TRAFFIC
long tail searches that you might have
missed in your original build. Finding
these keywords and adding them to the
account will help decrease CPC and
improve the overall performance.
But of course, when looking at
broad and phrase match keywords,
don’t just focus on those that you can
add to the account. Make sure you
eliminate underperforming keywords or
those you don’t want to appear against;
look after the pennies and the pounds
will look after themselves.
Essentially, all my reasons for
loving labels come down to one key
point: they make an effective account
easier to manage.
Use dimensions for greater results
Deciding your keyword bid is one thing.
Then you need to use data and decide on
your device bid. But it doesn’t stop there.
Under the dimensions tab we can get
even more information on your campaigns:
time of day, day of week and user location.
This is another factor to consider when
“ Having the right negative keywords strategy is
important, especially when you’re running multiple
match types”
Labels: the Post-it notes
of AdWords
AdWords’ very own version of Post-it
notes is labels. Although you have likely
built a campaign structure that works
for you, labels can help go that little bit
further. Labels are a great way to group
together keywords, ads, ad groups or
even campaigns. Want to separate brand
vs non-brand? Add a label. Want to group
together your highest performing and
most valuable keywords? Add a label.
Time sensitive ad copies that need to
be paused at midnight? Guess what,
you can add a label. Labels are a great
way to help manage your day–to-day
running of the account.
Why is it important for gambling?
Well if you’re running tests (and you
should always be running tests) this is a
great way to filter out and view the results.
Perhaps you have a time sensitive offer
before the big race on Saturday afternoon.
Adding a label means you can filter out
and automate these ads to pause once the
offer has expired.
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iGB Affiliate Issue 63 JUN/JUL 2017
you’re setting bid strategies. Maybe you
want to increase your bids and average
position on a Saturday morning before
the weekend’s fixtures, but decrease your
presence on a Sunday afternoon when
conversion rates might be lower.
But remember, don’t look at dimensions
at account level. For a greater level of
detail view this at campaign (or label)
level. This will allow you to gather deeper
insights into how each sport’s betting terms
are searched differently. For example,
football betting related terms will produce
different results to horse racing terms
based on when the events are on.
CPA targets (and therefore bids) can be
amended to reflect this, possibly allowing
for some increased CPAs where quality
can be determined.
An overall CPA is still helpful as it
allows you and the client to get a quick
glimpse of performance, but drilling
down further will allow for improved
performance long term for the account.
This is why campaign structure and labels
become important.
From building the account to using
all the features, AdWords is becoming
ever more advanced. Using these features
and your own data will help improve
the overall performance of the account
and likely lead to more investment.
But remember the most important part
of running any AdWords account,
whether with a £100 a month budget
or £1m: testing.
Testing is not just about ads and landing
pages, although that is what you’ll most
likely hear and read about. Whenever
you make a change or a bid adjustment,
monitor the results. See whether increasing
bids and average position on a Saturday has
led to an improved click-through rate and
conversion rate. Has this been cost-effective
and delivered a higher quality of customers?
Have you gathered enough results to make
a conclusive decision? And once you’re
happy with the results and ready to make
a decision, be ready to test again.
Using your data right
Understand your end goal. For some
companies this might be leads while
for other verticals this could be ROI.
However, often an overall target is set
(we need to get a CPA of XX, or an ROI
of XX). Having worked across many
verticals it’s important to set CPA/ROI
at a more granular level. Understanding
lifetime values of customers means
AARON PHELPS is head
of biddable media at
Digital Fuel Marketing, a
specialist sports marketing
agency in the world of
betting, affiliates and igaming.
Aaron has seven years’ experience with
AdWords and paid social platforms,
helping brands maximise visibility for
the most competitive CPA.