Some Common Google AdWords Mistakes

Having dealt with so many clients across a board of industries, we have certainly come across the same mistakes time and time again in Google AdWords accounts. Some mistakes are more common than others, but it’s safe to say that there is a lot of misinformation out there as to what you should be doing to maintain an effective AdWords account. Below are some of the easier mistakes one could make on their account:

• Using the wrong landing page/destination URL: The landing page of your account is going to play a strong part in the success or failure of your AdWords account. Google now pays more attention to the LPG (landing page quality), which is a factor in determining your Quality Score values. What you don’t want to be doing is simply directing users to your home page as this is less likely to convert. If the user has clicked on an Ad for a specific product, make sure the page they are directed to is dedicated to just that product.
• Not optimising your Ad display settings: As a default setting, all Ads are set to be displayed in the “optimised” setting. This means your Ads will be displayed based on which has the highest CTR. You don’t want this setting if you haven’t first tested the effectiveness of each Ad. This can be done by changing the display setting to “Rotate Ads Evenly”. Once you have left the Ads to be served for a sound amount of time (EG one week), you can then see the individual successes of the Ads and change your display settings accordingly.
• Using only broad matched keywords: This is one of the more common mistakes. In order to cast your widest proverbial net while excluding unwanted traffic, you need to use a combination of the different styles of keywords. You then want to test and measure the effectiveness of each keyword and make changes to the account in accordance with the ROI from each.
• Putting all keywords into one AdGroup: You are able to create many AdGroups, so take advantage of this. Having all of your keywords placed in one group means that your Ad is going to be displayed when it doesn’t provide a direct answer to the user. Make a new AdGroup specifically targeted to each product/service you offer. This is going to help to improve your Quality Scores and reduce costs of running your account.