Now You See it! Visualizing your PPC Competition - SMX West 2016

#SMX #XXA @MaddieMarketer

Visualizing Your PPC Competition

Now You See It!


Senior Client Manager at Point It Digital Marketing

5 Years in PPC

Oversee $35M in Yearly Media

Global SEM Program Lead

20 Person Team

30 Languages

60 Markets

2015 US Search Award “Young Search Professional”


What about Google removing sidebar ads???


Does removing sidebar ads mean…

• My CPCs will spike?

• My impression share will tank?

• My conversions will disappear?

• Everything is horrible and my life is over????

The answer is…it’s too soon to tell.

My predictions?

• CPCs will see an initial spike, but impact will completely vary by vertical

• Position 4 will become both more valuable & less transparent

• Google will monetize that open real estate


Okay, so what should I do right now?

• Keep an eye on CPC fluctuations, especially on your top converting keywords

• Evaluate impact by measuring what % of convs come from ads in Pos 4 or worse

• Read predictions, analysis, and thoughts from smart industry leaders:

No Right Side Ads Resource Compilation from @LukeAlleywww.avalaunchmedia.com/no-right-side-ads-in-adwords-resource

Most importantly…don’t panic! Give it time. Collect data, assess, and THEN take action


5 W’sof

PPC Competitor

Analysis


ASK YOURSELF…

WHO

are your competitors?

WHAT

kind of competitors

are they?

WHERE

are they competing with you?

WHY


WHEN

should you take action?


WHO

are your competitors?

Assumption:I know exactly who my online competitors are!

Pull Auction Insights data to determine:

• Who are my relevant competitors in PPC?

• If domains showing ads with aren’t relative, are you bidding on the right keywords?

Then, take that data & make it actionable!

• No, not by starting at rows & rows of raw data in Excel…

• We’ll review my favorite PPC competitor analysis tools that can help you visualize your competitor trends


WHAT

kind of competitors

are they?

Assumption:All my competitors are exactly the same

Research domains showing with yours ads to identify

• Affiliates

• CSEs

• OTAs

Understand if you’re getting the full story

• Can’t distinguish partners pointing to the same domain –it’ll all be lumped under “You” in Auction Insights

• Escalate non-approved trademark users

• Search Arbitragers

• Resellers

• “True” Competitors


WHERE


Assumption:Non-branded keywords see the most competition

Label top performing keywords, including Branded!

• Don’t pull out your hair trying to monitor every single keyword

• Your “cash cows” are going to see the quickest impact if competitor enters and inflates CPCs to push you out

Set up alerts, reports, & automated bidding rules

• Set up automated Search Impression Share Reports

• Use Google & Bings automated rules when competitors getting more aggressive to maintain crucial impression share

• Test Google’s Portfolio Strategy: Target Page Location


WHY


Assumption:I only need to worry about my copy, not my competitor’s

Review competitor ads regularly

• What are your competitors offering?

• Are they using clear CTAs?

• In a heavily occupied vertical, how are they standing out?

• I’ll share my favorite competitor ad monitoring tools in next slides

Test your messaging tactics

• The proof is in the pudding! Test copy to see what drives results


WHEN

should you take action?

Assumption:I’ll worry about my competitors later

Later? You cray cray! Take action now

Don’t spend every waking moment obsessing Your first priority should be driving results for your account But competitors can rock your boat, and knowing how to

steer the ship is the first step in the right direction

Take your ego out of it, be smart, & use the 5 W’s


My Favorite Toolsfor

Visualizing PPC

Competitor Data


COMPETITOR ANALYSIS TOOL

Research US + INTL markets PLA vs. Paid Search trends Domain vs. Domain Desktop vs. Mobile ad copy

3rd Party ToolsNOTE: I was not paid by

any of these tools





Google vs. Bing ad copy First & last seen dates of ads

(how often competitor testing?) Ad lists with URLs

(including tracking parameters)


any of these tools




Color-coded ad change grids Highlights top performing ads Venn diagrams of shared

keywords (paid & organic) Segments top competitors

(paid & organic)


any of these tools





AdWords Keyword PlannerReview relative impression share for new keywords compared to

top market leaders &similar advertisers in your

keyword categories

Using Keyword Planner Tool



BrainLabs Auction Insights Script (my favorite!)

• Copy/paste their script into Google Sheet• Pull segmented campaign data• Pull segmented Auction Insight data• Throw both into Google Sheet• Automatically generates graphs that

illustrate competitive metrics alongside your trending CPCs

Using Auction Insights Data



Segmented ReportingCan segment Auction Insights data

by Time and/or Device to get the fuller picture of your competitor

trends

Using Auction Insights Data


Don’t let your PPC competitors drive you crazy

Reactive PPC tactics can result in A LOT of wasted time & spend

Your approach should be smart & strategic

BE A SMART COOKIE


Check out my guest blog post on

Wordstream for more!

www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/18/

ppc-competitor-analysis