5 Mistakes Google Hopes You Make Setting Up AdWords

Shhhh! Unless you have money to burn, here are 5 “gotchas” all AdWords advertisers should be aware of:

1. Leaving the Default Campaign Settings Enabled
2. Skimping on Keyword Research
3. Not “Punctuating” Your Keywords
4. Omitting Tracking Parameters in the Destination URL
5. Not Using Your Server Logs to Verify Google Analytics

1. Leaving the Default Campaign Settings Enabled

What is the top gotcha that has Google laughing all the way to the bank? It’s when advertisers don’t edit the default settings. And most don’t, simply because they don’t know they have any choices to make.

As a “convenience” to you, Google hides these options. Don’t believe me? If you delve deeper, the expensive options are labeled “Recommended for new advertisers.”

This shows the collapsed, default view for Networks and Devices in your campaign setup screen:

When you click the blue “Edit” link you’ll see the network options you’ve unwittingly opted into:

At the very least, opt out of the Display Network. Why: Many get-rich-quick schemers set up a fly-by-night website and Adsense account to bring in revenue from Google ads. Some of them have content illegally scraped from other sites or gibberish made to mimic natural language. With the majority of these MFA (made-for-Adsense) sites, the resulting clicks won’t come from the kind of visitors you want. And that’s to be expected, since anyone who lands on an MFA site is probably in SURF mode, not SEARCH mode!

If you really want your ads shown on AdSense websites, simply set up a separate campaign to enable the Display Network by itself. That way you can track its performance separately. Go one step further and choose to display ads only on sites you’ve preapproved. It will take a bit of research, but it’s worth it.

If you have a tight budget, opt out of the Search Partners choice. They used to consist of sites like AOL, which had no search engine of its own and made a deal to show Google’s ads.

Now, who knows what sites are included? Google isn’t being very straightforward about who its current search partners are:

My recommendation is to select only “Google Search” for your campaign, and not to click the Search Partners button. If you want to enable the Display Network, set it up as a separate campaign with click the 2nd option. Be sure to track your ROI very carefully!

Next, you’ll want to select whether you want your ads shown on computers, or cell phones/mobile devices.

If you don’t edit the device options, here’s what you’ve opted in to:

If you want your site to show up on mobile or hand-held devices, I recommend setting up a separate campaign for this. Just make sure you check how your landing page looks on those tiny screens!

2. Skimping on Keyword Research

If your ad campaign is bidding on mostly short 1- or 2-word keywords, you’re paying more and getting less. Typically searchers use short search queries when they’re just beginning to form an idea of what they’re going to search for. The ads that show up for such queries are usually from advertisers who want to waste their money.

It’s fine if all you want is massive traffic from looky-loos who usually leave as quickly as they came. But it’s not only expensive to bid on overly broad words and short phrases: They rarely lead to conversions.

Longer, more specific phrases not only bring you more serious visitors who are ready to buy, but they also typically cost less because there’s usually not as much competition. So leave no stone unturned when conducting your own keyword research!

3. Not “Punctuating” Your Keywords

Bidding on broad-match keywords, which is the default, is usually a costly mistake. Unless you have unlimited funds, broad match should be used with extreme caution!

Don’t know if you’ve chosen broad match by accident? If you’re not using quotation marks or brackets around your keywords, that’s broad match. Quotes and brackets are the only way to ensure Google is showing your ads when YOU want it to, not whenever it thinks your ad MIGHT be a match for the query. Google calls this license to pick your pocket “expanded broad match.” Sometimes only ONE of the keywords in your phrase can trigger your ad. Or a synonym you might not agree is a match. (Always remember that Google AdWords is really just a machine — don’t trust it too much!) I’ve written a more complete guide here: Choosing the Right Keyword Matching Option.

If it’s absolutely necessary to bid on broad match, you can find out what queries Google showed your ads for ONLY when it results in your ad being clicked. You will need to either 1) set up a separate ad group or 2) put the dynamic tracking code {keyword} (note the curly brackets) in your destination URL. I do both.

4. Omitting Tracking Parameters in the Destination URL

Many DIY advertisers neglect to set up tracking parameters in the destination URL. It is different from the display URL, which is what gets shown under your ad.

The destination URL is hidden from view, which means users won’t know the exact page they’re being routed to. If the campaign is set up well (see next tip), the landing page will be a non-publicly accessible page specially created for only PPC purposes. Google wants you to do this, just as they want you to use tracking URLs, but they know it can make for a messy-looking web address!

It’s very easy to create tracking parameters where Google asks for your Destination URL. Just type in your landing page address followed by a question mark. Then you add words separated by ampersands and equal symbols (&=).

Example of a tracking parameter: &source=google

A set of basic parameters will capture all kinds of data you can use later to make sense of how your campaigns are doing. At a minimum you want to track by campaign, ad group, which ad if there are several, and which keyword triggered the ad. Here’s an example of a tracking URL:

http://www.example.com/landingpage.htm?source=google&campaign=1&adgroup={creative}&keyword={keyword}

There are 4 tracking parameters above:

Source

Campaign

Ad group ID

Keyword

By using the special {creative} and {keyword} parameters you’ll be able to capture the Ad ID and tie each visitor to the keyword that triggered the ad. (Note: the latter will not be the exact keyword phrase if you bid on phrase- or broad-match. That’s info you can glean only from your analytics program.)

As opposed to the very low character limit on display URLs, Google allows an ample 255 characters for destination URLs. You can have as many tracking parameters as you want and name them as you like. Just avoid spaces and be sure to put the proper syntax between each item you want to track.

5. Not Having or Utilizing an Analytics Program

Many website owners don’t know whether server logs are available for their website. They do take up a bit of space so many web hosting services delete them automatically. It’s important to let your host know to keep yours until you download them. They can easily compress the data to save space.

Log files are nothing intimidating — they’re strictly plain-text data. Open one of yours in Windows Notepad sometime and check it out.

You can run logfiles through one of the analysis programs that translates and correlates the data into an easy-to-read report format. I use Mach5′s FastStats.

Never rely solely on Google Analytics or another third-party program (which gives you a script to plant on your pages) to keep track of visitors. Your server logs will give you independent information that might actually be lacking or inaccurate in the third-party program. Conversely, third-party programs will show you data that server logs aren’t set up to collect. By using both a server-based AND a script-based system you’ll be able to paint a truer picture of what your visitors actually did on your site.

6. Not Using Your Server Logs to Verify Google Analytics

Worried about click fraud? Not positive you’re getting a positive ROI? Never rely solely on Google Analytics or another third-party tracking program (which gives you a script to plant on your pages). Your server logs will give you independent information that might actually be lacking or inaccurate in the third-party program. But third-party programs will show you data that server logs aren’t set up to collect.

By using both a server-based AND a script-based system you’ll be able to paint a truer picture of what your visitors actually did on your site.

You may believe server logs are not available for your website. But that’s usually because web hosting services delete them automatically due to lack of interest. It’s important to let your host know to keep yours on the server for you. Using data compression, I keep many years’ worth of logs for my clients; this is valuable trending information!