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Help improve your adCenter campaign performance with adCenter reports

Now that we’ve covered some of the reporting basics , let’s discuss some useful reports and things to look for in those reports to help point out trends and find areas for account growth. Ad performance report CTR - The ad performance report is a valuable report to run on a regular basis because it can help you to point out which ads are not performing. Having underperforming ads in your account can pull down the quality and CTR of your campaigns and cause them to cost more. So, if we run an ad performance...(read more)

AdCenter Optimization Quick Reference Guide

I'd like to share the checklist I use daily for quick optimization tips for my adCenter clients. Here are some common scenarios and possible steps to address them. Low CTR? Test multiple ads Repeat ads that have higher CTR Remove poor performers Static ads: Capitalize the first letter in keywords and ad copy Insert {Keyword} or {param2} in ad title, description or display URL Unfocused orders: More detailed orders More keyword coherence Tightly targeted ad copy Try demographic targeting Increase...(read more)

Demographic Targeting - Is it right for you?

Are you an advertiser who knows what your high converting customers look like? Or, are you specifically targeting a certain age or gender for the product or website you’re promoting with search? If you knew that someone in your target demographic was sitting at the computer, wouldn’t you be willing to pay a bit more for your ad placement with that customer? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be a prime candidate to utilize the demographic targeting feature available in adCenter. This allows you to maximize presentation of your ads to your target demographic by paying a premium on your bid for those customers whom you know are likely to convert.

How does it work?

The data used for the demographic targeting option (age and gender) comes from information reported by MSN customers; this data in Microsoft adCenter is retrieved through the online advertising audience's Windows Live IDs. If you have targeted your ad to Females using the incremental bid or "bid boost" option in adCenter, you can increase your bid in increments of 10% up to 100% for the demographic you’ve identified as your "sweet spot". So, if you’ve chosen 10%, your $2 Max CPC bid becomes $2.20 when adCenter is able to recognize this information about a logged-in user. With this strategy in place, you're likely improving your position for your target customer and increasing the right traffic to your site.

Important note: Incremental bid boosts are additive so if you’ve elected to bid 10% for Female and 20% for 30-39, you’ll be increasing your bid by 30% for someone who falls into both categories using their non-identifiable label.

How do I implement this strategy?

Select the ad group you'd like to apply demographic targeting to. On the Manage selected ad group page, under Set incremental bids for targeting, click Bid for location, day, time, age, or gender. Under Demographics, select the additional amount you want to bid to target by age group or gender, in 10 percent increments above your keyword bid amount. Click Save. You’ll be off and running in targeting the right customers to maximize your bid for.

If this strategy is implemented correctly, you could increase your conversions, increase your CTR, and boost your ROI! Good luck.

Ad Copy Testing: Systematically Improving CTR

What has your ad copy done for you lately? Improving creative is often an overlooked optimization strategy in PPC campaigns. Paying attention to keyword bids and average position often takes the place of focusing on the creative side of things. The reasons are simple enough: It’s much easier to adjust bid prices and tweak ad group settings than it is to come up with relevant, click-eating ad copy. This sometimes results in paid search listings that look like they were written by a monkey on a typewriter. 

Paid search is a unique form of advertising because it allows you to run controlled tests to determine the effectiveness of different styles of ad copy. Rather than going through specific ad copy recommendations, I thought it’d be helpful to share my thoughts on ad copy testing. For an overview on basic "ad copy writing" tips, check this Microsoft adCenter best practice document.

The key to ad copy testing is to devise several creative variations and set them up in a way such that you can compare their performance side by side. Always remember to be deliberate about exactly what you want to test. For starters, you might want to test the effectiveness of the ad copy "theme". Create one ad that relies heavily on brand terms, one ad that includes an offer like "free shipping" or "discounted prices", and one ad that utilizes a call-to-action like "Browse our online catalog." By comparing these different strategies across the same set of keywords, you can start learning which ad "theme" draws a searcher to click on your ads.

You can also run tests that focus on more specific differences in ad creative. Create two identical sets of ad copy, but have one with a general display URL and one with a specific display URL  (http://www.fourthcoffee.com vs. http://www.fourthcoffee.com/decaf). Testing small details like display URL modifications may seem trivial, but you’d be surprised how CTR may differ between the two ads. Now that we’ve learned a little about different tests, let’s focus on how to setup ad copy tests in your adCenter search marketing campaigns. By following the steps below, you can set your campaigns up for success.

1. Start a new ad group from scratch, so that existing performance history does not impact ad delivery
2. Create several ads, each with a distinctive feel
3. Upload a proven keyword list. You want enough traffic volume so that one ad begins to differentiate itself as the highest performer
4. Microsoft adCenter currently optimizes ad copy rotation, so it will automatically show the highest performing ad more frequently
5. Repeat across more ad groups. Remember, it’s rare that a single piece of ad copy is going to be the highest performer across all ad groups. 

Ad copy testing takes discipline and patience. But if you take the time to setup your tests, you can systematically differentiate the effectiveness of your ad copy and continuously improve your account performance. So go out and Test, Test, Test!