Google AdWords: Your Frequently Asked Questions Answered

I recently did an online Google AdWords Q&A sessions for a fabulous group of business owners. As they asked questions that I get asked regularly, I’m sharing the answers in this article in case you’ve been wondering about them too. The info is based on my honest opinion and years of experience optimising thousands of campaigns.

1. Why aren’t I getting many clicks on my ads?

Some of the reasons could be:

• Not many people are searching for your keywords
• People are searching for your keywords but:
  • your ads are in a very low position where not many people see them because your bids are too low or
  • your ad copy isn’t appealing to click on or isn’t relevant to your keywords
• Your daily budget is lower than the cost of click
• Your target area is very small
• Your ads are scheduled only to run for a very small time period.

Read more in 9 Ways to Increase Web Traffic from your AdWords Campaigns.

2. How do I know if my AdWords campaign is working or if I’m wasting my money?

Set up conversion tracking so that you can link the outcomes (leads, enquiries, sales) to the ads and find out how much each conversion costs. Then in order to evaluate Return On Investment from the ads you need to know the value of the lead/enquiry/sale to your business.

If you have an eCommerce site have eCommerce Tracking set up in your Google Analytics account so that you can see the value of orders generated by clicks from the ads.

Also read Three Things You Need to Know Before Running an AdWords e-Commerce Campaign.

3. When should I see results from my AdWords campaign?

This depends upon a lot of factors including how many clicks you’re getting per day and the value of a lead/enquiry/sale. It can take months to fully optimise an eCommerce campaign but you should see some results (even if they are more expensive than you’d like) in the first few weeks, or keep making changes to the campaign and landing page until the results improve.

Also note that the quality of your website and your competitors websites has a big impact on your results. As does your pricing and how it compares to your competitors pricing. And for eCommerce shipping costs are a major reason for shopping cart abandonment.

4. I’ve been burned by AdWords ‘specialists’ in the past – how do I pick a good one?

First, check that they are a Google Partner (a lot of people who offer AdWords services aren’t).

Ask your network for a referral.

For more info, here’s my article called “Read this before you hire an AdWords manager?”

Also read about the minimum requirements that anyone who provides you with Google AdWords services needs to meet to be compliant with Google’s policies.

5. I can’t get my ad to land on a Product page – I can only get it into my home page. Why?

When creating a new text ad, make sure you link to your product page to the field called “Destination URL”.

6. The click prices are expensive. Please comment.

Generally if click prices are high it’s because the ad campaigns work and advertisers are prepared to pay that amount for a click based on the results.

Also note, the conversion rate of your website has a big impact on your conversion cost and therefore the cost of a click itself isn’t the only important factor.

For example if clicks cost $1 each and your website converts 10% of visitors then a conversion costs $10. But if your conversion rate is 1% then a conversion costs $100.

7. Are Google AdWords right for my product (ie not necessarily something someone is searching for)?

Great question but a hard one to answer without understanding more about the product and doing some research.

Generally I would say “no” but if you have a website with an awesome conversion rate you could test more general keywords and find out.

As an example, if you product is a “underwater umbrella for scuba divers” and there are no searches for your niche of keywords, you could test keywords like “scuba diver equipment” and “scuba diver accessories”. It might not be a quality ad campaign though if not many people click on your ad because your keywords are general. (Obviously this is a made up example!)

8. Is there any association with AdWords and organic keywords? – ie if you use AdWords does Google look upon that favourably and your organic rankings will increase? And vice versa?

No, there is no connection. Here’s a video by Google Webmasters on the topic.

9. My “product” is my blog – should I consider advertising it with AdWords? How do I even start doing that!?

If the aim is to increase web visitors I wouldn’t recommend paying for AdWords, but if you have a specific objective eg selling a product via your blog, yes you could test AdWords. It would be important to clearly define your goals for the campaign so that you can assess whether or not it’s effective.

For blogs I also recommend marketing activities like social media and blogging 🙂

10. Pros and cons of AdWords – does it work better for a product or a service or for both?

AdWords can work well for both products and services. The effectiveness of a campaign depends upon the price, competition and buying cycle. And also, as mentioned, the quality of your website.

11. Do you recommend creating a landing page for each campaign?

If your Home page or product page does it’s job well it should already be a great landing page but it depends how many products etc you sell, how prominent each product can be and the quality of your website.

Here’s Google’s article on understanding landing page experience.

12. What is a good Click Through Rate?

For Click Through Rate, the higher the better, but aim for over 1-2%.

13. Should I manage my AdWords campaigns myself?

Three reasons why you shouldn’t DIY AdWords management (without supervision!).

14. Why can’t I see my own ads?

Read Why Can’t I See My Own Ads?

15. How do I avoid common and costly AdWords mistakes?

Read 5 Common and Costly AdWords Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

16. How can I stretch my AdWords budget?

The most common mistake I see in self-managed campaigns is not adding negative keywords. This can cost you a lot of money!

Read this article for more tips on stretching your AdWords budget.

17. What do the main statistics in my AdWords account mean?

Find out what AdWords CTR, CPC and the other key statistics mean.

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I meet a lot of business owners who are interested in trialling AdWords but reluctant to because of common misconceptions that:

1. No one ever clicks on the ads

2. Competitors will click away all my budget

3. I will spend more than I intend to.

Find out why you shouldn’t let these reasons stop you from trying AdWords.

Got more questions about Google AdWords? Leave a comment below or contact us directly.