What any dealer jumping into running their own Google AdWords campaign may find is that running ads on the Content Network is risky business. By default, AdWords serves ads on both search results and on the content network, but unfortunately, this can often increase costs and hamper conversion rates.
The Content Network is not without its value, however. One of the best methods to ensuring a successful content campaign is to separate search and content into their own campaigns, as opposed to running them together. Generally, content campaigns garner more impressions and lower conversion rates. Therefore, keeping the campaigns separate will prevent the content campaign from skewing search campaign data.
Advertising on the content network can take some getting used to, but the point is that search and content are two very different worlds, and it’s advised to treat them as such. Try to use different keywords, ad copy, and budgets when diving into a content campaign. Unlike search, content advertising is less targeted, meaning that lower conversion rates are almost inevitable. Although ROI can be a bit difficult to gauge at first, a few weeks of testing can yield beneficial results.
One piece of advice for advertising on the content network that is difficult to adhere to is that content typically requires a healthy budget. Sending $1,000 or more per month is an important factor for ensuring a campaign’s success. If that budget is not feasible, it’s certainly a good idea to restrict advertising to search only.
Although strong conversion rates on the Content Network can be elusive, Google does provide tools that will help ensure success. Tools such as the conversion optimizer as well as the site exclusion tool are both used to improve the targeting of your content campaigns. Advertisers can also set cost-per-acquisition goals to help keep costs under control.
Content network advertising has a notorious reputation for getting out of control when it comes to clicks and spending. But by using the free tools and settings that AdWords provides, and by separating these campaigns from search, advertisers can easily discover that the Content Network provides tremendous value by allowing your brand to reside on relevant websites, popular blogs, and high-traffic portals. There are also different pricing options that including CPC, CPM, and CPA that you may want to experiment with.
When setting up your ad campaign, try to limit ad groups to a couple dozen keywords and make sure you keep similar keywords together. One of the best ways to prevent untargeted impressions and clicks is by including as many negative keywords as possible. Try running custom reports to see how these campaigns are running. Again by separating content from search, you’ll be able to use your custom reports to more easily see what’s happening. Lastly, don’t stop testing! By experimenting with new keywords, ad copy, and campaign settings, you may hit that sweet spot that’s been eluding you until now.
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Learn more about advertising with Google AdWords on Top Dealer SEO.
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This post was written by...
David Lux – who has written 84 posts on Automotive SEO. David is the Content Manager at TK Carsites and spends copious hours devouring content concerning autos, SEO, and social media. You can follow him on Twitter: @autocontent
