The Van Wagner Ad Sets Optimization model can improve the Ad test performance of Google Adwords campaigns.

1. The Van Wagner Ad Sets Optimization Modeltm Matt Van Wagner Search Engine Marketing New England (SEMNE) Natick, MA May 18, 2010© Copyright 2010. Find Me Faster Nashua, NH. All Rights Reserved.

2. Best of Breed

3. Could too much A/B Testing be detrimental to the overall health of our PPC campaigns?

4. How A/B Testing Works The idea is to find outwhich message resonates best with your target audience.

5. How A/B Testing Works Run ads long enough to develop a performance profile. Declare a champ. Kill the loser. Bring in a new challenger. Repeat until bored.

6. Setting Expectations You declare Ad A the champ, and delete loser Ad B.What do you expect your Adgroup CTR to be going forward? (a) 3.75% (b) 6.25% (c) 7.5% (d) 9.25%

7. Surprised? Answer: It most cases, your new Ad Group CTR will range from 3.75% - 6.25%.

8. CTR: Adgroup vs. Ad

9. Worst Case: Ad Group CTR

10. Have you ever experienced this sort of surprise after a round of A/B Testing?

12. Ad Impressions does not equal searchers

13. Ad Rotation is not truly even

15. Impressions ≠ Searchers Searches are not randomly distributed - Searches for specific keywords happen in ’hotspots’ ”...as many as 50% of all searches are repeat searches...”* * Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft Senior Vice President, March 2010

18. Ad Set Optimization How a few well-performing ads can outperform the single best ad in an ad group.

19. The Value of Ad Message Diversity Selection: All Shades of Blue Widgets Savings: Save 20% on Blue Widgets Quality: Eco-Friendly Blue Widgets Availability: Blue Widgets Shipped Overnight! Brand: Official Site ACME® Blue Widgets Savings: Save 20% on Blue WidgetsSavings: Save 20% on Blue Widgets Savings: Save 20% on Blue Widgets Savings: Save 20% on Blue WidgetsSavings: Save 20% on Blue Widgets Wouldn’t it be a bit annoying for a salesperson to harp on the same thing 5 times in a row?

20. Beginning of a Testing Cycle

21. The Results Start Coming In

22. Cutting Poor Performing Ads

23. Down to the Finals Without the other ads and repeat searches, you can expect that impressions, clicks and CTR performance changes in unexpected ways.

24. Should YouDeclare a Winner? Yes? No? Don’t Know?

25. Assuming the Worst Case You get the same # of visitors, clicks, but CTR declines. Why? Perhaps people who like to save money assume ECO means more expensive, and don’t bother clicking.

26. What would happen if you kept both ads online?

27. Multiple Searches Changes Things With two ads left online, it becomes highly likely that a person will encounter the ad they prefer. 1 search: 50% (either ad A or ad B) 2 searches: 75% (AA, AB, BA, BB) 3 searches: 87.5% (etc...) 4 searches: 93.75% Since we know that people will search multiple times, anywhere from 2-20 times over the course of a search session, it becomes almost certain they will see both ads.

28. Implementing the Van Wagner Ad Sets Optimization Model Use A/B Testing to narrow out to well-performing ads. Don’t try to reduce to one winning ad. Instead of Reducing to a single ad, test more combinations. Ad Sets can mask the performance of poorly performing ad groups. You still have to optimize your ad groups and watch your search queries. Set Ad Rotation to even – at all times.

29. New (Old) Google Keyword Match Type Broad Match Modifier - More control than broad match - More flexible than phrase match - shuts down expanded broad match Uses + sign in front of a broad match keyword - Will match queries only when that it contains BMM includes misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations, acronyms, and stemming variations. - Will not pick up close synonyms or related searches. Available soon in US. Now in active beta in Canada & UK

30. Broad Match Modifier