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Testing Your Google Adwords Search Engine Ads

by Marcia Yudkin

I’m not sure why, but many of my clients who place
pay-per-click search engine ads like those on Google or
Yahoo become obsessed with finding the best keywords and
totally neglect other factors in creating a profitable
search engine advertising campaign. Often they install so
complicated a keyword empire that they can’t
psychologically manage any other changes and leave their
campaign running in such a way that it costs them way more
than necessary.

Don’t let this happen to you! Keep your advertising costs
down and your momentum moving toward profitability by
following these guidelines for prudent, manageable testing.

1. Compile a small collection of keywords (key phrases,
probably) to test for each grouping of ads – let’s say, up
to ten. Likewise, before getting started, stockpile a
number of different ads to test against each other – let’s
say, three to eight ads.

2. Set up the campaign with two or three ads tested
against each other for each set of keywords. Google lets
you do this automatically. Simply create additional text
ads and they’ll rotate them for you until you say
otherwise. Google also shows you the click-through rate,
cost per click and number of clicks for each ad.

3. You don’t usually need your ads to show up on top, so
put in a bid per click that according to Google’s keyword
traffic estimator puts you at about the #7 position –
showing on the first page of results, but not at the top.
Set your maximum spend per day rather high, however, which
according to the experts tests better than the opposite.

4. When you have at least 100 clicks on your best
performing ad, delete the poorest performing ad and insert
another ad to test in its place. Keep testing three ads in
rotation until you have a clear winner.

5. Then, when you’ve arrived at a better performing ad,
begin fiddling with and adding and deleting keywords to
your heart’s content.

6. Whenever you’re stuck on what else to do about your
keywords, test other elements, always just one change at a
time. For instance, try turning “content ads” on and off,
changing your maximum bid, modifying your ad copy by
changing a word at a time, reversing the order of words or
lines, and so on.

While this advice may differ a bit from the mathematically
correct procedures of testing, it’s easy for a novice to
implement. Search engine advertising conveniently allows
you to watch your results and adjust each campaign for
optimal performance, so long as you have a system of
testing that doesn’t let you feel overwhelmed.

Marcia Yudkin (marcia@...) helps business owners and
corporate managers compellingly and tantalizingly
communicate their strengths. See a sample makeover of one
ineffective Google search engine ad into five dynamic ones
at http://www.yudkin.com/sample10b.htm . Sign up for her
free weekly newsletter on creative marketing at
http://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm .