{"id":3069,"date":"2017-02-27T07:05:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T14:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/3.14.248.234\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2020-06-26T13:51:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T20:51:36","slug":"google-adwords-using-ad-groups-negative-keywords-and-bidding-on-your-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/google-adwords-using-ad-groups-negative-keywords-and-bidding-on-your-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Google AdWords: Using Ad Groups, Negative Keywords, and Bidding on Your Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Most Google AdWords beginners lose big. Do you know why?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

It\u2019s complicated to optimize your campaigns, and the interface doesn\u2019t make it any easier. With that said, a couple of tips can make all the difference. And with <\/span>40,000 Google search queries<\/span><\/a> every second on average, there\u2019s a lot of money to be made with Google AdWords. This is one opportunity you don\u2019t want to miss.<\/span><\/p>\n

To take advantage of this opportunity, you need to optimize your ad groups, insert negative keywords, and fight your competitors when bidding on your brand:<\/span><\/p>\n

Streamline Keywords with Copy<\/b><\/h5>\n

The most common mistake I see with Google AdWords is not using ad groups to streamline copy with keywords. Rather than streamline, people will put all their keywords under one ad group containing one ad. This mistake costs companies millions of dollars every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Google ads should always match the keyword searched. In fact, the closer the ad copy is to the keyword the higher quality score you\u2019ll receive resulting in a lower cost per conversion and a better ad position.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t break up your Google AdWords campaigns with streamlined copy and ads, then you can\u2019t advertise for features and different lines of products. For example, if the retail chain, REI, included all their keywords under generic ad copy such as \u201cBuy Outdoor Gear\u201d rather than having ads matching the individual REI products people search for, then they\u2019d lose a lot of money. Imagine searching \u201crei tents\u201d to then see an REI ad saying \u201cBuy Outdoor Gear.\u201d It\u2019s enticing, but not specific.<\/span><\/p>\n

Good thing REI break ups their keywords to match the copy of their ads:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

To keep your Google AdWords campaigns in check, I would avoid using more than fifteen keywords per an ad group. And as a rule of thumb, never add Google AdWords\u2019 keyword suggestions to your ad group without doing research. Most of the time, the keywords they suggest will hurt your ROI. <\/span><\/p>\n

Insert Negative Keywords<\/b><\/h5>\n

Negative keywords ensure your ads get shown to people who search with the most relevant intent. Moreover, they help you save money by narrowing your focus on only quality searches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example:<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019re selling yoga mats, so you decide to bid on the keyword \u201cmats.\u201d As a result, your ad shows up next to Bed Bath & Beyond\u2019s advertisement for doormats. If someone searches \u201cmats,\u201d then sees your ad and clicks on it, it will drive up your Google AdWords bill even though they have zero intention of purchasing. <\/span><\/p>\n

To remedy this issue, you want to add negative keywords to the campaign level. This means your campaign won\u2019t show any of your ads to those keywords. You can also add negative keywords to the ad group level, so ads under that ad group won\u2019t show for those keywords.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

To get more specific on your negative keyword targeting, you want to pair your keywords with broad match, \u00a0exact match, or phrase match.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

A broad negative match means your ads won\u2019t show on searches that include your negative keywords as misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations. For example, if the negative keyword is \u201chiking boots,\u201d then any search containing \u201chiking\u201d or \u201cboots\u201d won\u2019t trigger your ads. <\/span><\/p>\n

A phrase negative match means your ads won\u2019t show on searches that include your keywords, and close variations of those keywords. For example, if the negative keyword is \u201chiking boots,\u201d then any search with the keywords intact will not show your ads such as \u201cwhere can I buy hiking boots.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

An exact negative match means your ads won\u2019t show on searches that include only those exact keywords. For example, if the negative keyword is \u201chiking boots,\u201d then any exact search with those exact keywords will not trigger your ads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bid on Your Own \u00a0Brand<\/b><\/h5>\n

People think because they have great website SEO, they don\u2019t need to advertise using branded keywords. Big mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t advertise for your branded keywords, then competitors will steal your traffic. They\u2019ll not only do this for your company name but for the features of your product, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if you rank first organically, a competitor can advertise right above your organic result. A perfect example is the email marketing and onboarding software company, Autopilot. Notice how Intercom is trying to steal their traffic. Because Autopilot knows this, they bid on their branded keywords to ensure they remain the first result:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"BAMF<\/p>\n

When it comes to bidding on branded keywords, it\u2019s common practice to spend more because people who organically search for your company are high-quality visitors; therefore, more likely to convert.<\/span><\/p>\n

With these three Google AdWords tactics, you\u2019re ready to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll with your campaigns. It takes time to optimize at each step, but it\u2019s worth it because if you don\u2019t do it, your competitor will. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most Google AdWords beginners lose big. Do you know why?
\nIt\u2019s complicated to optimize your campaigns, and the interface doesn\u2019t make it any easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[112,539,3382,3386,114,293,3258,3381,268,3384],"tags":[131,153,111],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/image3-2.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Houston Golden","author_link":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/author\/bamfmedia\/"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bamf.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}