Google AdWords Help

A quick video for anyone who has set up their own Google AdWords campaigns.

How Does the Latest Google Ranking Updates Affect My AdWords Campaigns?

So with Google recently announcing that sites which aren't mobile friendly will now marked down in the organic rankings, how does this affect AdWords? Well, the simple answer is, not at all really!

So even if your site isn't the latest responsive design, altering to suit the ever increasing formats, you can still get your ads on the first page of the search results, and in those vital top three positions.

However, I would recommend that you do get your website optimised for all the different formats, as part of the flow through the whole lead generation process with AdWords involves your potential clients looking at your web site, so you need them to not be turned off at this vital stage! After all, what's the point of driving traffic to your site, if they just then leave straight away?


Makes sense really, doesn't it, as more and more people are using mobile devices to do their browsing, and it will only get even more popular.

SEO - Search Engine Optimisation

Ensure you do the following to get better rankings in the search engines:

• ·         Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, a practice commonly referred to as "cloaking."
• ·         Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.
• ·         Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content. Make sure that your <title> elements and ALT attributes are descriptive and accurate.
• ·         Use keywords to create descriptive, human-friendly URLs.
• ·         Meta Description - a descriptive snippet of your site to users in search results
• ·         Page Titles – use keywords here
• ·         Link to high value web sites
• ·         Create and submit a sitemap, to help search engines crawl your site https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
• ·         Ensure you have a privacy/cookie policy on site

Set up Google Webmasters – tells you what needs doing on your site

https://www.google.com/webmasters/

Set up Google Analytics – see who is using your site and how.

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Right click on any site! View Page Source to see coding.

Google AdWords Consultants - Why Do I Need One?

How hard can it be  to set up a Google AdWords campaign? It's like anything really, most people can have a go at anything, but if you want it doing properly, you need an expert.

Ever tried plastering a wall? Of course you can do it, but will the finished result be what you expect?

It's the same with Google AdWords. Anyone can set up an account, but unless you know what to look for in the settings, and how to properly structure a campaign, the end result may well be disappointing.

Employ a trade served plasterer, and your wall will be smooth and flat, and will be done in half the time you would have taken.

Employ a certified Google AdWords consultant, and your campaign will be structured, focused and deliver lots of highly qualified leads to your web site.

It's not rocket science (would you build your own rocket?), but like most services, it pays to use an expert!

SEO v PPC. Which Should I Be Using?

Why both of course!

With marketing, there's no one magical way. You need a mix of  methods and systems.

SEO (search engine optimisation) helps you move up the organic (or free) rankings of the search engines, but is notoriously hit and miss, and you can easily lose your position in the rankings through no fault of your own!

PPC (pay per click) is also known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or AdWords. This is where your advert is placed in position on the search engines pages using a number of factors such as bid amount, quality score and CTR. If you manage all these factors correctly, your advert can appear right at the top of the first page of Google (or Bing!), and lots of people will click on it, giving your website a massive boost of traffic and qualified leads.

Many people have tried to set up their own AdWords campaigns, but without an in depth knowledge, you can easily fritter away your advertising budget with very little return.

Done correctly, AdWords is an amazingly powerful, immediate and highly targeted form of advertising, with real in depth reporting and analysis.

So don't neglect one or the other. Do both!

Callout Extensions In Google AdWords

You may have seen recently that Google have introduced another new feature for AdWords called Callout Extensions. If you were wondering what these are, let me explain!

Callout extensions allow you to add up to four additional text pieces into your AdWords ads, which can be used to provide more information and highlight other features about your business. 

They will, however, only show when your ad is in the top or bottom of the search results, and not down the sides, much like the Sitelinks extensions.

Here's an example from the Google AdWords Help site.

As you can see, it really does help to fill out your ads, and takes up much more of the search results real estate for your ad.

Best of all though, it's free to use, you'll get a higher CTR, and Google likes you to use extensions, so will be more likely to show your ads in great positions!

For more information, go to the Google Callout Ad Extensions help page here.

With AdWords, It's All In The Detail!

I've recently set up a new campaign working with a client in the US, selling discounted tickets for Wet N Wild Water parks in Las Vegas.

So although the actual title for the company is Wet 'N' Wild, you would think that Wet N Wild would have the same impact when selecting your search phrases, wouldn't you?

Well apparently not! Without the 'N', quality scores were down at around 5, which was obviously causing concern, as we generally like to see them around 8-10 so that we get the best positions and cheapest bids.

However, as soon as I modified them to include the apostrophes, the quality scores went straight up to 10. Happy me, happy client!

So although AdWords can seem easy and straightforward to get set up, as with many things, the devil's in the detail!