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Ad Scheduling Bid Adjustments for your Campaigns in Google AdWords

We have seen how to setup and use device level bid adjustments and location based bid adjustments. This blog is focused on ad scheduling bid adjustments. You can use ad scheduling bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bids for campaigns that show only on certain days or during certain hours. But before we get to ad scheduling bid adjustments, let’s revise the fundamentals of bid adjustments quickly.

What are Bid Adjustments?

Bid adjustments allow you to set the frequency of your ads. You can adjust the bid based on the time of the day, the location of the user, the device that the user is on when using Google search and more. Bid adjustments come in handy when you want to target certain audiences from a particular geography, a specific device or a particular time to show your ads.

In this blog, we will learn to setup a custom ad schedule followed by bid adjustments for the ad schedule.

How to setup a Custom Ad Schedule?

Note: Ad scheduling is available only for campaigns with “all features” enabled.

  1. Pick a campaign you want to setup a custom ad schedule for.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  2. Switch to setting after selecting the campaign.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  3. Select the ad scheduling tab under setting menu.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  4. If you have never scheduled an ad before, click on +ad schedule button.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  5. You will be prompted to choose a campaign.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  6. Once you choose the campaign ro schedule ads for, click on + create custom schedule.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  7. Now you can schedule your ads from the available options and hit save.
    ad scheduling bid adjustmentsThis is how you setup a custom ad schedule for a campaign of your choice. There a few thing you need to keep in mind though.– The ad schedules you set are based on your account’s time zone. Therefore, you should adjust your ad schedule keeping in mind the time zone your target customers are in.
    – The ad schedule is based on a 12-hour or 24-hour clock. Therefore, to schedule an ad to run from the end of one day through a portion of the next day, you should create an ad schedule for each day. If you are using a 12-hour clock, for example, to run an ad from Monday 11:00 P.M to Tuesday 7:00 A.M, your ad schedule for Monday should extend from 11:00 P.M to 12:00 A.M, while your Tuesday ad schedule should run from 12:00 A.M to 7:00 A.M.

    How to set Ad Scheduling Bid Adjustments?

    Once you have scheduled ads for your campaign following the steps above, adjusting bids for the same comes as a continuation. To create a new ad schedule and adjust its bid, you can start from step 1. If you want to adjust bids for an already existing ad schedule, you can start from step 8 (see below).

  8. From the list of ad schedules, select the row of the schedule that you want to set a bid for.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  9. Once you have selected the ad schedule, click on set bid adjustment tab.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  10. You can either increase the bid or decrease it. Enter a value in the box and click make changes to set the adjustment.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments
  11. You can leave the box empty to remove the bid adjustments.
    ad scheduling bid adjustments

An example of Ad Scheduling Bid Adjustment –

Let’s say you are advertising on AdWords to promote your new Art Exhibition that you are hosting at your home in Bakersfield, California. You are open from 10 AM to 4 PM on weekdays and from 11 AM to 8 PM on weekends. You have scheduled to show your ads on weekdays from 10 AM to 4 PM. Similarly, ads will show from 11 AM to 8 PM on weekends. You want to promote your weekend ads as there are other exhibitions open on weekends too. Now you use ad scheduling bid adjustment to increase the bids for the 11 AM to 8 PM ad schedule.

You increase your bid by 30% for 11 AM to 8 PM ad schedule.

Your starting bid: $5
Ad scheduling bid adjustment: + 30%
Resulting bid: $5 + (30% x $5) = $6.5

Hence, for any user searching for an art exhibition on weekends, your bid will be $6.5.

Note: Ad scheduling bid adjustments are not available for campaigns using an automated bid strategy.

The above example illustrates the usage of ad scheduling and ad scheduling bid adjustments. You can combine ad scheduling with location based and device level bid adjustments too.

Let’s see how you can combine two or more bid adjustments.

From the above example, we know that your bid for weekends is $6.5. You are adding location based bid of 20% for users who are in Bakersfield.

Your bid after ad scheduling bid adjustment: $6.5

Location based bid adjustment: +20%
Your total bid: $6.5 + (20% x $6.5) = $7.8

Hence, for any user searching for an art exhibition on weekends from Bakersfield, your bid will be $7.8.

Similarly, you can add more bid adjustments for your campaigns to improve the targeting of your campaigns. To understand how bidding in AdWords work, please read our AdWords auctions blog. And for more AdWords concepts, visit our AdWords and PPC blog.

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Device Level Bid Adjustments for your Campaigns in Google AdWords

In the previous blog, we understood the working of AdWords auctions in detail. We discussed Google’s adaptation of Vickrey Auction called Generalized Second Price Auction. We learned about Maximum Bid, Actual Bid and different Quality Factors that Google considers when deciding the Ad Position. I have also mentioned about Bid Adjustments. I will be explaining the basics of bid adjustments, how they can help an advertiser and what different types of bid adjustments (device level bid adjustments etc) are available in AdWords.

What are Bid Adjustments?

Bid adjustments allow you to set the frequency of your ads. You can adjust the bid based on the time of the day, the location of the user, the device that the user is on when using Google search and more. Bid adjustments come in handy when you want to target certain audiences from a particular geography, a particular time or a specific device to show your ads.

AdWords offers three basic bid adjustments, Device, Location and Ad Scheduling. In this blog, we will see how device level bid adjustments can be set.

Note: Bid adjustments are set by percentages either at campaign level or at ad group level.

How to set Device Level Bid Adjustments?

  1. Pick a campaign to which you want to add device level bid adjustment.
    device level bid adjustments 1
  2. Switch to setting after selecting the campaign.
    device level bid adjustments 2
  3. Select the devices tab under setting menu.
    device level bid adjustments 3
  4. Click on the cell corresponding to the device (computer, mobile, tablet) you want to adjust bid for in the Bid Adj column.
    device level bid adjustments 4
  5. You can either increase the bid or decrease it. Enter a value in the box and click Save to set the adjustment.
    device level bid adjustments 5
  6. You can leave the box empty to remove the bid adjustments.
    device level bid adjustments 6

Additional Information about Device Level Bid Adjustment –

You can set device level bid adjustment at ad group level too. Instead of selecting a campaign, select an ad group and follow the steps mentioned above.

Note: When you set a device level bid adjustment for a campaign and an ad group within that campaign, the ad group bid adjustment will be used to determine your bid.

The range of device level bid adjustment is -90% to +900%. If you don’t want to show ads for a particular device, set its bid -100% (decrease by 100%).

Note: If you decrease a campaign’s bid by 100% for a particular device, then the ad group-level adjustment for that device won’t be used.

An example of Device Level Bid Adjustment –

Let’s say you are advertising on AdWords to promote your Mobile Performance Optimizer app. Users searching from a mobile device are more likely to click on your ad rather than those on tablets or computers. You can use device level bid adjustment to bid higher or lower depending on the device the user is on.

  • You increase your bid by 50% for mobile devices.Your starting bid: $5
    Mobile bid adjustment: + 50%
    Resulting bid: $5 + (50% x $5) = $7.5Hence, for any user searching from a mobile, your bid will be $7.5.
  • You decrease your bid by 30% for computers and tablets.Your starting bid: $5
    Computer and tablet bid adjustment: – 30%
    Resulting bid: $5 – (30% x $5) = $3.5


Hence, for any user searching from a computer or tablet, your bid will be $3.5.

I hope the example has given you an idea on how you can use device level bid adjustments to render your campaigns more efficient. Following the above steps you can set device level bid adjustments to your campaigns. We will discuss location based bid adjustments in the next blog.

 

 

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Location Based Bid Adjustments for your Campaigns in Google AdWords

We have learned the basics of device level bid adjustments and how to set them up in the previous blog. We have also discussed how auctions in AdWords work. In this blog, we will see how location based bid adjustments can be set. But before we get into that, lets recap on what bid adjustments are first.

What are Bid Adjustments?

Bid adjustments allow you to set the frequency of your ads. You can adjust the bid based on the time of the day, the location of the user, the device that the user is on when using Google search and more.

Note: Bid adjustments are set by percentages either at campaign level or at ad group level.

You can use location based bid adjustments to target audiences from specific geographies. You can also adjust bids for locations where you don’t want to show your ads.

Say you own a chain of cafes, you can use location based bid adjustments to customize your ads or bid higher for such locations.

How to set Location Based Bid Adjustments?

  1. Pick a campaign to which you want to add location based bid adjustment.
    location based bid adjustments 1
  2. Switch to setting after selecting the campaign.
    location based bid adjustments 2
  3. Select the locations tab under setting menu.
    location based bid adjustments 3
  4. Click on the cell corresponding to the location you want to adjust bid for in the Set Bid Adjustment tab.
    location based bid adjustments 4
  5. You can either increase the bid or decrease it. Enter a value in the box and click make changes to set the adjustment.
    location based bid adjustments 5
  6. You can leave the box empty to remove the bid adjustments.
    location based bid adjustments 6

Additional Information about Location Based Bid Adjustment –

Unlike device level bid adjustments, you can’t set location based bid adjustments at an ad group level. This setting is available only at the campaign level. However, the range of location based bid adjustment is also -90% to +900%. And if you don’t want to show ads for a particular location, set its bid -100% (decrease by 100%).

Note: You can also add new locations to target. In the screenshot below, you see a + locations button left of set bid adjustments. You can target a specific city, a region under the city, a state or a country as a whole too.
location based bid adjustments 7

You can also use location extension to target users who are located around your business area. Using the location extension, you can show your business location, phone number, and a marker on the map. You can specify a radius around your business location and bid accordingly using location extension.

An example of Location Based Bid Adjustments –

Let’s say you are advertising on AdWords to promote your new chain of cafes in New York. You have multiple outlets operational in Queens, Brooklyn and JFK Airport, but not in Manhattan. Users looking for a cafe from Queens, Brooklyn and from around JFK Airport are clearly the ones you want to target. You would still want to show up for people searching from Manhattan because you are opening shortly, but you don’t want to bid high. However, you can adjust your bid based on the location of the users to improve the impact of your ads.

  • You increase your bid by 25% for locations Queens, Brooklyn and JFK Airport.Your starting bid: $2.5
    Location bid adjustment: + 25%
    Resulting bid: $2.5 + (25% x $2.5) = $3.125 Hence, for any user searching for a cafe around Queens, Brooklyn and JFK Airport, your bid will be $3.125.
  • You decrease your bid by 20% for location Manhattan.Your starting bid: $2.5
    Location bid adjustment: – 20%
    Resulting bid: $2.5 – (20% x $2.5) = $2.0

Hence, for any user searching from the Manhattan region, your bid will be $2.0.

The above example is to give you an idea on how you can use location based bid adjustments. Following the above steps you can set location based bid adjustments to your campaigns. We will discuss ad scheduling bid adjustments in the next blog.

 

 

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How does AdWords auction work?

.We all are very familiar with auctions and AdWords auction is very similar to them. A traditional auction is a public process of bidding for (buying and selling) goods/services. Instead of fixed prices, participants place bids. The highest bid is declared the winner and the product is sold off. A bid is a price the participants are willing to pay for a good/service on auction.

Google AdWords also follows a similar approach. Advertisers use AdWords to bid on different keywords. A single keyword can have multiple bids. And a single keyword also has multiple winners.

What are advertisers bidding for on AdWords?

The simplest answer is Keywords. But it is not entirely true. Advertisers are bidding to show their ad copies for particular keywords. To make this idea easily understandable, I will use an example.

Let me introduce you to four advertisers Aman, Bob, Caity, and Disha. These advertisers are using AdWords to promote their Microwave Safe Boxes. Hence, all of their keyword lists are identical. For a keyword, Microwave Safe Boxes, all of them have placed a bid. Aman bids $2, Bob’s bid is $3, Caity’s bid is $4 and Disha’s bid is $5. A user looking for Microwave Safe Boxes types the same on Google Search.

Advertiser Max Bid Ad Position (tentative)
Aman $2 4
Bob $3 3
Caity $4 2
Disha $5 1

What would happen now?

Every time a search query is entered on Google Search, an auction takes place. Yes, on an average, Google runs three billion (approx) AdWords auctions each day. There are four participants and four bids in this auction for the keyword Microwave Safe Boxes. And the aim of these participants is to win the AdWords auction and get their ad shown to the user.

Whose ad will be shown to the user?

It is very obvious that the highest bidder wins. So in the above situation, Disha wins the AdWords auction and Google awards her ad the first position on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). But that is not it. Caity’s ad will also be listed on the results page. Her ad will be in the second position followed by Bob’s ad in the third position.

To avoid any confusion, let me explain what just happened. Google offers more than one position for advertisers to showcase their ads. In fact, on a SERP, Google provides up to eight ad positions. Four of them appear on the top, i.e. above the organic results on the results page. And four more appear at the bottom, below the organic results.

Note: There are other parameters besides the advertiser’s bid. We have considered them to be constant for now. We shall discuss them a little later in this blog.

How much does an advertiser pay?

This question might sound very silly, but trust me, it isn’t. Most of the readers would give a definite answer very promptly. However, the bid amount an advertiser agreed to pay is not the answer.

Disha bid $5, but Google doesn’t charge her $5 for her ad. Google charges her $4.01. Caity bid $4, but she pays Google a sum of $3.01 to retain the second position. Similarly, Google charges Bob $2.01 to place his ad third on the results page.

What is Generalized Second Price Auction?

Before I clarify why Google charged Disha $4.01 only and Caity $3.01, let me introduce you to the concept of Generalized Second Price Auction (GSP). A Second Price Auction or Vickrey Auction is a bidding process where multiple bidders bid for a single item. The highest bidder wins, but they have to pay the price of the second highest to keep the product. Generalized Second Price Auction (GSP) is an adaptation of Vickrey Auction; Google uses this approach when selling AdWords ad positions.

When there are multiple items to be sold to bidders, auctioneers follow GSP. And in AdWords, these items are ad positions on the results page. Every bidder places their bid. Auctioneers sort all these bids in descending order. The highest bidder wins the first position and the second highest bidder wins the second position and so on. But Google charges each winning bidder the bid of the next highest bidder.

I believe you can now relate to why Google charged Disha only $4.01, Caity $3.01 and so on. The additional one cent is to outbid the next highest bidder and retain the current ad position.

This is a very easy breakdown of how Google auctions the ad position/slots for AdWords advertisers. But this is not it. Google considers various other factors besides an advertiser’s bid to decide whether an ad is listed or not.

Note:

In the above example and in the explanation that followed the example, please read an advertiser’s bid as Maximum Bid. Maximum Bid is the amount an advertiser is willing to pay to Google for a given keyword and the ad associated with the keyword. An advertiser defines the Maximum Bid well ahead of the auction. It is not the Actual Bid. Actual Bid is what Google charges the advertiser after the AdWords auction. Actual Bid for an advertiser is usually a cent greater than the bid of the advertiser in the second position.

What quality factors does Google consider before adjusting an advertiser a winner in the auction for ad position?

It is true that AdWords auctions don’t just use the Maximum Bid as a cue, there are other factors associated. And it is important to understand why these additional factors are essential.

Google follows a well-defined norm to help advertisers and user. And the additional factors (we haven’t discussed them yet) help Google stick to this norm.

“Showing relevant ads at a higher ad position.”

Google understands that its users want to see ads that actually mean something to them. Likewise, advertisers also want to present relevant ads to users to gain clicks and accelerate their business growth.

Now let’s look at the quality factors that Google uses to assess the quality of an ad before deciding the position of an ad.

  • Expected Clickthrough Rate: Google considers the feedback of the users. Google counts every click of a user as a vote. Hence, a good click-through rate means approval by majority users. Thus, Google deems an ad with a good click-through to be the best for a particular search query.
  • Landing Page Experience: Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist very rightly points out that an ad is only useful to a user if the landing page helps them find what they are looking for. For the benefit of users as well as advertisers, Google recommends a high-quality landing page.
  • Ad Relevance: Google equipped its algorithms to analyze the language in an advertiser’s ad copy. And by this analysis, the system determines how relevant it is to a search query. This way, advertiser’s don’t have to worry about losing money on irrelevant/low-quality clicks.

What is Ad Format?

Ad Format: Even though this isn’t a typical quality factor, Google is particular about the ad format too. An ad with an extension containing a phone number, website URL, and additional information is of more benefit to a user than a bland ad. Ads offering more value will also drive a better click through rate. Likewise, ads with more information are more relevant.

Google combines quality factors and ad format impact with maximum bid set by advertisers to derive a score for ads. This score is called the Ad Rank. Google uses ad rank to decide an ad’s Ad position (higher or lower).

Quality factors and ad format impact are clubbed into a Quality Score.  Google then multiplies the Quality Score with Maximum Bid to derive the Ad Rank.

Ad Rank = Quality Score x Maximum Bid

Note:

Google ranks Quality Score on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest.

Following the example from above, all the four advertisers also have a Quality Score associated with their keywords now. Let’s see what their Ad Ranks come out to be. And how ad ranks are going to change the ad positioning.

Advertiser Max Bid Quality Score Ad Rank Ad Position (final)
Aman $2 9 18 3
Bob $3 5 15 4
Caity $4 7 28 1
Disha $5 4 20 2

From the two tables, we can very easily see a significant change in the ad position. Quality Score did play a crucial role. Disha, who bid the highest ($5) couldn’t secure the top position. Aman, who bid the lowest ($2) could still secure a better position than Bob who bid higher than him.

How much is an advertiser actually charged? What is the Actual Cost-Per-Click?

To calculate the actual CPC of any advertiser on Google AdWords, we can use the following formula.

Actual CPC = [(Ad Rank of the next highest bid)/(Quality Score of advertiser)] + 0.01

We can use this formula to calculate the actual cost-per-click that Google charges all the four advertisers. Caity holds the top position. Her actual CPC is $2.87. Disha holds the second spot. Her actual CPC is $4.51. Aman holds the third spot. His actual CPC is $1.67.

The gist of the blog –

Through auctions in Google AdWords, advertisers aim at getting a better Ad Rank. A good Ad Rank helps in retaining a higher ad position on SERP. Quality Score and Maximum Bid are the two key components of ad rank. In order to spend less and gain a good ad position, the Quality Score has to be optimized. Similarly, increasing the Maximum Bid to rank first is also a bad practice. Instead, you should optimize your Quality Score.

And not to forget, AdWords allows advertisers to adjust their bids not just based on keywords they pick. Advertisers can choose when their keywords should take part in an AdWords auction. Which means that they get to decide when, where and how to show their ads. Bids can be adjusted based on the time of the day, the location of the user, the device that the user is on when using Google search and more.

 

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15 Mistakes to avoid when creating an AdWords campaigns for a Dentist

Being in a field of dentistry, it isn’t very easy to succeed in AdWords. You have to adhere to the best practices in AdWords for a dentist. Also, keep up with Google’s latest features as it keeps on changing from time to time. Here, we will be discussing common mistakes by dentists during their life cycle with AdWords:

To begin, few of  the most common mistakes committed by a dentists are as below:

Using Location specific keywords only

Although location specific keywords make a lot of sense as it targets the most relevant patients. Using just location specific keywords can be a problem as you may end up losing a lot of relevant searches.
For example,
If you are a dentist based out of Manhattan and targeting for keyword Consult dentist in Manhattan, you will miss out on potential patients searching for term Consult dentist. It is hence highly recommended to use main keywords like Consult dentist, Visit dentist in your campaigns. You can add location specific keywords to your campaign but they should not be the only one.

Redirecting patients to Home Page

This is one of the unfortunate yet one of the most common mistakes by dentists. Once the customer has clicked on your Ad, the smart thing to do is to send them the page which is most relevant to their search. Users might not find what they are looking for in the home page and can easily bounce off. The home page is less relevant as users have to go through the extra steps to reach their desired destination. Hence different landing page is the right way although it may take some time and effort

Incorrect Match Type

It is a very tempting thought to be found by as many people as possible and ‘Broad match type’ feeds exactly upon that greed. It is important to accept that we want customers who click on our ads to also be interested in the service we offer. Hence it is better if you use Broad match modifier, phrase and exact match type instead of broad match type as it probably will attract more clicks from patients who have no interest in your service. You can read more about Broad match modifier

Generic Ad Headlines

Earlier, Google only allowed 25 character headlines where every dentist wanted to use keywords like “Dental”, “Dentist”, “teeth”, “Dentistry”, etc in their Ad. But after the release of expanded text ads last year, Google allows 2 headlines of 30 characters each separated by a hyphen(-). To learn how to write a well-written ad, read my other article AdWords for Dentists.

Using All keywords (dentist related) suggested by Google

To simplify the process, Google helps you with a set of suggested keywords relevant to your business considering your website or your existing AdWords setup, but it is not a good idea to allow them to decide what will and what will not work for your kind of business. There is no harm in taking help from Google suggestions but at the end of it should be your call whether a keyword should or should not be a part of your campaign.

Not using Negative keywords in your account

This is another mistake that is very common amongst dentists. Dentists select the keywords relevant to their business. But, it is also important to put all those dental services which they do not offer as negative keywords.
For example, you do not offer dental services for children while other dentists do. Here you should put “pediatric”, “children”, etc under the negative keywords list. Read more about AdNabu’s Negative Keyword tool. 

Failure to localize your clinic

As most dentistry services are run by a private clinic, We have observed a lot of dentists targeting to a specific city or state, which is a very wrong approach unless you live in Vatican City. Few ways to make sure you are targeting the right audience are using:

  • Radius location targeting
  • Location setting
    The option in Google are to select either “People in my targeted location” or “People in, searching for, viewing pages about my targeted location” based on nature of your requirement
  • Location extension
    This option helps the patient recognize your location within the ad itself. Also, it is a hyperlink that acts as a navigator/ map for your clinic

Incorrect grouping of Keywords under campaign

Most of the marketers make this mistake of adding multiple keywords to a single AdGroup. It is difficult to optimize the campaign in this scenario as it is difficult to understand how each of the keyword is working for you. We at AdNabu, recommend creating single keyword ad groups and using all the three main match types in google. Making an effort and creating well-thought campaigns can prove to be beneficial for you as you can create campaigns which does not compete with itself. AdNabu can help you automatically structure your campaign and create single keyword ad groups

Assuming a single phrase will suffice for all synonym phrases

The way you say something is different from how others say it. Similarly, the way everyone searches on Google is different. The language you use holds different connotations and propels a different intellectual and emotional responses, therefore you need to think about how your ad phrase affects those viewing your ads.
For example, “Find dentist”, “Call dentist”, “Look for a dentist”, “search for dentist”, etc have more or less the same meaning but some may feel more appealing/ compelling to click than others. So, choose your phrases wisely. Our recommendation is to advertise for all of them

Failure to track AdWords performance

Sometimes dentists say that creating and starting an AdWords campaigns in itself is an overwhelming task. And we see a common pattern among dentists. They fail to measure the performance beyond number of clicks. However, it is the worst thing you can do to your AdWords campaign. It is like performing a root canal successfully and not stitching the wound, in the end, doesn’t matter how successfully you performed the surgery, leaving it open will only screw your entire performance. Tracking performance will help you monitor the campaign and eventually optimize them correctly.

Staying hung up on your Ad copy

Another common mistake dentists do is by not trusting numbers more than your creativity. An Ad copy best to your knowledge and creativity, may not be the best copy for your Ad. Hence falling in love with your Ad copy is not a wise idea unless it is backed by numbers. Also, it is always recommended to do A/B testing with multiple Ad copies to find the one that works for you the best.

Cost versus Conversion

Over a period of time, you will find a set of keywords working fine for you. Your goal may be to get a maximum number of visitors but when evaluating, you may not want to pay $10 per click as it would not be a feasible deal for you. On the other hand, you might want to pay some extra amount for conversions which are very specific to you.


For example, If you specialize in Dental surgery with an average CPC of your campaign at $3. For keywords like  Dentist near me or Find dentist online, you have 1% conversion rate, hence you pay around $3 per click but there is another keyword Dental Surgery near me and Root canal service with surprisingly 4x conversion than generic keywords, but here, the CPC is $8. It may seem like a huge amount to pay per click but if you evaluate the conversion ratio, it is worth spending the amount.

Not knowing LifeTime Value(LTV) of patients

How do you evaluate if your spend on acquiring each customer is more than their lifetime value? LTV is the revenue generated from each customer during their business with you. It takes a while but you could evaluate what a person pays to you based on consultation, treatments, follow ups, etc and find an average LTV for your customers and make sure your cost per acquisition is less than LTV to make AdWords profitable for you

Hung up on Ad positioning

Here, you need to determine your end goal from the campaign. If you are aiming to improve your brand name, then targeting for the 1st position is a great idea. But if your goal is to get the best business, number one position may not be the wisest choice. You might be paying a higher amount for each bid as compared to other positions. Data suggests that other positions (2 & 3) are equally likely to bring you the same business.
Deciding between if the 1st or the 3rd position for a specific search term will work for you is not something we can recommend as it depends on various factors. But we would definitely recommend you to go ahead and change your bids lower and higher for different ad groups based on conversion ratio to explore what works best for you.  

Not knowing your Competitors (fellow dentists)

It is always wise to test waters before getting in AdWords. Knowing who you are competing with is a must. Evaluating their strength and weaknesses can help you build and evaluate your performance better. Comparing Ad copies, landing pages, website, etc is something, to begin with. Think who would you go to, as an unbiased customer? Do you need a better design, a cleaner look, and feel, security factors, testimonials, social proof, authority, or something else? Create a checklist of changes and apply to your website or ad copy. And benchmark the new data with your old data to see if there is an improvement.

Expecting too much too soon

Make sure to give respectable budget and time to your first campaign to run successfully. If you quit too soon, you might end up creating a negative opinion about AdWords even though that might not be true in your case. Be sensible while you evaluate the power of AdWords or else you might never know the value it can add for your business.


For example, If you target an area where there are large search volumes for dentistry and provide a budget that does not even last a day, the results won’t be great. In another case, you might just have estimated the appropriate budget. But since you got no conversion on day 1, you stopped the campaign and thought maybe PPC ads don’t work for you. In either of the above case, you cannot justify that your evaluation as correct. Be a little experimental, generous and patient with AdWords.

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What is Customer Match in Google AdWords?

Not many advertisers are familiar with the term called Identity-based targeting, neither did I. I managed to understand the term’s theoretical implications, but practical applications were still hard to grasp. However, Google has made it easy for us to get the idea of identity-based targeting right. Google has introduced a new feature called Customer Match in AdWords.

What is Customer Match in Google AdWords?

AdWords Customer Match lets advertisers target their ads to customers based on data about those customers that advertisers share with Google. The data identifier for customers is in the form of email addresses.

Note: Google insists advertisers procure these email addresses from first party procedures.

How does Customer Match work?

Creating a Customer Match list in Google AdWords is very easy. We can break it down into 4 simple steps.

  1. Go to the shared library tab. You can find it on the left side of your AdWords account.
    Customer Match 1
  2. From the options, click on audiences. You will see different remarketing options. Customer emails option is our interest of them all.
    Customer Match 2
  3. Create a new list from create list option below customer emails. And please note that membership duration should depend on your average sales cycle. However, we recommend advertisers to set it longer. This is because we don’t want to miss out on potential leads.
    Customer Match 3
  4. By clicking upload and save list button, you are accepting to the policies of Google. It might take up to 3 hours to complete the process. You can view the progress under audiences tab.

Just by following these easy steps, one can create a Customer Match list on Google AdWords. Also, Google offers this feature on Search, Shopping, YouTube and Gmail campaigns only.

How to set targeting using Customer Match?

After creating the Customer Match list, you have to implement it in various campaigns of your choice to activate the targeting feature. To set targeting, follow the below steps.

  1. In the audiences tab, you can access the targeting options.
    Customer Match 4
  2. From the targeting tab, you can add a campaign or an ad group you want to set the targeting for.
    Customer Match 5
  3. After selecting the campaign, select Interests & remarketing targeting.
    Customer Match 6
  4. And from the drop down, select customer email lists and pick the list of your choice.

Another thing to note is that campaigns may take up to 12 hours to start serving with the updated remarketing list i.e Customer Match list.

Customer Match also helps advertisers discover Similar Audience that could be interested in their offerings.

Customer Match 7

Why to use Customer Match?

Customer Match is a useful advertising tool for many business goals, from increasing brand awareness to driving performance.

  • On YouTube, reach new audiences, by targeting similar audiences to your most valuable customers.
  • On Gmail, reach your customers or a similar audience with personalized ads at the top of their inbox tabs, in addition to your email campaigns.
  • And on the Search Network, and Google Shopping optimize your campaigns by adjusting your bid based on what you know about your customers’ activities.

Furthermore, Customer Match is a perfect implementation of identity-based targeting. Most of all, with a little experience, advertisers can master making the most of it. For any help regarding the same, write to us or visit the AdWords help page.

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What are campaigns in AdWords?

We are well-versed with keywords, ad copies, and bids. We did learn about Ad Groups in one of the previous blogs. In this blog, I want to explain what campaigns are in AdWords. We will learn about the different campaign types, best practices and more.

What is a Campaign?

A campaign, in general, is an organized way to achieve a goal. Similarly, a campaign is the first step of organizing an AdWords account. A campaign is a set of several Ad Groups. And the goal an advertiser sets to achieve is simple – To acquire as many customers as possible profitably. Google defines a campaign as a set of ad groups that share a budget, location targeting, and other settings.

Campaigns

The diagram above is a rough sketch of how an AdWords account is structured. You can see that one single AdWords account can hold multiple campaigns. And one single campaign can have more than one Ad Group.

A campaign in AdWords is more than just a set of Ad Groups. A campaign has a lot more to offer. Google allows adjustments to parameters like budget, target location, ad scheduling, ad rotation and bidding at the campaign level only. AdWords has different campaign types to suit the needs of different advertisers.

What are different types of campaigns in AdWords?

Campaign types are based on the advertising networks [Search, Display, and YouTube] Google provides. AdWords has six primary campaign types.

  • Search Network with Display Select
  • Search Network Only
  • Display Network Only
  • Shopping
  • Video
  • Universal App

Advertisers can use each of these campaign types to achieve very specific goals. But it is important to note, the basics of choosing a campaign type start from understanding the advertising networks better. Let’s see what each campaign type has to offer and what goals can be achieved.

Search Network with Display Select –

Advertisers who are promoting a new business can run a campaign using Search Network with Display Select type. This type of campaign supports text, image, rich media, and video ads. Google shows these ads on SERPs of search network and at relevant places on the display network. The advertiser’s budget, therefore,  is shared across search and display network. At AdNabu, we don’t encourage our customers with search with display select. This is because conversion rates associated with this campaign type are low.

Search Network Only –

Search network only campaign helps advertisers target potential customers when they search for a product or service online. Google matches advertiser’s keywords to user search queries and displays relevant ads. Google supports only text ads on this of campaigns. Services like brokerage, advocacy, etc use search network extensively.  Search network can influence a user when making a purchase as it targets them at the decision making stage at the end of buying cycle.

Display Network Only –

Google’s display network is spread almost all across the internet. And many websites partner with Google to display ads of advertisers using AdWords. Google supports text, image, rich media and video ads throughout the display network. Ads appear at selected places on partner websites and YouTube. Advertisers can also target their ads based on the content (“cnn.com”, “camping gear”) or according to their target audience (“young moms”, “people buying an apartment”) or based on the location and more.

Shopping –

Shopping campaigns are probably the best pick for most retailers. These campaigns help retailers bring their local inventories online, also reach wider customers. A shopping ad contains the image of the product, price, additional text and also a link to the landing page with relevant seller information. Retailers, first of all, need to upload their product feed to the Merchant Center. Google places ads on the SERPs of search network, on partner websites, and on Google Shopping in select countries.

Video –

Video campaigns let advertisers show their video ads. The ads can be standalone or can also be a part other video streaming on websites. Google offers three formats in video campaigns. TrueView in-stream ads, TrueView video discovery ads, and Bumper ads. Colorful animation can draw the attention of a lot of viewers. When done right, Video campaigns can be of a great benefit for advertisers. Since they have a potential to bring in new website visitors. Hence, they can also boost the sales.

Universal App –

Universal App campaigns are almost effective in promoting app downloads. Promoters don’t need to fabricate ad copies, instead, Google takes care of this. Google displays ads across different formats that are compatible with all the networks. These ads are displayed on Google search network, Google Play, and relevant YouTube pages. At AdNabu we don’t recommend universal app campaigns. Because they lack optimization options and insights.

Campaign subtypes –

All of these campaign types come with further customization. Google calls them the campaign subtypes. Campaign subtypes let advertisers restrict or allow themselves from using advanced campaign options on AdWords. Two basic campaign subtypes are:

  • Standard: With standard campaign settings, advertisers can access basic location and language targeting.Bidding and budget settings, and common ad extensions too.
  • All features: With all features campaign settings, advertisers get access to more advanced options, such as social and experimental settings, ad scheduling and ad delivery methods, and advanced location options.

AdWords also offers two more specialized campaign subtype setting that advertisers can use to reach potential customers.

  • Remarketing: Advertisers can target people who already visited their website. Google shows text, image, or video ads to such targeted people when they browse other sites on the Display Network.
  • Ads in mobile apps: Advertisers can also reach people using mobile phones and tablets by showing your ads in apps. Google matches ads to apps through the Display Network.

In conclusion, Google aims at helping advertisers make the most of their spend on AdWords. Google does this using campaign type and subtype. However, for advertisers who have just started on AdWords, campaign creation might be a bit of a task. But worry not, AdNabu has a campaign creation tool to ease the effort. From finding the right keywords to structuring the campaigns using Single Keyword Ad Groups, AdNabu does it all. AdNabu also provides negative keyword tool and duplicate keyword tool to curb any internal competition. With AdNabu, you are ready to create the perfect AdWords campaign.

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What is Impression Share in Google AdWords?

Google defines Impression share (IS) as the percentage of impressions an ad receives to the total number of impressions that an ad could get.

The definition is self-explanatory. But how can you calculate your Impression share? What are the types of Impression share? And what are its implications? We will discuss all that in this blog.

Impression share (IS) calculation –

(IS) = Impressions received / Total eligible impressions

Google uses this formula to calculate the Impression share. Google estimated eligible impressions using many factors, including targeting settings, approval statuses, and quality. Impression share data is available for campaigns, ad groups, product groups (for shopping campaigns), and keywords. Usually this data has a time lag of 2 to 3 days and will only be shown for campaigns/ad groups/keywords with significant impressions.

Types of Impression Share (IS) in AdWords –

  • Search IS –  (IS) only for impressions generated through Search Network.
  • Display IS –  (IS) only for impressions generated through Display Network.
  • Search Lost IS (budget) – The percentage of impressions lost out on Search Network due to insufficient budget.
  • Display Lost IS (budget) – The percentage of impressions lost out on Display Network due to insufficient budget.
  • Search Lost IS (rank) – The percentage of impressions lost out on Search Network due to low ad rank.
  • Display Lost IS (rank) – The percentage of impressions lost out on Display Network due to low ad rank.
  • Search Exact Match IS – (IS) from Search Network for search queries that matched keywords exactly.

Note: Lost (IS) due to low budget is available only at the campaign level.

Implications of Impression Share (IS) –

Impression share gives us an idea on how bidding high on a keyword or increasing the budget of a campaign improves the visibility of ads.

If keyword bids are low, the risk of not winning an ad space on the first SERP is inevitable. And this might put you in a position where you are losing impressions, clicks, and conversions. This isn’t good for your business. Using Average Position metric of keywords along with Impression share, you can understand what has gone wrong. The Average Position is good, but the share of impressions is low. Your ads are not getting the kind of exposure that is supposed to be at such high positions.

Likewise, Google doesn’t show your ads if your daily budget gets exhausted. The budget is low, and it gets exhausted by mid-day. You are missing out on impressions for the rest of the day. And for very obvious reasons, it isn’t a good practice. We highly recommend our advertisers to reduce Impression share lost due to budget (preferably zero)

How does Google estimate Impression share?

Google monitors the auctions over the course of a day. Google uses internal information such as quality for you and all other participants in the same ad auctions. Impression share includes all auctions where your ad showed and all auctions where your ad is competitive enough to show. Google estimates IS based on when your ad was competitive in the auction. You don’t need to worry when there are small fluctuations. Changes to your bids, quality, or Google’s ad systems may change the set of auctions in which the system estimates you were competitive. Google could include auctions where your ad could show at twice its current bid. But Google could also exclude auctions where your ad needs a 1,000% bid increase in order to appear.

Impression share estimation for Shopping Ads –

Google calculates IS for Shopping campaigns similarly to text ads. However, Google considers that multiple Shopping ads from the same advertiser can show at the same time. And in order to avoid double counting when multiple ads from the same advertiser are in the same auction, AdWords assigns the impression and the impression opportunity to the highest ranked Shopping ad from that advertiser.

Besides the budget and bid, quality of the ad copy and geotargeting setting also impact the Impression share. Lesser restriction on targeting and improved ad copy quality can boost the share of impressions.

Where to find the Impression share data in AdWords?

You can find the IS data under the Columns button in AdWords. You have to choose “customize columns”, then “competitive metrics”, where all of the different Impression share metrics are available.

Impression Share

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How can you become Google Premier Partners?

Google Premier PartnersBefore we discuss Google Premier Partners status, let me give you a brief on what is Google Partners program and why Google took this initiative. This information is an abstract of my article “How do you become a Google Partner?”.

What is Google Partners program and what is the need?

Google Partners program is an initiative by Google to help AdWords users find the best of AdWords help. Individuals or companies with Google Partners badge are verified and certified by Google. Users can approach such individuals or companies without worrying about the risk of fraud or unexpected outcomes. Advertising agencies, digital marketing professionals, and individuals who manage their own  AdWords accounts or for clients are eligible for this program.

Who are Google Premier Partners?

Google Partners program was a success. Many individuals and agencies got on board the Google Partners program. However, due to the increasing numbers of partners, Google wanted to classify further. Thus Google Premier Partners got into place. Google Premier Partners are partners with added responsibilities. Premier Partners have bigger targets to achieve. Premier Partners have higher expectations to live up to. And not to mention the classified benefits that Google offers.

Why become a Premier Partner with Google?

To start with, Premier Partners get a direct access to Google. Premier Partners are granted with support and information that is exclusive. There is no way around to get the same. Google teams provide seamless assistance to Premier Partners, not just with the product, but at business and administration levels too. Premier Partners also have an edge over the competition. They have better advertising packages to offer to their clients.

Premier Partners is focused on helping Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) compete with larger organizations in their domain. And the perks offered by Google to Premier Partners surely put them toe-to-toe with others.

How to become a Premier Partner with Google?

Becoming a Google Partner is not much of a task. But, you have to break a sweat to earn the Premier Partner badge. Regular interactions with Google support team is just the start. Google is going to put you and your account through scrutiny. From the business model and aesthetics to end-customer satisfaction are taken into consideration.

To draw a line between Google Partners and Premier Partners, Google has provided this table that throws light both.

Google Partners vs Google Premier Partners

Google assesses the company’s performance based on the AdWords manager account linked to the company profile. Different criteria that Google considers to determine Premier Partner’s progress are:

  • Client revenue growth
  • Client retention
  • Overall revenue growth
  • Growth in number of advertisers

Spend requirements are that Partners need to fulfill are as follows:

  • AdWords manager account that’s at least 90 days old
  • Spend activity in at least 60 of the last 90 days
  • At least $10,000 USD (or local currency equivalent) in total Google ad spend during the last 90 calendar days

And to earn the Premier Partner badge, companies must demonstrate higher spending levels. These spend thresholds vary by country and market area.

What are the advantages of working with a Premier Partner?

AdNabu is a Premier Partner with Google. Company specializations include Search, Mobile, Display and Shopping advertising. With in-house tools for campaign creation, optimization, growth hacking,  and support, AdNabu regularly meets the requirements of Google and expectations of its customers.

There are numerous benefits of working with a Premier Partner, be it AdNabu or others. Besides access to industry experts in PPC marketing, quick response from Google support for client queries is reserved for Premier Partners. What this means is that you can rest while we fix problems (if any) with your AdWords accounts in a jiffy.

To sum it up, becoming a Premier Partner can be an overwhelming task. It is achievable with persistence and a steady performance. However, working with a Premier Partner also has the same benefits as becoming a partner. So take your time and choose your step accordingly.

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What is Google Partners Program?

Google Partners What is a Google Partner?

Google Partners is a program offered by Google. Advertising agencies, digital marketing professionals can become partners. In addition, individuals who manage their own AdWords accounts or for their clients are also eligible for this program.

Furthermore, Google Partners program offers various benefits for individuals and agencies. And the benefits also include free training, certification to expanding the reach and finding new clients.

Why did Google start Partners program?

First of all, Google AdWords is one of the leading online advertising platforms. As a result, Google receives regular requests for AdWords help. Similarly, Google also receives fraud reports and scams by different pseudo advertising agencies. To address these flooding requests and reports, Google devised this program. After detailed scrutinization, individuals or agencies get certified as Google Partners.  And this helps Google, experts, and users in making the best of AdWords.

What are the benefits of becoming part of Google Partners?

Google Partners program comes with added benefits for both individuals and agencies. Below are the highlights of all the benefits that can be availed.

Individuals as Partners-

  • Become an expert: Google Partners program offers free exams for individuals. Google also provides free study material for the same. If you pass the exams, you will earn certifications from Google. The exams focus on accessing your knowledge of Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and mobile site development. And when you become a certified partner, you can showcase your expertise with a personalized, printable certificate and a Google Partners public profile page.
  • Connect with Google: Not just certificates, with the Google Partners program, you can get access to events and training, industry research, product updates, and the active Google Partners Community.

Agencies as Partners-

  • Earn Partner status: Passing the exams and earning certifications can help companies qualify for Partner status. Companies who qualify for Partner status earn the Partner or Premier Partner badge. These badges indicate that you’ve demonstrated AdWords skill and expertise and met the AdWords spend requirements. These badges also show that you have delivered agency and client revenue growth. They also say that you sustained and grew your client base.
  • Earn company specializations: Companies with Partner status and that meet the requirements can earn specializations. Company specializations display your expertise in specific products. Specializations can help you win business and differentiate yourself from the rest in the market.
  • Find new clients: Companies that earn the Partner or Premier Partner badge can get listed on Google Partner Search, our search engine for Partners. Advertisers use Google Partner Search to find companies that can help them with their online advertising and website needs.
  • Connect with Google: Companies with Google Partner status will get access to additional events, training, and more. Partner companies will also be able to access AdWords promotional offers for prospective and existing clients.

How to become a Google Partner?

First of all, registering an account to become a Google Partner is very easy. When you sign up for partners program, Google will ask you to create an account as an individual. And for your company too.

Individual Registration as a Google Partner-

  • Sign in to Partners.
  • Click My Profile in the navigation bar.
  • Fill out the following information:
    – Mailing address    : To receive exclusive promotional offers from Google, the mailing address is necessary.
    –     Phone number: If it interests you, you can opt for calls from Google with updates on your Partner account.
    –     Primary country: Your primary region of business helps Google provide you personalized offers.
    –     Job Function: Select your job role from the drop-down menu.
    –     Company affiliation: If your company is already a partner, you can select it from the list. If not, I have listed down the steps to register your company.
    –     AdWords manager account: Google offers AdWords promotional offers only to individuals with AdWords manager account. A manager account is also must to register your company as a partner on Google.
    –     Interests: Your interests can include different advertising channels you are using, markets you are exploring and services you are offering.

Note: When you create your company’s account, you’ll become the account administrator. And then you will get access to information like your agency’s Partner badge status. However, if you don’t want to be the long-term administrator, you can set someone else as an admin who is affiliated with your company.

Company Registration as a Google Partner-

  • Sign in to Partners.
  • In the Overview section, enter your company’s name in the search box and select the correct suggestion.
  • If your company’s name doesn’t appear in the search results, click +Add company.
  • Fill out the following information:
    Company name: Google verifies the credentials and confirms adds the name to the official list.
    Website URL: Google sends a confirmation to the registered email, website URL verification is a must.
    Primary Country: Enter the location of your business interest.

Note: To earn the Google Partners badge, Google deems it is necessary to get at least 1 affiliated individual certified in AdWords.

Hence, by following the above-mentioned steps, an individual or a company can become a Google Partner. For more information on Google Partners program, visit the help page provided by Google.

Google Partners program also has an advanced level called the Premier Partners. AdNabu is also a Premier Partner with Google.