Client Talk: FAQ's About Google AdWords
Our Search Engine Marketing technicians get asked a lot of questions when it comes to running and managing AdWords campaigns. There are some questions, however, that are asked much more frequently than any others. We'd like to take a moment to address the two most popular questions our SEM team receives.
Why Can't I See My Ads?
This is by far the most popular question our team is asked. Sometimes clients will search for their targeted keywords and become frustrated when their ads aren't visible in their search results. Why does this happen?
Fear not; not being able to see your own ads is both normal and extremely common. There are a number of factors that go into determining where, when, and to whom you ads show.
The first factor is your budget. A common misconception with AdWords is that once you've targeted a keyword, your ads will show every single time someone searches for that keyword. This is usually not the case. The larger a keyword's search volume is, the larger the budget necessary to show for all searches for it. And since most campaigns will target many different keywords, your budget will be spread out between them. So, to show ads on every single search of every single keyword you target, you would need a massive budget. For most small businesses, that kind of ad spend can often be out of reach.
Another thing that will affect your ability to see your ads is the time of day that you search for them. There are two types of ad delivery methods in AdWords - standard and accelerated. Standard is the default setting, where Google will show your ads at different times throughout the day. This setting helps to make sure that you don't use your campaign's entire daily budget in a few short minutes. It also allows your ads to show to a variety of users throughout the entire day. The alternative to this is accelerated targeting. This setting will spend your daily budget as quickly as possible, often resulting in your budget running out early in the day. With either ad delivery method, it's possible that the time you're searching for your ads is conflicting with their delivery schedule. This can cause them to be not visible to you. The good news is that when your ads are running, you can rest assured that they're being shown on relevant searches to interested people, even if it doesn't happen to include you.
The third factor that may affect your ad's' visibility is competition. If a competitor bidding on the same keywords as you changes their budget or targeting, it may cause your ads to decrease in position and not be as visible. While this is something we can't directly control, we can make adjustments and pay close attention to the campaign to ensure it is as competitive as possible with the available budget.
What's a Good Conversion Rate?
The other most popular question our SEM team receives is about campaign results. Generating more conversions is the main objective of an AdWords campaign. What kind of a conversion rate can you expect to see?
This question is a bit tougher to answer, as it does tend to vary by industry. On average, a campaign should expect to see a conversion rate of 3-4%. However, there are a number of reasons why you may see a number higher or lower than this. The main factors that often impact a user's decision to convert are the cost and the commitment level of the conversion. For example, a user submitting an inquiry on a home construction company website is showing intent to build a house. This has a very high cost and commitment level, so a campaign for that kind of business may convert lower at 2-3%. A user submitting a form seeking a free insurance quote, however, is showing minimal interest in the company. Here there is no cost and minimal commitment. This type of campaign could see a 6-8% conversion rate. But it's important to keep in mind that these are all only estimates. At 360 PSG, we have many client campaigns that convert at 10% and higher, with some that convert at over 20%!
So how do you know what a good conversion rate is for your business? It depends on the goals of your campaign, your industry, and the rest of your digital marketing strategy. If you're like the home construction company mentioned above, you may only need a few conversions a month. A rate of 1-2% may be more than enough. But businesses with products that cost much less may need a dozen new sales a month from an AdWords campaign to justify it. This may mean a conversion rate of 5% or higher is necessary. And we always recommend adding an SEO component when a client is running an AdWords campaign. Having optimization in place allows us to invest time into your AdWords campaigns' landing pages, so we can increase your quality score. (You can read more about the benefits of a high quality score in our previous blog post, All About Search Engine Marketing). Clients with optimization working with their AdWords campaign will usually see higher conversion rates.
Our Team of Experts
At 360 PSG, our SEM team is constantly adjusting and improving all our AdWords campaigns. Our technicians work to ensure your ads are always showing to relevant users, and consistently monitor and adjust your campaign as needed to maintain and improve conversion rate. And if you ever have any questions aside from these two, we're always happy to help.
