Boosting Your PPC Performance with Little-Known AdWords Segmentation Tools

This week on Best Search Strategies, we will cover the little-known segmentation tools that AdWords offers.  Not many marketers use them yet, but those that do recognize the power of segmentation tools within AdWords, and the resulting competitive advantage gained.

Starting on May 6^th, 2009 – Google checkout will be suspending their AdWords/Checkout promotion for advertisers. Currently any advertiser earning 0%-1000% ROAS (Revenue/Spend) from Google PPC, the use of the Checkout has been Free.  “For every $1 you spend on AdWords each month, you can process $10 in sales the following month for free through Google Checkout.”

This was an amazing deal when you consider the cost for Credit Card Processing.  After May 5^th, the following fee structure will go into effect:

“Any AdWords transaction processing credits accrued during April 2009 will be applied towards transactions that occur on May 1-4, 2009”
(http://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html)

How will this affect the bottom line of an ecommerce store?  Let’s say an advertiser gets 100 sales, which are $100 each, and spends $1,000 in AdWords advertising (1000% ROAS.)

What was once free will now cost the advertiser…
100 sales * $0.30 = $30.00
($100 per sale * 2.9%) * 100 Sales = $290.00
Total Due to Google Checkout = $320.00

Listen in as you’ll learn how to:

• Easily identify keyword performance trends with surgical precision
• Use AdWords’ cutting edge segmentation to quickly weed out non-performing networks
• Simplify your bid management by using AdWords’ powerful filtering capabilities
• Find potentially top performing keywords hidden in your AdWords account

I’m sure that Google has been waiting anxiously for this day when they can start really monetizing this service.  I also doubt that many advertisers would walk away from this new fee structure (which is comparable to most credit card companies) and loose the Google Checkout Badge in their AdWords ads; a benefit we have as we’ve seen with our clients.

What has your experience been?  Did the checkout badge influence your CTR or Conversion Rate?

As of Today 9/8/10, Google will be moving forward with a new technology called Google Instant.

Google Instant is basically an integration of Predictive Search Phrases combined with a Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Anyone who has used the Google Search Tool Bar will see how Google will try and predict what query you are entering in before you finish. Google provides a few guesses which appear grayed out below the box. Up until now they were merely suggestions – As of Today, Google Instant now powers dynamic SERPs without ever pressing the Search button.

Notice in this example, I searched for Engine Rea, but I did not say Engine Ready nor did I press search. After 3 seconds, if Google has provided a suggestion, it will automatically render the page as if you performed the search using the 1st Predictive Query in the box! This counts as an AdWords Keyword Impression

What will this do to online performance? Will this assist a user in finding a more relevant result or will the user simply drop dead from seizures caused by the ever rapidly changing ‘dynamic’ page?

As a rule of thumb, mark today in your calendars so you can benchmark Impression volume pre and post Google Instant’s implementation.

Please post any findings you see on your accounts here.

For More Information: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=187309