In the Google AdWords forum, Google posts various tips every couple weeks or so. The latest tip, I found to be very interesting and thought some of our readers would benefit from it. It is on the topic of how to maximize your visibility on low traffic keywords.
AdWordsPro Sarah who posted the tip first recommended trying to utilize the content network. She said the content network saying, you "have an understanding of the type of people you are targeting, and like all of the types of advertising, you find a place they are bound to visit and place an ad there."
But what about tips for those low traffic keywords in the search network? She offers three useful and important tips. Let me quote them:
- Start Small. The knee jerk reaction is to throw a million keywords at the wall and see what sticks. The problem with this is that it is hard to manage this many keywords. A keyword may have terrible performance, but it gets lost in the crowd and you may never notice. Its fine to use the 'throw and stick' method, but I like to throw small batches of keywords at the wall so I can carefully monitor their performance.
- Delete Delete Delete. If you test a large number of keywords and they don't perform well, they start to drag down your account Quality Score. And, to make matter worse, having a low account Quality Score, makes it harder to introduce new keywords (they tend to start with a lower Quality Score in a low Quality account). To avoid this, I recommend that low performing keywords be deleted immediately. If you have 100-200 impressions and no clicks, its time to think about deleting. If you have 200-300, it really is time. Advertisers tend to think if they wait just a little longer, a click will come. However, while they wait, the keyword drags down the account. If you want to test a lot of keywords, you have to be willing to give the non performers the ax.
- Go Local. If you think your product might appeal to a local audience (a new umbrella hat- why not target Seattle), you can use location targeting to help get your ad in front of the right people. If you can't rely on the search as heavily, you need to think about all of the other tools that are available for targeting. Who would want this product? Where do they live? When are they online? If you think your target audience is suburban moms, you might want to stay out of the city and try scheduling your ads during the day when the are at home.
The discussion around these tips is just getting started.
Forum discussion at Google AdWords Help.
