At the MnSearch Snippet #18 event held at Spyder Trap in Minneapolis, MN on February 25, 2015, Jason Stinnett presented his slidedeck "Auditing Adwords To Exceed Your Goals".

1. AUDITING ADWORDS
TO EXCEED YOUR
GOALS
Cut the fat. Optimize what’s left.

2. JASON STINNETT
PPC Strategist at FindLaw, part of Thomson Reuters
@JasonStinnett

3. Goals of the Audit
 Ensure your AdWords account is tightly
aligned with your business goals
 Understand what isn’t working and cut
accordingly
 Identify your biggest opportunities for
optimization

4. Most Common AdWords Issues
1) Keyword targeting too broad
2) Lost market share on converting areas
3) Overpaying for clicks
4) Lack of focus in campaign settings

5. Issue One:
Keyword Targeting Too Broad
 Symptoms:
 High volume of clicks and impressions but low
click through rates
 Lots of ad groups that rarely get a click
 Lost impression share due to budget
 Resolution:
 Pause loosely related and underperforming
keywords
 Optimize keywords with potential

6. Identify Keywords that are Too
Broad
 Filter by click through rate less than .95
 Sort by impressions, largest to smallest
 Evaluate each keyword

7. Evaluate Low CTR Keywords
 Look at actual searches with the Search
Terms report
 Am I advertising what I think I’m advertising?
 Do the queries line up with what my business
offers?
 Are these searchers ready to buy?
 Strong commercial intent
 Local keywords

8. Identify Low-Click Keywords
 Set date range to the last 30 – 60 days
 Filter – clicks less than or equal to 1

9. Evaluate Low-Click Keywords
 Check for missed opportunity
 Low clicks due to lost impression share
 Low clicks due to low average position
 Cut keywords with low opportunity
 Came up during keyword research but didn’t pan
out
 Innovative ideas that didn’t produce results

10. Issue Two:
Lost Market Share in Key Areas
 Symptom:
 Low Impression Share
 Resolution:
 Address root cause – either budget or rank

11. Identify Lost Impression Share
 Add impression share metrics at the keyword
& campaign level
 Sort by conversions, largest to smallest
 Identify whether your issue is budget or rank

12. Fix Lost Impression Share -
Rank
 If your keyword is losing impression share due
to rank:
 Ensure you’ve got 2-3 ad extensions enabled
 Increase your bids
 Improve the keyword quality score
Ad Rank= (Bid) x (Quality Score)
x (Ad Extensions)
Ad Rank= (Bid) x (Quality Score)
x (Ad Extensions)

13. Fix Lost Impression Share -
Budget
 If your campaign is losing impression share
due to budget:
 Cut out underperforming areas of your campaign
to free up budget
 Move top performing keywords into their own
campaign with a larger budget

14. Issue Three:
Overpaying for Clicks
 Symptom:
 Low quality score on high volume terms
 Resolution:
 Address Google’s concern
 Improve click through rates

15. Impact of Quality Score on Cost
10 80%
9 64%
8 48%
7 32%
6 16%
5 Google benchmark
4 16%
3 32%
2 48%
1 64%
YOU
PAY
Courtesy Wordstream, Inc

16. Identify Low Quality Score
Keywords
 Filter: Quality Score less than or equal to 5
 Sort by impressions, largest to smallest

17. Address the Root Cause of QS
Issues
 Below average expected click through rate
 Break terms out into their own ad group
 Write hyper-focused ads to improve click through
rates

18. Address the Root Cause of QS
Issues
 Below average ad relevance
 Break the keyword out into its own ad group
 Include the keyword in the headline and either
description line one or two
 Below average landing page experience
 Ensure keyword is used verbatim in the landing
page
 Link to other pages on the site, include a privacy
policy

19. Issue Four:
Lackof Focus in Campaign
Settings
 Symptoms:
 Ads running during low-performing hours of the
day
 Targeting too broad of a geographic area
 Resolution:
 Narrow targeting based on data

20. Advertise in the Best Performing
Hours
 Select the Hour of Day in the Dimensions Tab
 Set ad schedule to target times of day that
deliver clicks and conversions

21. Advertise in Targeted Geographies
 Select Geographic report in the Dimensions
Tab
 Look at CTRs and Conversions
 Add bid modifiers for top areas
 Look at eliminating underperforming areas

22. Takeaways: PPC Audits
 Cut the fat.
 Ensure your account is aligned with your
business goals
 Eliminate irrelevant and underperforming
keywords, ads, and audiences
 Optimize what’s left.
 Focus your budget and energy on the areas that
are performing best
 Work to capture more market share at a lower
cost

23. Takeaways:
Creating a Digital Marketing
Strategy
1) Honestly assess your business and
understand your goals
2) Audit your digital marketing campaigns to
identify what is working and what needs
improvement
3) Prioritize according to your biggest
opportunities
4) Build a roadmap that outlines the steps
needed to resolve the issue, goals, and
timelines
5) Ignore low priority issues and unrelated

24. QUESTIONS?