3 Common AdWords Ad Disapprovals That Have Nothing To Do With The Advertiser

By: Navah Hopkins

The AdWords team provides plenty of information on their rules, policies, and guidelines for advertisers to follow, but sometimes an ad is disapproved for reasons unknown to the people running the ads. You can have your URLs, ad copy, and extensions setup well within the rules and still have the ad rejected. So what’s up with this? Well, it is actually becoming more common than you would think. This Business 2 Community article covers three common examples of disapprovals that are not the advertiser fault, but rather issues on Google’s end. Here are the examples:

1. Medical industry disapprovals – One of the most restrictive niches in terms of Google’s policies for AdWords is the medical/pharmaceutical field. Many times the crawlers will flag an ad because they incorrectly when in reality the ad does not violate any policies.
2. Bad URLs – Again, sometimes the crawlers make mistakes in parsing data from web pages. They are not 100% accurate in determining whether or not your landing page passes all guidelines. Every once in a while they will misinterpret your URL/landing page, and contact with the AdWords support team is needed to lift the disapproval.
3. Misleading behavior – While rare, sometimes a site can be hacked thus ruining your landing page. This will certainly cause Google to disapprove your ads and even suspend your account. Make sure to follow all best practices to ensure the security fo your site.

Those are just three examples of ways an ad can be shut down due to google’s error or other circumstances outside of the advertiser’s control. Make sure to check out the full post for specific examples and what was done to rectify the situation.

3 Simple Techniques to Insulate Your AdWords Scripts and Keep Them Running Smoothly

By: Russell Savage

Writing custom scripts for AdWords can be a lot of fun for the more technical folks, but things can often go wrong in the process. Issues that are out of your control. That’s why Russell has given us three techniques for safeguarding and enhancing our work with AdWords scripts. Here is an overview of his advice:

1. Finding slow code – The longer it takes a script to execute, the more time for error. Use the testing script provided to time your own scripts and find slow executing code.
2. API Retries – Sometimes calling an external API will fail, and it will need to be called again. Russell has provided a generic recall function to allow you to retry the call without messing up or adding more code.
3. Notify yourself when things go wrong – Use a small snippet of code to send yourself automatic email alerts when your code starts to fail!

I highly recommend checking out this article as Russell has done all the heavy lifting and provided three separate testing scripts for you to utilize to test and improve your own code.

6 Shocking Things Google Revealed About the Future of AdWords at SMX

By: Margot de Cunha

One of the highlights coming out of SMX Advanced in Seattle last week was the interview with Google’s VP of Product Management Jerry Dischler concerning the future of AdWords. Here are six key takeaways from his interview with Danny Sullivan and Ginny Marvin:

1. Tablet Conversions Have Surpassed Desktop – Interesting claim, but is it accurate?
2. Google Plans to Scale New Mobile Ad Formats for Multiple Industries – Enhanced text ads on mobile?
3. Google Will Re-Build and Modernize the AdWords Interface – No details but could be pretty cool
4.  Coming Death of the Keyword? – Alternative ways to target users without using keywords?
5. Remarketing Functionality Will Grow – New features for RLSA’s?
6. It Will Be Easier for Users to Buy Through the SERPs – More to be expected from the buy buttons?

There are some really cool things in the works for AdWords users, so make sure to get all the details regarding what’s is coming.

Google AdWords Cross-Account Campaign Management & More

By: Barry Schwartz

Next we have two quick announcements from Search Engine Roundtable – both of which I am very excited to see myself. the first announcement concerns one of my favorite Google products – the My Client Center (MCC) for managing all levels of all client accounts. The three updates per Google are as fgollows:

1. Cross Account Campaign Management – New campaigns view that allows you to make changes, apply filters, etc. to up to 20 accounts
2. Better reporting for MCC – Data updates more quickly and allows you to go back past 90 days!
3. Quick Account Jumper Tool – More detailed account drop down to navigate between client accounts

Definitely cool additions to MCC announced, check out the screenshots and additional information in the article.

Google Shopping Feed Specification & Product Taxonomy Updated

By: Barry Schwartz

The second announcement revolves around Google’s shopping experience via PPC. In the announcement, Google states that they have updated the Shopping feed specifications and the product taxonomy to better serve customers shopping through Google. Here are the updates:

• Google shopping feed specifications – expanded shipping requirements for several European countries, releasing stable numeric Google product category IDs
• Google shopping product taxonomy – more categories added to several verticals, reworked categories in some other verticals

Read the full post for all the details on the updates.

6 Insights to Maximize Your Google AdWords Strategy

By: The Financial Brand

The financial brand performs a yearly analysis on AdWords performance metrics from banking/financial brands from around the world in order to provide rich insights into PPC trends and tactics. This year’s analysis is complete and they have provided six insights to help marketers maximize and improve their AdWords strategy. Here are the tips:

1. Budget is not static value: Jumping into a PPC campaign without carefully planning budget requirements can be a recipe for disaster. having an established plan heading into launch, and carefully measuring and adjusting based on performance is key to successful campaigns.
2. Closely monitor the number of keywords: Too many keywords will inflate your budget like crazy, so make sure to continuously adjust match type, keywords, and negative keywords.
3. View budget and keywords differently: The total budget and number of keywords should not have a linear relationship. It is possible to reduce spend while actually increasing the number of keywords used – watch individual bidding closely.
4. Manage search terms carefully: Maximize impact and minimize waste – use the settings (geographic, time of day, etc.) to your advantage to hone in on the best returns.
5. Maximize clicks AND conversions: Test, test, and test some more – ad copy, landing pages, settings, etc. Measure and adjust throughout the duration of your campaigns.
6. Utilize retargeting: Most people need to see your messaging more than once before they will convert – use retargeting to maximize this exposure.

Make sure to see all the numbers the Financial Brand has pulled together for this study in the linked post.

Google gives developers new AdWords, Analytics, and AdMob tools to monetize their apps with ads

By: Emil Protalinski

Here is a quick announcement regarding AdWords for Mobile Apps! At the I/O conference via Google last week, the Google AdWords team announced the release of Universal App Campaigns for advertisers. This new platform allows marketers to simply setup ad copy, budget, and set parameters for the people they wish to reach, and that’s it – Google takes care of all the other details. This platform reaches users across the Google Search Network, the AdMob network, the Google Display Network, YouTube, and Google Play with only one campaign type! The other feature, for app developers specifically, allows them to setup install ads that cross multiple Android/Google platforms. Also announced at I/O was new features for Google Analytics for Apps and new beta features for AdMob, the segmentation tool for those advertising on apps. Make sure to check out the article on venture beat, as well as this article here for more information.

How Fast Does Your AdWords Data Update? Find Out

By: Daniel Gilbert

More technical goodness from Daniel and the guys from Brainlabs! This time around, they wanted to find out exactly how quickly the AdWords interface updates with new data and metrics. They have reported that they are seeing updates roughly every 2:43 at the time the post was published. Additionally, Brainlabs is tracking the results in real-time on their blog, so make sure to check that out as well. Without delving into too many technical details here, this process essentially involves polling the Google AdWords API repeatedly in order to tell how recent the data is. They provide a PHP script you can implement yourself to access the API and decipher how fresh your incoming data is in comparison to others. This one is really fun so make sure to read the guide and test it out yourself.

Bing Ads Launches Automated Rules For Managing All Levels Of Your Account

By: Ginny Marvin

Bing recently rolled out several new features for their paid search platform and Ginny has all the details over at Search Engine Land. The biggest feature is the automated rules for account management at all levels of the account. The new interface allows you to select which level of the account you wish to assign a rule, and then you have 13 different rules from which to select. You also have numerous additional options to select from so mapping those out in advance will be important as well. All Bing advertisers should definitely try these automated rules in the near future.

3 Crazy PPC CRO Hacks To Boost Conversion Rates Right Now

By: Larry Kim

In this article, Larry Kim seeks out to debunk Conversion rate Optimization (CRO) myths and provide hacks for really helping convert users into customers. Let’s dive in!

The Myths:

• PPC ad copy optimizations have no impact on conversion rates – even a significant amount of effort will only lead to a small return or increase in conversions
• There are huge differences in conversions between high CTR ads and low CTR ads – highly relevant ads with high CTR’s don;t lead to an equal amount of conversions

The Hacks:

• Be different – Differentiate yourself from your competitors. this could be done with ad title, ad copy, display URL, etc – don’t follow the pack
• Leverage the most appropriate ad formats for your business/client – Use shopping ads, ad customizers, ad extensions, different keyword match types and combinations, etc. Think outside the box!
• Use remarketing as a CRO tool – As explained in another post this week, go after users who left your site without converting, because most people need to hear your messaging more than once before they will convert.

Many more awesome tips and info in this post on Search Engine Land!

AdWords Editor 11 Adds Support For Labels, Call-Only Ads, Upgraded URLs & More

By: Ginny Marvin

Since our teacher, Jeff Sauer, loves the AdWords editor so much, I figured I had better include this brief announcement outlining the new features and updates included with AdWords Editor 11. If you do not use the editor, we highly recommend you download and use in conjunction with the Google AdWords interface. It is available here. The new features include:

• Add/edit/delete labels
• Call-only ads can be created in the editor
• Ads in mobile apps
• Display targeting ads parental status targeting
• Upgraded URLs

Google Encouraging Authors and Publishers to Use Adwords

By: Michael Kozlowski

Another announcement from Google, who is planning to roll out a “Buy Now” button for mobile ads where retailers can advertise their products to be purchased direct. The link takes you to a Google-backed landing page where you can shop and buy directly from the seller. As of now, this feature is for mobile devices only. Additionally, the author linked an interesting Wall Street Journal article about whether or not Google can outsell eBay and Amazon with their new “Buy Now” shopping features. Make sure to check out both articles for more information.

Another good read to check out regarding the “Buy Now” additions to AdWords and the impact on e-commerce is available here. Definitely read up on everything that is happening with this feature as it could be massively important to AdWords in the near future.

3 Reasons To Love The Google Display Network (Really!)

By: Pauline Jakober

The often forgotten Google Display Network – should we reconsider its effectiveness and incorporate it into our search campaigns? Pauline looks at a few reasons to do exactly this. Here are the three reasons to love the Google Display Network:

1. In The Search Network, Clicks Are Sky High And Competition Is Fierce

Leveraging the GDN, especially in high cost, high competition niches, can provide equal return for far less cost.

2. The GDN Is Great For Non-Compete PPC Programs

Some industries, companies, and sellers have special agreements to not bid on the search network. This makes the GDN a perfect option for those businesses.

3. No Quality Score Issues On The GDN

Ultra targeted options combined with no quality score issues make the GDN a no-brainer.

Read the whole article for more reasons to use the GDN as well as a few tips to help manage your display campaigns.

3 Overlooked Retargeting Strategies For Retailers

By: David Rekuc

This is a really great post because not only does it touch on retargeting within AdWords, it also covers Facebook and YouTube, two other popular platforms that allow remarketing campaigns. As a digital marketer, it is important to have at least a familiarity with these other advertising platforms. Here is a breakdown of each platform:

Facebook Custom Audiences: Allows you to target via the users email (if they provide an email when they’re on your site or in-store), or by using a tracking pixel embedded on the site (will only target a browser, not a particular user per se). Facebook is great because of the average lower CPC. advertisers also have the option to layer in additional segmentation for even more target ads.

Audience Segmentation: The more specific with Adwords remarketing the better. Look for cart abandonment, repeat visitors, or recent buyers for more granular retargeting.

YouTube Retargeting: Use your AdWords remarketing lists to target users on YouTube for a whole new experience.

Keywords on Mobile: Not Comparable to Desktop

By: Jason Tabeling

Jason pulled some real life AdWords data and crunched the numbers to investigate mobile keyword targeting versus desktop. With mobile searches surpassing desktop at an unprecedented pace, more research is necessary to determine how the search and buying experience is different on devices from an online advertising point of view. The data analysis includes CTR, keyword conversion percentages, CPC by keyword count, and a whole lot more. Make sure to check out the study!

Does Google AdWords Work?

By: Margot da Cunha

I thought this was a pretty interesting article title, but it is a valid point. We talk a lot about the benefits and possibilities with PPC, but how do we know it really works? In this post, Margot addresses common arguments against AdWordss and provides a counter argument to support the use of AdWords. here are the common arguments

1. Google Adwords is too expensive: Yes, AdWords can cost a significant amount of money – some industries more than others. Yes, it can lead to a negative ROI over time, but there are ways to mitigate the risks involved. Increase your skill set with something like PPC Course, be more realistic about budget/ad spend, and learn to use modifiers to restrict your match types.
2. We have great SEO so we don’t need to pay for clicks: Solid SEO is great, but if you can use PPC + good SEO to drive even more traffic and more sales while maintaining a positive ROI, why wouldn’t you?
3. The traffic I get from AdWords never converts: Well the answer to this should be fairly obvious, but apparently not. The top reasons being poor landing pages (or no PPC landing pages at all), irrelevant ads, poor account structure.
4. I don’t have time to manage it: Sure, it can take a great deal of effort to create and maintain AdWords campaigns, but so much of the work comes in the preparation and creation of the account, campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. Once it is live, the amount of time needed decreases drastically. I am not saying to “set it and forget it” but your monthly maintenance hours shouldn’t be nearly as much as the initial time investment.

Here’s An AdWords Script To Mine Your Search Query Reports

By: Daniel Gilbert

Daniel Gilbert of Brainlabs (and formerly of Google), has created a script that can be used to pull performance data for each keyword in your account(s). The script works by adding up the performance of all the queries in a certain campaign that contains that word. Based on the comments in the article and my own experience, this does have a few issues. I did not spend much time on it yet, but I am getting an error every time I try and run the script. I will make sure to update this post when I get it working. However, it has the potential to be a very powerful tool when configured correctly, so make sure to read the article and try it for yourself!

7 AdWords Shortcuts to Save You Time & Simplify Your Life

By: Erin Sagin

Just as I explained above, running PPC campaigns can be a big undertaking and it can take a lot of time, especially for larger, more complex accounts. Luckily, WordStream has provided seven shortcuts to help make you more efficient with AdWords. here are the tips:

1. Delete keyword clutter
2. Delete useless ads
3. Delete useless landing pages
4. Stop obsessing about mobile landing pages
5. Try out ad customizers
6. Use AdWords scripts for reporting
7. Leverage tools and automation

Basically, we want light weight, no-fluff accounts. Quit wasting time with superfluous keywords, multiple iterations of the same ad, poor landing pages, etc. You want to wield a sniper rifle, not a shotgun. Save yourself time and energy and get rid of the clutter and additional items in your accounts that you do not need.

AdWords Testing New Search Query Report Layout

By: Larry Kim

Google has been testing a new search query report within AdWords recently, and WordStream has the initial details. They have moved certain data points around to different tabs and/or within the same tab. Initial reports state that the new layout is much improved over the old one. Hopefully Google rolls this out to all users in the near future as it is still limited to a select few in the initial beta testing phase. Read all the details over at WordStream!

How to Manage AdWords Campaign Settings, for Overall Success

By: Robert Brady

This article is geared more for beginners, especially those setting up their first campaign, but I like the way Robert organized the post. He does a great job covering the basics of the account structure and what the main points of interest are and how to use them. The different sections covered include:

• Campaign settings – The basics of your account – set up all unique details for each campaign here.
• Locations – Adjust location targeting by varying levels.
• Ad Schedule – For those wanting to run campaigns on a custom schedule.
• Devices – Modify bids based on device.

Robert has all the details for beginners in this post, so make sure to give it a read.

Give Yourself A Grade In AdWords

By: Frederick Vallaeys

Have you ever wondered how to evaluate your AdWords performance with more than just returning a positive ROI? I know I am always looking for ways to critique my knowledge and skills in order to evaluate my performance and become better a whatever it is I am working on. In this post, the author offers five very different and unique ways to critique our AdWords skills and evaluate your performance across different aspects. The five tests are:

1. Lin-Rodnitsky score – Total CPA / CPA of queries with at least 1 conversion
2. Vallaeys shopping efficiency score – How much do you control bids for shopping campaigns?
3. Account quality score – Does Google evaluate your entire account and not just ads?
4. Percent of ad groups that are missing something – pretty self-explanatory, but still interesting!
5. Account activity score – Uses account change history to score

I thought this article was super interesting and it provides new ways to look at your own performance within AdWords. Make sure to give it a read.

Google launches all-out assault on mobile advertising, cross-device conversion, and in-store ROI

By: John Koetsier

Following the anti-climactic “Mobilegeddon” on April 21st, Google has rolled out a multitude of new mobile features for AdWords. Some new features include:

New ad units for mobile

• More interactive
• More visual – more images
• Additional features and extensions
• Built for specific verticals (think car sales and hotel booking)

New cross-device conversion capabilities

• Track activity and conversions between tablet, desktop, and mobile
• Attribution and revenue tracking

Dynamic search ad units

• Updates ads when you update your website

In-store visit measurement tools

• Uses data from Google users who show their location data, plus Google’s own geo and storefront data
• This is cross-referenced with advertising data to help determine store traffic and ROI

Google has been pushing hard to revolutionize mobile advertising and these newest announcements are pushing the ball forward to provide better, more rich tools and insights for advertisers. make sure to read the whole article for all the details.

Sneak Peek Into AdWords’ New Multidimensional Reports

By: Ginny Marvin

These new mobile advertising releases and announcements via Google are so cool I have linked a second post covering the official event leading up to the launch. I also wanted to include this article from Search Engine Land because Ginny covers some of the announcements from a different angle, which is always nice when so much information is released at one time. Two points to pay special attention to in this post:

1. Measurement advances – integrating attribution with bidding strategies. AdWords will now use conversion data to calculate the contribution of each keyword on the path to the conversion.
2. Google compare expansion – adding mortgages to their lead generation service.

Make sure to read through both of the above posts, as well as the official words from the AdWords blog.

3 AdWords Reports That Every Search Marketer Needs To Stay Competitive

By: Thomas Stern

This article does a fantastic job of breaking down three relatively underutilized reports in AdWords and describes best practices for using them to your advantage in your campaigns. The three AdWords reports are:

1. Pad & organic report: It is possible to link your Webmaster Tools account to your AdWords account in order to compare organic and paid search data. Take this with a grain of salt as GWT search query data is questionable to say the least. However, it is still nice to compare datasets. Another helpful point is to look at which organic keywords have the highest CTR and compare that with the paid spend for the correlating keyword.
2. Auctions insights report: This report lets you look at the competitive landscape with metrics like impression share and average position. Use this report to spy on competitors and see where you are getting beat.
3. Search query report: broad match: Instead of only using this report to sift out negative keywords, use it to find new ideas for keywords and expand your “good lists.” Some great ideas for modifiers can come directly from this report.

Read more in depth about these reports at Seach Engine Land.

3 Trends That Will Change the Future of Online Advertising

By: Larry Kim

Larry did a fantastic job putting together this huge article on the future of mobile – it’s really great. So much has happened so quickly in digital advertising, especially mobile. We are now in a position to witness even more growth and change in mobile marketing. Here are his thoughts on the future:

1. Rise of identity-based PPC marketing: Use new technologies to find the people who can help spread your content and help bring potential customers to your site.
2. Automation: Google has made a lot of changes to how AdWords works by adding more automation. Unfortunately, this gives less control to us marketers. Save yourself a headache and focus on the things that you can control.
3. Convergence of paid/organic teams and the rise of remarketing: PPC and SEO are still very siloed at most agencies, but in the future we will see these teams come together since these tactics are better together. Shared information and budget accordingly means more success for clients. Additionally, tagging users who have visited your site with a cookie and serving them ads elsewhere on the web can contribute to more leads and more sales. A win-win for everyone!

This is a great article and I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

The PPC Copy Mistakes That Are Costing You Money

By: Dale Harley

I often like to post articles that deal with copywriting for ads because it is such an important aspect of PPC advertising, but it’s something that isn’t talked about enough. Here are a few tips covered in the article to help you level up your copywriting game:

• Your text/copy is blending in with all the other ads just like it – differentiate your ads
• Having a weak call to action – use buzzwords like “free trial” to earn clicks
• Use the remaining characters to add more details that will make searchers want to go to your website to learn more
• Don’t ignore your data, especially when A/B testing – look at the smaller details to give you the bigger picture of what’s working and what’s not working.

Paid Search for the Mobile Era

By: Invoca

I have been reading and posting a lot of articles recently concerning utilizing click-to-call bidding within AdWords, It seems this trend will continue to rise as companies continue to search out the most qualified customers in terms of the purchase journey. I found this great infographic and thought I would share with our readers. It does a great job of succinctly visualizing some of the articles we have been discussing recently, and I have embedded it for your reference.

This infographic is available here.

7 Ways to Write Super-Effective AdWords Ads (with Real Examples)

By: Johnathan Dane

Considering the low number of characters available for headlines, ad copy, and calls-to-action, actually writing your ads can be quite a daunting task. However, it’s not something that is written about as much as bidding strategies or conversion rate optimization. That’s why when I discovered this post from WordStream I knew I had to share it. In the article, Jonathan discusses 7 ways to write effective ad copy and gives some pretty great examples, too. Here is a quick preview:

1. Mirror the visitor’s end goal
2. Use countdown timers to trigger loss aversion
3. Keep your ads current
4. Get super specific
5. Make things personal
6. Make your ads hyper-local
7. Test your heart out

Make sure to check out the full post over at WordStream!

What You Need To Know About Adwords & The Google Display Network

By: Christine Bellefontaine

This is a post that is of interest for beginners only as it covers the basics of the Google Display Network. However, everything is laid out in very clear, simple terms and I think it’s a great resource for those who do not have much knowledge of the GDN. Christine covers all the basics as well as when to and when to not use the GDN, getting started with your first campaign, and measuring your performance. If you have never run campaigns on the GDN, make sure to start here.

Tackling the 3 Biggest Mobile Advertising Mistakes in Your PPC Account

By: Erin Sagin

Mobile PPC advertising is an ultra competitive space – there is no way around that fact. With the smaller SERPs, increased click-to-call bidding, and marginal conversion rates, advertisers need to do everything possible to get a leg up on the competition. Luckily Erin put together this informative post addressing the three biggest mobile advertising mistakes. Here they are:

1. Impressions far too low – potential customers are not seeing the ads:  adjust bids and/or increase quality score
2. Put more emphasis on click-to-call ads: Bypass potential issues with a landing page and get prospects on  the phone with salespeople
3.  Fix your landing pages: Conversion rates are already incredibly low on mobile, and if your landing pages don’t help convert mobile users you’re going to run into all sorts of trouble.

Make sure to check out the full post and start killing it in the mobile PPC game.

Key Traits Of An Amazing PPC Account Manager

By: Rebekah Schelfhout

1. Proactive
2. Always ask why
3. Stay up to date
4. Know when to take risks and stay calm under pressure
5. Data driven
6. Super organized
7. Effective communicators

Ah, the topic of virality – how does one make something go viral? Similar to SEO, making something go viral is not a verb; it is not something that we as marketers do. We optimize, reach out, and perform a slew of other tactics in the hope that our piece of content spreads and “goes viral.” One unique tactic which I had never even considered in this regard is PPC advertising! Larry Kim delves into the realm of possibilities in this post as he walks us through an example of incorporating paid search into his content promotion strategy to help reach influencers and spread the content. And to my surprise it actually did contribute to exponential growth of the reach of his content. This is a really interesting post/topic and is not to be missed!