PUBCON 2014: Hacking AdWords - Winning at PPC the Weird Way by Larry Kim, WordStream, Inc.
1. CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE 1
Hacking Adwords: Winning
at PPC the Weird Way
Larry Kim (@larrykim)
Founder/CTO, WordStream, Inc.
March 19, 2014
2. Win This $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate!!
• Include the hashtag #wordstream
and #pubcon in your tweets
• May the best tweet win! :)
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
15. QS is Based on Your CTR vs. Expected CTR!
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
16. Quick Recap So Far
1. QS plays huge role in
determining CPC and Avg.
Position and cost per
conversion
2. QS is largely based on
beating the expected click
through rate for your ad
position
3. So Winning at AdWords
Requires Writing Ads with
Above Average CTR.
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
18. Which Ad Wins?
a)Ad A
–32,423 Impressions
–453 clicks (1.4% CTR)
–Average Position: 2.8
b)Ad B
–36,223 Impressions
–760 clicks (2.1% CTR)
–Average Position: 3.0
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
19. Trick Question! Both Ads Suck.
• Neither ad is worth declaring a “Winner”.
• Not even the 2.1% CTR in the 3.0 Avg. Position.
• Why??
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
20. What’s a Good CTR?
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
21. • Even the “Winner” is a Loser!
CONFIDENTIAL – DO NOT DISTRIBUTE 21
22. Even the “Winning” Ad is a Loser!
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
24. What’s a Good Search CTR? (Account Avg. CTR’s)
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
25. But Lots of Variance!!
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
26. Under-Performing vs. Unicorns
Percentile Vs. Expected
CTR
Name
Bottom 50% Below Expected
CTR
Under-
Performing
Advertisers
Top 15% 2X Higher Awesome
Advertisers
Top 5% 3x Higher Super Awesome
Advertisers
Top 1% 6x Higher!! Unicorns
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
28. What Unicorns (Top 1%) Look Like
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
29. Ad Text Testing
• Same Story – 20% of Ads Generate 92% of Spend
• 20% of Ads Generated 65% of Impressions
• But CPA, CTR, and Conversion Rates vary
@larrykim, @perrymarshall
30. 1. Keywords With High Commercial Intent
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
31. 2. Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
32. 2. DKI Doesn’t Produce As Many Unicorns
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
33. 3. Ad Extensions Impact on Quality Scores
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
34. 3. Ad Extensions Impact on Click Through Rate
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
41. Relative Abundance
Name Percentile Relative
Abundance
Vs. Expected
CTR
Awesome
Ads
Top 15% 1:6.7 2X Higher
Super
Awesome
Ads
Top 5% 1:20 3x Higher
Unicorns Top 1% 1:100 6x Higher!!
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
42. You’re Not Testing as Many Ads as You Think…
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
63. Quick Recap
1. Low CTR = Low QS
2. Low CTR ads don’t
even get displayed
3. They get penalized with up to 400%
higher CPCs
4. Dramatically increases cost per
conversion
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
65. Quick Recap
1. Above Average CTR
Keyword/Ads = Great
Success.
2. Below Average CTR
Keyword/Ads = Train Wreck
3. So … Delete the bottom
third of your account and
re-deploy that spend to
remarketing
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
66. Average CPC’s by Industry and Network
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
68. Average CPA’s for Search & Display, by Industry
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
69. Your Questions
Thank You PUBCON!
Benchmark your AdWords account today!
http://www.wordstream.com/google-adwords
Today’s Slides:
http://bit.ly/hacking-adwords
Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #pubcon
Editor's Notes
Talk about how google makes it very hard for PPC spammers, too. Google shut down millions of spammy accounts year. All keywords/ads are graded with a quality score. The higher your quality score, the higher your ad ranking and lower your cost per click.
Done
Thanks guys. Hit me up if you need help with your paid search campaigns. (you got that right, I said paid search).