One of the more powerful aspects of pay-per-click advertising is the ability to control which ad copy and headline is displayed in response to a prospects search. This is also one of the most neglected. Paid search marketing gives us the incredible power to target customers at the exact time of need, while they are actively looking. Taking the time to understand the searcher’s intent and grouping keywords in to tight groups specifically focused on that intent can increase the number of qualified visitors, lower your cost per click and greatly increase your profits. It can be a tedious task unless you keep the end in mind-more profitable sales.
I was working with an auto dealer who was determined to market his way through these tough times and asked for some help in evaluating his current Google AdWords ad campaign. What we found was fairly typical in the campaigns of those new to paid search.
Restructuring a Pay-Per-Click Campaign
Here’s a example of how the campaign was structured. We changed the name of the company to Acme to protect our client’s anonymity and well, because the Three Stooges had a lasting effect on all of us.
He had a pretty good list of keywords and phrases (below is a partial list). A search on any of these terms would return an ad for his business. The operative phrase is “an ad”—he only had one ad to support all these keywords. So regardless of what people were searching for, they saw the same ad.
| Keyword Phrase |
Displayed Ad |
|
auto dealer |
Acme Auto Dealer Huge inventory of cars and trucks. New and used. Call for a quote. www.acmeauto.com |
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Looking at this list one can quickly see several different segments with different customers, profit margins, frequency and length of sales cycle. Why treat them all the same? The first step was to organize the list into groups of phrases as they related to the various business segments he wanted to advertise. The next step was to write ads tailored specifically to each group of keywords. Below are six different business segments we found in the starter list alone along with ads for each group. |
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| Keywords by Segment |
Related Display Ads |
|
Buyers looking for new cars |
Looking for a New Car? Test drive a Fuel-Efficient Escape at a Ford Dealer Near You! www.AcmeAuto.com |
|
Buyers looking for uses cars |
Great Used Cars for Less Boston’s premiere used car dealer. Check inventory and prices online. www.AcmeAuto.com |
|
Car repair (engines and under the hood stuff) |
Expert Car Repairs Fix it Right the First Time With Ford® Genuine Parts and Service. Repairs.AcmeAuto.com |
|
Buyers looking for lease cars |
Leasing a Car? $160 monthly/no-money down specials early lease termination options. Lease.AcmeAuto.com |
|
Brand specific customers (Ford) |
Leasing a Ford? Lowest Ford Factory Prices Ever! No hassle leases. Same day approval. Lease.AcmeAuto.com |
|
Body work and collision repair |
Need Auto Body Work? Make your car look like new. Free estimates. Fully guaranteed. BodyShop.AcmeAuto.com |
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Breaking the single keyword list into tight groups related to the various business segments click through rates improved dramatically. Treating the various business segments as separate campaigns, with their own budgets, success metrics and even geo-targeting helped turn an auto dealership owner’s expensive attempt at getting more website traffic into a highly profitable sustainable way of getting highly targeted traffic that converts to profitable sales. Next time we will discuss how even minor adjustments to ad copy, testing multiple ad copy, display urls and landing pages can result in an enormous lift in conversion. |
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