Advanced PPC for E-Commerce Websites

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Improving PPC Performance for

E-Commerce Websites

Jeff Sauer Three Deep Marketing

@jeffalytics @threedeep

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About Three Deep Marketing and Jeff Sauer

Manage $5+ million in paid search spending annually

One of 30 companies in the US certified in Google AdWords and Google Analytics

Jeff Sauer named 2012 CIO of the Year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Inc. 5000 Fast Growing Company Award in 2010, 2011 & 2012

Developed Online Lead Generation Software Crossfuse in 2011/2012

Board Member for MIMA and MnSearch

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ADVANCED PPC TACTICS FOR ECOMMERCE

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SITELINKS

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Adding Sitelinks

Ad Sitelinks in the Ad Extensions Tab

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Sitelinks Tips

Keep your sitelinks short

Group sections of your site into their own ad groups so you can get deeper sitelinks

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Optimizing Sitelinks

Review metrics for sitelinks over time

Use sitelinks with many click thrus and conversions in multiple campaigns wherever relevant

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RATINGS & REVIEWS

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Ratings & Reviews

In order to get ratings for your products, you must first work to capture ratings either on your site or through Google Checkout

Once you reach a 30 ratings and you have 4 or more stars, you are eligible to receive ratings extensions in your ads

Pro Tip: Capture ratings immediately after the purchase for best response quantity

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Ratings & Reviews Tips

Using a third party survey at the end of the purchase process allows you to receive ratings much faster than relying on Google Merchant Center reviews

The Bizrate survey program allows you to capture many reviews in a short amount of time, but can also alienate customers if you choose the wrong offer

There are no metrics available to determine performance of ratings extensions, but

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PRODUCT LISTINGS

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History of Google Product Search

For many years, Google Product Search results were free and were treated as organic searches

Like all good things, this has come to an end and you now must pay for placement

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Product Listing Ads

In order to get product listings for your ads you need to:– Have a product feed that AdWords can access– Fill out as many fields for your product feed

• Better targeting• Higher probability for appearing in specific searches

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Product Listing Feed Tips

Ecommerce vendors should be able to provide your product data in a feed format that Google can understand

If you are selling clothes or other specialty products, special information like size and color must be included in the feed

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SELF-MANAGEMENT TIPS

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MATCH TYPES

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Keyword: Puppy Mailbox Broad Query – Puppy Mailbox:

– Garden with little dog that’s in a blue mailbox

Modified Broad Query - +Puppy +Mailbox– That little puppy is in a blue mailbox

Phrase Query – “Puppy mailbox”: – Little puppy mailbox in the garden

Exact Query – [Puppy mailbox]: – Puppy mailbox

Broad vs. Phrase vs. Exact Match

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Match Type Tips

Use broad match keywords sparingly

For high volume terms, add modified broad, phrase and exact match keywords to your ad group

Google may give you a warning when the same keyword appears twice in a campaign with a different match type. Safely ignore this warning

More keywords are better than fewer, and you can never have too many keywords

Use the search query report to generate more keywords

Aim for a 1 to 1 ratio of keywords to search queries

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Search Query Reports can be Revealing

Sample Search Query Report for Broad matched keyword Baby Diapers:

Search Term Match Type

Baby changing bibs diapers Broad Match

Food & diapers changing baby Broad Match

Free diaper samples by mail Broad Match

Pampers diapers Broad Match

Pampers baby diapers recall Broad Match

Diapers pamper brand shop Broad Match

Baby care essentials diapers Broad Match

Number diapers baby 24 hour period Broad Match

Pampers diaper recall Broad Match

Pampers diapers Broad MatchBest baby diapers Phrase Match

Many of these keywords are completely irrelevant!

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NEGATIVE KEYWORDS

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Search Query Reports & Negative Keywords

Broad and Modified Broad Match Keywords can bring in visitors for completely off the wall searches. For example, if you sell replacement windows on a house, if you bid on the term “windows” you will receive searchers for the operating system if you are not careful

Add negative keywords to campaign by adding – before each word, like –xp and -8 to block traffic for Windows XP and Windows 8 operating systems. –microsoft could be used as well.

Find more negative keywords by mining your search query reports!

Negatives help your CTR as well as prevents spending on irrelevant search terms

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COST-PER-ACQUISITION BIDDING

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Look into CPA Bidding

If you use AdWords convesion tracking and your campaigns have at least 15 conversions per month, you can participate in cost per acquisition (CPA) bidding

There are two ways to accomplish this, through conversion optimizer or enhanced CPC bidding

This can drive many more conversions at a price below your target

Be careful, because this method of bidding can also lead to fewer new customers due to over-efficiency

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ANALYTICS INTEGRATION

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Integrate Google Analytics with AdWords

Integrating Google Analytics with your AdWords data can provide better insight on your landing pages– Do they have a low time on site?– Do they “bounce” off that page or do they convert?– Do they navigate to other pages? Should those be converted to

landing pages?

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Three Common Google Analytics Mistakes

The three most common Google Analytics integration mistakes we see are:

1. Data Sharing not enabled in Analytics

2. Auto-Tagging not turned on in AdWords

3. Cost source data from AdWords not applied to Analytics

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QUALITY SCORES

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Maximize Your Quality Scores

A Quality Score is Google’s quality indicator for keywords relative to ads

Good Quality Scores help lower your cost-per-click (CPC) Keyword + Historical CTR + Ad Copy + Landing Page =

Quality Score If your ads have a low quality score, consider breaking your

ads out into more specific ad groups and revise the ad copy

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INVEST IN LANDING PAGES

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Invest in Landing Pages

Sending traffic to your website with no clear direction for your visitor is NEVER a good idea

Good landing pages help your visitor to make a good decision, and quickly

A lot of thought goes into effective landing page design– User Experience– Creative Design– Persuasive Architecture– Conversion Rate Optimization – Paid Search Traffic

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PROPER BIDDING

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Bidding on Keywords is an Art

Under-bidding on keywords makes it unlikely that you’ll appear for your desired keywords

Alternatively, don’t overbid on keywords just because you have the budget

The ideal scenario involves only paying the minimum required by Google to achieve your desired results

Use bid strategies to achieve your goals. Common bid strategies are:– Lowest cost per click possible to achieve click volume– Most cost effective clicks to drive customer conversions– Bid to achieve highest position in search results– Generate the most conversions possible, regardless of costs

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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PPC AGENCY?

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SEPARATE BRAND VS. NON BRAND

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THEY PROVIDE FULLY LOADED COSTS

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WARY OF CHARGING ON % OF SPEND

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FOCUS ON THE BEST & MOST UNIQUE PRODUCTS

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UNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS

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INDUSTRY OR CATEGORY EXPERIENCE

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WHAT MAKES A GOOD PPC CLIENT?

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CREATES LANDING PAGES EASILY

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UNDERSTANDS PRODUCT INVENTORY

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ADDS NEW PRODUCTS REGULARLY

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UNDERSTANDS PRODUCT DEMAND

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OFFERS UNIQUE PRODUCTS

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TEST & LEARN BUDGET

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HAS CLEAR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

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DEFINED CAMPAIGN GOALS

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UNDERSTANDS ACCOUNT MATURITY

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UNDERSTANDS ONLINE/OFFLINE METRICS

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THANK YOU!