Don't Fail with Google Adwords! Make PPC Work for You.

In competitive online markets like hotel booking the make or break of a Google Adwords campaign relies entirely on giving the searcher what he or she is looking for. This probably sounds like teaching grandmother to suck eggs. However despite its obvious relevancy few online users of Google Adwords actually practice this basic marketing requirement for success.

I want to illustrate this statement using a simple example using the highly competitive online hotel booking industry.

I did a simple search on Google (using google.co.za and NOT google.com as the search engine). The search term I entered was Salt Rock Hotel.

 The result of the search showed 25 competing websites for this single term.

I think you will agree that my intention when I typed the search phrase into Google was to find a hotel in Salt Rock... not Durban not Amamzimtoti, but Salt Rock. I also wanted a hotel not an apartment or a guest house or a B&B.

The top 3 of 25 paid search results can be seen in the image below

Ask yourself a question... which of the above 3 ads would you click if you were looking for a Salt Rock Hotel?

Here's my first point...

Almost certainly a similar searcher to me would click ad number 2 for the simple reason it seems to be offering exactly what is wanted.

This belief is enforced by the content of the headline "Hotels in Salt Rock" and further reinforced by the next line of the ad which states "Book a hotel in Salt Rock online". Line 2 promises a special deal no matter which Salt Rock Hotel is booked. The display URL (green text) implies clearly that not only can you find a salt rock hotel but also that you can book it. That's just what I intended when I did the search.

Notice how Google BOLDENS the keywords to make them stand out and catch the eye of the searcher. Notice also that Google did not bolden "Hotels" in the headline... because hotels (plural) was not in the search query. Google treats Salt Rock Hotel and Salt Rock Hotels as 2 different keywords for the purpose of ad display... although not necessarily for search query purposes.

Compare this offer to the Ads in positions 1 and 3.

Ad 1 whilst apparently offering accommodation in Salt Rock fails to reinforce this message and the URL says quite plainly the site is about Ballito. Now you and I might know Ballito is close to Salt Rock but in the mind of a searcher Salt Rock is the most important part of the keyword phrase. The ad also does NOT offer hotel accommodation at all. The words used in the ad very specifically exclude hotels. I was not looking for guest houses or luxury apartments.

Ad 3 bears no resemblance to the searcher's needs and is highly unlikely to get a click from a SERIOUSLY interested searcher and thus has virtually no chance of securing a booking. However the ad by virtue of its high position will get clicks. It's just that the clicks are highly unlikely to convert into a booking. The process of converting a click to an action is called Conversion and this is ultimately the objective of an Adwords campaign.

When you how the Google PPC system works you can be almost certain that Ad number 2 is paying much less per click (probably 50% or less) than either ad number 1 or number 3.

Google rewards ads with higher click through rates by allowing them to pay less for a click than ads with lower click through rates. The logic behind this is very simple... Google makes money out of people clicking ads. See example below illustrating this logic.

The Ad is Only the Start...

Let's assume for the sake of this discussion each of the 3 ads above got a click. Now take a look at what comes up on the landing page for each of the 3 advertisers.

Ad number 1... www.ballitoaccommodation.co.za

The landing page here is the HOME page.

There is no mention of Salt Rock.

There is no mention of a hotel but there is clear reference to "Luxury self catering homes and apartments" ... the complete opposite to a hotel.

Even if the searcher for Salt Rock Hotel did click Ad number 1 it is almost certain that he will leave this site and look elsewhere.

The advertiser has maybe wasted money on an irrelevant click.

Ad number 2... www.booking.com

The landing page is NOT the HOME page.

Take a look at the masthead of the web page that comes up after clicking Ad number 2. This says it all ... there is no doubt this web page is highly relevant to my search in providing me with 2 choices : I can search all Salt Rock Hotels or I can choose from a selected list of featured Salt Rock Hotels.

There has been complete continuity from search right through to the landing page of the website of www.booking.com. I was not taken to a broad web page or the Home page of a web site.

Ad number 3... www.shakaseat.co.za

Upon clicking the ad in number 3 position I was presented with a masthead as shown in the image. It has absolutely no relevance to my search whatsoever. It is about self catering accommodation in Shaka's Seat wherever that might be.

Both the advertiser in Ad number 1 and the advertiser in ad number 3 are failing to benefit from using Google Adwords to its maximum effect. On the other hand Ad number 2 deserves 10 out of 10 for relevance and satisfying the searcher's needs. It is for this reason that Ad number 2 is probably paying a fraction of what Ads 1 and 2 are paying.

The Importance of Continuity Exploited by www.booking.com...

1. The search query was for Salt Rock Hotel

2. The Ad (number2 ) offered the searcher very specifically Salt Rock hotels

3. The page on which the searcher landed was about Salt Rock Hotels and nothing else.

The Importance of Click Through Rate...

As mentioned above Google makes money by encouraging people to click the Ads displayed when a search query (keyword) is made. The more relevant the Ad the more likely it is to get a click. In addition the higher the Ad position the more clicks it will generally get.

Take a look at the simple maths below:

Assume each of the above 3 Ads are displayed 1000 times for the search term Salt Rock Hotels over a period of 1 week (one display of an Ad = 1 impression using Google terms)

1. Ad number 1 gets 20 clicks ... a click through ratio (CTR) of 2%
2. Ad number 2 gets 100 clicks ... a CTR of 10%
3. Ad number 3 gets 5 clicks... a CTR of 0.5%

IMPORTANT: The Google system is based upon maximising its income from every 1000 query displays.

If in our example Google wants to earn $25 for every 1000 impressions of an Ad then

Ad number 1 must pay $1.25 per click

Ad number 2 must pay $0.25 per click

Ad number 3 must pay $5.00 per click

This is exactly how the Google Adwords system works... relevant Ads get high CTR's which result in lower (and sometimes MUCH lower bid prices).

Until 2007 Google only used CTR as the measure for determining competing bid prices. It then introduced what is referred to as "Quality Score". In simple terms Google also started to take into account not only CTR but other factors such as the relevance between search query, ad text and landing page(s).

So Why Do Most Campaigns Run Such Broad (Almost Irrelevant) Ads?

The first reason is that few advertisers on Google understand the relevance of Click Through Rate in terms of its impact upon the cost of a click ... as can be seen this can have a major impact. A high click through ad gets pushed up the rankings while paying less for a click than those ads below or above it. By pushing a high CTR  ad up the ranking Google gets even more clicks for this particular ad and thus continues to maximise income per 1000 impressions. So quite simply a budget for ad expenditure can be really stretched out by maximising CTR (achieved by making the ad very relevant to the search term)

The second reason is that to take the relevancy argument to its natural conclusion then every keyword searched for should have a corresponding relevant ad. In the case of hotel bookings assuming there are 1,000 regions where hotels are situated then YES there must be 1000 ads with each ad representing each region. And in the case of guest houses there must be 1000 Guest House relevant ads. This sounds like a lot of work and make no bones about the matter it is especially when done the way most Google advertisers create campaigns ... yet sites like www.booking.com do this. The reason is obvious. It works for them. They also know how to productively create Adword campaigns which becomes a very significant competitive advantage for them as I have hopefully identified.

The ability to match the search query to a targeted ad and that targeted ad to a targeted landing page is what Google Adwords optimisation is all about. It is what www.booking.com is so good at. This is what makes the difference between a successful low cost high return on investment campaign and one that has low return on investment (possibly negative).

If you would like to learn how we can optimise your Google Adwords campaign (just as www.booking.com does) for an unbelievably low cost please feel free to ring me, Tony Roocroft, +27-11-454-0105. If you're serious about winning with Google Adwords you'll be pleased you called me.

For Any Serious PPC Participant: The Workshop in Broad Outline...

1. The common denominators to succeeding on the internet... get these wrong and most of your efforts will fail no matter what else you do
2. Important basic SEO requirements and check list for any website ... absolutely essential ingredients for any website yet very easily implemented within a day and why you don't need an SEO expert like myself.
3. How to set up and manage successful Google Adwords campaigns for local, international, multinational, ecommerce, affiliate and lead generation strategies... it is believed over 99% of Google Adword campaigns are set up the wrong way much to the advantage of Google. Do it the right way and dramatically improve profitability... get the CTR's up, reduce the CPC's and increase the impressions.
4. How to dramatically increase the effectiveness of any PPC campaign by increasing the conversion to sales ratio. Do this and you will turn a losing campaign into a winning one.
5. Affiliate marketing opportunities and pitfalls for both merchants and affiliates
6. How to create highly targeted large dynamic or basic HTML websites in less than a day, in house, for little cost and with no programming experience necessary. Yes it's true. All you need is basic spreadsheet skills.
7. How to track everything of importance, present it in easy to understand format and thus increase profitability and cut out waste.
8. How to discover the strategies of your online competitors and then beat them at their own game
9. Effective list building for future profits
10. Creating ecommerce sites... easier and cheaper than you think.

I envisage the full day workshop using real life examples will be R5,000 per person which will include a personal 1 hour session with me after the workshop to ensure you benefit quickly and significantly.

During the workshop I will share the tools I use, how to use them and where to get them. This information alone is worth far more than the cost of the workshop.

At the end of the workshop you will be in a position to profit from search traffic in the short, medium and long term. You will know more about succeeding on the web than the vast majority of website owners anywhere in the world and especially in South Africa.

If you think you might be interested (no obligation at this stage) please ring me (Tony Roocroft 011-454-0105) or send me a brief email to gads(at)seoza.com Please include your name and contact details and I will keep you in touch.