Paid search sometimes gets a bad rap, as various studies have shown that (depending on whose numbers you believe), anywhere from 75% to 85% of all clicks are on organic, rather than paid,  links.

That high-level analysis is misleading, however. Consider just one category of searches: students conducting research projects. Whether its a junior high, high school or college student, researching anything from the paintings of Pablo Picasso to the writings of William Shakespeare to the mating habits of zebras, the odds of such of search resulting on a paid ad click are virtually zero. That’s just one entire category of searches that should, rightfully, be removed from any relevant analysis.

The fact is, paid search is a vital component of any web presence optimization strategy because it enables advertising companies to:

• • appear prominently in search results for terms that would be difficult to rank for organically (e.g. competitor names or highly competitive search phrases);
• • control the precise message (their ad) that searchers will see in the search results;
• • guarantee exp0sure on page 1 of search results when buyers are late in their purchasing process;
• • specify exactly what page searchers will be linked to; and
• • direct searchers to landing pages that may be very difficult to optimize organically (e.g., pages with a conversion form and limited content).

The best approach is to use organic SEO and paid search (e.g., Google AdWords) in conjunction to maximize first-page-of-the-search-results exposure. With that said, how can you maximize the impact of paid search ads? Increase the click-through rate on paid search ads?  Understand Google AdWords quality scores? Optimize landing pages for conversions?

Discover the answers to these questions and many more here in 17 of the best AdWords and SEM guides of the past year.

AdWords Guides, Tips & Tactics

The New Paid Search Ads On The Block by MediaPost Search Insider

Janel Landis Laravie highlights changes Google had made to give paid search results more prominence, among them Local, Product, Video, Phone and Sitelinks, and states that “If you still are not using these, you are missing out.” She describes in detail how sitelinks are used and how advertisers can take advantage of these features.

How to Write a Killer AdWords Ad by Treating It a Mini Landing Page by Search Engine Journal

Observing that “text ads follow structure of good landing pages. First, there is a headline.  Then there are two lines of text (the copy). Finally there is call to action (the URL),” Paras Chopra discusses the attributes of an effective PPC ad and how to create one by optimizing each element of the ad.

2 Little Known Ways To Increasing CTR And Quality Score by Certified Knowledge

Noting that “the biggest factor that influences (quality score) is CTR,” Chris Thunder shows how to use day-parting and geo-targeting to gradually increase CTRs and quality scores by granularly excluding low-click-through hours and geographic locations.

5 Tips for Increasing Your AdWords Quality Score by ClickZ

Frequent best-of honoree Ron Jones notes that Google uses three primary factors—CTR, ad relevance (“relevance of the keyword or search query to the ad”) and landing page relevance and reputation—to assign quality score, and walks through a 5-step process, from creating carefully targeted ad groups to reducing landing page loading time, to help improve quality scores.

How Does the AdWords Auction Work? [Infographic] by The WordStream Blog

Elisa Gabbert illustrates “how exactly the AdWords auction works, including what gets entered into each ‘auction,’ how Google determines which ads are shown where, (and) how Google determines what advertisers pay” for search ads in this handy and helpful infographic.

How to Schedule Dayparting on Google AdWords by Search Engine Watch

Writing that “all businesses have specific time periods in which they are more profitable than others,” Howie Jacobson steps through the process of how to determine the most and least productive hours for any AdWords campaign, and details the process for excluding certain blocks of time each day. He also adds a helpful reminder to take time zones into account when day parting.

AdWords and PPC Guides from PPC Hero

Nowhere else in this best-of series does a single source gets its own section in a summary, but the team at PPC Hero so consistently produces notable PPC-related content that they have earned this distinction.

AdWords Privacy Policy Updates, Just in Time!

Jessica Cates steps through Google’s changes to its privacy and transparency requirements from AdWords advertisers. Essentially, Google requires that advertisers make it clear to landing page visitors how their personal information will be used, how to opt out of communications with the business, and a secure connection if any financial information will be transmitted.

Ticker Tuesday: Are You Sure You’re Optimized For PPC Mobile?

Jessica Rooney provides a video guide to mobile PPC advertising, specifically “how to check to see that you’re set up for mobile PPC in a way that gives you the most benefit from your PPC campaigns.”

The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords Quality Score
***** 5 STARS

This must-read-and-bookmark guide is designed to de-mystify the murky value that is the Google AdWords Quality Score, and to help PPC marketers “understand the different types of Google Quality Score, why they’re important, the misconceptions about Quality Score, and (provide) a checklist of actions you can take to help raise…Quality Score.”

Whaddya’know Wednesdays: 5 Tips to Improve Quality Score

For ADD-sufferers interested in this topic, Kayla Kurtz presents a highly-condensed version of the the guide above, focusing on a handful of quick tips to help improve your AdWords quality scores, in this less-than-two-minute video.

Keyword Match Types: The What and Why

Bryan Watson analyzes the six keyword match types (broad, phrase, exact, negative, embedded, and modified broad) and explains how to properly use each type, e.g., “if your marketing campaign is targeted towards customers in the beginning phase of the buying cycle, broad match may be good to utilize in order to target people who are looking for your service, but aren’t entirely sure what to search for.”

Expert Advice and Best Practices for AdWords Dummies

For anyone who’s not entirely clear on what all the unique phrases and acronyms used within the AdWords realm mean exactly, Faseeh Shams has compiled a list with extensive definitions for terms ranging from quality score and CTR to search query reports and negative keywords–along with tips for improvement in each area.

adCenter 101: Utilizing Campaign Analytics For Better Conversion Data

Explaining that “I’ve found that literature pertaining to (Microsoft adCenter’s paid search interface) is sparse, so I intend to contribute to the lack thereof,” Dave Rosborough supplies an overview of how adCenter works and steps through the setup process.

PPC Ad Copy Writing For Beginners

Bryan Watson (again) goes through the process of writing effective PPC ads, starting with using keywords in ad titles, moving along to utilizing action words in ad copy (“Call Today, Get a Quote, Sign Up, Etc.”), and proceeding through continuously testing all elements of the ads.

General Search Engine Marketing Guides and Tips

The Backward Landing Page by ClickZ
***** 5 STARS

Brian Massey demonstrates how to design the perfect landing page, starting from a blank slate rather than treating the landing page as another page on your site, with all of the attendant design and navigational baggage. Priceless: writing that the clearest, simplest landing page would contain nothing more than a “Submit” button, Brian notes “Unfortunately, this page will only be effective if you’re selling to a very curious crowd or are selling dominatrix services, where to ‘Submit’ makes sense. For other markets, we’ll have to make the call to action more relevant.”

The Bid Management Recipe by Search Engine Watch

Alistair Dent explains what you’ll need to set up a system to optimize keyword bids in your paid search campaigns, and helpfully defines relevant terms like cost per conversion (CPC): “CPC = Average Order Value x CoS x Conversion Rate.” This works fine for relatively small PPC programs, but advertisers running large campaigns with thousands of keywords turn to bid management software to automate this process.

5 Reasons PPC Search Beats PPC Social by ClickZ

Kevin Lee warns paid search marketers to avoid “shiny object syndrome” in placing PPC ads, noting that while “social media advertising shows a lot of potential for brand advertisers looking for ways to influence demand and build awareness,” search still has indisputable direct response benefits such as harvesting demand and providing clear success metrics.

Done properly, search engine marketing (a.k.a. SEM, paid search, PPC) is a powerful complement to SEO and an effective tactic on its own. SEM enables enterprises to rank for specific search terms immediately (including terms for which it would difficult to rank organically), target traffic to specific landing pages, test everything (keywords, bid levels, ad copy, landing page design), and precisely quantify ROI based on sales or leads generated. Of course, done improperly, it can also be a tremendous waste of money.

How can you improve quality scores to get a higher ad position at a lower cost? How can test to increase conversion rates while reducing the cost per conversion? How can create dynamic landing pages, and are they worth the effort? Discover the answers to these questions and others here in seven noteworthy search engine marketing guides from the past year.

My Best Advice on Improving Your Google & Yahoo Quality Scores by PPC Hero

Three strategies for improving quality score, which results in high ad positions with low cost per click (CPC), such as creating small, tightly focused ad groups (“breaking down your campaigns and ad groups into smaller ad groups…allows you to write more relevant ads for a select number of keywords in your ad group. Google and Yahoo both say that by including your keywords in your ad title and descriptions will greatly help increase your quality scores”).

How to quadruple a conversion rate by Google Website Optimizer Blog

Trevor Claiborne shares lessons learned from the Voices.com search engine marketing campaign on optimizing conversion rates, among them: knowing your customers (“time and again, the greatest conversion rate increases I’ve seen have come from a better understanding of the customer”) and testing everything.

Paid Search Ad Copy: Five Things Newbies Don’t Know by ClickZ

Andrew Goodman discusses the importance of testing ad copy and important considerations to keep in mind when doing so, like measuring both click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA) when evaluating ad copy, and running tests long enough to generate valid data for decision making.

Dynamic Landing Pages by PPC Hero

Amy Hoffman explains why dynamic landing pages are helpful (“The more specific a landing page is, the more likely it is that the visitor will convert”), how to create one using either dynamic keyword insertion or IP targeting, and best practices to follow when using dynamic pages.

How to Double Your Conversion Rate in the Next 5 Minutes by KISSmetrics

Cameron Chapman offers a half-dozen tips for increasing your conversion rate by making your sign-up form more friendly, such as by removing unnecessary fields, making as many fields as practical optional to complete, and explaining why you’re collecting the information requested.

Lessons Learned from 21 Case Studies in Conversion Rate Optimization by The Daily SEO Blog

Paras Chopra uses several case studies to illustrate the role of design, headlines, copy, and calls-to-action in landing page and conversion rate optimization.

6 Optimization Tips to Get Ready for the New Year by PPC Hero

A half-dozen tips for “PPC housekeeping” to get you account shaped up for the coming year, including reviewing your negative keywords, segmenting your analytics by device (to determine, for example, if you get enough traffic from mobile devices to make it worthwhile to set up separate mobile campaigns) and replacing under-performing ads with new copy.

According to recent research from eConsultancy, “Paid search consumes the largest portion of online lead generation budgets, accounting for 28% of spending (in 2010), up from 22% in 2009.” In addition, more than half of companies that use paid search increased their budgets for it last year.

There’s no question that paid search delivers leads, and no question that AdWords is the big dog in the PPC world. Yet many marketers struggle to optimize this channel in the face of increasing competition, changes to Google results pages (e.g. Google Instant) and changes within AdWords itself. How can you use AdWords reports to fine-tune campaigns? How do the new keyword targeting options work? When should you use the AdWords Editor? How can you optimize campaigns using search funnels? Where do image ads fit in the mix? And most vexingly, how can you fix low Quality Scores?

Find the answers to those questions and more here in some of the best Google AdW0rds tips, tactics and techniques of the past year.

4 Ways to Leverage Adwords Search Query Reports by PPC Blog

Four ways to generate actionable data from Adwords Search Query Reports, such as finding new keywords from phrase variations and synonyms, and identifying negative keywords to add to campaigns.

Including Image Ads In Your Marketing Mix by PPC Hero

“Image ads (a.k.a. banner ads) are run on the content network, and they are a great way to add an additional variable to your ad testing, and reach your customers in a new way.” This post outlines several considerations to keep in mind when using image ads on Google’s content network, as well as step-by-step instructions for setting up image ads.

3 Rarely Used AdWords Settings You Should Be Aware Of by Daily SEO Tip

Eric Gesinski explains how to adjust keyword bids by time of day, set up a custom area within which to display ads for local campaigns, and rotate ads evenly for proper A/B testing.

New keyword targeting feature rolling out globally by Google Inside AdWords

Dan Friedman illustrates how the new modified broad match keyword targeting option works, complementing the original broad, phrase and exact match options in AdWords.

Google AdWords Quality Score Factors by PPC Blog
***** 5 Stars
An outstanding post detailing the factors that make up Google’s notorious Quality Score, the most important steps you can take to improve a low quality score, and which actions don’t really matter.

Uncovering Valuable Insights With Google’s Bid Simulator by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Comparing Google’s bid simulator to “a spreadsheet where marketers can test different scenarios to illustrate the real value between click and cost,” Jeff Licciardi explains how the bid simulator can be used to drill down to the revenue-per-click level and optimize bids to increase impressions, clicks and ROI.

5 Reasons Why We Love AdWords Editor by 1upDigital

The AdWords Editor, as Lucy White describes it, is “a free Google application that allows you to manage and update your Google AdWords campaigns offline, and then upload your changes to the online AdWords interface.” She details five reasons why this tool is helpful for managing large AdWords campaigns, among them the ability to find and replace, copy and paste, and make bulk changes (such as changing max cpc bids for a group of keywords).

Spotlight on AdWords Search Funnels – Part 1 by Google Conversion Room Blog

Noting that “The standard approach to conversion reporting traditionally focused on a customer’s last click on your ad. Search Funnels fills in the gaps on what happened before this last click!” Evelyn O’Keeffe steps through the benefits of and process of using AdWords Search Funnels to hone in on metrics such as assist clicks (clicks on one of your AdWords search ads that happened prior to a conversion) and assist impressions (unclicked ad impressions viewed prior to a conversion).

6 Steps To Raise Your Quality Score by PPC Hero

Amy Hoffman provides a helpful checklist of actions for improving quality score, such as using keywords in your ad copy and creating tightly themed ad groups.

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8 Ways to Optimize Your AdWords Campaign by Search Engine Journal

Larry Kim offers eight tips to improve the ROI from your AdWords campaigns, including using your prospects’ words, optimizing ad copy, and using long-tail keywords to get more conversions at a lower cost.

The New Google AdWords Feature You’re Not Using But Should Be by MediaPost Search Insider

Janet Driscoll Miller explains how the AdWords Call Metrics feature works, who can benefit from it, how to enable it, and how it “opens greater opportunity to effective, trackable mobile search advertising.”

Case Study: Improving Low Quality Score Accounts by PPC Hero

A practical, real-world case study that steps through four key areas for improving quality scores: tightly-focused ad groups, relevant landing pages, using keywords in ad copy, and taking advantage of all keyword match types.

Originally published on the WebMarketCentral blog in December 2008.

It was 5:00 on a sultry, simmering Friday afternoon when she walked into the office. Trouble, spelled with a capital T, a capital R, and several other letters.

“Hello Sugar,” I said as I slipped a bottle out of the bottom drawer of my desk and poured myself a belt. “Care for a drink?”

“No thanks,” she responded as she wriggled herself down into a chair across the desk from me. “I’ve got to watch my figure.”

You and every poor slob on the street, I thought to myself.

“Mind if I don’t smoke?” she asked, pulling out a cigarette but not lighting it.

“Nah, don’t kill yourself,” I answered. This was Minnesota, the state where nothing is allowed. I was used to people not smoking in my office.

“I’ve got another job for you,” she purred.

I had figured as much. I’d done a job for Sugar a few months earlier. Government stuff, on AdWords. Went great. Door-busting CTRs, conversion rates as respectable as that lady always sitting in the front row at church, nice ROI.

“Sure,” I said, taking another sip of my drink. “Another government job?”

“No. Private sector this time.”

Well, that was fine. Government, enterprise, it was all business to me. Sugar explained the plan. Same product as before, only they’d made a few tweaks to optimize it for business use. Sweet new white paper to go along with it as well. No problem, I thought; knock out a keyword list, crank out a few ads, test a couple of different landing pages, keep an eye on things to weed out the bum search phrases and keep bids in line, piece of cake. I could do it in my sleep. Heck, a couple more drinks and I might have to.

“No sweat, Sugar,” I said. “Leave everything to me.”

Except things didn’t go quite as planned. Two months down the road, the AdWords campaign was in trouble. Trouble, spelled with a capital T, R, and those same other letters. Sure, the CTRs were decent, but the conversion rate was uglier than the business end of a sharpee. Nothing seemed to make the conversion budge either; I threw up new landing pages like condos in Shanghai, but lead production stayed stubbornly low.

Sugar wasn’t going to like this, and as the old saying goes, hell hath no fury like a woman with an underproducing SEM campaign. Or something like that.

So I downloaded a keyword report and went through it with a fine tooth comb. I tried running the numbers by campaign, by CTR, by landing page—everything seemed random. Finally I sorted all the keywords in the entire program alphabetically, and suddenly the columns lined up like a slot machine hitting the jackpot in Vegas. It seemed that everyone searching for a certain phrase, or variant of it, beginning with a letter of the alphabet that won’t be named here, was bailing out at a scandalous rate.

Why hadn’t we seen this sooner? Because we’d made a big mistake, thinking private sector yahoos would search for our offering using the same lingo as government schmucks. But it don’t work that way. Not in the city.

Once I’d cleaned out the unsuitable search terms, the campaign started humming like the V8 in my `66 Ford. I could breathe a sigh of relief, put my feet up on my desk, and pour myself another round.

She came strolling in again. “Hello Sugar.”

“Nice work,” she said. “But things were looking a little dicey there for a while. I thought you’d lost your touch. I didn’t think you had any more tricks up your sleeve. Thanks for proving me wrong.”

“No sweat, Sugar,” I tossed back. I know how to play good cop / bad cop with an AdWords report. I’ll talk nice to the analytical data set and buy it a few drinks, but if that don’t work, I’ll take it out back and knock it around until it gives up the answers. “It’s what I do.” That, and dodging bullets in the rough-and-tumble world of search engine marketing.

While more than 80% of companies now use paid search in some form (primarily AdWords), many of these programs are under-optimized and not delivering the results they could be. How can search marketers use techniques like testing and keyword match types to improve results? How important are branded terms in paid search? Does PPC advertising help with branding? How can you use demographic and geographic targeting to improve results? What are the best ways to reduce the bounce rate from landing pages? What’s a “conversion path” and how can you use that knowledge to increase conversion rates?

Get the answers to these questions and many others here in more of the best articles and blog posts on search engine marketing (SEM) from the past year.

10 tips for extending paid search growth by iMedia Connection

Noah Elkin walks through how to use testing, match types, ad text optimization and other tactics to improve search marketing success.

Better Targeting = Better Leads — Demographics for SMBs by Search Engine Watch

Carrie Hill explains how to use demographic targeting tools from AdWords, MSN AdCenter and Yahoo to increase conversion rates for b2c search marketing programs.

Back to the PPC Classroom | A Disciplined Approach To Managing A Client Relationship by PPC News & Opinion

For search marketing consultants and agencies, four basic phases and an example of what a monthly report should consist of to keep the client engaged throughout the relationship.

The Importance Of Branded Search Programs (Even in Tough Economic Times) by Search Engine Land

Sami Carroll shows why branded terms are important in both SEO and SEM efforts, along with tactics for maximizing results with a limited budget.

New Research: Paid Search Builds Branding by ClickZ

Kevin Lee reports on a study showing that search increases brand awareness by 6% or more, and points out that, because PPC search marketers pay only for the click, the lift in branding due to the sponsored link is free.

What’s The Real Value of Brand PPC? by Search Engine Journal

Brian Carter uses research and client studies to support the same conclusion reached by Kevin Lee in the post above, and also provides tactical options for maximizing the branding impact of search based on your objectives. Two other noteworthy posts from Brian are 5 Ways to Maximize PPC Impressions, in which he explains how to use bid levels, keyword match types and other tatics to maximize PPC exposure, and The PPC ROI Calculator: How To Forecast And Optimize Your PPC ROI wherein he shows how to maximize the productivity of search marketing programs using an ROI calculator.

Geo-Targeting Basics: A How-To Guide on Setting Up Geo-Targeting in Google, Yahoo and MSN by PPC Hero

A guide to options and techniques for limiting delivery of search marketing ads to a targeted geographic area for local SEM.

Study Confirms Display Ads, Paid Search Work in Concert by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Laurie Sullivan details results of an iProspect study quantifying how “display ads and search work together to provide a bigger impact on campaigns.”

X Marks the Spot! How to Get Listed In Google Local Map Ads by PPC Hero

***** 5 Stars
This post tells how to get a business listed on Google Maps, then goes on to explain the distinction between a map listing and local map ads: “that (map) listing doesn’t reach as many searchers and internet users as one might think.  To broaden your advertising reach, Google created Local Business Ads.  These ads are separate from your traditional campaign-level geo-targeting in AdWords.”

10 tactics for lowering your website’s bounce rate by iMedia Connection

Tom Shapiro explains how to analyze your bounce rate (percentage of people who hit the landing page from a PPC ad then leave your site immediately without taking any further action) and reduce it using keywords, timing, landing page design, navigation, offers, and other elements.

7 Steps to Improving Conversion Rates by Search Engine Guide

Stoney deGeyter provides a seven-step guide to using conversion paths to increase conversion rates.

How to Use Google Wonder Wheel and Related Search Tools for Keyword Research by PPC Hero

Why one of Google’s less-known tools, the Google Wonder Wheel, “is a very helpful and insightful tool for PPC keyword research” and tactics for using it.

Optimization—the greatest results for the lowest cost—is the goal of every AdWords campaign manager. What are two of the simplest ways to optimize AdWords campaigns? Google is constantly changing and upgrading its AdWords tools; which recent enhancements are most important to understand and take advantage of? Click-through rate (CTR) is the single most important factor in determining Quality Score, which is as important as bid level in determining how highly an ad will appear in search results. But it isn’t the only factor; what other items are considered, and how can you optimize these?

Get the answers to these questions and many others here in more of the best articles and blog posts from last year on Google AdWords search engine marketing.

Setting up PPC Campaigns 101, Part 1 by Search Engine Watch

Ron Jones steps through the process of structuring content for AdWords campaigns, developing keyword lists and setting up ad groups, along the way identifying helpful resources and tools such Permutator.

2 dead simple ways to optimize your Adwords campaign by CDF Networks

Chad Frederiksen recommends using the AdWords Conversion Optimizer tool and Opportunities tab to increase conversion rates while reducing per-conversion costs.

AdWords Management : How ROI, Costs, and Services Measure Up for Your Business by Pure Visibility

Although AdWords advertising can benefit a wide range of businesses, it isn’t right for every company. Steve Loszewski walks through ROI calculations to help determine the value of AdWords for a specific situation, as well as what’s involved in properly managing a successful AdWords program.

Rich Media and Video templates in display ad builder by Inside AdWords

Emel Mutlu explains how to use the AdWords display ad builder tool to create ads for Google’s content network that display multiple products, incorporate multiple destination URLs, track unique interactions, include video, provide in-ad coupon codes and more. New templates simplify these tasks, and Emel notes that he hopes they will be “one more great reason to try out the AdWords display ad builder, and reach additional customers in new ways.” More noteworthy posts from the Inside AdWords blog:

• AdWords Editor 7.5.1 for Windows and Mac: Austin Rachlin reports on key changes in the latest updated of the AdWords Editor tool, including the ability to import .CSV files, selectively download specific campaigns, and view and organize new keywords by topical category. In another newsworthy post, Conversion Optimizer is now available to more campaigns, Austin announced that any campaign with at least 15 conversions in the most recent 30-day period is now eligible to use Google’s Conversion Optimizer tool, and that according to Google’s research, “campaigns which adopted Conversion Optimizer achieved a 21% increase in conversions while at the same time decreasing their CPA by 14% (on average and in comparison to similar campaigns).”
• New Interface Thursdays: Keep tabs on your account with custom alerts: Trevor Claiborne explains how to set up custom alerts to get notified about specific types of events or activities in your AdWords account, such as a spike in impressions for branded keywords or when a campaign is close to hitting its daily budget.
• AdWords Conversion Tracking is now even easier: Emily Williams shows how changes to the interface for the conversion tracking tool make it easier to implement and monitor this capability. Of note, the “New Conversion” button allows you to quickly define new conversion actions or import them from a Google Analytics account, and the “Webpages” tab makes it easier to track conversions by page.

Is The Hype Over Google AdWords Quality Score Justified? by Search Engine Land

Craig Danuloff provides a detailed discussion of Quality Score: its importance (high), its ability to function as either a discount mechanism or a tax, why CTR is critical, and why landing page design isn’t. Two other noteworthy posts from Search Engine Land are The 6/90 Rule: 6 Reports Contain 90% Of Actionable AdWords Insights, in which Brad Geddes identifies and demonstrates the value of the six most important AdWords reports, and How important Is Click Through Rate In Google’s Quality Score Formula?, wherein Siddharth Shah illustrates mathematically the importance of CTR to quality score (it explains about 72%; all other factors combined account for the other 28%).

Learn How to Import Your Google Analytics Goals into AdWords Conversion Tracking by PPC Hero

A concise but helpful post that explains how to pull goals and transactions from Google Analytics into AdWords for unified conversion reporting. Analytics and AdWords have traditionally been completely separate systems with inconsistent data, but Google continues to bring the two into closer harmony. Two other valuable posts from PPC Hero are 5 Tips on Passing the Google Adwords Qualified Professional Exam, which provides tips such as knowing how to calculate ROI and AdWords ad text policies before tackling Google’s AdWords certification examination, and 6 Rules to Achieve Awesome Quality Scores & Increase PPC Performance, which explains five factors other than CTR (such as having well-organized ad groups and pruning under-performing ads and keywords) that can help improve AdWords quality scores.

Search engine marketing (SEM) can be a powerful lead generation source, or a complete waste of money. B2B marketers often get less from their SEM programs than possible by overlooking basic but critical steps. Here are some best practices to optimize your results from SEM campaigns:

1. Determine your budget: while there is no hard-and-fast rule for this, there are a number of factors that will affect the size of the budget required to optimize your return from search marketing:

• Number of keywords—more keywords means a higher budget.
• Time-of-day and days-of-week display—running a campaign 24/7 will require a higher budget than a business-hours-only campaign.
• Geographic display—a global campaign needs a higher budget than one limited to one or a few countries.
• Search-only or search plus content sites—running a campaign across both search engines and partner content sites requires a higher budget than a campaign focused on search alone.
• The type of product or service you offer—as a general rule, products or services that are inexpensive, have only one decision-maker, and are either tactical (B2B) or impulse (B2C) purchases will benefit most from an aggressive search marketing campaign. Those that are big ticket, involve multiple decision makers, and are strategic (B2B) or infrequently purchased (B2C) generally see somewhat lower conversion rates from SEM campaigns, but can still be valuable for lead generation, using an incentive for response such as a thought leadership white paper or research report.
• Your goals—how many leads or sales are you planning to drive from search marketing? Higher goals require a larger budget.

2. Keyword / Key Phrase Development: look at multiple sources—your existing site content, competitors’ websites, industry trade publications, relevant blogs, and the keyword suggestion tool in Google AdWords—to develop your long list of key word and phrases to use in your SEM campaign. You can afford to go a little overboard here, as you only pay for actual clicks. Key words and phrases that get few impressions or a low conversion rate can be culled later.

3. Divide your keywords / phrases into logical groups: keep the number of groups manageable, but ideally you’ll end up with 30 or fewer keyword search terms per group—60 terms as an absolute maximum.

4. Write your ads. Both Google and Yahoo frown on the use of shorthand (such as “GR8” for “great”), excessive punctuation (FREE!!!) and superlatives (“best,” “leader,” etc.). So, keep your verbiage humble—but compelling. For example, “the affordable option” or the most specific functional benefit you can factually tout.

For headlines, you’ll increase your click-through rate by using variable headlines, where the term the searcher actually used appears as the title of your ad. The syntax for this, on both Google and Yahoo, is {KeyWord: your service} where “keyword” is the term your prospect actually searched on, and “your service” is the default term to use in the ad if the search phrase is too long to serve as an ad headline.

5. Set your campaign parameters—geography, time/day and search/content. Both Google and Yahoo provide campaign settings pages where you specify these various parameters for your campaign.

First, determine your geographic coverage: do you want your ads displayed to a global audience, or just one or a few countries?

Second, set the time and day criteria for your ad display. For global campaigns, time needs to be set for 24-hour display. For localized campaigns, you may want to limit display hours, but set your ranges broadly—few people work 8-5 anymore, and both B2B and B2C prospects may well be searching in the early morning or late evening hours.

Third, decide if you want your ads to display only on the search engines or across their content partner networks as well (this blog is an example of a Google content partner—notice the relevant ads displayed at the top and bottom of this page). Content partner sites tend to deliver lower click-through rates than search, but can still be a valuable part of your campaign. For aggressive campaigns, content sites should definitely be included; for more limited or test campaigns, search alone may be the better setting. If you’re uncertain, start your campaign with search, then expand to the content network once your keywords and messages are optimized. You’ll need to develop different ads for the content network with compelling static headlines to catch the attention of readers who aren’t necessarily seeking your content on network sites as they are on search.

6. Develop your landing pages. Logically, you may want a different landing page for each key term group. It’s amazing how many Google and Yahoo ads (still!) simply send clickers to a site’s home page. Unless your home page is spectacularly well-designed, visitors will wonder, “What am I supposed to do now?” Best practice is to send them to landing page that explains why you are absolutely the best vendor on earth relative to the key term group they came from, and then give them a clear call to action (“contact us for more information;” “download our white paper;” etc.).

7. Consider your “incentive for response.” A commonly used item is a white paper; visitors are far more likely to sign up to download or receive something than to simply fill out a form to get “more information”—from experience, about 10 times more likely. Research reports, webinar registrations, contests, surveys and newsletter signups can also be used as incentives.

8. Implement conversion tracking. Both Google and Yahoo provide conversion tracking code for your landing pages and instructions on how to implement this. Ultimately, the goal of SEM is to produce either leads or sales, not just clicks, so conversion tracking is a critical component of your search marketing campaigns. Without it, you’re just paying for traffic, with no way to measure the ROI of your SEM campaigns.

9. Launch your campaign and analyze the results. Neither Google nor Yahoo provide real-time statistics; there is a lag of several hours in their reporting, so it will take a few days to get a usable picture of what’s happening with your campaign. Analyze results weekly for at least the first six to eight weeks of your program. When analyzing results, look for both which keywords are generating the highest number of clicks as well as the highest conversion rate. Remember the 80/20 rule: 20% of your keywords are likely to generate 80% of your clicks. Start by focusing on improving your results for these high-value keywords, and optimize on less-frequently searched terms later.

10. Optimize your keyword bids. The top three ads displayed get the highest click-through rates (CTR), but are also the most expensive positions. The bottom two ads (positions 7 and get the second-highest CTR. To optimize your budget, bid for the top three position on terms where you get the highest conversion rate (regardless of CTR). For terms with a high CTR but low conversion, bid for the bottom three first page spots (positions 6-8). It’s unlikely that you’ll have terms that generate a lot of clicks with no conversions, but if you do—drop these ASAP, as they are just a waste of your money.

11. Test alternative ad copy. Write at least two different ads that point to the same landing page, then in Google AdWords and Yahoo Sponsored Search, turn on ad optimization so that your more effective ads are being shown more frequently. After 2-3 weeks, check performance; if one ad is clearly generating higher CTR than the other, delete the lower-performing ad and replace it with a new one to test.

12. Test alternative landing pages. Once your ads are optimized (i.e., you have two ads performing about equally well), point each to a different landing page. Test differing types of copy, amounts of copy, contact form / no contact form, and different offers. Test until you have one that clearly outperforms alternatives at converting visitors to leads.

13. Unless your goal is an immediate online sale, implement appropriate lead follow-up programs. “Warm” leads (someone who completes a “contact us for more information” form) can—and are likely expecting to—be followed up with a (relative prompt) phone call from sales. “Cool” leads (e.g., visitors who download a white paper) should be followed up with by email, with phone calls to those who haven’t opted out of your messages after two mailings.

14. Finally, optimize your site for natural search based on your ad search terms that generate the highest number of impressions and best conversion rate. Organic search listings typically generate 3-4 times as many clicks as paid ads, so it’s critical whenever possible to have your website rank highly in natural search results for popular ad terms.

What’s the real optimal cost per lead for your SEM program? How can you improve conversion rates? Keep your search marketing program growing? Assure you that aren’t overlooking any important opportunities for optimization?

Discover the answers to these questions and others here in some of the best posts on search engine marketing of last year.

Finding The Optimal Cost-Per-Lead by Search Engine Land

Patricia Hursh makes the case that the lowest cost per lead isn’t always best, as this pursuit can cause marketers to leave leads on the table, so to speak. The goal, as she states it, should be rather on “maximizing lead volume at an acceptable (profitable) cost/lead.”

5 ways to boost your lead conversion rate by iMedia Connection

Noting that 78% of marketers consider generating online leads one of their top priorities, Andreas Roell offers advice on how improve both the quality and quantity of leads, including sharing source information between marketing and sales (as not all leads are created equal) and carefully monitoring the lead generation performance of each source. In another excellent piece from iMedia Connection, 10 tips for extending paid search growth, Noah Elkin and Rick Dalton provide tips on how to increase results from paid search, such as expanding your keyword list, optimizing text ads, carefully segmenting keywords and using the AdWords Search Query report to identify negative keywords to add to campaigns.

9 things you MUST know before you start any conversion rate optimization by Search Engine People

Though this post is aimed primarily at b2c e-commerce sites, b2b marketers may find a few useful takeaways as well. Khalid Saleh provides helpful tips on how to improve conversion rates such as analyzing your analytics, viewing optimization as a long-term commitment, andstarting optimization during the initial site development process.

Finding Google AdWords Super Converter Keywords by MediaPost Online Media Daily

Laurie Sullivan reports on an online presentation by AdGooroo founder Richard Stokes, in which he explained how to find “super converters”—combinations of keyword phrases, ad copy, and landing pages that align to produce “enormous profits.” Stokes pointed out that “They are nearly impossible to predict,” but explained a formula for identifying them and methods to increase the odds.

Researchers: paid search ads don’t get as many clicks as believed by Econsultancy

Patricio Robles reports on a study which showed that contrary to other research indicating that paid search results get 25-30% of all search query clicks, the actual number is closer to 15%. The study authors admit that because they focused on meta search engine DogPile, the figures may be different for other search engines (such as Google, maybe?). What is clear is that, regardless of the precise figure, a significant majority of clicks go to organic results; therefore, smart marketers will invest in both paid search and organic SEO.

Aaron interviews Ben and Karl from Conversion Rate Experts (CRE) by SEO Book

Aaron Wall talks to Dr. Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson of Conversion Rate Experts about improving conversion rates, the most common mistakes search marketers make, messaging, audience targeting, testing, the role of public relations in the conversion process, generating referrals and more.

Never Get Bored With My PPC Tasks Checklist by PPC People

As Amber writes, “This post is dedicated to all the PPC search advertisers out there who think they have done everything to their PPC account and still can’t get the results they need to meet their goals. Just like any job out there, you can never be bored with your PPC account. There is ALWAYS something you can do to improve your performance.” She goes on to provide 15 tips for areas to check and tweak, such as geotargeting settings, keyword groups, negative keywords, ad text, bids, day-parting, landing page design and more.

How can you utilize rich media ads to take advantage of the coverage provided by Google’s content network? Which AdWords reports are the most critical, and how you can take full advantage of the information they provide? How is AdWords Quality Score calculated, and how can you improve that score in your campaigns? How can you calculate the potential advertising value of AdWords before making a costly investment?

Find the answers to these questions and others here in more of the best articles and blog posts on maximizing the value of Google AdWords from the past year.

Setting up PPC Campaigns 101, Part 1 by Search Engine Watch

The prolific and always helpful Ron Jones steps through the basics of setting up a search marketing campaign, from sorting keywords into ad groups to identifying negative keywords to use.

Rich Media and Video templates in display ad builder by Inside AdWords

Emel Mutlu steps through the benefits of and process for creating rich media AdWords ads for display across Google’s content network. This includes the capability to use multiple destination URLs, track all activity including mouseovers, and exercise greater creativity in producing ads. Another Inside AdWords post worth checking out is AdWords Editor 7.5.1 for Windows and Mac by Austin Rachlin, which outlines the process for importing CSV files for editing in the AdWords Editor.

Is The Hype Over Google AdWords Quality Score Justified? by Search Engine Land

Craig Danuloff clearly explains why the AdWords quality score is important, how it affects cost per click for SEM campaigns, and the factors that go into Google’s calculation of quality score. Another noteworthy post from Search Engine Land is The 6/90 Rule: 6 Reports Contain 90% Of Actionable AdWords Insights, in which Brad Geddes details how half a dozen reports—including the AdWords keyword, search query and placement performance reports—provide critical, actionable information, how to use them, and how often to run them.

AdWords Management : How ROI, Costs, and Services Measure Up for Your Business by Pure Visibility

Steve Loszewski explains how to use the AdWords Traffic Estimator tool to calculate the potential value of AdWords for your business, and gives tips for maximizing that value. The only statement I take exception to in this excellent post is that “For small companies unaccustomed to budgeting much at all for advertising, the costs can be impractical.” Actually, by combining the geo-targeted features of AdWords with careful keyword selection and close monitoring, AdWords can be a cost-effective advertising tool even for very modest sized enterprises.

Learn How to Import Your Google Analytics Goals into AdWords Conversion Tracking by PPC Hero

As this post notes, until recently Google AdWords and Analytics were two entirely separate entities. But recent upgrades enable at least partial data sharing between the two systems, and this post provides instructions for importing Analytics goals and transactions into AdWords for unified conversion reporting—a “pretty nice” feature, as the author notes. Another noteworthy post from the PPC Hero blog is 5 Tips on Passing the Google Adwords Qualified Professional Exam, in which Amber provides tips to help “pass the exam with flying colors,” such as reviewing the materials in the AdWords learning center, ad text policies and how to calculate ROI for e-commerce campaigns.

Top 11 Money-Wasting AdWords Mistakes by Alibaba.com

The ubiquitous Jon Rognerud lists 11 common mistakes made by small companies and those new to AdWords, such as duplicating search ads on Google’s content network (the ads need to be different due to the different context in which they are seen), using too many keywords, sending visitors to your home page, and not properly testing ads.

5 Common AdWords Myths Absolutely Destroyed by Search Engine Journal

Brian Carter demolishes five common misconceptions about AdWords, explaining the real story in detail. Among the myths: “AdWords is an auction”—well, sort of, but quality score, which is influenced by the click-through rate, is as big a factor as your bid, and “Google is out to get me”—a common feeling, but as Brian responds to this: “Sure, in some ways. But not so much that you can’t get incredibly good ROI from AdWords for the right offering, if you know what you’re doing” (or are willing to hire professional help from the outside).

Search Ad Quality Score 101, Part 2 by Search Engine Watch

Ron Jones explains how to increase your quality score in AdWords, which gets you a higher ad position at a lower cost. Among his recommendations: small (15-20 term), tightly-focused ad groups; including keywords in landing page copy; and experimenting with different matching options. Another interesting AdWords-related post worth checking out from the team at Search Engine Watch is Get More Attention with Legal PPC Ad Symbols. David Szetela recommends experimenting with using symbols in your ads to increase CTRs, though commenters call him out on the practice.

PPC Web Spy For Competitive Keywords Analysis by WordPress Howto Spotter

Alex Sysoef reviews and recommends PPC Web Spy, a free keyword research tool for AdWords and organic search optimization. The post is a little spammy (as is the PPC Web Spy landing page), but the tool sounds interesting. For any keyword, the tool displays statistics like the average cost per click and number of clicks per day. If you have any experience with this tool, feel free to share it in the comments.

Do more with less — Part 2 of 3 by Inside AdWords

Amanda Kelly explains how the free AdWords Conversion Optimizer tool can improve the productivity of AdWords campaigns: “The Conversion Optimizer helps you get the most conversions for your ad spend by using your conversion tracking data to improve your advertising efficiency. It does this by optimizing the placement of your ads in each auction based on the likelihood of a conversion. This process helps to avoid unprofitable clicks and to get you conversions without requiring you to spend as much time managing your bids.”

Everything You Need To Know About AdWords Display URLs by Search Engine Land

Brad Geddes recommends testing the display URL portion of your AdWords ads as thoroughly as you would any other elements, and offers several examples that fall within Google’s requirements.

How Does AdWords Determine a Keyword’s Quality Score Before It’s Even Activated? Find Out! by PPC Hero

This post explains how Google determines a quality score for your keywords as soon as your campaign is launched, by using the experience of other advertisers who have used that keyword as a base. How can you use this information? As the author notes, “If you load a series of new keywords and they all have a low Quality Score, then you may want to re-think these additions. This is because other advertisers have not had success with these keywords. On the other side of the coin, if the Quality Score for a keyword is 9 or 10, this means that previous and current advertisers are having success with this keyword, and competition could be more fierce. You may want to give this keywords special attention and place them into their own ad groups.”

This post was originally published on the WebMarketCentral blog in February 2009.

If you’re relatively new to search engine marketing programs such as Google AdWords, these tips can help you get better results for less money. For those experienced in SEM, these tips may still serve as helpful reminders.

1. Bid on your own company name. Even though your website should already show up in a top organic search spot for your firm’s name (unless your company name is really generic), using it in your paid search campaign provides benefits: showing up in both the paid and organic search listings boosts your brand credibility, helps your site additional clicks, and enables you to deliver specific offer messages. It also lets you guide visitors to specific landing pages other than your home page. The cost of paid clicks for your company name is usually low, and the conversion rate—assuming a well-designed landing page—is generally very high.

2. Periodically check and clean your keyword lists. Your keyword lists should be dynamic, with an objective of continually improving the ROI of your campaigns. Periodically go to Reports…Create Report and run a Placement / Keyword Performance report. Under Add or Remove Columns, be sure to include the Conversions, Conversion Rate and Cost/Conversion fields. Under Filter Your Results, select Keyword Status of Active so you’ll only get results for the keywords currently in use in your campaigns.

Once the report is complete, you may want to export it to Excel to make the data easier to work with. Sort the data in a couple of different ways, first using “Sort by Impressions Descending Then by Clicks Descending,” then “Sort by Clicks Descending Then by Conversions Descending.” These two sorts will indicate which keywords to drop and which to expand on.

To determine which terms to drop, set a threshold rule that you are comfortable with for each sort. An example would be 200/100: delete any term that has had 200 impressions with zero clicks, or 100 clicks with zero conversions.

After deleting unproductive terms, look at your most profitable terms to see if you can expand on these. For example, suppose top marketing books was a high-performing phrase for your SEM campaign. Within AdWords, go the ad group where you are using that term and click Keyword Tool. Type in “top marketing books,” then click the Get Keyword Ideas button. The tool will return a large list of related keywords, along with average volume and advertiser competition information, from which you can choose to add to your campaign.

3. Use SEM terms for SEO. Your SEM keyword reports contain a wealth of data about the keywords being used to drive relevant traffic to your site: which terms are searched most often, which produce the highest percentage of clicks, and which convert most effectively. Just as this information helps you optimize your SEM spending, it also indicates what terms you should focus on in your natural search efforts. SEM keyword reports are particularly valuable for identifying long-tail terms that are relatively easy to optimize for yet can produce a respectable amount of traffic.