A common question that every advertiser has, I would like to improve my conversion while lowering my cost and improving my ROI. Having sitelinks provides advertiser with more option to inform their audience about products. These sitelinks are available at Campaign level at Ad extensions tab. Upto 10 sitelinks are available for advertisers. If the search term is applicable to appear in the top 3 spots on the left side of the Google search, these sitelinks are displayed just below the description. Google Adwords system however only displays minimum 2 site-links and maximum 4 site-links.




Advantage of using Sitelinks for advertisers:

• Segmentation of main product in sub product while the main product is being researched.
• Additional message for audience in the form of sitelinks instead of only description line 1 and description line 2.
• An option to serve the target audience to their specific product or service page.
• Sitelinks helps increasing the CTR by 10% to 30% which in-return would boost the conversion rate from 10% to 40%.

How do we improve Sitelinks performance?

Four actionable tips for sitelinks to improve the performance.

• Sitelinks used should be related to the products on a sub category of which the top level category the target audience is researching for.
• If the target product is meant for a City, it is worth capturing the areas as a sitelinks.
• Description of sitelinks should be descriptive & relay the message. The sitelinks with star (★ ) symbol helps itself  standout from the crowd.
• Related best selling products are vital to capture the attention of the audience.

For Instance:
My products are engaged in the business of selling airline ticket for Bangkok. I would than target my campaign Bangkok with four sitelinks which are the name of different adgroup as an areas in Bangkok.


Having related site links in line with the main product would help audience focus on the related product in their initial stage of research and decision making process. For every advertiser it is worth considering the sub products conversion while the main product is being featured such that those on the top radar could be served as site links.

Update: Google doesn't allow usage of special symbols in Sitelinks such that there is no competitive advantage and standard is maintained. Also, please note Google Adwords now supports Sitelink Extension.

A combination of Search Query Performance Report (SQR) and Geographic Performance Report could provide an insight about the type of queries which are being triggered in a Country/Territory, City and Regional view of Keywords triggering impression and clicks. This combined approach could then guide any advertiser to open a separate campaign and target specifically the region and type of keywords.

Unfortunately at the moment we do not get these kind of reports but rather a separate report to check the Search Query Report and Geographical Performance Report. The workaround could be separating the campaigns and targeting them separately but this is not enough to see granular view of query data. The hidden information on how many clicks each of these keywords are being triggered in each region could help advertiser not only target the campaign but also lead towards classifying the marketing 3Ps (Product, Price and Promotion) separately.

If the optimization of keywords are being done with the aid of SQR and we are not considering the origin of the clicks than removing a country/territory, city and region than we are making a biased decision and are rather cutting off keywords considering the entire campaign. This is true for those advertiser whose Campaign are targeting multiple country at a time. Thinking out of the box, one campaign per country targeting is essential but than this would lead towards a massive change over the account and campaign structure. Hopefully, these kinds of services are available in the future, hence my wish list for Search Query Performance (SQR) and Geo Performance Report would hit the top of my request.

Geographic Performance Reports provides valuable information of the origin of clicks. There are various way optimization over the campaign can be done. Either by optimizing the keywords, adgroups or even by reviewing the CPC bid. These bid optimization could lead towards slashing down average position or reducing traffic by pausing keywords or Adgroups.This could be ideal traditional way of fine tuning campaign. But one vital source information is not considered by various advertiser when it comes to campaign optimization i.e. fine tuning Campaign with the aid of Geographical origin of Click.

Geographic Performance Report is one of the most efficient way of optimizing Campaign. This report provides the actual origin of the Clicks from Country, Region, Metro, and City. This report could be drilled down upto Adgroup level. This report is available in the Google Analytics but for those advertisers not opted into Google Analytics, Google Adwords Geographic Performance Report could be accessed from Client Report at MCC level and inside a Campaign at dimension tab. This report should be utilized efficiently to re-target the location.

For Instance -
An account in language English having various location target would result clicks and impression being generated from various location. It is wise to take a look at the Geographic Performance Report and optimize the campaign such that those Clicks origin from places which are not resulting into conversion  could be removed from the location targetting. These extra dollars spend could then be placed into those places where the campaign is driving conversion. 

Geographic Performance Report does not include the Average position and Quality Score it arguably should not be considered as the most important metrics while reviewing for Origin of Clicks to fine tune campaign. If there is enough clicks and impression present to make decision the average positions and quality score would not be vital as it is out of necessity to cut off those location which are not performing.
Note: If the data is compared from Geographic Performance Report vs Actual Campaign the stats would not be exactly the same. Please note that only placements with negligible number impressions (not clicks) per day may be excluded.

CPC (Cost per Click), a metrics which revolves around driving visitor to the website and in return accruing costs. For every click there is a cost associated (if  the model revolves around Pay Per Click). Overtime if CPC starts increasing for a keyword  it could be due to poor quality score or there is tense competition in the market. Mostly during peak season the CPC tends to increase as every advertiser would become aggressive.

Value Per Click is a metrics which revolves around the ratio between goal or conversion and clicks. This metrics will allow us to measure the quality of the clicks. In theory if the number of clicks increase over the site the conversion should also increase. More clicks should result towards more conversion. If the clicks are increasing and conversion remains stable then the quality of click being bought is not good.


Increasing CPC would lead towards more clicks and these extra clicks should result into conversion. Quality of clicks should always be placed into radar and this could be done by measuring conversion rate. It is obvious that conversion rate goes down initially as new clicks bought are to be optimized. Once proper optimization over the keywords is done the conversion rate or value per click would become stable. A 2.00% conversion rate is always good.

Impression share is a metrics which could be seen at Campaign level. It represents the percentage of time ads were shown out of total impression accrued in the same target market. These loss in impression share could be either due to less budget or due to quality score result rank lost. The lost in impression share means missing opportunity. Sadly impression share metrics is only available at Campaign level, it would be great to see the impression share metrics at adgroup and keyword level. Having impression share metrics at adgroup level would allow us to view the actually opportunity lost for each adgroup.

IS Lost (Budget): The budget for the Campaign is to be set to an amount which does not ends within few hours of the day. This will result not to run the ad as a result of lack of budget. This one is relatively straight forward to fix, increase the budget and let the Ads run all along the day and night. Lost in impression share due to budget for small advertisers could be common. Yes, it is well understood that there is budget restriction for every advertiser. It would be wise to analyze the conversion in the hour of the day and peak traffic hours. Once these hours are noted, it is recommended to run the campaign on scheduled hours.

IS Lost (Rank): This is a tricky one, lost in Rank would be mainly due to lower CPC and lower quality score. This lost in impression share due to AdRank means improving the Quality Score and increasing the bid for the keyword.

How do we Improve Rank/Position?
Rank or Position could be improved by improving quality score and placing CPC above first page CPC. The broad match would trigger tons of query and these query terms are not always being bought. To improve impression share a regular SQR needs to be done. 

A question would then arise why do we need to do SQR to improve Quality Score? 
There are vaious query terms which comes into an auction these query terms are relevant terms and there could be an intense competition over these query terms. Buying them as exact match would allow us to place different bid and hence appearing in the search results.

For Instance -
My broad match term - buy books online in bangkok  this keyword broad match would also have tendency to capture query like - books online bangkok. The competition for the books online bangkok could be high and the bid placed for the broad term which triggered this query would would lead towards display the ad not in the first page. It might be due to quality score which would make us think if there is need of preparing a new landing page or a new campaign to target these keywords separately.

Hence review over SQR should be done either to include these search terms as keywords or permanently exclude them by adding as a negative exact. This would lead towards improving the ad rank and capturing the lost IS due to rank. Before the work over improving impression share is started, it is a good practice to store the current lost IS due to rank and position, and all other PPC metrics and consider it as a benchmark. And after commencement of lost IS work wait for at least two weeks to measure the results.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) a model revolving around the conversion optimizer. The biggest advantage of this model is that the queries triggered for CPA model are considers origin of users, IP of the user, time the query is being executed, location of the user, browser language setting, historical performance of the campaign etc. Ensure the tracking conversion code is always present in the thank you page. Google Adwords system while opted into CPA model delivers the Ads based on its learning. CPA model is a conversion based optimizer and depends on the Conversion numbers. Although the model is CPA the charge for this model is based on CPC.

It is not recommended to switch CPC to CPA and vice versa. Effect of switching the model usually takes eight  hours to behave normally. It is always good to start the CPA model with slightly higher CPA bid and gradually optimize the CPA bid .While making a switch a default CPA bid is recommended, it is only for a reference purpose and should be updated by the advertiser. The CPA model bid is implemented at Adgroup level. There must be 30 Conversion in a month to have the CPC to CPA model bidding feature automatically enabled. It does get enabled automatically. This would mean at least approximately 7 conversion per week. Moreover it will also depend on total number of adgroups present inside the Campaign. The more conversion before enabling the Campaign to CPA model the merrier it is.


Optimal CPA Bid - Last two weeks Cost Per Acquisition should be used to benchmark the data before applying the CPA bid. Ideally, the CPA bid should be around +/-10% of the real CPA. Revisiting CPA on a weekly or twice per week to ensure the CPA bid is still in acceptable range. Always determine the ROI which you are willing to achieve and  calculate the CPA which you are willing to pay.

• CPA Bid = Total margin per conversion * ROI  you are willing to achieve

OR

• Average Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) = Average Cost per Click / Conversion Rate

Remember, seasonality would lead towards price fluctuation and site performance plays a very important role and hence a constant update would be needed while calculating the CPA. Using a factor for adjusting CPA could be done based on learning. At least two weeks are needed to measure the true performance of the CPA model. CPA model is an ideal model and this could be seen as a future for various advertiser. There is no keywords based bidding required but reviewing SQR to improve the Campaign performance. For small advertisers this could be a blessing as they could opt into CPA Campaign and Google would ensure there CPA goal are met without having to worry about the bid for each keyword.

Search funnel is an insight over the consumer clicks to conversion cycle. Every consumer landing on the page for the first time is unlikely to purchase or commit transaction. Every buying process cycle goes through a phase of research, compare, evaluate or decision making and purchase. These research to purchase phase are vital for every business and for every advertiser it is a must to be present during the entire cycle of research to purchase.

Every advertisers would take a look at Search Query Report and start optimizing its Campaign, Adgroup such that the keywords being triggered are well targeted. Now, in the process of improving the performance of the Adgroup as a rule of thumb we tend to place search query terms as negative. Let us try visualizing this as an example:

Supposing, the advertiser is in the business of selling air tickets to be more specific selling air tickets in Bangkok. Structure of the Campaign are as below.

• Thailand Air Ticket

• Bangkok Air Ticket

• bangkok air ticket
• air ticket bangkok
• book air ticket bangkok
• online ticket bangkok
• purchase bangkok ticket
• reserve bangkok ticket

Visitors landing on the site are those who are interested in the products and posses more probability to convert as compared to those who have never visited the site. A visitor leaving the site without any transaction is missed opportunity and as the saying goes "everybody deserves a second chance". Remarketing has brought the new concept of targeting those visitors who had earlier been to the page and had left without transaction.


How Remarketing Works?
Once opted to run campaign as remarketing, Google implants cookies on every visitor those who left the site without any transaction. The length of these cookies could be upto 540 days. A proper campaign targeting should be implemented considering the KPI (Key Performance Indicator) of the page where the visitor departed. Both inbound and outbound metrics are to be considered in order to run a successful remarketing campaign. Once the campaigns are set properly ensure the text Ads, images or rather call it as offers being shown to these visitors are lucrative to ensure clicks converting into conversion.

Opting to run in a remarketing would require creation of audience. Three basic type of audience to be considered could be -

• General Visitors
• Visitors Abondning the transaction cart
• Visitors who left didn't enter the transaction cart

Audience creation could be one step towards a successful remarketing campaign but it should also be followed by a lucrative and more impressive creative. Offering discount and using the terms like we missed you, or even the cart is missing you could be certain creatives which are useful. Think out of the box as those visitors who left the site once they were towards their final step of committing transaction is crucial for every industry. Successfully converting even 0.25% of those visitors who left the shopping cart could improve the conversion rate. Targeting visitor for the first 30 days with different Adgroup and later serving them with another AdGroup is also an acceptable option.

In a nutshell, remarketing is a mixture of converting a missed visitor into a customer with a strategic plan, a mindful approach,  targeting the campaigns and delivering a lucrative Ads such that every dollar spend on the remarketing would result into a successful marketing campaign.

Google instant, has redefined the way we search. As we type along suggestions are made by the system, it is indeed helpful and people would tend to rely on the suggestions being provided in the search box. This lead towards less thinking and influence the query as per the suggestion made by Google instant. The main advantage of Google Instant is that there would be less new query and it would also reduce 30-90 seconds typing and  2 to 5 seconds per search. There are 20% new queries seen coming every month and these new queries are search terms which Google system had never recorded.

Google instant also gives the feeling towards he death of long tail keywords. The death of long tail keywords would mean that more competition in popular terms overall increasing the CPC. The google instant also gives the feeling of death of SEO. Well, it won't be a total death but rather an intense competition over the popular query terms.

As we are moving towards an instant era of search engine, the results are displayed in the search box and the resultant page changes instantly. One important thing to note for Adowrds advertiser is that as the user types, the suggestion are placed in the search box. If the user stops typing for more than 3 seconds those partial query displayed in the search box in grey color are the terms that would appear on the Search Quer Results (SQR).

PPC - Pay Per Click - Every Dollar spent for every visitors brought via SEM model. The basic concept in PPC revolves around keyword. The art of advertising via PPC is straight forwad. Get the keywords, associate with AdCopy and bind these as an Adgroup. These Adgroup should belong to its parent Campaign with proper location and language targeting. Initially a campaign must run in CPC mode.

There are different bidding strategy for PPC -

• CPC (Cost Per Click) Model
• Auto Bidding
• Manual Bidding
• CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) Model.
• Target CPA
• Max CPA

The difference between CPC and CPA mode is that a campaign cannot opt into CPA mode until and unless it has 30 Conversion in last 30 days. CPC model is straight forward and for every search query where the keywords are eligible for an auction the ads would appear. A click over these ads would lead towards a cost resulting a visitor for the site.

It is mandatory to have the conversion tracking installed on the thank you page such that it could be measured by Google. Google Adword system starts learning the conversion under the environment they occurred and starts building intelligence. Once these CPC campaigns are eligible for migration to CPA an option button is available. The transformation from CPC to CPA occurs as per the value suggested by the Google Adwords at the campaign level. This suggested value is merely used for a smooth transition as they are used as a default value for the Adgroup. The keyword CPC is stored just in case the advertiser wish to switch back to CPC mode.

Target CPA is the indication of amount of money the advertiser is willing to pay per conversion, the target CPA is always respected and it would not incur over +-10% of the target CPA. While on the other end, Max CPA would work under the model where it is allowed to spend maximum amount indicated. Hence every other auction where there is eligibility for conversion in an auction the Ads would not be displayed once the max CPA has been achieved for the day.

The CPA is always respected and the ads are displayed considering various criteria such as origin of the visitor, time the ads is competing in an auction, browser setting etc. To improve the performance these PPC metrics should be measured constantly.

Which Model should we Chose?
CPA model is more or less a indication that the advertiser trust the Google Adwords system and let the adwords system decide when, where and which position Ad would be displayed. The advertiser has to completely rely on the system and there would be less maintenance on the advertisers end. There is no bidding required for keyword rather there is a need to update the CPA bid and review SQR (Search Query Result). The CPA is seen as Adgroup bidding  strategy.


Precaution when running in CPA:

• Ensure that the conversion tracking code is placed across all the pages as the CPA model relies on conversion.
• It is not a good practice to switch CPC to CPA and vice versa.
• Periodic update of the CPA bid is essential for the advertiser.

CPC model is directly associated over keywords bidding strategy where user controls the bid over all the keywords. The Ads would always participate in the auction provided that there is enough budget and the search query triggering the ads are eligible to participate. SQR, Keyword Bid management are sole responsibility of the advertiser would have to dedicate more effort as compared to CPA model.

Regardless it be CPC or CPA a constant monitoring over the traffic, conversion  along with its main metrics is a must. Benchmark data and understanding PPC metrics which drives performance are vital towards success of any Campaign.

Please read more about CPA bidding strategy.

PPC focus should not be only ROI but also the factor influencing the growth of better performing campaign and optimizing the bad ones to make it profitable. There are various drivers involved in driving the pay per click –

• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Average Position (Ad Rank)
• Quality Score
• Impression Share
• Bounce Rate
• Conversion Rate

These above metrics play are the most important part in improving campaign and its performance. As holiday season approaches we should expect more traffic. These traffic should be optimize so the overall KPI of the SEM is met. Measuring the success of online advertising is defended by the popularity of the ads being served to public which in return would deliver conversion.

Click Through Rate (CTR): Number of Clicks/Number of Impressions
To measure the performance of the adtext CTR plays the most important role. This metrics helps evaluate the interest of the person willing to buy the product. Having a lower CTR would help understand the importance message being delivered to the audience is not impressive to engage them to visit the website. Hence action should be taken to improve the Adtext.

Average Position (Ad Rank): CPC Bid * Quality Score
The actual position of the Ad being displayed in the search page.The position of the Ad is calculated based on Quality Score and the CPC bid which the advertiser is willing to pay. Total clicks accrued could vary by position. 

Quality Score: Average Position (Ad Rank)/CPC Bid ) + Other Factors
Computation of Quality Score involves various metrics and is a range between 1 to 10 where 1 being the poorest and 10 being the best. Higher the quality score lower the CPC. Factors involved in computing Quality score is mentioned below:

• Historical Performance of CTR and Accounts
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• URLS of the AdGroup
• Ad Copy Relevance
• Relevancy of the Keywords with the Ad Group
• Relevancy of the Keyword matched with the Ad and the Search Query
• Quality of the Landing Page
• Loading Time of the Landing Page
• Geographical Considerations where the Adwill be shown
• Other Factors

 
Conversion Rate:Total Goals Met/Total Visitors
 An indication for the quality of the clicks being bought. Higher conversion rate indicates that the quality of the clicks are good and the right product is being offered to the visitors. A goal could vary from industry to industry, a registration could  be consider a conversion for one company while purchase could be goal for another. It should always be in the norms of advertisers to improve conversion rate.

Impression Share: Total  Market Impression - Total Impression where Ad participated
It indicates the share of voice in the category the competition where the auction participated. Once the account is set the category of arena to be competed is chosen, the ads are displayed in the same category and impression share indicates the lost of opportunity due to impressions share. These loss of opportunity could be due to budget limitation or could be due to poor quality score.

Bounce Rate: Total Visits on the Page - Total Visitors left without any activity on the Page
It is one of the most important metrics for any online business. It indicates the visitors interest over the page once he landed on it. If the user leaves without any activity or viewing any other pages of the site it would be an indication that the information which he was looking was not found on the page. Lower the bounce rate better the page would be.

All these above metrics are a proper way of evaluating the performance  the Campaign. The success, failure and the improvement of the campaign could be made if the above metrics are measured effectively. To measure the metrics properly it should always be considered with the industry specific benchmark. Nevertheless the trend over the period of time could also indicate the performance of the campaign.

With the right combination of keywords and creative would help the site convert the visitors into customers. Retaining the visitors and growing the business is another integral part of PPC. As for every dollar spend measurement and optimization is always critical to hit the goal. In the end it is always a best practice to benchmark the conversion rate within the vertical the business is competing.

Reports are vital for any kind of business either be offline or online. Various reports would have various needs and to carter these needs a daily, weekly or monthly reports could be considered vital. PPC reports are vital for every advertisers and these reports are a must. Some common report which needs to be prepared to measure the performance and also optimizing the campaigns. A guide over Daily, Weekly and Monthly report are discussed below.


Daily Report – A daily checks should be done over the budget and spend. A sanity check over the spending is a must so as to check there is no sudden spike over the spend. Other major KPIs should not be ignored like Avg. Pos, Clicks, Conversions etc.

Weekly Report – This would refer as Week-Over-Week comparison of factors which is best represented in graphical manner which is easy to understand. It would now depend on the size of advertiser to present the result in account, campaign, adgroup or keyword level. It is often wise to consider the offer message (AdCopy)n which brought resulted into conversion.

Monthly Report – The overall performance of PPC over the month with a comparative analysis over the last month and same year last month should be expected. It is best viewed in a trend chart and index view highlighting major KPIs and achievement over the target set.

Quarterly Report - These reports are the measurement of performance for which the KPIs were set. For instance if the KPIs were set over Gross Contribution it would be wise to do a comparative analysis over the quarter. Moreover a comparative analysis lat year vs this year over the percentage growth highlights could give a visibility over the yearly growth over the quarter result.  

The metrics to be reported would now depends on the KPIs and goal which would differ over business.

Cost Per Click an online marketing model which was started in the year 1998 by Omniture currently owned by Yahoo. Google then during 1999 started its first baby step which was soon to become the leader in Cost per Click model. It was not until October 2000 the Google Adwords an online marketing tool hit the online arena. The model was real simple provide relevant result based on the users search terms. It created an ecosystem which carved the path of advertising in modern way over the internet. However a true Pay Per Click (PPC) started in the year 2002 earlier than the advertisers were charged based on Costs per 1000 Impressions. It is now 2010 and in past 10 years a small baby Cost Per Click is taking a giant step and modeling in a Pay Per Click real-time auction. Learn more from - PPC Wiki

This brief note gives us an idea how new this platform is and how fast it is indeed growing. Online advertisement using Pay Per Click models is not limited to Search Engines but also includes search networks, content networks and even image networks. These mode of online advertisement can play huge impact in brand building. Recognition and brand presence in ll the form of online arena can play a dynamic uplift in reaching the goal. The importance of SEO lies in its own basket, it more or less practice about fresh content and even real-time content. Too much of competition and only 10 spots are available in the resultant search engine page. A constant update to lie in top spots in the form of organic search through SEO will certainly pay of but it would require investment of time and energy. And in the end losing valuable goal.



Organic Search Result


Image Search Result

A true online company highly engaged in E-business would prefer and is a must to have a real target marketing to reach out its users via Pay Per Click. The sole purpose of them getting engaged in online marketing arena is to provide more relevant information and be present to serve the audience. Marketing is an investment and every penny spend on these marketing efforts can yield a good result. Having a right product can play a huge impact but having a right product without a proper marketing is of no use. Purpose of every marketing campaign could be different one might be for acquiring consumer another might be to create a buzz no matter what the ultimate goal could be there is a need of marketing. And when it comes to online marketing PPC comes in everyone mind. 

PPC if done properly it can play a vital role in uplifting the need of business. There are various core metrics to be understood when one gets engaged in PPC. Search results are common terms which are also referred as search queries. This is a medium of input when the user feeds its query. The resultant output would trigger the ads and hence comes into action would be metrics associated with Pay Per Clicks. There are metrics which are named as Impressions, Clicks, Costs, Conversions, CPC and so on.