Google AdWords is still one of the most powerful forms of online advertising and traffic generation. However, with the increase in advertisers using AdWords, it’s becoming more difficult to do well when you’re competing against more people for the same keywords.
Here are 5 common AdWords mistakes you should be careful you don’t make:
1) Use only broad match keywords. In the past, using broad match was a good way to explore your different keywords. Now using only broad match will cost you a lot and may often not be enough to compete against other AdWords users that are using phrase match and exact match for the same keyword. Keeping phrase and exact match for specific keywords is important to reduce costs and maintain relevant ads. Broad match should only be used when you’re ready to test further and explore what additional keywords it may bring.2) Putting everything in one ad group. You are able to create multiple ad groups, so use this to your advantage. If you lump all your keywords into one ad group, this will very often cause you to have a low quality score for them and raise the CPC for each keyword. By breaking your keywords into several ad groups, you can write more relevant ads for each, and Google will like you more. This means higher quality score and lower CPC.
3) Using Content Network and Search Network in one campaign. The content network can bring a lot of traffic, but it’s not nearly as targeted as the search network. Go into your campaign settings and turn off the Content Network. This will make sure you know exactly where you are spending your clicks. If you want to try the Content Network to advertise directly on web sites, it’s recommended you do it in a separate campaign to be able to monitor each more easily.
4) Using only on ad. If you use only one ad, you have no comparison to check how well it is doing. Create at least two ads (it’s not recommended to use more than 3 at a time, to be able to test well). This way you can do A-B split testing and find out which ad performs better, then replace the worse performing one to continuously improve your CTR.
5) Put a huge daily limit on your campaign. Many AdWords users have thought, “How much traffic could this keyword really get in one day?” and set their daily limit to four figures or higher. When they check again and see that they’ve gathered enough clicks to owe multiple thousands of dollars, it’s a little too late. Make sure you start with a smaller daily budget in your campaign settings to know how much traffic you can expect, then increase it from there. This can safe you a lot of frustration.
If you’re cautious when you bid on your keywords in Google AdWords and watch out for these 5 AdWords mistakes, you can find a great tool to get good targeted traffic and grow your business further.