It’s the time of the year to optimize your lifestyle, but also a great opportunity to kick off 2014 with some forgotten, behind the scenes, or new search features. All too often are items overlooked after seeing the same error every day, but here are some solutions to finally drop those 10 pounds CPAs.
Quick Fixes
1. Search Query Report: Easy, but why not start off the year laughing at the 500,000 search queries for “Justin Bieber [insert random word]”?
2. Mobile Device Adjustment: Enhanced Campaigns have been active since this summer, have you analyzed Mobile Device Adjustment? If you don’t have a mobile optimized page it must be set to [-100%], but hopefully that’s not the case. Compare metrics by device – CPCs, CTR, and conversions.
3. Sitelinks: Are they up to date with priority products, new promotions, or any other changes that may have taken place? Take advantage of Google Sitelink Descriptions to provide more information than regular Link Text. Also confirm conversion tracking is accurate.
Heavy Lifting
4. Naming Convention: Having trouble navigating your account? Nurse your hangover debating over a naming convention that will make sorting and filtering campaigns simple. Include the strategy, product line, match type, language, etc. Contemplate the pros and cons of dashes, slashes, spaces, underscores, and tildes.
5. Broad Match Modifier versus Phrase: Experiment with different match types. Does your account have a clear winner between Broad Match Modifier and Phrase match? Though very similar, they are not identical (ex. “Sorel snow boots Toronto” would not fire on Phrase Match ‘”Sorel boots”’ but would on BMM ‘+sorel +boots’). As such, you will likely see higher volume and higher CPCs on Broad Match Modifier, but we have seen discrepancies. Give it a whirl.
6. Disapproved ads/keywords: Those pesky warnings of disapproved creative, duplicate keywords and keyword blocking can start adding up once you let them slide. Straighten them out in January, and don’t let them falter again.
7. Top Performing Ad Copy: Whether you Rotate Ad Copy Evenly or Optimize for Clicks, there’s always opportunities to build off the top performing and pause the lowest.
8. Review Extensions: Launched this year, and more important as AdRank now factors in Extensions. Crawl the internet for great reviews on respected websites and take advantage of more SERP real estate and better performance. Learn more about Review Extensions from Matthew Gangnier.
9. Search Partners/Google Display Network: Try some new experiments on these high volume networks. Be sure to track, report, and measure carefully as the goal here is volume, expect lower efficiency. Search Partners Exact match is the most similar and a good baby step into exploring new opportunities.
10. Image Extensions (if available): Knock off two resolutions at once and brush up on your Photoshop skills. Ensure the images are interesting, unique, and not text-heavy.
Whether you’re going after the low-hanging fruit or overhauling your accounts, take advantage of the New Year to start a new fitness regime for your paid search accounts.
This post was originally written by Greg Townsend.
