you’re launching a site for a restaurant, you can include the location, hours of operation, contact information, menu and a blog to share upcoming events.

    More valuable and useful than other sites: If you write about how to train a dog, make sure your article provides more value or a different perspective than the numerous articles on the web on dog training.

    Credible: Show your site’s credibility by using original research, citations, links, reviews and testimonials. An author biography or testimonials from real customers can help boost your site’s trustworthiness and reputation.

    High-quality: Your site’s content should be unique, specific and high-quality. It should not be mass-produced or outsourced on a large number of other sites. Keep in mind that your content should be created primarily to give visitors a good user experience, not to rank well in search engines.

    Engaging: Bring color and life to your site by adding images of your products, your team or yourself. Make sure visitors are not distracted by spelling, stylistic and factual errors. An excessive number of ads can also be distracting for visitors. Engage visitors by interacting with them through regular updates, comment boxes or social media widgets.

    Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines

    It’s worth reading the Google Search Quality Ratings Guidelines (multiple times). I’ve pulled out some of the important parts specific to quality here:

    4.1 Characteristics of High Quality Pages

    High quality pages exist for almost any beneficial purpose, from giving information to making people laugh to expressing oneself artistically to purchasing products or services online.

    What makes a High quality page? A High quality page should have a beneficial purpose and achieve that purpose well. In addition, High quality pages have the following characteristics:

    • High level of Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T).

    • A satisfying amount of high quality MC, including a descriptive or helpful title.

    • Satisfying website information and/or information about who is responsible for the website. If the page is primarily for shopping or includes financial transactions, then it should have satisfying customer service information.

    • Positive website reputation for a website that is responsible for the MC on the page. Positive reputation of the creator of the MC, if different from that of the website.

    4.2 A Satisfying Amount of High Quality Main Content

    The quality of the MC is one of the most important criteria in Page Quality rating, and informs the E-A-T of the page. For all types of webpages, creating high quality MC takes a significant amount of at least one of the following: time, effort, expertise, and talent/skill. For news articles and information pages, high quality MC must be factually accurate for the topic and must be supported by expert consensus where such consensus exists.

    For each page you evaluate, spend a few minutes examining the MC before drawing a conclusion about it. Read the article, watch the video, examine the pictures, use the calculator, play the online game, etc. Remember that MC also includes page features and functionality, so test the page out. For example, if the page is a product page on a store website, put at least one product in the cart to make sure the shopping cart is functioning. If the page is an online game, spend a few minutes playing it.

    The purpose of the page will help you determine what high quality content means for that page. For example, High quality information pages should be factually accurate, clearly written, and comprehensive. High quality shopping content should allow users to find the products they want and to purchase the products easily. High quality humor or satire should be entertaining, while factual accuracy is not a requirement as long as the page would be understood as satire by users.

    The amount of content necessary for the page to be satisfying depends on the topic and purpose of the page. A High quality page on a broad topic with a lot of available information will have more content than a High quality page on a narrower topic. Here are some examples of pages with a satisfying amount of high quality MC.

    How does Google define helpful content?

    Google has also provided best practices and questions to ask yourself around some of its major algorithm updates – Panda, Core, Product Review and helpful content.

    You can find that all compiled in this article: What is helpful content, according to Google.

    Google algorithms and related resources:

    How Microsoft Bing considers content quality

    Microsoft Bing also provides some guidance that breaks down content quality into three “pillars”:

    Final thoughts

    Creating quality content takes time, effort, resources and expertise.

    You have to put in more work, be more creative and have more knowledge than those who came before you to create something great.

    If you can pull it off, you can create a moat that makes it difficult for others to cross. Even if they manage to surpass you, with a little more work you may be able to retake the top spot from them.

    Keep at it and create something awesome!

    The post What is quality content? appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Webinar: 5 ways to survive an uncertain economy

    Thursday, September 8th, 2022

    Most marketers work day in and day out to stay on top of how their market is evolving, but just one unexpected factor can shift the entire trajectory of your industry.

    Join this webinar for an eye-opening discussion about how to identify consumer concerns, determine market barriers and where potential gaps may be using consumer and market intelligence.

    Register today for “Sink or Swim: 5 Ways to Survive a Struggling Economy,” presented by NetBase Quid.

    The post Webinar: 5 ways to survive an uncertain economy appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    4 tips to get the most out of the Google Ads interface

    Thursday, September 8th, 2022

    Nora Ephron tells the story of when she first fell in love with journalism. 

    Her journalism teacher, Mr. Simms, asked the class to write the lead for an article using these facts:

     “Kenneth L. Peters, the principal of Beverly Hills High School, announced today that the entire high school faculty will travel to Sacramento next Thursday for a colloquium in new teaching methods. Among the speakers will be anthropologist Margaret Mead, college president Dr. Robert Maynard Hutchins, and California governor Edmund ‘Pat’ Brown.”

    The class followed the “who / what / where / when / why” rubric they’d learned to create leads about the colloquium and its agenda, all of which Mr. Simms rejected.

    The lead, he finally explained, was “There will be no school on Thursday.”

    That was when Ephron learned that “the point” was more important than the details.

    With that in mind, if the Google Ads interface were in a journalism course, it’d probably fail.

    The charts and tables in Google Ads provide an overwhelming amount of facts and data, but don’t distinguish between high and low importance. Instead, the interface jumbles everything together, often leaving out key information and focusing on the trivial.

    In this article, you’ll learn how to turn that around.

    Even though the “factory settings” bury the lead, key details reveal the hook of your data story hidden in the Google Ads interface.

    Fire up your Google Ads account, and let’s dive in.

    1. Un-bury the lead

    Just like young Ephron and her journalism classmates, Google Ads will give you a lot of details without ever getting to the point.

    Your mission is to find what matters most, and make that the focus of your tables and charts. 

    If you feel overwhelmed just looking at all the data and metrics in the Google Ads interface, start here:

    Fix your overview summary card

    The summary card in your overview page features unimportant metrics by default.

    Here we see a card with clicks, impressions, CPC, and cost. Most likely, none of these are your most important metrics, so why would you feature them on an overview card?

    Google Ads overview summary card - Before.

    How to fix the overview summary card

    Google Ads overview summary card - After.

    Simply switching your metrics to your key performance indicators (KPIs) already makes the card much more useful. 

    Most clients don’t care how many clicks they got, but they care very much that they drove $25 million in revenue, and how that metric is trending. 

    Setting your card to reflect your KPIs helps you know whether you’re on track to hit your targets, and where to dig deeper.

    Fix your statistics table

    As with the overview summary card, the statistics tables in the Google Ads interface aren’t calibrated to help you find the point.

    In English, we read left to right, so the most important metrics should be on the left.

    But are they?

    If looking at your metrics in the interface makes your eyes glaze over, you probably don’t have your columns organized correctly.

    Google Ads interface columns.

    How to add and arrange columns

    While modifying columns isn’t a deep secret of the Google Ads interface, it will give you a huge edge in your account optimization if you aren’t doing it already.

    Reviewing a statistic table setup like this makes it almost impossible to know what to do next:

    Google Ads interface - status columns.

    After arranging the columns and adding a time period comparison, it’s a different story:

    Google Ads columns - time period comparison.

    You can immediately tell which campaigns are performing well, compared to each other and compared to last year. 

    Prioritize the most important info to make better decisions in the account, and prevent that feeling of dread when you’re just staring at data but have no idea what to do next.

    2. Decouple your conversion actions

    We’ve established that prioritizing Google Ads conversions in the interface will make it easier for you to optimize.

    But not all conversions are created equal.

    That’s because “conversions” aren’t a standardized metric, and can refer to different actions with different values for your business.

    Any of these can be tracked as a conversion in Google Ads:

    It’s up to the advertiser to define which actions are tracked as conversions, but by default, all conversions are rolled up and reported on as a single activity.

    Here we see a Google Ad statistics table with 358 conversions, for a nice CPA of only $5.19:

    Google Ads conversions and CPA.

    But what exactly are the conversions that are shown here?

    To find out, go to Segment and select Conversions > Conversion action.

    Google Ads - Segments and Conversions.

    It turns out that less than 4% of conversions were actually for booked demos, the company’s primary KPI. The remaining 96% of conversions were page views (About Us, View Pricing) which were automatically imported into the account and tracked as conversions:

    Google Ads conversions - Booked demos.

    The actual CPA for a booked demo isn’t $5 but $142. ($1,857 divided by 13 demos.)

    Applying this segment can help you quickly get to the bottom of which conversions are being tracked and how each performs at a campaign level, so you can fix your tracking or change your optimization strategy.

    It may not be the story you want, but it’s the story you need.

    Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

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    See terms.

    3. Are you really ‘message matching’ (or do you just think you are)?

    You know what message match is. It’s when the keyword, ad and landing page are all about the same thing. 

    Also known as “congruence,” message match is critical for improving your quality score, boosting your performance, and keeping the attention of your prospects.

    But getting every single keyword in alignment with every single ad is no small thing, especially now that responsive search ads (RSAs) introduce so much variation to ad text. (Maybe the keyword matches perfectly on versions 1,2 and 4 but bombs on version 3.)

    Here’s how to tell if your keywords and ads are aligned.

    Segment your ads by keywords

    In your Ad page’s statistics table, go to Segment > Keyword text.

    In this view, you’ll play a game of “one of these things is not like the other” to see if all your keywords are performing similarly, or whether there are any outliers.

    Google Ads - Keyword segmentation for a sale.

    The table above shows that the brand “promo” ad is doing great on searches for discounts and coupons, but “sales” isn’t driving any sales. Not only that, the CTR is only 7%, which is far below the average 25% for this ad.

    So what now?

    You could:

    Any of these options could be the best choice for improved message match, it all depends on the keyword, ads and offer. 

    4. If you don’t segment ad extensions, your data will be wrong

    Is there any part of the Google Ads interface that’s as misleading as Extensions tables? This table goes beyond “burying” the lead and makes it disappear completely.

    For example, let’s pop in to check on how our “Gift Cards” sitelink is performing.

    Google Ads Extensions table.

    Looks great, right? $1.6 million in revenue, 73K clicks – this extension is on fire!

    You know where this is going. Head over to Segment and select This Extension vs. Other. Now let’s have another look at the performance:

    Google Ads Extensions table - This vs. Other.

    Turns out the sitelink only got 64 clicks, driving less than $2K in revenue.

    The rest of the performance data relates to the headline or literally any other part of the ad that wasn’t the sitelink, but served when the sitelink served.

    By default, the table will show you incomplete or inaccurate data about your extensions. Always use This Extension vs. Other for a true evaluation of performance.

    Channel your inner journalist

    Like an investigative journalist, you can learn to uncover the lead, and focus on what matters most in your account.

    The Google Ads interface is constantly changing, without much announcement or fanfare. This article only scratches the surface of what you can uncover.

    For instance:

    Be curious, and see how you can use new filters, segments, columns and report features. You’ll be an expert in getting to the point of your data in no time!

    The post 4 tips to get the most out of the Google Ads interface appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Google is rolling out new campaign and ad group Setup columns

    Thursday, September 8th, 2022

    Google is slowly rolling out new Setup columns at the campaign and ad group levels.

    What is a Setup column. The new Setup column was first noticed by Steve Seeley, who posted about the update on Twitter.

    The Setup column includes information about:

    @rustybrick Barry it looks like Google Ads has added a new setup column to the ad groups column options pic.twitter.com/Xupo3tBM4b

    — Steve Seeley (@SteveSeeley) September 7, 2022

    What Google says. Ads Liason Ginny Marvin commented that the Setup column was available to help advertisers “quickly identify any campaign/ad group setup issues..”

    Hi Nicole & Steve, The Setup Columns are new & still rolling out. When available, you’ll find them in Campaigns & Ad Groups tables to help you quickly identify any campaign/adgroup setup issues. More here: https://t.co/PA9ULQNVKH

    — AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) September 7, 2022

    More Setup column info. You can read more info about the new Setup columns here.

    Why we care. This info should help advertisers identify issues in their campaigns and ad groups as well as quickly find images, keywords, and ads that need to be adjusted. If you have access to the new Setup column, you should see it in your settings at the campaign or ad group level.

    The post Google is rolling out new campaign and ad group Setup columns appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    YouTube updates Masthead ad requirements to allow sports betting

    Thursday, September 8th, 2022

    YouTube is now allowing sports betting ads to serve on the masthead as long as the ads comply with the related gambling and games policy.

    Recent masthead updates. Additional masthead updates were released in June for alcohol and prescription drugs. Full-day masthead reservations were discontinued and replaces with more targeted options. The new CPM option allows mastheads to be more accessible to a broader market of advertisers. 

    Read the announcement. You can read the announcement from Google here. Google’s guidelines for advertising sports and gambling can also be found here.

    Why we care. Advertisers who run YouTube campaigns for sports and gambling can now have their ads in the most prominent ad space, so long as they comply with YouTube policies.

    The post YouTube updates Masthead ad requirements to allow sports betting appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Google will update ad Destination requirements policy in October

    Wednesday, September 7th, 2022

    Starting next month, Google will update the Destination requirements policy requiring that ad experiences on destinations to conform to the Coalition for Better Ads Better Ads Standards.

    What this means. This means that any ads that don’t conform to the new standards will be disapproved. Advertisers will be notified of disapprovals in the Ad Experience Report.

    What Google says. Google made the announcement in an email, indicating that affected accounts may see their ads disapproved and to make adjustments by October. They did not give an exact date.

    Advertisers can review destination requirements here.

    Why we care. Advertisers who are unsure if their destinations meet the Better Ads Standards should review their accounts and make the necessary changes asap to avoid having ads disapproved.

    The post Google will update ad Destination requirements policy in October appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Webinar: How to choose whether to build or buy with this CDP checklist

    Wednesday, September 7th, 2022

    What’s best for you? A CDP out-of-the-box? Building a customer data solution yourself? There’s merit in both options, and this webinar is here to help you narrow down what’s best for your business.

    Register today for “How to Decide to Build or Buy: A Customer Data Management Checklist,” presented by Acquia.

    The post Webinar: How to choose whether to build or buy with this CDP checklist appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




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