Worry About Ads Before Conversions

Written by Pablo Palatnik on May 8, 2008

One thing people are quick to base their success with search engine marketing as they first launch a campaign is conversion rates. Sure, conversion rates is probably the most important aspect of your campaign but the way to make sure you get good conversion rates meeting a good ROI is making sure you pay as little as possible for that click.

If you read the post below, #1 Quality Score Factor in Google: Quality Ad, you will see that the campaign I’m working on started decent…actually…pretty good CTR’s but my quality score was still not what it could be with those numbers. Within 24 hours of that post, here is what happened (image shows pertaining to one particular ad group):

I was never TOO concerned about my conversion rate cost at first, but rather making sure to have a good CTR so Google would allow me to pay as little as possible for a click with good ranking. I am now seeing the reward and making tweaks to pay as low as I possibly can per conversion. Again, it does all come down to ROI (Return on Investment), but make sure you are willing to go through the motions to get there.

**For further information on Quality Score, you can read a post I did for the Search Engine Journal, Ads in a Quality Score World.

#1 Quality Score Factor in Google: Quality Ad

Written by Pablo Palatnik on May 2, 2008

No matter how many things you try to figure out to see how Google is judging your ad to determine your cpc (cost-per-click), YOUR biggest concern should be the quality of your ad.

Maybe you really haven’t thought about it, but what you should worry about most is creating the most compelling ad for searchers and THAT will result into clicks and hopefully conversions for you. So, what is that you may be doing wrong? For one, I used to create campaigns and let them be. We’re so busy with so much stuff that we forget that tweaking certain things in your ad can make the biggest difference to an eye and turn into a click.

Let me give you an example. I created a campaign that had decent clicks but I thought I should get more…way more. As time is always a factor, my ads were pretty decent but I didn’t really see what my edge was vs. the competition. Why would someone click on my ad and not their ad? What makes my ad different then the other guy with the same product at almost the same price? Do I offer free shipping? What do I have that they don’t? WHAT MAKES ME STAND OUT?
**The image below is in a 4-hour span.

{please note I cannot specify what product I am selling and what my ads are for some obvious reasons to readers, hope you understand =)}

Anyway, I did research into the product itself and how the brand identified itself and how I would be able to do the same. I posted a new ad to compare CTRs (Click-Through-Rates) and of course, the results were great. My click through rates were way better and yet to make more tweaks. What’s your edge? Your identity? Ask yourself those questions when creating your ads.

Sure, Google can give you a POOR quality score result for certain keywords but with a QUALITY ad, you can change that in days. Make sure you give yourself a chance but bidding enough to place in the front page.

Another Quality Score Slap: Slow Loading Landing Pages

Written by Pablo Palatnik on March 13, 2008

So, if you thought you had everything figured out with Google’s quality score and they wouldn’t be making any changes anytime soon, think again.

Inside Adwords announces sites with slow loading time will be penalized by its quality score algorithm.

“As part of our continuing efforts to improve the user experience, we will soon incorporate an additional factor into Quality Score: landing page load time. Load time is the amount of time it takes for a user to see the landing page after clicking an ad.

Why are we doing this?
Two reasons: first, users have the best experience when they don’t have to wait a long time for landing pages to load. Interstitial pages, multiple redirects, excessively slow servers, and other things that can increase load times only keep users from getting what they want: information about your business. Second, users are more likely to abandon landing pages that load slowly, which can hurt your conversion rate.

When are we making this change?
In the next few weeks, we will add load time evaluations to the Keyword Analysis page (we’ll notify you when they are available). You will then have one month to review your site and make necessary adjustments.

After the one month review period, this load time factor will be incorporated into your keywords’ Quality Scores. Keywords with landing pages that load very slowly may get lower Quality Scores (and thus higher minimum bids). Conversely, keywords with landing pages that load very quickly may get higher Quality Scores and lower minimum bids.”

One way to put make sure your page loads quicker then it does now is to make sure your images aren’t too large in size. There is software that makes image files smaller for faster loading times.