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What does Google want from its advertisers? The
cynics in the crowd will say, "OUR MONEY!!!" ...but that's
not
necessarily the case. As anyone who's had Quality Score problems
will know.
Google wants much more than that. If that was all they were
after.... they wouldn't have any. It's their willingness to walk
away that makes them successful. (And there's a lesson in that,
too.)
Today, some clues to the difference between what is merely good
and what is great.
-
First of all, Google wants ads that get clicked on. If nobody
clicks on your ad, they don't get paid for the click. That's why
your ad position is not just determined by bid price but by the
Click Thru Rate. I've seen CTR's lower than 0.1% for search traffic
and CTR's upwards of 30%. The difference between a bad ad and a good
one is gigantic.
-
Google rewards and prefers stability and longevity. When you
first open a brand new Google account, every assumption they make is
*not* in your favor. Before the very first click comes - while
they're still taking all the risk for you - they're going to assume
you don't know how to write good ads, that people who come to your
website will probably leave right away, that you're incompetent.
You pay the highest click prices in the beginning.
But.... if you establish a good click thru rate and users don't
hit the "back" button once they hit your site, the Big G starts
breathing a sigh of relief and gives you more breathing room of your
own. I've been observing for years now that good advertisers' click
costs tend to stay level. I've even seen, lately, some going down
instead of up.
Just last night I talked to one of my Roundtable
members, who's competing with hundreds of advertisers, and in the
last year he's seen his click costs slowly drop from $2 a click to
under a buck.
I think some of that is his market but some of it is also the
trust he's earned from the search engine. His websites are quality,
his ad campaigns are properly constructed, and he's got an automatic
advantage over the New Kid In Town. At least until New Kid In Town
proves himself.
I know another guy in an equally competitive niche who started
out paying $11 per click but after a few days dropped down to about
$2. Once again, it's that trust and stability Google was looking
for.
-
Google likes to see a low "bounce rate. That's the number of
people who click to your site and immediately bail. Google Analytics
(which will be covered in detail during the upcoming Bobsled Run,
starts September 25) reports this for you as a percentage.
-
Ideally Google would like to see those people click on your ad,
disappear into your site and never be seen again. Hopefully because
your visitors are so deliriously happy and involved in what you are
doing that they don't want to search again. THAT is your mission,
should you choose to accept it.
Ads that consistently have a high ranking and high CTR will
begin to show up on the premium space across the top of the search
results, instead of running down the right side.
Regards
Paul Jenkins
P.S. Get more tips like these plus a
FREE Google Adwords Course from the acclaimed Google Master...
the original author of this article.
P.P.S. Do you want to know how I get
more from my Google ads and avoid the losers that simply suck the
money out of my pocket? Check out this powerful, yet
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