From the SMX West Conference in San Jose, California, March 1-3, 2016. SESSION: Competitive Research For SEM. PRESENTATION: Now You See It! Visualizing Your PPC Competition - Given by Maddie Cary, @MaddieMarketer - Point IT, Senior Client Manager. #SMX #32B

1. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
Visualizing Your PPC Competition
Now You See It!

2. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
§ Senior
Client
Manager
at
Point
It
Digital
Marketing
§ 5
Years
in
PPC
§ Oversee
$35M
in
Yearly
Media
§ Global
SEM
Program
Lead
§ 20
Person
Team
§ 30
Languages
§ 60
Markets
§ 2015
US
Search
Award
“Young
Search
Professional”

3. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
5 W’s
of
PPC
Competitor
Analysis

4. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
ASK YOURSELF…
WHO
are
your
competitors?
WHAT
kind
of
competitors
are
they?
WHERE
are
they
competing
with
you?
WHY
are
they
competing
with
you?
WHEN
should
you
take
action?

5. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
WHO
are
your
competitors?
Assumption:
I
know
exactly
who
my
online
competitors
are!
Pull
Auction
Insights
data
to
determine:
• Who
are
my
relevant
competitors
in
PPC?
• If
domains
showing
ads
with
aren’t
relative,
are
you
bidding
on
the
right
keywords?
Then,
take
that
data
&
make
it
actionable!
• No,
not
by
starting
at
rows
&
rows
of
raw
data
in
Excel…
• We’ll
review
my
favorite
PPC
competitor
analysis
tools
that
can
help
you
visualize
your
competitor
trends

6. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
WHAT
kind
of
competitors
are
they?
Assumption:
All
my
competitors
are
exactly
the
same
Research
domains
showing
with
yours
ads
to
identify
• Affiliates
• CSEs
• OTAs
Understand
if
you’re
getting
the
full
story
• Can’t
distinguish
partners
pointing
to
the
same
domain
–
it’ll
all
be
lumped
under
“You”
in
Auction
Insights
• Escalate
non-­‐approved
trademark
users
• Search
Arbitragers
• Resellers
• “True”
Competitors

7. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
WHERE
are
they
competing
with
you?
Assumption:
Non-­‐branded
keywords
see
the
most
competition
Label
top
performing
keywords,
including
Branded!
• Don’t
pull
out
your
hair
trying
to
monitor
every
single
keyword
• Your
“cash
cows”
are
going
to
see
the
quickest
impact
if
competitor
enters
and
inflates
CPCs
to
push
you
out
Set
up
alerts,
reports,
&
automated
bidding
rules
• Set
up
automated
Search
Impression
Share
Reports
• Use
Google
&
Bings
automated
rules
when
competitors
getting
more
aggressive
to
maintain
crucial
impression
share
• Test
Google’s
Portfolio
Strategy:
Target
Page
Location

8. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
WHY
are
they
competing
with
you?
Assumption:
I
only
need
to
worry
about
my
copy,
not
my
competitor’s
Review
competitor
ads
regularly
• What
are
your
competitors
offering?
• Are
they
using
clear
CTAs?
• In
a
heavily
occupied
vertical,
how
are
they
standing
out?
• I’ll
share
my
favorite
competitor
ad
monitoring
tools
in
next
slides
Test
your
messaging
tactics
• The
proof
is
in
the
pudding!
Test
copy
to
see
what
drives
results

9. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
WHEN
should
you
take
action?
Assumption:
I’ll
worry
about
my
competitors
later
Later?
You
cray
cray!
Take
action
now
§ Don’t
spend
every
waking
moment
obsessing
§ Your
first
priority
should
be
driving
results
for
your
account
§ But
competitors
can
rock
your
boat,
and
knowing
how
to
steer
the
ship
is
the
first
step
in
the
right
direction
Take
your
ego
out
of
it,
be
smart,
&
use
the
5
W’s

10. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
My Favorite Tools
for
Visualizing
PPC
Competitor
Data

11. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
§ Research
US
+
INTL
markets
§ PLA
vs.
Paid
Search
trends
§ Domain
vs.
Domain
§ Desktop
vs.
Mobile
ad
copy
3rd Party Tools NOTE:
I
was
not
paid
by
any
of
these
tools

12. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer

13. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer

14. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
§ Google
vs.
Bing
ad
copy
§ First
&
last
seen
dates
of
ads
(how
often
competitor
testing?)
§ Ad
lists
with
URLs
(including
tracking
parameters)
3rd Party Tools NOTE:
I
was
not
paid
by
any
of
these
tools

15. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer

16. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
§ Color-­‐coded
ad
change
grids
§ Highlights
top
performing
ads
§ Venn
diagrams
of
shared
keywords
(paid
&
organic)
§ Segments
top
competitors
(paid
&
organic)
3rd Party Tools NOTE:
I
was
not
paid
by
any
of
these
tools

17. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer

18. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer

19. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
AdWords
Keyword
Planner
Review
relative
impression
share
for
new
keywords
compared
to
top
market
leaders
&
similar
advertisers
in
your
keyword
categories
Using Keyword Planner Tool

20. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
BrainLabs
Auction
Insights
Script
(my
favorite!)
• Copy/paste
their
script
into
Google
Sheet
• Pull
segmented
campaign
data
• Pull
segmented
Auction
Insight
data
• Throw
both
into
Google
Sheet
• Automatically
generates
graphs
that
illustrate
competitive
metrics
alongside
your
trending
CPCs
Using Auction Insights Data

21. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
COMPETITOR
ANALYSIS
TOOL
Segmented
Reporting
Can
segment
Auction
Insights
data
by
Time
and/or
Device
to
get
the
fuller
picture
of
your
competitor
trends
Using Auction Insights Data

22. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
Don’t
let
your
PPC
competitors
drive
you
crazy
Reactive
PPC
tactics
can
result
in
A
LOT
of
wasted
time
&
spend
Your
approach
should
be
smart
&
strategic
BE
A
SMART
COOKIE

23. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
Check out my
blog post on these
PPC Competitor
Analysis Tools!
www.pointit.com/blog/
ppc-competitor-analysis

24. #SMX #32B @MaddieMarketer
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX!
THANK YOU!