by Your job is not done until you trace performing and nonperforming keywords. PPIn our previous blog post, I discussed how to use keywords to set up a PPC Campaign.
The main purpose of keywords in the campaign is to make money. Yes, it is money that you want from your listed PPC keywords.
As you are running your campaign for a period, you may notice there are some keywords that are not working.
Not working in the sense, they are not getting clicks or unable to get conversions.
Most numbers of clients come to me having a complaint that they have introduced many relevant PPC keywords but there are only few that are paying them back.
I would like to tell them there are only a few keywords that can make business.
I cannot find out why most numbers of advertisers ignore the simple rule keywords=money.
I must tell you the numbers of keywords you use in your ad campaign most of them are nothing but wasting your money.
The latest survey on a sample of 5 million AdWord keywords has shown that only 5.9% of them generated conversion. It means rest amount of keywords are just there without doing anything.
PPC Keywords should make relevant impressions for respective ads first to get qualified clicks. If they fail to generate impressions for ads then you should not think they can bring clicks.
It feels really bad when you come to know that you spend hefty money to keep keywords but the only minuscule of them perform their duty.
[bctt tweet=”You can call a keyword is performing when it generates conversions #Adwords.” username=”adstriangle”]
Time has come when you should take that bold step and wipe out those non-performing PPC keywords.
Now you must ask me what the huge amount of nonperforming keywords is actually doing. They are simply wasting your investment.
How to Identify NonPerforming Keywords
Let’s deconstruct step by step what the rest of the 94.1% keywords actually do and where your strategy is going wrong. It may help you out how to detect nonperforming keywords.
1 Keywords with No Impressions
People often add too many keywords without considering the fact that whether they actually will work or not.
Keywords that are not getting impressions are simply wasting your time. You need to trim them out from your account.
If you have given a lot of times for them then they are hard to optimize.
Your keywords are not getting impressions means your keywords are not being searched by Google users.
I have noticed that most of the advertisers gather thousands of keywords but only 10% of them actually can get impressions. This is not for a short period but after being spent years they still cannot generate impressions.
[bctt tweet=”A majority portion of keywords stays lazy and incurs several pennies on your pocket.” username=”adstriangle”]
Sometimes, Keywords sit around for months but do not garner a single click due to lack of getting an impression. In that case, you must understand that time has come to shred them from keyword list.
I have found that people like to use Long tail keywords. However, keywords that have not generated impressions for long period, Long tail keywords have proven fruitless in showing good results for them.
2. Keywords Having Impressions But Not Getting Clicks
Advertisers often ask me- ‘our keywords are having numbers of impressions but why cannot they even generate a single click?’
Your ad appears only when users put your keywords in the search query. At this point users can only see your ad. If they leave without clicking on your ad then it will not generate business for you.
Users will only click on your ad when your ad meets their requirements. If your keywords unable to get clicks, they are actually irrelevant to their needs.
You might be confused if those keywords are working because they are making impressions. In reality, they are not working at all. Having too many impressions without generating clicks is actually lowers CTR. And it means it affects Quality Score.
[bctt tweet=”Keywords with impressions but zero clicks lower CTR and Quality Score as well #Adwords” username=”adstriangle”]
You need to take a solution for those ‘pretending to work’ keywords. They are not only hurting overall ad performance but also draining your money.
3. Keywords Getting Numbers of Clicks But Zero Conversions
You may be happy that none of your keywords matches above mentioned two points. You need no stop here and ask yourself if all your keywords are generating conversions!
Just getting clicks is not enough, keywords are not performing if they are not generating conversions. Good Conversions rate creates a business that converts into the success of an ad campaign.
You should find those keywords that are not converting because they will hurt your account slowly. Finally, they will appear to be the cause of wasting a huge amount of money and time.
These keywords must be eliminated at once as they increase your Cost of Acquisition and eat out your budget. Like a parasite, such keywords live by sucking your money and reducing the quality score.
[bctt tweet=”Conversion rate and cost/Conv. defines the credibility of keywords #Adwords” username=”adstriangle”]
Measure Keywords Performance
To improve your campaign performance you need to trace how many keywords are sitting there doing nothing. You need to filter non-performing keywords to boost well impact over your ad campaign.
You can simply use Google AdWords keywords filter to measure performances of keywords. I would like to suggest you to use keywords filter report to find following points-
1.Numbers of Active Keywords in your Adwords Account:
You need to trace out total numbers of active keywords in your PPC account.
Active keywords are those, which are more likely to get impressions and have yet not been paused or deleted.
In order to get reports from Google AdWords on total numbers of active keywords, you need to go to Keywords tab
Click on Filter then select Impressions less than equal to zero. Try to check at least last 14 days data to get better data insights.
If keywords don’t get even 1 impressions in last 14 days that means these keywords have very low search volume and no one is searching for these keywords.
2. Numbers Of Active Keywords That Are Exhausting Your Money:
You need to have a close eye on the report to know how many of active keywords are actually paying back.
Keywords that are having numbers of clicks but cannot generate Conversions will cause higher Cost of Acquisition. They are sucking your budget.
You can download these keywords same as above, here you need to set a filter for keywords which spent x amount of money and gave zero conversion.
3.Numbers of Keywords Paying You Back:
At the end of the day you will find that there are only a few keywords that are actually able to convert. You need to work with these keywords.
If some keywords are giving less than 10% conversions you should also bid for them. They will finally count your campaign success.
As you analyze report you will find more numbers of such nonperforming keywords. I do not consider them and do not allow them to waste money and time. It would be better to concentrate on those keywords that are paying me back.
[bctt tweet=”It would be better to concentrate on those keywords that are paying you back” username=”adstriangle”]
What to Do With NonPerforming Keywords
You should give a considerable time to analyze keywords performance. You can take the report on monthly basis. But I suggest you analyze at least 6 months report.
I suggest advertisers not to waste time and money for those non-performing keywords. These keywords are actually affecting quality score and doing nothing.
Once you have keywords performance report, your next step will be to take strategic action on nonperforming keywords. You should ask yourself what to do with almost 94% useless keywords.
1.Keywords With No Impressions:
You may give a certain time expecting they will improve performance. However, you must not give inconsiderable time span.
It is better to pause them immediately. Rather wasting time with them you should concentrate on keywords that are actually working well.
2.Keywords Getting Impressions But With Zero Clicks:
Getting impressions does not mean they will surely draw clicks. If keywords cannot generate a single click after having more than 200 impressions you need to eliminate them.
These types of keywords lower CTR, which ultimately drag down the quality score. You must not tolerate these keywords in lower quality score account. The low-quality score means more money.
Account with a good quality score may consider more impressions- at least 1000 impressions. As keywords that are generating impressions today, they might be potential for paying you back later. Well, the optimized account holder must try to optimize those keywords.
3.Keywords Having Clicks But No Conversions:
Even having a well optimized account, you must not spend much time with this kind of keywords. As they are having clicks, they are counting your costs.
You are paying for clicks and therefore you do not want that money goes wasted. [Tweet “Keywords driving clicks without generating conversions increase CPA #Adwords”]
To deal with such keywords I always find my Maximum Profitable CPA that is my target CPA. I pause a keyword when it crosses double of my target CPA.
Sometimes I give more times but obviously, it is not more than three times of my target CPA. You can set your own rule for removing a keyword in Adwords. It will automatically stop keywords that are not converting.
4.What to Do With Keywords that are Acquiring More CPA for Conversions:
These are those keywords that have potential to return you back. You should not pause them at all. They are costing more for conversions but they have possibilities of improvement.
You need to draw strategies to optimize them. As they are still generating conversions, you must not eliminate them. However, you need to improve their performance. Initially, you can bid less on them.
You can create a new landing page for these low performing keywords. Specific landing pages for these keywords sometimes give result by reducing CPA and improving Conversions. But ultimately you must concentrate on well-performing keywords.
How to Deal With Well Performing Keywords
As you are having keywords performance report in your hand, you can find which keywords are actually paying you back. These well-performed keywords are actually doing business and they are your treasure. These keywords also help you out to introduce potential new keywords.
No, you should not let them run themselves. I always suggest my clients to keep trying to increase their performance and always promote them. To increase profitability you should have more keywords like them.
In order to increase campaign performance more, you should also analyze the performance and characteristics of well-converting keywords.
1.Analyze Search Query:
You need to analyze search query report. This report will help you focus on finding exactly in which search queries these performing keywords are displaying your ad.
Depending on the search query analysis you may introduce new keywords. However, I prefer to use modified broad match type if any of the performing keywords are from broad match, phrase match or modified broad match. It will let the new keywords find new search queries.
2.Bring Changes in Bidding Strategy:
Different bidding options would help you trace if you are bidding at maximum profitability for those performing keywords.
You may introduce different bidding strategies such as optimal bid, enhanced CPC or conversion optimizer. By increasing or decreasing bids you can identify which is ideal bid for a certain keyword.
3.Check Quality Score:
Keywords may bring conversions but it is the quality score that tells truth about keywords performance.
[bctt tweet=”If the keyword is having QS below 6 then they are not performing at optimal level. #Adwords” username=”adstriangle”]
You need to create separate ad groups with lower QS keywords. I recommend creating each ad group with only one keyword. It will ease your work to improve QS through testing.
On the other hand, if QS is below 4 then you should increase bid on those ad groups while testing. You can decrease bid gradually once QS starts improving.
4.Find Some Synonymous:
There are huge possibilities of the fact that users may put other terms other than you are using to search your product.
Most of the cases I found applying synonymous of performing keywords reflects good result. You should find similar keywords in order to have enhanced conversions.
Keep Your Campaigns Tidy and Neat
This is not the volume of keywords that determines your ROI. It is all about their performance. Your PPC marketing gets benefitted only when each of your PPC keywords pays you back. You need to make your campaigns neat with only those performing keywords.
I have found most of the advertiser’s account is unnecessarily complex and packed with underperforming keywords. At this juncture, most of the advertisers suggest using long tail PPC keywords.
My experience supports only small keywords inventories because they are simple to understand and manage. Though long tail keywords are more specific and less expensive but it can match the lower volume of traffic.
Long tail keywords are less competitive but at the same time, they will only sit around if you cannot make them work.
If you cannot use long tail keywords effectively, it can only expand your account. Long tail may face less competition and can save your money but they cannot make you meet your advertising goal.
Here comes the necessity of match types. Match type lets you fetch impressions from those PPC keywords that are not on your list.
It is the really good advantage of using match type proficiently. You can seek help for broad match type if you want to expand your account with effective keywords.
I would like to suggest you use the long tail as less as possible if you cannot control them or have mastered on them. It would be better to concentrate only on match type.
Summary
In short, the success of PPC Campaign is determined by how many performing PPC keywords are there and how successfully you are treating them.
You need to understand why people will click on your ad and how to transfer most of the clicks into conversions. As you concentrate on the reasons you will come up with more successive solutions.
Do not be so complicated. I suggest you run a separate campaign only with the performing keywords. It will make you understand what I have actually conveyed through these two discussions.
One more important thing- analyze PPC keywords performance before cut them out from your account. Do not make any changes without going through satisfactory justifications.