The document provides tips and best practices for understanding Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and optimizing online advertising campaigns. It discusses setting goals, selecting keywords, organizing campaigns, crafting ad copy, testing landing pages, installing tracking, and adjusting settings. Metrics like visits, conversions, bounce rate and segmentation are addressed.

1. Understanding Google AdWords & Analytics

2. Rachael Gerson (@rachaelgerson) Self-proclaimed data junkie Google Analytics Top Contributor GA Certified 4 ½ years at SEER Interactive in SEO & Analytics Lover/owner of cute puppy named Cooper Proud alumni of Villanova University – Go Cats! Aaron Levy (@bigalittlea) 5 years in digital marketing 2 years at SEER Interactive in PPC AdWords & AdCenter Certified Managed budgets from $500 to $100k/mo in B2B & B2C (Usually) a pretty good hockey player

4. Is your online advertising working? Hint: there are only two possible answers.

5. Step 1: Set Goals

6. Establish a key success metric before you do anything else Cost Per Acquisition Use lead-to-sale ratios and avg. customer value to back into an appropriate figure Return on Ad Spend/Investment Find the break even point Page Views/Visit If the goal is traffic, make sure it’s good traf fic Set a metric to beat – CPA ceiling or break even ROAS %.

7. Don’t forget your brand name! Step 2: Select keywords

8. If the keywords have no search volume, you won’t be eligible. Don’t just guess

9. Google Keyword Tool – Start with the basics & see what the tool proposes. Use the free tools available

10. Search Suggest – especially with the advent of Instant, these are terms you need to bid on. Use what the engines tell you

11. Soovle – see up to 15 engines suggestions at once. Use what all sites tell you

12. Use keyword tool exports & suggest to find initial negatives. Use query reports to grow the list. Be a Negative Nancy

13. Broad for volume, exact for control. Find the perfect match (type) Keyword = brown wingtip shoes Buy shoes with wings Buy brown shoes Brown wings buy Brown wingtip shoes Brown wingtip shoes Wing tipped shoes brown Buy brown shoes with wing tips Where can I buy brown wingtip shoes Brown wingtip shoes Brown wingtip shoes Broad MBM Phrase Exact

14. Include negatives in your estimates & don’t bid more than you can afford; you don’t NEED to be #1. Don’t fall into a money pit

15. Example of organization directly from the Google Help Center. Step 3: Be meticulously organized

16. Make sure to separate top performers into individual campaigns to ensure 100% visibility. Build strong campaigns Budgets Make sure your keywords have enough $ to generate data Importance Stronger keywords get more $! Relevance Ad Extensions Sitelinks, Phone #, Products Geo Targeting & Dayparting

17. Per Google, every keyword with 1,000+ monthly searches should have its own ad group. And keep ad groups relevant Ad copy is set on the ad group level Each copy point should speak directly to top terms Separate high volume terms into their own ad groups Set ad groups logically & control where copy shows Different colors = different ad groups Different products = different ad groups Different search intent = different ad groups Get granular

18. Make your ad stand out. Step 4: Craft crafty ad copy

19. You don’t have long – engage the audience quickly. Don’t be this guy

20. Everyone uses best practices. Use them differently. Or these guys

21. You can stand out and still use the same formula. Test & optimize! Be different, but be smart

22. Winning ad copy equation. Clear call to action Resonates with landing page Answers “why should I…” + Contains top volume keyword

23. Be edgy, but not too edgy. Step 5: Pick (or build) landing pages

24. Page populates with brown wingtips, value-adds clearly displayed on the top. Strong eCommerce

25. Weak eCommerce No Twitter. No brown wingtips. No dice.

26. Quantifiable value propositions directly related to landing page. Clear call to action, customer testimonials. Strong lead generation

27. Too many to count… Weak lead generation Broken landing pages No clear call to action Lacking relevance from ad to landing page Tough on the eyes Unsubstantiated claims No privacy policy Asking for too much

28. No need for external conversion trackers. Step 6: Install & test tracking

29. Separate your PPC traffic from organic. Don’t forget Analytics!

30. Initial settings were designed by engines for most volume, not best performance. Step 7: Adjust settings

31. Both campaign types should be structured much differently (whole other session)! Networks & Devices

32. Use Accelerated delivery for Brand & top performers to capture all volume. But make sure you have the $. Ad delivery settings

33. Warning: the more granular you get, the less accurate the target is. Recommend staying on Metro level. Location targeting

34. Launch early in the week so you can keep a close eye on early performance & optimize! Launch!

35. … and beyond The beauty of paid search is that we have data on everything. Use it. Test Ad Extensions (+CTR) Test Ad Copy (+CTR, -CPC) But check for Statistical Significance Mine Search Query reports to grow negatives & keyword targets (+CTR, -CPA) Test & tweak your landing pages Set up Google Alerts, watch Insights Know what’s going on in your space Link to +1 accounts TEST EVERYTHING

36. Your Knowledge Level Newbie – Never used GA Beginner – Use GA on occasion, can navigate through Intermediate – Power-user, never sets up profiles Advanced – Use & set up profiles regularly

37. Start Using GA Some Do’s and Don’ts

38. Make sure this code is on every page of the site, prior to the closing </head> tag. Google Analytics Code Do: Include the GA code on every page

39. Regular code cannot go on a site with multiple domains or mobile sites. Google Analytics Code Don’t: Use regular code on sites that span multiple domains or mobile sites Use more than one set of the same code

40. Google Analytics Code Do: Let plugins do all the work for you!

41. Know these guys?

42. Make sure you’re driving the right traffic. Visits = $ Don’t Be These Guys

43. Which Metrics Should You Be Monitoring? DO focus primarily on: Visits & Conversions / Transactions

44. Data can come into GA up to 24 hours late. Visits No visits = no sales More visits SHOULD = more sales

45. Make sure the whole team is on board with the KPIs prior to setting up goals. Conversions & Transactions Non-eCommerce site: Figure out your Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs ) & create GA Goals

46. Reports should connect actions on site with $$$. Conversions & Transactions eCommerce site: Add eCommerce tracking to get detailed reports on transactions & revenue

47. Which Metrics Should You Be Monitoring? DO focus secondarily on: Bounce Rate Use Bounce Rate as your indicator that you may be losing quality traffic & $

48. A bounced visit will show in GA as 0:00 time on site. What is Bounce Rate? Google Analytics definition: Visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page

49. What is Bounce Rate? Avinash definition: I came, I saw, I puked, I left This is Avinash He’s the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google. <3

50. A high bounce rate isn’t always a bad thing. What’s a Good Bounce Rate? Depends on the site & the industry High bounce rate = BAD eCommerce product landing page

51. What’s a Good Bounce Rate? Depends on the site & the industry High bounce rate = Inconclusive Blog Research article Recipe site Sites with AJAX, Flash, etc. Service site with a phone number listed

52. What’s a Good Bounce Rate? Depends on the site & the industry High bounce rate = Good Affiliate site

53. Time on site is a critically flawed metric to report on. Which Metrics Should You Be Monitoring? DO NOT focus on: Time on Site Why? How they’re calculated Browser behavior

54. Segment EVERYTHING Another Avinash Tip: “ Never report a metric without segmenting it to give deep insights into what that metric is really hiding behind it.”

55. How Do I Segment? Several easy segmentation solutions in GA: Instant Filters Advanced Segments Profile Filters

56. Use RegEx to consolidate multiple items. How Do I Segment? Instant Filters

57. Advanced Segments can cause the dreaded Fast Access Mode. How Do I Segment? Advanced Segments

58. Filters work from the day they’re applied. They do not work retroactively. How Do I Segment? Profile Filters

59. Use GA to Answer Questions Do I need a mobile site? Which traffic sources convert best? Which keywords drive the best traffic to my site? How does my social media perform?

60. Do I Need a Mobile Site? Do you already get mobile traffic?

61. Should I Make a Mobile Site? How do visits for mobile compare to desktop? Look at Conversion Rate, Bounce Rate View the site on your phone! Let the data make your decision.

62. Always dig deeper. Which Traffic Sources Convert Best? % of Total Goal Completions

63. SEER’s sweet spot = SEO Which Keywords Drive the Best Traffic?

64. Look at ONLY Social Traffic Set up however you prefer, but find a way to limit the data to only social

65. Advanced segments cause fast access mode. Look at ONLY Social Traffic Example – Compare Visits

66. Top pages don’t match across different sources. Look at ONLY Social Traffic Example – Compare Top Landing Pages

67. Look at ONLY Social Traffic Example – Compare On-Site Behaviors

68. Create an advanced segment to only analyze “Twitter” traffic. What Does Twitter Look Like in GA? t.co twitter.com hootsuite.com tweetchat.com tweetdeck.com tweetgrid.com twittergadget.com api.twitter.com mobile.twitter.com

69. Launched March 2011 Eight of the New Features What Do I Need to Know About New GA?

70. Usability update. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Searching in Menus

71. Dashboards aren’t shared between accounts. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Dashboards

72. Create dashboards for each group, based on their needs. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Dashboards

73. Use Keyword Clouds to visualize top keywords. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Keyword Clouds

74. Multi-Channel calculates attribution from Direct differently from the rest of GA. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Multi-Channel Funnels (Google’s attempt at attribution) Direct Referral Organic Search

75. Use Real-Time Reports to test campaign tracking. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Real-Time Data

76. Use these numbers to show relative trends. What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Webmaster Tools Integration Why use it?

77. 40% of people abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load A 1 second delay can result in a 7% reduction in conversions What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Site Speed

78. Only one line of code needed to integrate social for AddThis. ShareThis doesn’t need any changes. Analyze how users are interacting with Social Plugins What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Social Engagement

79. PDF Export & Email Report – Temporary Old GA turns off January 2012 What Do I Need to Know About New GA? Missing Features

80. Hootsuite Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics

81. facebook Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics

82. LinkedIn Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics

83. YouTube Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics

84. Tip: Add a + to any bitly URL to get the stats. Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics

85. Use Topsy to find & reach out to influential people sharing your link. Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics Tweets are not all equal

86. Don’t Limit Your “Analytics” to Google Analytics Point – Lots of other FREE tools available!

87. ???

88. Rachael Gerson (@rachaelgerson) [email_address] Aaron Levy (@bigalittlea) [email_address]

89. Loading Time Statistics - http://blog.kissmetrics.com/loading-time/ Amazing analytics blog - http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/ GA setup checklist - http://seohimanshu.com/2011/06/03/google-analytics-setup-checklist/ Google Analytics RegEx tips - http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/basic-regex-for-google-analytics/2011/02/11/ GA Help Forum - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Analytics?hl=en Analytics Links

90. AdWords Keyword Tool - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal AdWords Traffic Estimator - https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox Soovle - http://www.soovle.com/ Analytics URL Builder Tool - http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55578 AdWords Help Forum - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords PPC Links What to watch for post-launch - http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/youve-launched-a-new-ppc-campaign-now-what-5-things-to-watch/2011/09/12/ More on Search Query reports- http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=68034 Split Testing Tool http://www.websharedesign.com/tools/ppc-ad-split-testing-tool/

91. Is My Bounce Rate Good? Know your site. Know what matters to you.