Google Content – Improving your PPC content campaigns.

I always believed that the Google content network worked off keyword bidding and placing ads within relevant contextual environments, taking the Google search proposition into a contextual domain. Whilst I was right about the contextual placements, subsequent conversations with Google have proven my keyword theory to be only half the story…and I doubt I am the only one that has believed this. I am therefore going to share with you the best practice guidelines which will ensure that your content campaigns are optimised to perfection with very little effort.

The content network works off the principle of ‘keyword themes’ and grouping your keywords into tightly defined ad groups ensures maximum exposure in the most relevant areas. For instance, on a VERY basic level, group all your travel keywords into one ad group, and all your finance keywords into another. This ensures that your holiday keywords do not appear in finance sites which will subsequently receive very little clicks and have a high CPC. Extremely basic I know but you’d be surprised at many advertisers make this mistake…

For your reference, Google determines CPC and positioning based on quality score, so if your ad is not very relevant to the contextual environment, or has a poor click through rate it will cost you more to appear in a good position. So why pay more for your traffic when following these simple rules will ensure maximum delivery at the lowest possible cost.

1. Ad Group Structure - Google recommend grouping your keywords into ad groups that contain no more than 15 keywords per ad group (ideally 5 to 15 keywords) in order to be accurately mapped onto their content network.
To do this make sure all the keywords are closely associated with one another, and if there is a slight difference then simply create another ad group. The key is to create tightly themed ad groups on only one theme at a time.
For example, your overriding product could be holidays, but you can divide this category into multiple smaller categories (or ad groups) – skiing holidays, beach holidays, over 50s cruises, family holidays.
However, you can classify even more granular depending on the keyword volume - ‘france skiing holidays’, ‘family skiing holidays’, ‘over 50s cruises in the Med’, ‘family adventure holidays’.

So why be this detailed?
The content network displays ads based on the overall ad group theme so if there are lots of keywords within an ad group that are slightly variant of the central theme then the placement of your ad will not be as focused and thus as relevant as a campaign which has a very tight ad group structure and keyword assignment. So be strict with your keyword grouping…it will pay dividends in the long run.

2. Copy – In creating very specific ad groups you then have the freedom to tailor your ad copy to the keywords within that group. The relevancy of the ad text to the contextual environment will obviously benefit you in terms of improved clicks and click through rate (which in turn improves your quality score and lowers your av. CPC). See, there is a pattern emerging here…relevancy makes you more money and costs you less!

3. Consider misspellings – There are some partners within the Google content network which use ‘error pages’ on which to display your ads. These are simply pages for users who have clicked on a link and have not appeared in the right location because they have misspelt a word or URL. They usually consist of lots of Google content ads which if a user clicks on one they are then directed through to the original page they were looking for. Users can of course choose to hit the back button and then try another natural search link, but there is no guarantee that they won’t reach another ‘error’ site. They apparently work very well for advertisers and worth including in your content campaigns.

In following these three simple guidelines and keeping your content campaign as organised and tightly structured as possible you should benefit from increased exposure on the Google content network, more traffic through to your sites and ultimately more conversions at the least possible cost.