Optimizing a costly paid search campaign comes down to answering this one deceivingly simple question: What must be done to maximize Conversion and Revenue while minimizing Cost?
That single question encapsulates the fundamental paid search optimization problem. How can you drive the most revenue subject to performance targets and possibly budget constraints? Assuming the campaign is built well (according to Google and Bing recommended best practices), how much should you bid on specific keywords to maximize volume and ROI? It’s a good question because keyword bids have a strong impact on the volume and quality of traffic, as well as its cost. In a previous post, Anatomy of a PPC Bid, the essential variables for calculating paid search bids were identified as:
Revenue per Conversion (what is the average order value?)
Conversion Rate (how often do site visitors make a purchase?)
Performance Target (typically expressed as ROI, defined by business model)
Based on the above metrics (and assuming you have enough historical data to be significant), a reasonable bid can be calculated for any keyword. It’s important to have data-driven, goal-based keyword bids in every paid search campaign; if you don’t you are destined to spend a significant sum on traffic that isn’t driving much revenue.
In this post I’d like to expand on that discussion by introducing a few additional metrics that SEM managers should be monitoring to ensure a healthy account. By account “health”, I mean the Quality Score for the account, a metric which has significant effect on account performance and keyword bidding. Both Google and Bing have defined Quality Score as a relevancy metric; it’s designed to encourage advertisers to create quality advertising, which in turn delivers an optimal experience for their visitors. Advertisers who create highly relevant advertising campaigns earn high Quality Scores.
How are advertisers with high Quality Scores rewarded, and how does Quality Score impact paid search bid calculations? A high Quality Score means that for a given keyword bid, an advertiser may receive a higher Avg. Position, higher Impression Share and lower Cost per Click than competitors with lower Quality Scores. In other words, high Quality Scores allow you to drive more relevant traffic at lower cost. As a result, Revenue and ROI will increase.
Now that we know Quality Score is important, what actions can a SEM manager take to improve it? The variable that influences Quality Score most strongly is the Click-Through Rate, and many things can be done to improve CTR:
Ensure that your ad groups are tightly-themed. Keywords should be highly relevant to the theme, and ad copy should obviously support the theme.
Give careful consideration to keyword match types. For example, it may be best to pause a Broad match keyword if its CTR is low, even if it does drive some Revenue.
Use negative keywords to improve the relevancy of your Broad match traffic. Analyze the Search Terms Report periodically for negative keyword ideas.
Identify your high volume keywords and keep a careful eye on their bids, Quality Score, Impression Share, Avg. Position, Conversion and Revenue metrics. It is a dilemma all SEM managers face: lowering keyword bids may cause your ad position, CTR (and Quality Score) to drop, yet we are still tempted to lower them in an effort to improve ROI.
In summary, it’s in every SEM manager’s best interest to optimize CTR and Quality Score whenever possible. Your keyword bidding will be directly impacted by it, and you’ll be able to deliver higher Revenue and ROI as a result.
For more information about how Webtrends can help improve your quality scores and optimize your paid search campaigns, please contact Richard.Drawhorn@WebTrends.com.