SEM for ROI - Top 10 SEM Checklist

In the past couple of years, Closed Loop Marketing has had more and more companies contact us who were actually already running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns - some managing in-house, some outsourcing to other agencies. So if they were already active in PPC, then why were they contacting CLM? Because by-and-large, these companies were quite disappointed in their PPC campaigns, with results ranging from mediocre to downright dismal, and they were searching for SEM guidance.

CLM was hired to audit and essentially ‘make over’ these accounts, and the results across-the-board have far surpassed even our expectations. At the Web Builder 2.0 conference last week in Las Vegas, I had the pleasure of speaking to this at a session called Extreme Makeover: SEM Edition. In this session, I shared the common pitfalls that we see companies fall into time and time again, the strategies that CLM applies to successfully remedy these common PPC-killers and the final outcomes of our clients’ Extreme SEM Makeovers. In that same spirit, CLM has created ‘SEM for ROI - Top 10 SEM Inspection Checklist’. This checklist represents what we consider some of the most impactful elements to critique first within your PPC campaigns to find areas for improvement.

#1

Download a Search Query Performance Report from Google AdWords (note that such a report is not available in Yahoo or MSN - only Google). Mine this for more keywords to add, as well as more negative keywords to add.

#2

Calculate your ROI from Broad, Phrase and Exact matched iterations of your keywords to determine profitability for each and adjust your match type strategy accordingly. This can parsed from the Search Query Performance report.

#3

Download a Placement Performance Report from Google AdWords (this report is not available in Yahoo or MSN). Use this to identify which Content Network Sites are not converting well, and set up site exclusions accordingly.

#4

Find out what your coverage levels are for your keywords. Download an Account or Campaign level report and choose Exact IS (Impression Share) as a metric to be included in the report (this metric is not available in Yahoo or MSN). If your Exact Impression Share is low, consider either increasing your budget, tightening up your match types, pausing less targeted keywords or a combination of the above.

#5

Check your ad copy. Are you A/B testing at least 2 ads? If not, write additional ads. This is a super-easy, yet powerful way to increase campaign performance. Bonus tip: Check your campaign settings and make sure your ads are set to rotate evenly, for a true A/B test. The engines are not set to do this by default, you have to manually specify this.

#6

Do some searches for your keywords. What are other competitors touting in their ads? Whatever they are saying, make sure your ads say something better. If your ads are comparatively weak, create new ads based on your company’s most concrete, compelling differentiators.

#7

Check your keyword list. Do you have all singulars, plurals, stems, reversals, synonyms, permutations, etc? If not use the Google Keyword tool and permutation tools to fully flesh out your keyword list. A couple permutation tools include SplutWeb.com and Closed Loop Marketing’s own beta-release keyword permutations tool, shown here:

#8

Apply the PPC engines’ conversion tracking codes, if you have not done so already. These are the single most important variable in refining a campaign. The ability to view conversions within the PPC engines’ bidding interface is instrumental in increasing ROI over time.

#9

Are your landing pages directly relevant to the keywords you’re bidding on, and are they optimized for conversion and usability? If not, consider building custom landing pages designed specifically for Search. When done right, landing pages can provide at least a 2X lift in conversion.

#10

Review your bids and cost/conversion at a keyword-by-keyword level. Are bids set to maximize ROI? Or are you guilty of ego bidding? Dial your ROI winners up, and turn your losers down based on your key metrics.

This short list of 10 is just scratching the surface, though it certainly represents some of the more common areas to address. While there are many aspects of a campaign that could go awry, the good news is that campaigns can be madeover and completely turned around with a critical eye - we’ve seen it time and time again! If you do find yourself frustrated with your current PPC campaigns, take a step back and dig into the main elements - account structure, keywords, ad copy, landing pages and bidding. When SEM is done right, the results more than likely will far surpass your expectations.