A Greensboro chiropractor told us last month he had spent $4,200 on Google AdWords over six months and had no idea whether it was working. When we logged into his account, the structure was a mess: one giant campaign, 800 broad-match keywords, no negative keywords, no conversion tracking, and an ad rotation that included words like "free" that violated Google's policies. He was paying for clicks from people in California searching for chiropractor jobs. AdWords works. Most accounts are not set up to let it.
What Google AdWords Is in Plain English
Google AdWords is the auction-based advertising platform that puts text ads at the top and right side of Google's search results pages. When someone in Winston-Salem types "personal injury attorney winston salem" into Google, AdWords runs a real-time auction among advertisers bidding on that exact keyword and decides who shows in which position. You only pay when someone actually clicks your ad, which is why the model is called "pay per click."
Why It Matters Now in 2009
- →Speed. SEO takes months to produce rankings. AdWords can have your ad on page one for "high point hvac repair" in two hours.
- →Targeting. You can show ads only to people in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, only on weekday business hours, only on certain devices.
- →Measurability. Every click is tracked. Every conversion is countable. Cost per lead is a known number, not a guess.
- →Recession economics. As competitors pull back in 2009, click costs on many local Triad keywords have dropped, making AdWords more affordable than it was a year ago.
How the Auction Actually Works
Position is not just about who bids the most. Google ranks ads using a formula called Ad Rank, which combines your maximum bid, your Quality Score (how relevant your ad and landing page are to the keyword), and a few other factors. A well-built campaign with a $2 bid and a high Quality Score can outrank a sloppy campaign with a $5 bid. This is why the cheapest path to first position is usually a better-built account, not a higher budget.
The Account Structure That Actually Works
- →Separate campaigns by service. A general dentist running campaigns for "teeth cleaning," "cosmetic dentistry," and "dental implants" needs three separate campaigns, not one.
- →Tightly themed ad groups. Each ad group should contain 5 to 15 closely related keywords sharing the same ad copy and the same landing page. "Greensboro family dentist" and "family dental practice greensboro" go together. "Greensboro pediatric dentist" goes in a different group.
- →Geographic targeting set to your service area. Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, and a 25-mile radius around each. Not the entire United States.
- →Negative keywords from day one. "Free," "jobs," "diy," "school," and any other word that signals the searcher is not a paying customer.
- →Conversion tracking installed before the first dollar is spent. Without it you are flying blind, which is exactly what the Greensboro chiropractor above did for six months.
After we rebuilt the chiropractor's account from scratch, his cost per appointment booking dropped from "unknown" to roughly $34, and total monthly bookings from AdWords moved from a guessed handful to a tracked 38 in the first 60 days.
Read the companion pieces on picking your first 20 keywords and writing AdWords copy that gets clicks, or have our digital marketing agency build, manage, and optimize your AdWords account.