Making Data Driven Decisions in SEM

Data, it makes the world go round. In the realm of SEM, it is the lifeblood that justifies the changes I make, the improvement I seek, and the outcomes I chase.

Here is the catch - when a new account is established and you are launching into the dark with a new set of keywords, ad copy, and targeting – data is a little hard to come by. Sure, there are tools to estimate keyword traffic, bid amounts, and competition. But SEM is based a human element of resonance with an ad. Computers don’t click the ad, humans do. As such, the first shot at launching an account is shooting into the dark with confidence that “the data” will arrive shortly.

Now we arrive at one of my first projects on the job: optimizing an account that had impeccable structure, logical organization, and a substantial keyword list. On paper, this account looked like it should exceed.

But “the data” said otherwise. This account had a high impression rate, low click through rate, and minimal conversions. When diving into the performance of the account, it was clear that there were some keywords that were generating conversions – and others were pulling from budget that should be focused on the keywords that actually had positive performance.

Additionally, there were ads that had a high impression volume, but a shockingly low click through rate, and no conversions. What does that mean? – The human element is not resonating with the ad copy before them on the screen.

The symptoms had been identified, and the solutions are relatively simple:

1.       Build out more experiences surrounding the keywords that are working well.
2.       Restructure account to accommodate for these new experiences.
3.       Shift budget from ad groups that are not performing, to ad groups that are driving conversions.
4.       Develop and test ad copy based on the top performing ads in each ad group keeping in mind the relevancy between both keyword and ad title.
5.       Stop spending money on terms that are not converting.
6.       Build out negative keyword list to include terms that do not convert.

How are things performing now? – Glad you asked. Within 24 hours of making these changes, impressions have doubled and click-through-rate has tripled. No word on conversions yet, but I am confident those results mentioned previously will increase conversions.

If not, this process starts again.