Optimizing Your Google PPC Account in 15 Minutes

Because you probably wear many hats in your day-to-day operations as a business owner, it might be difficult to find the time to manage your Google™ pay-per-click (or PPC) account. To that end, we’ve highlighted 3 quick and easy optimization techniques that you can undertake in 15 minutes or less to ensure that your PPC campaigns maintain optimal performance.  


1. Review your Search Query Performance reports. We all know that a search engine’s definition of “relevant queries” is often very different from our own. That’s why Google’s Search Query Performance reports make it easy for advertisers to review the actual search queries that are triggering their ads and then exclude the irrelevant queries. The search query report can be run quickly by clicking the “See search terms” button on the “Keywords” tab of your campaigns. Selecting the “All” option will bring up a report of all the search queries that resulted in clicks during the specified time period.

As you review the report, look for queries that are irrelevant to your business or that have driven up costs but haven’t converted. To negate these queries, mark the check box next to them and click the “Add as negative keyword” button above the results.

Search query reports can also be a great way to find additional keyword opportunities for your campaigns. As you review the reports and see terms that are triggering your ads but are not currently in your campaigns, select them and click the “Add as keyword” button above the results. While your ads may already be showing up for these keywords because of broad-match queries, adding them to your campaigns will allow you to monitor them more closely and optimize them for greater profitability.

2. Use keyword filters. Managing keywords can often be a tedious and time-consuming task—especially when you’re managing campaigns with a large number of keywords. Thanks to Google’s new “Filter” option, advertisers can quickly filter their keywords for easier management.

To filter keywords, simply click the “Filter” button on the “Keywords” tab of your campaigns. When selecting the “Create filter” option from the drop-down menu, a yellow box should appear. Within this box, you can select your filter criteria and apply them to the keywords. As you create filters, you can save them for future use in your account. You can also use the preset filters that Google provides.

In the list below, we’ve included some filters that we often use in our client accounts. The “Xs” that are included in the filter criteria are determined on an account-by-account basis, and they should be based on the ROI associated with each product or service.

• Filter: No Clicks
  Criteria: Impressions >100, Clicks <0
  Action: Pause Keywords
• Filter: Low CTR, Low Position
  Criteria: Impressions >100, CTR <1%, Position >3
  Action: Increase Bids
• Filter: Low CTR, High Position
  Criteria: Impressions >100, CTR <1%, Position <3
  Action: Pause Keywords
• Filter: High Cost
  Criteria: Cost >X, Conversions = 0
  Action: Pause Keywords
• Filter: High CPA
  Criteria: Conversions >1, CPA >X
  Action: Decrease Bids

Note: You can also apply filters to other areas of your account, including ad groups and ads.

3. Review your content placements. If you’re currently running ads on the content network, reviewing content placements is an absolute necessity. To review these placements, simply click on the “Networks” tab of your campaigns. From here, you can review the content placements of your ads during a specified time period. We recommend reviewing data for at least 30 days to get a more accurate measure of each placement’s performance. (Note: The keyword filters listed above can also be used to pinpoint and exclude unprofitable placements.)
The primary goal of reviewing placements is to look for the ones that are driving up costs, are not converting, or are irrelevant to your business. When you find any of these placements, you can easily exclude them from your campaign or ad group by selecting the placement and clicking the “Exclude placements” button.

So . . . if you can set aside 15 minutes in your busy schedule, try out these quick and easy optimization techniques to improve the performance of your Google PPC account. If you still have trouble finding time to manage your account, feel free to reach out to us at Web.com. We offer affordable PPC account management services, and we’d be happy to help you make the most of your PPC budget.