Search Exchange 2014 - Larry Kim's AdWords Presentation

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The Weirdest Intro to PPC Ever!

10+ Years of PPC Experience in Just 50 Minutes

The Weirdest Intro to PPC Ever!

10+ Years of PPC Experience in Just 50 Minutes

Larry Kim, Founder/CTO, WordStreamJuly 28, 2014

Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!!

• Include the hashtag #searchex and (@larrykim) in your tweets

• Prizes Awarded For Either:–Best Tip–Funniest Tweet

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #searchex

About Me

Larry Kim (@larrykim)• Founder & CTO of WordStream

• Commander of the Google AdWords Quality Score Rebellion

• Had a Kid 10 Weeks Ago (#ppckid)

Today’s Agenda: Weirdest Intro to PPC Ever

1. How AdWords Really Works

2. Winning at AdWords the Weird Way– Tips for Writing Killer Ads / Picking

Keywords– Tips for Writing Amazing Offers– User Context & Mobile Search– Converting Customers with Remarketing– Exciting New Features

Pick the Red or Blue Pill

The Rules of the AdWords Game

Understanding the AdWords Auction

How Quality Score Impacts Ad Position

• AdWords is Like Real Estate: It’s all about Location!

How is Quality Score

Calculated?

Google Expects WAY More of Your Ads!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) # searchex

QS is Based on Your CTR vs. Expected CTR!

Larry Kim (@larryim) #searchex

What’s an Average Quality Score in 2014?

Avg. Quality Score Has Been Falling.

• Today, average score is 5/10. Previously was 7/10!

How Does Quality Score

Impact Cost Per Click?

How Quality Score Impacts Actual CPC

Impact Impressions?

Impression Share vs. Quality Score

• AdWords is Like Real Estate: It’s all about Location!

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream #searchex

How Does Ad Position Impact

Conversion Rates?

Do Certain Ad Positions Convert Better??

Conv. Rate vs. Average Search Position

Impact Cost Per Action?

Cost Per Conversion Greatly Impacted by QS

The Impact of Quality Score on Cost Per Conversion

But High QS Not Possible In My Industry!

B2B Industry Quality Scores

Finance Industry Quality Scores

Ecommerce Industry Quality Scores

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #wordstream

But Google Says Don’t Obsess Over QS!

New Quality Score White Paper

“Settling The Quality Score”?

Link To PDF File: http://bit.ly/qs-whitepaper

Key Finding #1: They’re Downplaying QS

Quality Score Is a Helpful Diagnostic Tool, Not a Key Performance Indicator

•Why: Your Quality Score is like a warning light in a car’s engine that shows how healthy your ads and keywords are. It’s not meant to be detailed metric that should be the focus of account management

-- Source: New Google White Paper on Quality Score.

But Wait – What About This?:

QS is important in order for your ads to be successful … QS plays a key role in determining your ad's position and how much you'll pay for a click. In general, the more relevant your ad, the higher your QS – and the higher your QS, the better your position and the less you will have to pay for a click...Being successful with AdWords means getting your products or services in front of the people who are most likely to become your customers and a high Quality Score can help make that happen.

-- Source: What is AdWords Quality Score and Why Does It Matter?" from Google (2011)

Remember: Quality Score Graded on a Curve

Larry Kim (@larryim) #wordstream

“Low CTR” = Losing PPC Strategy

Quick Recap

1. Below Avg. CTR = Low QS

2. Low CTR ads: Have Lower Ad Positions (Fewer Clicks) Often don’t even get displayed Get penalized w/ up to 400% higher CPCs Have up to 64% higher cost per conversion

The High CTR Game for AdWords

1. Be Very Picky. Bid on Only the Best Keywords and Get HIGH CTRs.

2. Delete Junk Keywords (Bottom Third of your Account)

How To WriteInsanely Great PPC Ads

What’s a Good CTR?

• Even the “Winner” is a Loser!

Your Best Ad Might Be Crap

How Great Can My CTR Be??

(You’d be surprised)

Click Through Rate Varies A Lot!!

Some Ads Do 2x, 3x or 6x Above Avg!?

Under-Performing vs. Unicorns

Percentile Vs. Expected CTR

Bottom 50% Below Expected CTR

Under-Performing Advertisers

Top 15% 2X Higher Awesome Advertisers

Top 5% 3x Higher Super Awesome Advertisers

Top 1% 6x Higher!! Unicorns

@larrykim

Ad Unicorns?! (6x Avg. CTR!)

Ad Text Testing

• Same Story – 20% of Ads Generate 92% of Spend• 20% of Ads Generated 65% of Impressions• But CPA, CTR, and Conversion Rates vary

@larrykim, @perrymarshall

1. Keywords With High Commercial Intent

Does Dynamic Keyword Insertion Matter?

What is Dynamic Keyword Insertion?

2. Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

2. DKI Doesn’t Produce As Many Unicorns

Do Ad Extensions

Matter?

What Are “Ad Extensions”?

58Larry Kim (@larrykim) #searchex

3. Ad Extensions Impact on Click Through Rate

3. Ad Extensions Impact on Quality Scores

How To Write “Unicorn” Ads

4. Most Ads Suck. Create Emotional Ads.

62Larry Kim (@larrykim) #searchex

Creating “Emotional” Ads

An Example:

Versus…

You Need To Test 100 Ads To Find 1

Unicorn.

Relative Abundance

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected CTR

Awesome Ads

Top 15% 1:6.7 2X Higher

Super Awesome Ads

Top 5% 1:20 3x Higher

Unicorns Top 1% 1:100 6x Higher!!

You’re Not Testing as Many Ads as You Think…

It’s Not as Hard As You Think

Most Small Businesses Aren’t That Active

85% of Impressions are From 5% of Ads

Converting Clicks Into Leads

The Great Landing Page Optimization Fairy Tale

• We Changed the: – Font Type– Spacing– Button Color– Image– Etc.

• We got a 5% Increase in Conversions!!*

Typical Conversion Rate Optimization Test

• PTD- Premature Testing Dilemma (aka “Optimizatitis”)– The Early Lead Disappears!

– We want to believe our hard work paid off but we are often deluding ourselves…

Conventional Landing Page Optimization is Over-Rated

• Small Changes Result in Small Changes

• The x% Increase you think you got probably isn’t significant!

Re-Arranging Deck Chairs On the Titanic

What’s a Good Conversion Rate?

Unremarkable vs. Unicorns

Distribution Point Conversion Rate Vs Average Comments

Average 2.35% Unremarkable

Top 25% 5.31% 2x Awesome

Top 10% 11.45% 3-5x Unicorns

Larry Kim (@larrykim) #aearchex

“top 10% of accounts have a CVR 3x average” rule

Distribution Point

All accounts Ecommerce Legal B2B Finance

Median Conversion Rate

2.35% 1.84% 2.07% 2.23% 5.01%

Top 25% Conversion Rate

5.31% 3.71% 4.12% 4.31% 11.19%

Top 10% Conversion Rate

11.45% 6.25% 6.46% 11.70% 24.48%

Aim For 2-5x Increases Not 2-5%!

@larrykim

Landing Page Unicorns?! (+3x Avg. Conversion Rate!)

What Do Landing Page Unicorns

Look Like?

1. Change The Offer

The New Offer:

How to Know if your Offer Stinks

• Average or Below Average Conversion Rates

• Ask Your Customer!

2. Change The Flow.

2. New Flow: Registration At End

Another Example of Changing The Flow

Changing the Flow: Let Them Choose

You Need To Try Out 10 Landing Pages To Find 1

Unicorn

Relative Abundance

Name Percentile Relative Abundance

Vs. Expected Conversion Rate

Awesome Landing Pages

Top 25% 1:4 2x Higher

Unicorns Top 10% 1:10 5x Higher!!

Larry Kim (@larrykim)

This is the same landing page with different spacing…

Again,It’s Not as Hard As

You Think

80% of Traffic Goes to 10% of Landing Pages

The Bar for Landing Page Excellence is (Very) Low

You Don’t Need Dozens of Landing Pages…

But You Don’t Need Dozens of Landing Pages…

Understanding Mobile PPC

Larry Kim (@larrykim)Source: BIA/Kelsey

Larry Kim (@larrykim)

OMG a Call Button!!

Call Extensions Radically Change The Flow!

Calls to Businesses worth on Average 3x More Than Clicks to Websites!!

4. Captured Lead

2. Calls Business

2. Clicks On Ad

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel

3% Avg. Conversion Rate

Mobile Conversion Funnel

1. Sees Ad 1. Sees Ad

3. Visits Website Landing Page

3. Lead Captured!!

No, You Don’t Need A Mobile Website!

Avg. CTR Drops Off VERY Fast on Mobile

Mobile Impression Share VERY Competitive

Converting Traffic withRemarketing

Typical Conversion Rates Are in Single Digits

of people who visit a website leave without completing the actions marketers want them to take

Your Ad

Your Site

of people abandon their shopping cart without completing a purchase

How Remarketing Works

Typical Reach of Remarketing…

1. Reach 2. Frequency 3. DiversityOn various pagesReach more users

Reach them frequently

Of the typical remarketing audience, find

Reach them on between As they visit 20 or more pages on a typical day across

84%…within a month

10-18 days… or more out of the month

5-10 sites… of which all pages and

sites have ad space available to Google Display Network buyers

Audience Definition Strategy

• Funnel and Product Based List Segmentation

WordStream’s Remarketing Ads

• Ads that both reinforce your brand while driving to a conversion!

Impact on Repeat User Rate

• New Visitor Rate Fell From 79.8% to 66.63%

• (Meaning, Visitors are Now Returning)

Impact on User Engagement

• Time on Site Increased from 1:33 to 4:35 (TRIPLED!!)

Remarketing = Your Secret Weapon

+1000 AdWords Updates Per Year

Gmail Ads

#SEMhacks

Subject Line & Teaser:

#SEMhacks

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel Mobile Conversion FunnelX-

Email Ad:

#SEMhacks

YouTube Ads

#SEMhacks

Example Ads

#SEMhacks

Hundreds of New Features / Year

#SEMhacks

1. Delete Bottom Third of your Search Marketing Campaigns

2. Redeploy Budget to Remarketing and Other New Features

Crazy PPC Strategy!!

Summary: Weirdest Intro to PPC Ever

1. Just Say No to Low CTR!

2. Write Insane Ads that Get 3x Avg. CTR

3. Crazy Offers that Get 3x Conversion Rates

4. Use Mobile Search to Triple ROI

5. Convert Customers with Remarketing

Thank You Search Exchange!

Slides: bit.ly/searchex2014

Search Exchange 2014 - Larry Kim's AdWords Presentation

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