Best AdWords Account Hierarchy Setup

The basic hierarchy in the Google AdWords system is Campaign (top level), Ad Group and Ad.

Campaign – Defines the daily budget, language, geographic scope and the networks where ads are displayed.

Google Networks where ads are displayed:

• Google Search displays ads on Googlesearch pages.  If you use the right keywords, this is the

most targeted traffic you will find.

• Search Network displays ads on partner sites, such as Google Product Search, Google Groups,
  and search sites suchas AOL and Ask.com.

• Content Network- Context-driven ads displayed on non-Google sites through the Google AdSense

affiliate network. Anyone with a web site can sign up for the AdSense program. Ads are displayed

on non-Google sites and are supposed to display on pages with topics related to your ads.

Ad Group – A group of ads within a Campaign that are focused ona set of keyword search

phrases.  The search phrases assigned to an Ad Group should all be closely related.

Ad – An individual Google ad within an Ad Group.  Ad Groups cancontain numerous ads, each with  different ad content. You can set up text ads, image ads, local business ads (ads displayed on Google Maps) and even video ads.

Google Report Terminology

Google AdWords has a very useful and easy-to-use reporting system that offers a range of pre- formatted and customizable reports.  It is a good idea to get to know the reporting system. The standardpre-formatted reports are those under the campaign tab. Just use thebreadcrumb navigation under the top menu to view the CampaignSummary report, the Ad Group page and the AdWords Management page. Once you set up a campaign, most of your time will be spent on the Adwords Management page. The following terminology can befound on the AdWords Management page.

Avg. CPC – The average cost-per-click that has been charged.

Avg. Pos – The average rank position for an ad. A rank position between 3 and 4 tends to be most productive and cost-effective.  The first ads displaying with a colored background at the top of a Google search page are those where someone is bidding a premium price.

Campaign Daily Budget – The daily spending limit for an entire campaign. When the daily budget limit is reached, ads cease to display until the next day. The daily budget sets the monthly budget, which is typically 30 times the daily budget. If you are not spending all of your daily budget on clicks, Google

Clicks – The number of users who have been sent to a site because they clicked on an ad.

Content Total – The number of clicks, cost and other statistics related to ads displayed on non- Google sites through the Google AdSense affiliate Content Network.

Conv. Rate – The conversion rate based upon a snippet of Google code added to a Web page. The code is most commonly added to an orderconfirmation page or a thank you page following an e-mail form submission.  This indicates the percentage of users who clicked on an ad and followed through with an order or a request for information.

Cost – Actual cost charged for clicks. Cost is displayed for Ad Campaigns, Ad Groups, Search Total, Content Total and individual keywords.

Cost/Conv. – The average cost for converting a user who clicks on an ad into a customer or for someone who requests further information. This requires a snippet of Google code to be added to an order confirmationor thank you page following a form submission or order submission page. This tells you the percentage and average cost accrued to get people to click on your links and follow through with an order or request for information.

CTR – The click-through-rate of clicks divided by the number of adimpressions. A CTR greater than 0.5% is considered to be average. A CTR of 2% or better is very good. If your keywords have click-though rates of more than 5%, the content wording in your ads is probably very effective.

Current Bid – If you opt for bids on individual keyword phrases thiscolumn will display to show the current bid for each.

Current Status – The current status for a Campaign or an Ad Group.Active means ads are displaying, Paused means that ads have been manually disabled. Deleted means they are deleted, but frequently even when a Campaign or Ad Group is deleted, that section still displays due to the history it contains.

Destination URL – The actual URL of the page that an ad links to. This must be part of the same domain as the one shown in the display URL.  If a search phrase focuses on “blue widgets”, you will likely see a higher customer conversion if you direct that link to the blue widgets page in your site. The same goes for any product or service.

Display URL – The URL shown on an ad.  This does not have to be the same page URL as the destination URL, but it must represent the same site being linked to. The display URL and the Destination URL must link to the same web site, but not necessarily the same web pages in the site.

Impr. – The number of impressions, which means the number of times anad has displayed based upon either a user’s search using a keywordsphrase  (Search Network) or based upon the content found on a page for a site that is part of the Google AdSense program (Content network).

Keyword – An individual keyword or keyword phrase assigned to an Ad Group. Keyword phrases trigger your ads to display when someone searches for your targeted phrase (Search Network) or when a web pagecontains related content (Content network).

Keyword Matching Options – There are four different methods for targeting AdWords ads to more precisely match the ads to the intended search keywords.

• Broad Match– The default option for your keywords.  With no special characters surrounding the keyword phrase, AdWords ads should display when users search using your keywords in any word order and with other words that may be used in the search.
• Phrase Match rubber balls– Surrounding a keyword phrase withquotation marks makes the ad appear only when a user searches for the words rubber balls in that order, and possible with other search words. The ad may appear if someone searches for red rubber balls, but not if they search for balls made out of rubber.
• Exact Match [rubber balls]– Surrounding a keyword phrase with brackets makes the ad appear only when a user searches for the words rubber balls in that word order and without any other search words. The ads will not appear is a user searches for redrubber balls”.
• Negative Keyword-free – If you sell rubber balls, but do not want your ads to appear if someone searches for “free rubberballs” you can add a negative sign before the keyword that you wish to use to prevent your ads from displaying.

Max CPC – The maximum cost per click that has been bid for a set of keywords. The bid price is one factor that determines the rank position for an ad.

Search Total – The number of clicks, cost and other statistics related to ads displayed on Google search results pages as part of the Searchnetwork.

Served – Displays on individual ad statistics and shows the percentage of times that particular ad has displayed relative to other ads in an Ad Group. Google uses an automatic optimizer algorithm that displays moreproductive ads most often, so a low Served rate for an ad may indicate aneed for rewording.

Status – The status of individual keyword phrases within an individual ad.

• Normal– The ads for this keyword are showing at full delivery.
• In Trial– The ads for this keyword are showing but do not meetGoogle’s quality threshold and may be slowed or disabled.
• On Hold– The ads for this keyword are not being shown and do not meet Google’s quality threshold.
• Disabled – The ads for thiskeyword are not showing any longer.

Google will automatically Disable keywords or place them In Trial or OnHold when the keywords are not being used in searches or when usersare not clicking on the ads represented by the keywords.  This helps focus the ads on the most productive keywords. Individual Ads may also be disabled for using wording that does not meet ad quality guidelines.

Benefits of good account structure:

• lower cost per click
• reduced cost per acquisition
• greater reach
• increased  brand awareness
• more conversions
• better quality scores

As this post was created for the adwords beginner I will not elaborate further, I will however note the things you should take away from this article:

• keep your campaigns and ad groups themed
• always be looking for new ways to expand your keyword lists to create more relevancy

That’s it!