Pave Your Path to Paid Search Success: 6 Fundamental Skills Every Advertiser Needs

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Senior Data Scientist at
Wordstream
5 Years in Paid Search
Voted the 14th Most Influential
PPC Expert of 2016
Meet Mark Irvine

Let’s start at the very
beginning…

Intro to Paid Search
Bruins Tickets
The text a user enters into the search bar is called a “search term” or “search query.”

• Google loads the results on a
page called the “Search
Engine Results Page,” AKA
the “SERP.”
• The SERP is divided into two
main parts:
• Paid Search Ads
• Organic Results

• Paid search ads
most often are at the top
and the bottom of the
SERP.
• Organic Results
are found between the
paid search ads on the
SERP.

SEO is Hard Work
Even though we exclusively sell Paid Search services and
solutions, we take SEO very seriously!
Full time employees dedicated to managing our SEO: 4
Full time employees dedicated to managing our PPC: ½

SEO Takes Time
OrganicTraffic Growth over 6 years:

SEO is Hard Work
Minimum to Rank Page 1:
~1,750 Words
Best Performing Content:
~2,000 Words

Best Content By Medium
Best Performing SEO Content:
Best Performing Social Content:
Best Performing PPC Ad:
• ~ 2,000 Words
• 3,000+ Words
• 140 Characters, at most.

Paid Search Often Yields More Traffic
Paid Search Results
Organic Search Results
64.6%
of all clicks
35.4%
of all clicks

Benefits of Paid Search
Paid search ads:
• Can put you on Google
faster than organic
results.
• Take less time and
effort to manage than
organic.
• Can often yield more
traffic than organic

Intro to Paid SearchThe Downside of Paid Search?
It costs money.
97% of all of Google’s Revenue
comes from advertising.

Intro to Paid SearchThe Google Auction
Each advertiser sets a
bid they’re willing to
pay for each click

But Google Cares About More Than Just Money

The Google Auction
This
advertiser
did the best!

The Google Auction
If I click on
this ad, he
pays!
You don’t
pay if no one
clicks on
your ad

Conversions
If someone clicks, you pay and they go to your site.
If someone completes an action like a sale or a lead submission on your site, you can
count them as a conversion! 

Not All Traffic is Created Equal
But regardless of whether or not they convert on your site,
You paid for them to click on your ad!
The most important
lesson of PPC is that
not all traffic is worth
paying for.
Winning at PPC is about finding
the right traffic at the right price!

Control your Paid Traffic by
Managing Keywords
#1

Keyword Match Types
• Advertisers decide which types of search terms they want their ads to
show for by creating Keywords.
Keyword:
[Bruins Tickets]
Bruins Tickets
Serves
an ad
to
In this case, the keyword matches the search term exactly.
Uncreatively, this is called an exact match.

Keyword Match Types
• Exact match keywords do not match search terms that contain or are similar to
the keyword:
Keyword:
[Bruins Tickets]
Does not match
Boston Bruins Tickets
Boston Season Tickets
Boston Hockey Tickets
Boston vs Senators Tickets

Google handles 3.5 Billion searches every day.
40% of those searches have never been searched for before.

Keyword Match Types
Different keyword match types attract different types of traffic:

Negative Keywords
• A major lesson of PPC is that not all traffic is worth paying for.
Keyword:
“Bruins Tickets”
Phrase Match
Serves
an ad
to
UCLA Bruins Tickets
If anyone clicks on your ads for these search terms –
you’re still charged!

Negative Keywords
Negative Keywords can be used to deter some of this irrelevant traffic.
Keyword:
“Bruins Tickets”
Phrase Match
UCLA Bruins Tickets
Negative Keyword:
“UCLA”
Negative Phrase
Does not serve ad

Negative Keywords
As your campaigns run, be sure to review the search terms that
your ads show for and add new negatives:

Control your Costs by
Managing Bids
#2

Managing Your Bids
High Bids
Better Ad Position More Traffic
More
Conversions
Higher CPC More Spend
Higher Cost Per
Acquisition
(CPA)

Managing Your Bids
 We treat bid on keywords differently because we believe
that traffic is different due to expected performance.
 Examples:
Keyword Bid
“Bruins
Schedule”
$0.25
“Bruins Home
Schedule”
$0.75
“Bruins Tickets” $2.00
“Bruins Tickets
April 11”
$4.00
Because we believe some traffic
is more likely to convert.
Keyword Bid
“Bruins Tickets” $2.00
“Stanley Cup
Tickets”
$8.00
Because we believe some
traffic is more valuable.

Managing Your Bids
 Revisit and revise your bids to reflect how well that traffic converts on your site.
 Example: Target CPA = $25
Keyword Bid Ad
Position.
Clicks Spend Conversions Conv.
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.25 6 250 $50 5 2.00% $10.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.50 1 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 14,550 $5,352 120 0.82% $44.60

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Avg
Pos.
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 6 250 $50 5 2.00% $10.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.50 1 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 14,550 $5,352 120 0.82% $44.60

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Ad
Position
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 1 250 $50 5 2.00% $10.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.50 1 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 14,550 $5,352 120 0.82% $44.60

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Ad
Position
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 1 9,000 $3,600 180 2.00% $20.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.50 1 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 23,300 $8,902 295 1.27% $30.18

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Ad
Position
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 1 9,000 $3,600 180 2.00% $20.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.15 1 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 23,300 $8,902 295 1.27% $30.18

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Ad
Position
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 1 9,000 $3,600 180 2.00% $20.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.15 7 9,000 $3,600 45 0.50% $80.00
Total 23,300 $8,902 295 1.27% $30.18

Managing Your Bids
Keyword Bid Ad
Position
Rate
CPA
Keyword A $0.60 1 9,000 $3,600 180 2.00% $20.00
Keyword B $0.35 4 1,000 $244 10 1.00% $24.40
Keyword C $0.40 3 1,600 $478 20 1.25% $23.90
Keyword D $0.45 2 2,700 $980 40 1.50% $24.50
Keyword E $0.15 7 200 $24 1 0.50% $24.00
Total 14,500 $5,326 251 1.73% $21.22

Finding the Perfect Bid
 You can use simple algebra to find out how much you should pay for each click to make sure you hit your
target CPA!
 So, if your keyword has a 2% conversion rate and you are aiming for a $25 CPA, you need a $0.50 CPC:
𝑪𝑷𝑨 =
𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠
=
𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑥 𝐶𝑃𝐶
𝐶𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠 𝑥 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒
=
𝐶𝑃𝐶
𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑪𝑷𝑨 =
𝑪𝑷𝑪
𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒗 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑪𝑷𝑪 = 𝐶𝑃𝐴 𝑥 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒;
𝐶𝑃𝐶 = 𝐶𝑃𝐴 𝑥 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑣 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 = $25.00 𝑥 .02 = $0.50

Control your Visitors by
Managing Audiences
#3

Audiences
Unless otherwise specified, all ads automatically target
everyone who’s searching for these keywords.
However, if you choose to, you can control who sees your
ads.

Audiences
You can cater your reach by:
1. Remarketing audiences of users who have been to your site
in the past.
2. Gender of user searching.
3. Age of the user searching.

Audiences
You can use these audiences to:
1. Exclusively target an audience.
2. Exclude an audience from seeing your
ad.
3. Adjust your bid for that audience.

Intro to Paid SearchPlastic
Surgeon
Advertiser
Keyword:
“Breast Enlargement”
Solution: Exclude Men

Intro to Paid SearchFlorist
Advertiser
Keyword:
“Same day Flower Delivery”
Solution: Bid more for Men

Intro to Paid SearchFinancial
Planning
Keyword:
“Retirement Planning”
Solution: Target
exclusively ages 45+

Control your Strategy by
Managing Campaign
Settings
#4

Location Targeting
Not all “Bruins Tickets” searches will be worth the same:
Most likely to purchase
Least likely to purchase
• We can adjust our ad targeting to
reach or exclude these regions
as we see fit.
• We can also adjust our bid for
different regions.

Ad Schedule
Control when your ads run
by creating dayparts around
when your business is open
or when your customers are
searching!

Device Control
Control on which devices your ads show by creating bid adjustments!
Desktop, tablet, and mobile bid adjustments range from -100% to
+900%. The only way to stop your ads from showing for a device is to
set your bid adjustment to -100%.

Use Search Ads to Provide
More Solutions by
Managing Ad Extensions
#5

Ad Extensions
Text ads can be decked out with Ad Extensions to make them
larger and better!
Best of all, these are 100% FREE to show and can improve
the performance of your ad overall!

Ad Extensions
Call outs:
Provides an extra line of
text for info about your
business
Structured Snippets:
Provides an extra line of
text for info about your
product or service
Sitelinks:
Provides links to other
pages of your sections of
your site.

Ad Extensions
Location Extension:
Shows your address to
local searchers. Clicking it
opens up driving directions
in Google Maps

Ad Extensions
Call Extension:
Allows users to call your
business directly from the
SERP
Message Extension:
Allows users to text your
business directly from the
SERP

Ad Extensions
App Extension:
Allows users to download your app
directly from the SERP
If they’ve already downloaded the app, this
can open the app to a more relevant page.

Expand Your Reach By
Managing Bing Ads
#6

Why Bing?
Bing Ads currently makes up a combined 35.2% of the US Search Market.
Google, 63.6%
Ask.com
(Google
Partner), 1.3%
AOL (Bing
Partner), 0.8%
Bing, 22.8%
Yahoo!, 11.6%
US Desktop Search Market Share
Source: ComScore, March 2017
Google advertisers can scale their reach
by up to 50% on Bing and Yahoo!

Why Bing?
The Bing audience typically skews:
• Older (Median age of Bing users is 45. US Median age is 37.)
• More affluent (Median HHI of Bing users is $75k. US Median HHI is $52k.)
• Less Tech savvy (More likely to use Internet Explorer & other Windows products).
• Highly concentrated on the US West Coast.
Bing is also the default
search engine of
Internet Explorer,
Windows devices, and
many voice search,
including Apple’s Siri
and Amazon’s Echo.

Why Bing?
Because there are fewer advertisers on Bing Ads, there is often less competition on the SERP,
allowing for Bing Ads advertisers to get better position and lower CPCs than on Google.
Google AdWords
Keyword: [Payroll Services]
Average Position: 8.5
Cost per click: $12.44
Bing Ads
Keyword: [Payroll Services]
Average Position: 3.5
Cost per click: $4.55

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Pave Your Path to Paid Search Success: 6 Fundamental Skills Every Advertiser Needs

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