No Clicks on 100 KWs - please advise

Hi,

I just set up an AdWords campaign split testing 2 ads using exact matches for 100 keyword phrases researched in wordtracker but have not got one click out of 450 impressions.

I also targeted a number of negative kws and am tracking clicks to my landing page.

Questions:
1. Should I be patient and leave the campaign running for another day or delete the campaign?

2. Split test another 2 ads based on another keyword phrase and another 100 phrases containing that kw?

3. Don't do exact matches for all my kws? ...I did not want to have people clicking on general phrases.

When should one use broad matches?

Please advise

Do the ads you are testing have the keywords you are using in the title? Are they specific to whatever it is you're advertising?

I frequently see people put 100 fairly unrelated keywords into one Ad Group. When you do that the searcher may not feel your ad is relevant to their search so they don't click on it.

Even though YOU know how the keywords apply to what you're advertising, searchers are looking for ads about the keywords they searched on, so the keywords need to be in the title.

The best way to target the ads to the keywords is to have separate Ad Groups for each related group of keywords.

You could also use auto insertion but if you do that absolutely make sure that none of the keywords that will trigger that ad are too general or you'll be buying a lot of traffic that won't convert.

Thanks for your reply..the KW phrase I am using in my ads also is present within the 100 other KW phrases I reseached in WT.

Should I just continue to create new ads until I at least get some clicks?

I suspect that although it is present within the 100 KW phrases you are using, that I haven't made it clear enough why that doesn't help.

Imagine that you are searching on any of the other 99 phrases that DO NOT appear in the title of your ad. When you get the search results page you don't see an ad for what you searched on so you don't click on it.

IMPORTANT: Each keyword phrase needs to trigger an ad that has THAT keyword phrase in the Title.

Just creating new ads isn't going to help because the odds of any particular keyword phrase displaying a matching ad is very slim.

Try this:

Create a separate Ad Group within that Campaign and use the keyword phrase that has the most impressions so far. Create an ad for that phrase and only put that phrase and any that are VERY similar in that Ad Group. Then delete any keyword phrases you use in the new Ad Group from the original one.

Do this for each different keyword phrase that is getting impressions. Group them if they are VERY similar. Put them in their own separate group if they aren't.

The closer the Ad Title matches the searched for keyword phrase the more likely someone will click on it. The less it matches the more likely no one will ever click on it.

To explain this with an example, you cannot have words that are totally different all lumped together:

business opportunity
financial freedom
debt free
make big money
prosperity
achieving goals
personal development

You have to put them in separate Ad Groups and show separate ads for each topic. You could put similar phrases together:

make money
make big money
make tons of money
make more money than you've ever seen

And write one ad that included the words "make money" in the Title. That would work.

The reason is that someone searching for something like "personal development" may have no clue how an ad for "make money" has anything to do with them.

You might be selling personal development products as a means to earn big money but they don't know that. And that may not be the kind of personal development they're thinking about when they search.

To give you another example, if I'm searching for an engagement ring and see an ad for bracelets or necklaces I probably won't click on it. If I see an ad for jewelry I MIGHT click on it. If I see an ad for Engagement Rings - bingo - that is the one I choose.

If I'm selling jewelry I may think it is fine to put all my jewelry related keywords into one group and display one ad but that won't work at all UNLESS I use keyword insertion Titles AND the ad is generic to all the keyword phrases I'm using.

That may work to some extent but it still isn't as good as using your ad to describe exactly what you offer that fits what the searcher is seeking. Back to my engagement ring example:

Which ad would you choose:

Unique Engagement Rings
Huge selection of gold, platinum & silver
Wide range of settings & stones.
www.Jewelry.com

OR
Unique Engagement Rings
All types of jewelry sold here.
Rings, watches, bracelets & more.
www.Jewelry.com

Thanks for the explanation.

This is exactly what I did
ie Ad Campaign 1 (split testing 2 ads)
KW = debt management in title using 100 KWs containing
debt management using broad, phrase match and exact mtaches

I created 2 other campaigns split testing 2 ads using another KW phrase and 100 KWs containing that phrase.

My results today...was higher yesterday:
10/26/05 Active 8 0 0.0% $0.00 $0.00 13.0
10/26/05 Active 4 0 0.0% $0.00 $0.00 25.2
10/26/05 Active 12 0 0.0% $0.00 $0.00 35.4
Totals 24 0 0.0% $0.00 $0.00 26.2

Your advice please

Thanks

As long as all the keywords include debt management and the ad is about debt management that should work. Many searchers do not look past the first page of results, so any keyword phrase with an average position of eight or less may get few clicks.

You'll get far more traffic if it is feasible to raise your bids enough to at least get on the bottom of the first page.

In your original post you asked about deleting campaigns. You can just pause them for a while until you decide to edit, delete, or test them further.

Only delete things once you're certain you don't want to use them any more. You can even undelete some things (entire campaigns and ad groups) but not others (like ads and individual keywords).

Thanks very much for the tips
If I don't get any clicks then how do you suggest I proceed.

Keep rewriting the ads until one pulls
Create new ads based on a new KW phrase
Do both

If your ads are not on the first page you can either raise bids to get them there or try to find keyword phrases with less competition. That can be a challenge for certain subjects like debt management, mortgages, business opportunities and other very competitive subjects.

You can test multiple ads at once to see if that makes any difference. Select one or two ad texts that you like and test as many different titles as you can think of with each ad. Even changing the order of the words can make a big difference.

Then keep the best ones and delete the others. Once you find titles that work start changing the wording of the ads.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

If I raise my CPC to $5.00 for all KWs I get much better positions however will I pay that much for each click even if the estimated CPC may be 10c for that KW?

No, you won't pay that much for all keywords, but you will pay either the maximum required for first place or just more than the advertiser bidding less than $5.00.

Whatever you set your CPC to is the maximum you're willing to pay. If that is higher than any other advertiser's bid, you'll be in first position and pay more than the other advertisers and possibly far less than your maximum CPC.

If there are still advertisers bidding higher than your $5.00 you'll be in whatever position that amount will buy you.

First position will usually give you the most clicks including a lot of clicks from searchers who did not read your ad and just clicked on the first thing on the page. It also can cost about 60% more to pay for first position.

Unless you have a strong reason for wanting to be first, I recommend targeting lower positions and adjusting your bids at the keyword level.

First and second are the most expensive, get you the most traffic, and cost far more. The main reason to bid for those positions is if you can afford the most traffic regardless or cost or you feel that your visitors will only look at one site.

Third to fifth are good for excellent traffic and far less non-productive clicks. Fifth to eighth gets good traffic at less cost. Higher than eighth and traffic starts dropping off quickly.

Your input was very helpful..I've got 3 clicks..yippee..obviously not enough to see what KW or ad is working.

So far I have had 1,318 impressions with 0.2% CTR for across all campaigns.

Doesn't Google penalize/disable your ad campaigns if below 0.5% CTR?

Do they keep a "score" on KWs used so if you use them again in other ads they won't work so well?

If so, what do you suggest I do:
Keep rewriting my headlines?
Create another campaign with new ads and new keywords?
Create a new account?

Until the recent change they disabled keywords that didn't get at least 0.5% CTRs on their own search engine. Now they just raise the minimum bids so you do want to try to get the CTRs up.

I would research and add negative keywords to eliminate impressions that don't apply to what you're advertising. How much that will help depends on how many unrelated subjects share your keywords.

Without seeing exactly what you have and how relevant your ads are to your keywords it is hard for me to guess what the true cause of the low CTRs.

Thanks..I did add some negative KWs to my first campaign but it did not seem to make any dif.

<Without seeing exactly what you have and how relevant your ads are to your keywords it is hard for me to guess what the true cause of the low CTRs>

I'd truely appreciate it if you could take a quick peak of what I have done thus far..if so, let me know where to send you the access info.

Thanks again

If you send your information to me here via PM or to the email address listed in my profile I can look at your account and provide more specific suggestions.

Email sent..let me know if you got it.

Thanks

I have replied to your email with suggestions, an action plan, and more specific sample keywords.