Paid Search Advertising Framework

Google Search and Bing Search

Next to organic search, paid search is typically the ‘next’ highest valued lead source, because searchers have high intent (relatively), and are actively trying to solve problems by searching solutions.  Companies that understand how to efficiently run a paid search campaign are willing to pay a lot of money per click because those clicks are worth a lot.  A commitment to both pre-click and post-click testing can enable you to determine the right combination of platforms, audience, campaign, and creative to both scale and achieve efficiency.  In order to build a program that’s predictable and sustainable you need to test, and that means you need to spend money, get data, analyze it, make adjustments, rinse and repeat.  The cycle never ends if you want to give yourself a chance to grow and keep up with the competition.   Here’s my paid search framework which can be modified for taking over existing accounts or creating new ones:

1.      Set goals for scale and efficiency targets.

2.      Review campaign structure, including ad groups, keyword themes, match type strategies, and branded vs. non-branded.

3.    Review ad copy including prior results.

4.       Review campaign settings including location targeting, day parting, ad rotation, and budget pacing.

5.      Review bids by keywords (by device and response channel).   Different keywords and different devices and different responses (calls vs. lead forms) typically have different costs and different values, which means different ROIs.  Experiment with enhanced bidding. Gather the data, analyze and adjust bids.

6.      Review quality scores and work on strategies to create relevancy between keywords, ads, ad groups, and landing experiences.  Over time Google will reward you with high quality scores and lower costs per click. Your customers will also reward you with higher conversion rates if you provide them valuable experiences. 

7.      Run search query reports for keyword opportunities.  Incorporate where appropriate, test, and measure results.

8.      Stay on top of negatives by reviewing data and setting poor performing keywords to negatives.

9.      Ad Copy testing.  Develop a plan for testing and never stop.  This includes the ad itself, call extensions, ad extensions and call-outs.

9.      Landing page testing.  Develop a plan for testing and never stop.  Test small changes and big design swings. 

10.   Develop an infrastructure and repeatable process of review.  That includes software (where applicable), but never abandon the human touch to run your campaigns.  Set up automated reports and software to help.  I like https://www.ninjacat.io/. It’s cost-effective, easy to set up and works really well to manage things at the campaign level. Go deeper with your detailed reporting in AdWords and Bing Ads.

11.   Analyze programs regularly, report out, and research the industry.  Borrow ideas from others, test and see if they can work for you.