Google Search Advertising Advanced Exam Ch. 3: AdWords Ad Formats Ch 3.

2: Ad Formats Guidelines and Best Practices Text ads subject to AW advertising policies and may be disapproved if not in compliance Disapproved ads may not run on Google/Google advertising network Text ad policies fall into three categories o Editorial and format: apply to ad text (first three lines of ad) Character limit: intended headline, text, URL, must fit within required limits and not be cut off Prices, discounts, free offers: if ad includes any of these, must be clearly and accurately displayed on website within 102 clicks of ads landing page Punctuation and symbols: among other requirements, ads may only contain max 1 exclamation point o Content: policies relate to products/services advertised and apply to ads and content of site Advertising not permitted for promotion of certain weapons or for aids to pass drug tests o Link: policies relate to display and destination URLs in ad Display URL must be accurate and links to website must allow users to enter and exit the landing page easily Writing Targeted Ad Text o Create simple, enticing ads: highlight key differentiating points Describe any unique features or promotions o Include prices and promotions More info about product in ad text, the better o Use strong call-to-action Call to action encourages users to click on ad and ensures they understand exactly what you expect them to do when they reach landing page Buy, purchase, call today, order, browse, sign up, get a quote Include one of keywords in ad text: find best performing keyword in your ad group and include it in ad text, especially in title Whenever user types keyword and sees ad, keyword phrase will appear in bold font within ad on google Image ad Guidelines and best practices o Static image ads can be in .gif .jpg .png o Animated ads can be in .gif Flash o File size limit of image ad is 50 kb o Image ads can be in following sizes 250 x 250 square 200 x 200 small square 468 x 60 banner 1

728 x 90 leaderboard 300 x 250 inline rectangle 336 x 280 large rectangle 120 x 600 skyscraper 160 x 600 wide skyscraper Image ads Best Practices o Use compelling call to action o Prominently show your display URL, major component of a text ad Use brand/logo also o Include details like prices, delivery details, and relevant special offers o Relevance is key relevant landing page o Use appropriate capitalization o Promote sense of urgency in display ads if have time-sensitive pricing/offers o Keep it simple o Include clear images of product/people using product Helps users connect with an ad o Align all of advertising messaging, help build cohesive brand Make online image ads consistent with tv/print ads o Dont make people work for your message, get message acorss and then let users interact o Grab attention right away Video Ads: Content o Video should be direct and engaging o Deliver key messages early in video o Clear about what business offers and message, video may be sole communication with users o Provide clear next steps after finishing video o Content should be entertaining, informational, relevant Opening image (Click-to-play only) o Image should be descriptive and eye-catching o Entice users to click play using rich, sharp colors o Include a few words to describe your product, service, and/or company o Boost play rate with call-to-action that lets users know they can play the video o Create multiple video ads with different opening image sizes to increase number of placements where ad will be eligible to appear o Avoid using standard banner ads as opening image Found that opening image that doesnt look like actual ad can generate greater interest Such non-commercial images make users feel like theres more to learn by clicking ad o Avoid cramming text into opening ad o Quality of opening image consistent with quality of video Video Best Practices o Recommend waiting at least 30 days after beginning of video campaign to measure success o Bid by impression rather than by click, this way lower CTR wont affect where ad appears o When using CPC, use negative keywords and exclusions 2

Focus on interaction rates, better indicator of time your audience engages with your brand Beyond individual ads, focus on campaign performance broadly o Use geo-targeting to focus advertising to regions/areas where conduct business o Tailor campaign to specific sites and make demographic groups w/ placement targeting o If using keyword-targeting, make sure keywords closely related to specific theme/topic o Optimize bids to reach target cost-per-play price Placement performance o Use interaction rate to compare how each of targeted sites is performing in comparison to campaign average o If site performing better than average, add more sites like it to campaign Enter URL in list URLs box in Placement Tool to get a list of possible website targeting options o Consider excluding less valuable sites where users are frequently exposed to your ad Extend reach of campaign by adding better sites through placement tool o Negative keywords or exclusions prevent ads from showing up alongside content that may not fit with specific marketing objectives Mobile ads o Mobile ads have unique link policy and size guidelines o Link policy Destination site must be written in a supported mobile markup language Wml (WAP 1.x) Xhtml (WAP2.0) Chtml (imode, etc.) PDA-compliant html Size guidelines WAP mobile text ads contain two lines of text, limit 12-18 characters per line Destination URL appears on third line, have option of Call link o WAP mobile image ads formatted in .gif, .jpg, .png o Animated mobile image ads in .gif, Flash NOT supported o Following sizes 6:1 Aspect Ratio 300 x 50, less than 7.5k file size 216 x 36, less than 4.5k file size 168 x 28, less than 3k file size 4:1 Aspect Ratio 300 x 75, less than 7.5k file size 216 x 54, less than 4.5k file size 168 x 42, less than 3k file size Japan standard size 192 x 53, less than 5k file size o Recommended practices Start early: not all competitors using mobile ads, creating mobile ad campaign can increase exposure at lower CPC Start strong: bid aggressively at first to make sure ad shows on first page of results 3

Craft campaigns wisely Separate to lift: create separate campaigns and ad groups for ads that appear on computers, on Iphone/android, and standard mobile devices o Makes it easier to evaluate results and lift performance Choose keywords differently: mobile user typically enter fewer keywords on mobile devices Pack the most punch: use call to action phrase that catches audiences attention Dont forget display: mobile image ads are great branding tool and can achieve higher CTR and lower CPC Find your mobile customers Be where your customer is: reach users on googles mobile display network with contextually-targeted text and image ads Reach valuable demographics: use device platform targeting to reach iphone/android users, or use standard mobile ads to target particular mobile carriers Measure and experiment Measure up: enable conversion tracking to measure results on mobile website o Use vanity phone number to track responses to your click-to-call WAP ad Practice makes perfect: try out different strategies Rich Media Display Ads o Contain mix of content types such as text, flash, video, images o Copyrights: must have full legal rights or an authorized license to distribute all content you submit to google AW o Advertising policies: all ads subject to AW content and editorial policies o Privacy: may not use any ad to collect personally-identifying user info o Best practices Set effective bids and budgets add display ads to an existing ad group create display ads in their own unique ad group o placing display ads in own ad group makes it easier for you to review performance customize your ad choose easy-to-view colors: customized color scheme of ad o align color scheme of template with content of image work with publisher color schemes: if placement targeting, consider tailoring color scheme to match publishers pages calls to action make sure final frame (for animations) contains all key messaging and call to action be explicit about call to action, in button or elsewhere Images use transparent PNG format images whenever possible balance ad content: ad text and images balanced within body of display ad and within overall ad size 4

create a visible Display URL try different display options change color schemes: changes can dramatically increase CTR, lead to more impressions and conversions o set up ad, then choose same template again, changing colors, save it in same ad group, then let variations compete against each other try new templates measuring impact of rich media display ads driving direct sales: getting more clicks o compare costs to leads or conversions: identity whether getting high enough conversion volume to offset campaign cost o target your audience more effectively: work on narrowing down targeting so spend less money on clicks promoting your brand: measure interactivity o look at mouseover and interaction rates percentage of impressions in which a user moused over the ad for more than one second templates in rich media/video categories also provide interaction rate: tells percentage of impressions for which user interacted with the ad o track your website traffic trends using Google Analytics o use conversion tracking to learn whether your display ads are driving the kind of web user behavior you want to see (signups/purchases etc.)

Chapter 4: AdWords Targeting and Placements Ch. 4.2: Keywords and Keyword Targeting keyword match types o broad match: default setting for all keywords all searches made using your keyword in any order/combo might display your ad o phrase match: narrows reach by requiring words to appear in exact order o exact match: shows ad when exact phrase is used in search, without any other words before, between, after o negative match: eliminates searched phrases you dont want your ad to appear for o embedded match: allows you to prevent your ad from appearing in relation to certain phrase or exact matches broad match: submit keyword to ad group without quotes or brackets o reach wide audience and trigger ad to appear whenever keyword or similar term appears in a users query o ad appears even if: other words included in query terms in query not written in same sequence as keyword query is similar to keyword: includes plurals/synonyms phrase match keyword targeting: triggers ad to appear for any query that includes your keyword or phrase in exact sequence and form that you specify o to enable phrase matching, enclose it with quotation marks 5

ex. used book will appear: used book dealer buy used book rare and used book o will not appear used paperback book book of used matches exact match keyword targeting: most precise method, ad will appear only on query that precisely matches keyword you have chosen, without any additional words/letters before, between, after keyword o enclose it in square brackets o ex. [used book] negative match keyword targeting: specify negative keyword that isnt relevant to ad, add minus sign o ex. college embedded match: allows to prevent ad from appearing in relation to certain phrase or exact matches o ex. [toy story] keyword creation five-step process o 1. Build keyword list: create list of terms that refer to your business and think of common phrases people use to think of something similar Get additional keyword suggestions from Keyword Tool o 2. Group keywords by theme: grouping ads and keywords together in their own ad groups by theme can help you better performance from ads o 3. Set appropriate match types for each keyword (Search Network) o 4. Remove unnecessary keywords o 5. Test run the campaign: keywords need chance to run before you can really determine how well theyre doing Let them run at least 30 days Keyword tool: tool provides additional keyword ideas, including synonyms and spelling variations o Can build relevant keyword lists, review traffic estimates, add keywords directly to your ad groups Monitor keywords using quality score column and keyword analysis field o Quality score column: displays quality score Disabled by default, but can make it show on any tab with statistics for your campaigns, ads, keywords Click columns in toolbar above table and select Qual. Score o Keyword analysis field: gives in-depth view of keywords performance Lets you know if ad is not showing for keyword, also includes quality score details which explains whether problems with keyword relevance, landing page quality, or landing page load times are negatively impacting your quality score To view keyword analysis, click icon next to any keyword in Status column on keywords tab Troubleshooting keywords o If keyword underperforms, quality score will decrease and it may become ineligible to trigger ads for certain queries at its current CPC bid 6

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To monitor keywords performance, check the Quality Score column on the Keywords tab of your Ad Group Details Page o To get detailed view of performance and quality score, click the speech bubble icon next to any keyword, and more info will appear Keyword Guidelines and Best Practices o Group keyword list into similar items, such as product line o Each group makes up an ad group, can write multiple ads for each ad group Keyword groupings should match single theme o Broader matching options tend to give you more visibility, but accrue higher costs Use the see search terms report to make sure advertising is being expanded to right types of searches o Narrower matching options tend to give fewer clicks and lower costs o Keep campaign setting in mind If campaign set up to target very specific geo segment, more general keywords might work well Try keyword lists of 20-30 tightly themed terms Two or three-word phrases generally work best

Ch. 4.3: AdWords Language and Location Targeting Whenever you create new campaign, choose which languages and locations you want to target o Language: target up to 40 different languages o Location: target any combination of countries, territories, regions, cities, and customized areas that you define Target language spoken by audience trying to reach Target countries/territories if want to reach wide audience across one or more countries Target customized areas to reach specific geo areas which may not be available in region/city targeting Can combine targeting options any way you like within same campaign How language and location targeting works o Language: Only show ads to users whose Google interface language matches language(s) that campaign targets o Location: AW shows ads to users located only in targeted locations Google considers google domain (.fr, .de etc.) Analyze search term user submits on google (query parsing) If search term contains region/city, show ads targeted to that city/region When possible google determines users general location based on computers IP address If someone searches for plumbers from NY area IP address, display ads targeted to New York Can also use advanced location targeting options Language Targeting Basics Choosing languages to target: language targeting gives good way to reach users even if located in non-native areas Detect users language based on Google interface language setting Ad text using double-byte characters: create ad text using double-byte characters, characters have special requirements 7

o Limit for title line is 12 characters o Display URL/second/third lines ad text limited to 17 characters o Use single-byte characters for symbols/alphanumeric characters Targeting Basics: Country/Territory o Use country/territory location targeting if offer services/products to users in one or more countries/territories Region/City targeting: best used by advertisers whose audience concentrated in defined areas o Capture smaller population segment and receive more qualified clicks Keeps quality score high and costs low o Create more customized ad text and landing pages o When use region/city targeting, AW displays chosen region/city in last line of ad text to distinguish them from country and territory ads Customized location targeting o Enter physical address: enter business address, then choose distance that forms radius of circle around address o Select point on map: can define center of advertising circle by dragging interactive map to place a red marker on location o Multi-point (polygon): lets you click three or more points on interactive map to outline advertising region of your choice International Targeting Strategies: if targeting audience located in several different locations, important to organize campaigns and ad groups logically o good strategy is to organize and name campaigns by location use appropriate location/language targeting for each campaign o make sure keyword list and ad text for each ad group is in same language best practices for language and location targeting o before setting location targeting, enter keywords into Google Insights for Search to find out which locations receive the most querires for keyword can then alter bid and budgets appropriately, raising them for location with most traffic, lowering for others o after location targeting set and campaign has been running for a time, use Geo Performance report or Google Analytics to see where your users are coming from o point ads to specific landing page for targeted region o to add multiple locations, click the Bulk link under the Custom tab when you edit your locations and add up to 100 locations at once o if youd like to highlight address of your business, add location extensions to ad

Chapter 4.5: Location Extensions location extensions quick, easy way to connect you with customers searching for products/services when business in multiple locations reach local customers more effectively o location extensions raise awareness for customer who may already be close enough to physically visit your business, or who is already searching/browsing for info related to your business in area o can use google search or google maps google will find ad along with full address and phone number, or link to website show local customers more relevant information: location extensions merge business address info with relevant ad text 8

o ad can also display your business name, address, phone number location extensions key concepts o if location extensions enabled and business info eligible to appear within ad placement, info will also be shown ads on the google search/display networks ad will appear as standard text ad and may also include a business address will appear on google with additional business info included google maps ad may appear as a text ad, or enhanced ad with business icon and map marker that expands to show business image ads associated with a specific point on the map some cases, ads may also appear with relevant searches on google maps for mobile o Targeting options and availability Show ad to users based on target settings for the campaign Location extensions do not replace regional/customized campaign targeting Enabling Location Extensions o Can edit/create location extension from the under the Locations, Languages and Demographics section of Settings tab in AW acct Select one of the options under show relevant addresses with your ads o If business owner, can link Google Places account to campaign Location extensions guidelines and best practices o guidelines Must follow AW advertising policies for standard text ads Must use accurate business name Accurately represent the business address Load high quality images Submit only relevant images Submit images of proper size and formatting 125x125 pixels for images 16x16 pixels for custom icons File size 20k max .jpg, .gif, .png o Best practices Targeting ads with location extensions more effectively: more relevant keywords and ad text are, more targeted ad will be to users Keywords: extensions attach address info to existing ad, dont need to provide special keyword choices o When choosing keywords, remember users will often enter general locations for keywords to further narrow search results Ad Text: ad extensions may appear in context with a business address for user or on enhanced map write ad text with this in mind o Create location extension to help make local users aware that business is nearby Managing addresses for location extensions

If want particular ad to only appear with particular address (no others), choose option at the ad leveleffectively target users near to given business location If business owner, can use addresses stored in Google Places, oink google places account at campaign level Can manually add individual addresses to campaign with ad extensions o Use option if dont have a google places acct and not business owner

Chapter 5: AdWords Bidding and Budgeting Bid is amount willing to pay per click, per thousand impressions, per acquisition Each time ad is eligible, auction takes place among your ads and all other eligible ads o Ranking on search network: ads are ranked on search pages based on combination of matched keywords CPC bid and quality score o Ranking on display network: ads are ranked on display network pages based on ad group default bid, the ads past performance on this and similar sites, and the landing page quality If set display network bid or bid specific for placement, these will overrule the ad group default bid when ad runs on display network of placement youve selected Bidding Options Focus on clicks: cost-per-click (CPC) bidding o If mostly interested in getting traffic on site o Automatic bidding: set daily budget, AW works to bring most clicks possible within that budget Can set CPC bid limit to ensure AW sytem doesnt bid more than a particular amount o Manual bidding: pay only when someone clicks on ad but option lets you control your own maximum cpc bids Can set bids at ad group level, or for individual keywords or placements Focus on impressions: cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) bidding o If campaign targeted to Display Network: May choose CPM option in campaigns targeted to display network o Bid for impressions on ad, pay for every thousand times ad appears o When cpc and cpm ads compete with each other in same display network auction, adwords system uses a system of effective CPM or eCPM to compare and rank ads o For CPC ads, AW dynamic ranking system considers the bid, CTR, and other relevance factors Resulting number is eCPM, effective cost per 1000 impressions Focus on conversions: conversion optimizer o Bidding option enables to specify maximum cost-per-acquisition CPA bid for each ad group in campaign o Conversion optimizer uses adwords conversion tracking data to get more conversions at lower cost o Optimizes placement in each ad auction to avoid unprofitable clicks and get you as many profitable clicks as possible

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Using historical info about campaign, conversion optimizer automatically finds the optimal equivalent CPC bid for ad each time eligible to appear o Campaign must meet requirements to use conversion optimizer Conversion tracking enabled Campaign must have received at least 15 conversions in last 30 days Must have been receiving conversions at similar rate for at least few days Setting AdWords Bids o Maximum CPC bid at least $0.01 o Maximum CPM bid at least $0.25 o When setting CPC or CPM bid, consider following Value of click: how much is visitor to your website worth? Daily budget: be sure daily budget higher than your CPC/CPM bid Tools for managing AW bids o Ad Scheduling: tool for adjusting bids for different times of day or days of the week Lets you control days/times your AW campaigns appear In advanced mode lets set different bid multipliers for different times of the day and the week Bid multiplier (10% to 1000% of original CPC) affects all ads in the campaign, including ads with separate search and display network bids Based on account time zone o Demographic bidding: tool for targeting ads to specific groups of customers visiting certain sites in google display network If want particular demographic group to see ad when it appears on certain display network sites, can help make that happen by boosting bid whenever your ad is eligible to be shown to member of preferred group Done with Bid +% system found on demographic bidding page of campaign o Position preference: tool for specifying in which positions youd like your ads to appear Direct-response advertisers can target their most cost-effective ad rankings Brand advertisers can make sure their ads run only in most visible positions Attempts to show ad only when Ad Rank has placed the ad in the positions you selected If ad rank places ad in higher spot, position preference will discount your maximum CPC bid to move ad into desired range Ad rank = maximum CPC x Quality Score Best practices bidding o Choose bidding strategy fits advertising goals Focused on clicks: choose automatic or manual CPC bidding Focused on building awareness of product/brand on google display network: choose CPM bidding Focused on leads/purchases: choose conversion optimizer (CPA) o Implement ad words conversion tracking to see how much conversions cost when youre using various CPC bids o Use bid simulator to see possible advertising results you could get if used different keyword maximum CPC bid Estimates click, cost, impression data that ads would have received over last seven days had you set different keyword level bids 11

To see bid simulation for keyword, click bid simulator icon next to maximum CPC Bid

Chapter 6: Policies and Ad Quality Topics Chapter 6.2: Ad and Site Quality Intro to Ad Quality o How Ad Quality is Defined Google provides users with most relevant search results based on their search o relevance automatically determined by many factors, including googles pagerank algorithm o most important factor in relevance is ads quality, which we measure with a metric called quality score landing page quality: influenced by: o usefulness and relevance of information provided on the page o ease of navigation o load time o how many links are on the page and more About Quality Scores o Quality score used in several ways Influencing keywords CPCs Determining whether keyword eligible to enter ad auction Affecting how high ad will be ranked Estimating first page bids that you seen in account Quality Score for Google and Search network o The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the ad on Google. Note that CTR on the Google Network only ever impacts Quality Score on the Google Network -not on Google o Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account o The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group o The quality of your landing page o The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group o The relevance of the keyword and the ad to the search query o Your account's performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown o Other relevance factors for calculating a keyword-targeted ads position, landing page quality not factor for calculating first page bid, quality score doesnt consider the ad or search query, since this estimate appears as a metric in your account and doesnt vary per search query quality score for display network o contextually-targeted ads if campaign uses CPC bidding, quality score based on Historical CTR of ad on this and similar sites Relevance of ads and keywords in the ad group to the site Quality of landing page Other relevance factors if campaign uses CPM bidding Quality of landing page 12

Placement-targeted ads CPC Historical CTR of ad on this and similar sites Quality of landing page CPM Quality of landing page About Landing Page and Site Quality o Each of keywords will receive landing page quality grade visible when using keyword diagnosis Grade is based on the average quality of the landing pages in the ad group and of any landing pages in the rest of the account with the same domain If keyword diagnosis shows that your landing page quality graded no problems, quality score not affected Quality graded poor quality score negatively affected When determining landing page quality grade, AW system follows destination URLs at both the ad and keyword level and evaluates the final landing page Improving landing page and site quality o Relevant and original content o Relevance Users able to easily find what ad promises Link to page on site provides most useful info about product/service in ad o Originality Feature unique content that cant be found on another site Bridge pages: pages that act as intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to parent company Mirror page: page that replicates look and feel of parent site, site should not mirror parent companys or any other advertisers site Provide substantial info o Transparency Openly share info about business Honor deals and offers Deliver products/services as promised Distinguish sponsored links from rest of site content Avoid altering users browser behaviors or settings Dont request personal information o Navigability Provide short/easy path for users to purchase/receive product or offer in ad Avoid excessive use of pop-ups, pop-unders, and other obtrusive elements throughout site Make sure landing page loads quickly Types of websites that receive low landing page quality scores o Websites types to avoid data collection sites that offer free items in order to collect private info arbitrage sites that are designed for point of showing ads malware sites that knowingly or unknowingly install software on a visitors computer o Website types to advertise with caution eBook sites 13

get rich quick sites comparison shopping sites travel aggregators Monitoring quality score o Keyword diagnosis: to view quality score for a single keyword, hover over the speech bubble icon next to the keywords status in the Keywords tab Eligible: keywords eligible to trigger ads Disapproved: keywords dont comply with guidelines or policy and wont trigger ads until problem corrected Paused/deleted: keywords you have paused/deleted Low search volume: keywords suspended b/c associated with very little search traffic Below first page bid: keywords bid below first page bid estimate, meaning likely arent triggering ads on first page of search results Low quality score: these keywords have very low quality scores, not likely to trigger ads o Quality Score column: enable quality score column to view a list of quality scores for your keywords On the Keywords tab, click the Columns button at top of statistics table and select customize columns from the drop-down Select Qual. Score column o CTR Column: view the CTR column on your ad group tab or campaigns tab to see how well an ad group of campaign is performing In general, CTR over 1% on google is very good

Chapter 6.3: Invalid Clicks Issues Intro to Invalid Clicks o Invalid clicks are clicks on your ads that are generated by prohibited methods Sometimes intended to artificially or maliciously drive up advertisers costs or publishers earnings Repeated manual clicks Clicks by automated tools, robots, or other deceptive software o Invalid impressions are those generated by automated systems or users with malicious intent Common reasons for multiple clicks from one source o Internet service provider: internet provider may assign same IP address to multiple users, especially those who live close by each other o Comparison shopping: individual users may legitimately click on your ad more than one time when comparison shopping or when returning to your site for more info How google combats invalid clicks o Use three-part system of both proactive and reactive review, which employs advanced technologies and team of trained specialists to protect advertisers Proactive Real-time filters: continually updated automated algorithms filter out invalid clicks as they occur

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Further analysis: using both automated algorithms and manual analysis by Ad Traffic Quality Team, investigate suspicious click patters looking for invalid clicks that real-time filters may have missed Reactive Investigations: advertiser inquiries are investigated by our Ad Traffic Quality team. Reactive investigations relatively rare Identifying and reporting invalid clicks o Identifying possible invalid clicks: variety of AW features and reports can help you monitor accounts activity Optimization: first line of defense against invalid click activity is to optimize account so that ads receive only the most targeted clicks and impressions Identifying and correcting low-conversion areas in account will also help identify potential areas of invalid activity Google Analytics: free tool that helps monitor various aspects of account, including conversion rate, visitor behavior, campaign performance Accurately track only AW clicks, may consider using auto-tagging o Keep eye out for sudden unexplained increases in traffic or a number of clicks from single source Invalid click columns: directly see the number and percentage of clicks that have been classified as invalid and automatically filtered from account by adding invalid click columns to your data table on the campaigns tab Click columns in toolbar above table, download data Billing summary: are not charged for invalid clicks, dont affect account statistics If further proactive click analysis shows that invalid clicks have escaped automatic detection, receive credit and appear as adjustment-click quality o Reporting invalid clicks to google First investigate whether clicks may be due to common reasons for click increases, then check to see if clicks included in invalid click report or as click quality adjustment credits on billing summary page If not, contact via Click Quality Form

Chapter 10: AdWords Tools Chapter 10.1: Overview of AdWords Tools Overview of AdWords Tools o Account management tools: help you view, edit, and update account efficiently o Keyword Tools: provide resources for choosing effective keywords o Placement refinement tools: help make most of advertising budget, either by saving time or providing insight into what should bid for advertising o Ad creation tools: enable to create customized ads to promote business o Troubleshooting tools: help figure out how to solve issues that come up in account, example: using disapproved ads filter helps quickly find and update ads that arent running for policy reasons o Value Proposition for AW Tools Tools make job easier, improve quality of finished product Account Management Tools

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My Change History tool: allows you to view changes to your adwords account for any time period you choose since jan 1, 2006 Filter results by type of change Tool will report on following changes Daily budget adjustments Keyword edits or additions Changes in ad distribution preferences Changes made via the AdWords API Will not display following changes Maximum CPC adjustments made by automatic bidding option Ad approval or disapproval Password changes Best Practices Specify particular date range to narrow down results Clicking the chart view link on my change history page will make chart expand o Chart shows timeline of performance statistics along with flags on dates you made changes o Use chart to identify particular upswings/downswings in performance along with changes that might have caused swings Clicking flag within chart view will retrict change history results to the date on which you made change Keyword Tool Find and add new keyword ideas to your ad groups Refine keyword list Find negative keyword ideas See additional keywords that can also trigger ads (expanded matches) Estimate keyword traffic Using tool Access tool from Keywords tab of any ad group, Reporting and tools drop-down menu, or opportunities tab Can use search boxes and search button at top to begin searching by entering keyword or a URL Reviewing keyword results Provides several statistics along with keyword results o Info can help you pick KW most likely to return quality leads within budget About statistics o Certain statistics will factor in performance history/campaigns country and language o Search statistics vary depending on selection of keyword match type Match type broad or phrase, tool will factor in certain variations of keywords that could potentially trigger ads Default columns o Competition: column shows number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google 16

Shaded bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword o Global monthly searches: column shows the approximate 12month average number of search queries matching each keyword Includes all countries and languages but is specific to your keyword match type selection o Local monthly searches: column shows approximate 12-month average number of user queries for the keyword for your targeted countries and languages Specific to your selection from the match type dropdown menu o Local search trends: column available to signed-in advertisers only Shows fluctuation in traffic over past 12 months Keyword Tool Best Practices Create new, separate ad groups with similar keywords Create several ad groups in each campaign, each with small narrowly focused set of similar keywords Divide relevant keywords into lists of 5-20 similar terms Identify negative keywords: make sure only interested customers see ads Specify language and location: tailor results to particular location and language Start broad and then get specific Keyword selection quality over quantity Can download keyword results and accompanying statistics by using the Download button above the keyword table Competition and local search trends columns show numbers raning 0 to 1 that correlate with shaded bars in Keyword Tool Local search trends information shows keywords fluctuation in traffic over past 12 months About Campaign Negative Keywords Negative keywords prevent your ads from appearing whenever a user includes a certain tern in search query Can apply negative keywords at ad group level and campaign level Negative keywords work differently on Display Network On DN, system compares negative keywords with content of placements where ads are eligible to appear If negative keywords match content of particular placement, ad less likely to appear on that page To add and edit keywords Select keywords tab Scroll down to find negative keywords section Can add at ad group level or campaign level Campaign negative keywords best practices Keyword tool and search term report two ways to find potential negative keywords 17

Targeting and Placement Tools o Placement Tools: help you better control where ads appear across search/display networks o IP Address Exclusion Tool: refine targeting by preventing specific IP addresses from seeing ads Can exclude up to 100 IP addresses or ranges of addresses, per campaign All ads in campaign are prevented from showing users with IP addresses you specify o Best practices: Some large ISPs use range of IP addresses for all users Could be blocking large amount of legit and profitable traffic o To use Click Campaigns tab Click networks tab Click exclusions link Manage IP address exclusions Enter list of IP addresses o Site and Category Exclusion Tool: may find that some websites on Google Networks arent good match for ad campaign, use Site and Category Exclusion Tool to prevent ads from appearing on those sites/group of sites related to specific categories Can Add Exclusions of Exclude Placements (for existing placements that have shown your ad) for either ad group of campaign level from Networks Tab o Available Exclusions Specific URLs or subdomains: choose to exclude entire website, domain path, specific page on website Parked domain: sites in Googles AdSense for domains network Users brought to parked domain sites when they enter the URL of an undeveloped webpage into browsers address bar There they will see ads relevant to terminology in URL they entered Encompassed by both display and search network Error Pages: error pages when enter search query or unregistered URL in browsers address bar, see ads relevant to search query or URL they entered User-generated content (limited availability): supports: Dutch, English, French, german, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish Forums, social networks, image sharing pages, video sharing pages Best Practices Do not need to exclude site just because located outside target region o No matter where site located, ad shown only to visitors who are located in regions targeted System may identify several topics on a single page, by excluding topic may exclude webpages that contain material relevant to product or service Excluding topic can significantly reduce traffic to campaign Bidding and Budget Tools o Automatic CPC Bidding: simplest bidding option, set a daily budget and AW system actively seeks out most clicks possible within budget o Dont need to specify individual bids for ad groups, keywords, placements AW system automatically adjusts max CPC bids on behalf 18

Can set maximum CPC bid limit Best Practices By setting limit, have more control over costs, but also may restrict ad position or number of clicks ad receives If no bid limit, automatic bidding choosing whatever maximum CPC bids it determines will earn most clicks possible within budget o Traffic Estimator: provides traffic and cost estimates for new keywords before add them to campaign, can also review estimates for current keywords already running in ad group Get estimates for keywords status, search volume, average CPC, cost/day, average position Better forecast ads placement and performance based on PCC bid, targeting options, other criteria Access traffic estimator from reporting and tools drop-down menu or tools page on opportunities tab Works for ads with keyword targeting only o Best practices Search volume: info can help determine how competitive ad placement is for particular keyword Estimated Avg. CPC: average amount pay for each click, AW Discounter automatically adjusts actual CPC so only pay one cent more than minimum amount required to keep ads position Estimated ad positions: average position in which ad may show Estimated daily clicks Estimated daily cost Ad Creation Tools: offers Display Ad Builder to create customized display ad that suits business/product and better targets web content across Display Network o Fully customize ad templates background colors, fonts, images, text o Automatically format ad in most of the standard IAM ad sizes Best Practices o Color Choose easy to view colors: try to align color scheme of template with content of image Work with publisher color schemes: placement targeting certain sites, consider tailoring color scheme to match publishers pages o Calls to Action For animations, make sure final frame contains all key messaging and call to action Be explicit about your call to action, in button or elsewhere Important in image-based ads, want to know what user can do if they click their ad o Images Use transparent PNG format images whenever possible, greatly improve aesthetics and unique look of your ad o Balance ad content Make sure ad text and images balanced within body of display ad and within overall ad size, images should be clear, resized to fit the ad shape, easy to recognize o 19

Create visible Display URL Try different display options Experiment with different templates, colors, content Monitoring and Optimization Tools o Opportunities tab: central location for optimization ideas across account Can review and apply ideas directly to account, find potential improvements to keywords, budget Best Practices Review ideas carefully: ideas are automated so may not be relevant or suit business goals Use the data: each idea shown includes estimated impact on performance, usually represented by click and impression estimates Check back often: ideas added and refreshed about every two weeks or sooner Track the impact: track results of changes using free reporting tools such as conversion tracking, report center, google analytics Troubleshooting tools o Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool: enables you to view ads as they would appear on a regular google search results page for most users Help diagnose why ad isnt appearing in search results suggest view ad through ad preview and diagnosis tool instead of performing regular google search, searching on google can affect ad position by racking up many ad impressions and lowering CTR especially useful for seeing if ad is appearing for users in a specific geo location o Keyword Diagnosis: reviews data for each search query and its related ads based on all available account data at time run keyword diagnosis Issues reported for particular ad and related keywords may include any aspect related to ad creation and account settings Details that may impact ad delivery for particular query will only be included from active campaigns/ad groups/keywords Data specific to only ads targeted to search network To run keyword diagnosis, hover over speech bubble icon next to status for any keyword in Keywords tab o Filtering for Disapproved Ads Find disapproved ads across account by using filters Click Ads tab Click Filter and Views button Select Filter Ads from drop down menu Select approval status, check disapproved box

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Chapter 10.2: AdWords Editor AW Editor is free, downloadable desktop application for managing AW campaigns Editor can save time and help streamline workflow o Download account or specific campaigns, make changes, upload revised campaigns AW Editor Features o Work offline on Mac or PC o Upload changes to AW any time 20

o Store/navigate one or more accounts o Add, edit, delete campaigns/ad groups/ads/keywords/placements o Make large-scale changes quickly o Perform advanced searches and edits o Add comments for changes o Sort and view performance statistics o Copy/move items between campaigns, ad groups, accounts o Export snapshot of account for archiving/sharing o Import backup or shared file and review proposed changes Navigating AW Editor o Tree view: displays account name, followed by campaign names and ad groups within them o Tabs: Once youve selected account name or particular campaign or ad group in tree view, use tabs to choose what want to view/edit Each tab shows part of account o Columns: can customize columns that appear on particular tab o Tool bars: tool bar contains buttons for account-level actions, such as post changes and view statistics Each tab has a tool bar with buttons for functions within the tab Keywords tab has buttons for adding/deleting keywords, making multiple changes, reverting changes o Data view and edit panel: data view is large part of screen below tabs that displays details of selected tab, when select row in data view, can edit it directly in the row or in the edit panel below the data view Editor Settings: Tools menuSettings o Enable usage tracking and send anonymous data to google to help improve AW Editor o Choose whether to hide deleted items in account, whether to include deleted and ended items when you download account o Enable diagnostic logging, when enabled editor automatically saves reports containing messages sent between AW editor and AW server o Choose locale, which determines currency and interface language in Editor o Choose default campaign targeting, use default language and location targeting you chose here Downloading accounts or campaigns o Can download entire account or specific campaigns o Can refresh it any time with get recent changes feature o Can change the set of campaigns any time Go to File Open Account Add Account Select part of Account youd like to download Editor Functions: Add, Edit, Delete o Add individual items: can add individual campaign, ad group, ad, keyword, placement Data menu: select type of addition you want to make Add button on appropriate tab, example select campaign and go to ad groups tab and click add ad group o Can create draft campaign, arent posted to account until change status of campaign to active

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Add multiple items: add multiple tools enable to add large numbers of keywords, placements, ads,, or ad groups at once Tools available from Data Menu or on tab tool bars Add multiple keywords tool enables to add keywords to single ad group, to all campaigns and ad groups, or only to ad groups you specify o Edit Individual Items: make single change Select appropriate context in tree view Click relevant tab above data view Select item you want to edit in data view Make changes in edit panel or directly in data view Can revert any change in editor that has not been posted by clicking Revert Selected Changes o Edit Multiple items: enter list of changes in the Add/Update Multiple tools or select items and edit them directly Add/Update Multiple tools: tools ideal for making long lists of specific changes to CPC or CPM bids, destination URLs, or ad group setting Select and edit specific items: Select more than one item, hold control/command key and click items want to edit Select a consecutive list of items, select first item then hold shift key to select last item in list To select all items in data view, go to Edit Menu Select All Once selected items to edit. 2 ways to edit Enter changes in edit panel below the data view, any changes made to given field will apply to all selected items Use Advanced URL Changes or Advanced Bid Changes tools Advanced Editing Tools o Advanced Bid Changes and Advanced URL changes tools enable to change large number of CPC/CPM Bids, and destination URLs quickly Advanced Bid Changes Increase/decrease bids by percentage Remove bids at keyword/placement level so they use the ad group default bid Constrain any of these changes so that bids do not fall below or exceed certain values Advanced URL changes Set specific URL for all selected keywords, placements, ads Append text to each URL Remove specific URL parameter Find and Replace o Replace Text: feature enables to find and replace text in keywords, placements, ads, destination URLs Select items you want to search, then go to Edit MenuReplace Text in Selected Items Can also use formula words to insert campaign/ad group names into selected items

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Formula words: represent text in particular column in Editor enclosed in brackets Append Text tool add text before or after existing text in particular column, for all selected rows

Delete Items o can delete items individually or delete multiple items at once o to make individual deletions select the items to delete in data view, click delete button in tab tool bar o to delete list of keywords/placements/negatives/text ads, use appropriate delete multiple tool, located under data menu or tab tool bars copy or cut and paste o can copy or move items within account, or between two different accounts o basic copy or move in data view, select rows want to copy/cut edit menu, copy or cut in tree view, select new destination ad group or campaign go to edit menu, paste o drag and drop move something quicklyselect it in data view and drag it to new location in tree view o copy options copy just keyword text or placement URL copy just campaign targeting copy campaign or ad group shells: enables to copy campaign or ad group without the items inside, then past duplicate campaign or ad group into new location all located under edit menuCopy Special o Can paste to multiple locations Cost and Budget Settings o Change campaign budget o Change ad group default bids o Change bids for individual keywords or placements o Isnt possible to change campaign bidding option, or change account-level billing preferences Get Recent Changes o Good idea to make sure working with recent version of campaign information o Click get recent changes in tool bar Editor Functions: View and Sort Information o Symbols and Colors Plus (+): added item Plus (+): added item Delta (): edited item Minus (-): deleted item Red circle: error that will prevent posting (such as a potential advertising policy violation or a structural issue, such as a daily budget of zero for a campaign) Yellow circle: warning Green circle: item that has passed AdWords Editor checks but hasn't been posted 23

Pushpin icon: item with a comment (to see all items with comments, go to the View menu > Items with comments) Bold: unposted change Gray: paused or deleted campaign or ad group Strikethrough: deleted item View or Hide Deleted Items o Set preferences to view or hide deleted items in account o Go to tools menusettings, check or uncheck appropriate boxes under hide all deleted and ended items Show Performance statistics o To download and view performance statistics such as CTR, cost, position, conversion info, select a date range with view statistics button in tool bar Search and Custom Views o Several ways to search and filter info in ad groups and campaigns Use search box above data view to perform simple word/number search within account of specific campaign/ad group Use view menu to filter info that appears on each tab Click advanced search to perform more detailed search for items that meet specific criteria When use advanced search, results are called custom view Example: using advanced search to find all poorly performing keywords In the tool bar, use the View Statistics menu to download your recent account statistics. In the tree view, select your account name. Click Advanced search next to the search box. In the Performance statistics section, use the drop-down menus to select specific metrics. For example, to find all keywords with a clickthrough rate lower than 0.5%, select "CTR" from the first dropdown menu, and "is less than" from the second drop-down menu. Then type "0.5" in the text box. If you think you'll want to perform this same search later, check the box next to "Save this search for reuse" and enter a name for your search. Click Search. To view the keywords that match your search, select the account or a specific campaign in the tree view, then select the Keywords tab. Sort the Data View o To sort rows in data view, click column header o Can sort by multiple columns at once Add and View Comments o Can add comments to any item in AW Editor, helpful personal reminders or can explain changes when you share changes with other Editor users o Select item in data view and click Add Comment at bottom of tab o View menuitems with comments Find Duplicate Keywords o Use the Find Duplicate Keywords tool to locate keywords that are repeated throughout account o Under tools menu 24

Duplicate keywords will appear in list on Keywords tab, where can edit/delete as necessary Keyword Tools o Keyword Grouper: breaks up keyword list into groups of related terms and allows to create new ad groups with related keywords, keywords copied automatically into new ad groups and deleted from original locations o Keyword Opportunities: tool includes several features for finding new keywords for account Keyword Expansion: generate keyword ideas based on descriptive words or phrases, find related terms along with estimated search volume and competition for each keyword Search-based keywords: find new keywords that are relevant to your website Based on your website URL, feature generates a list of relevant user queries that have occurred on google search properties with some frequency over past year Keyword Multiplier: combine lists of terms to form a new keyword list Tool show combination of terms, select appropriate ones for account Share and Post Changes o Export and Import Account Info: export snapshot of account, campaign, ad group any time to review/share with colleagues, four export formats found in file menu Export Spreadsheet (CSV): generate a comma-separated values (CSV) vile that you can view/edit in spreadsheet program Export Summary (HTML): view clean summary of account with keywords, placements, ads together Export Backup (AEA): create backup that can import later to restore account to current state Only option that includes draft campaigns AdWords Editor Archive (AEA) format Export Changes for Sharing: share changes with other AW Editor users, they will be able to import your changes to Editor, review changes, add comments AdWords Editor Share (AES) format o Can also import files into AdWords Editor Import a backup (AEA): restore account to state it was in when backup file was created Manual backups: created when choose FileExport Backup option Automatic Backups: Editor automatically creates backup AEA files during version upgrades when you run get full account Import CSV: if made changes/additions to account in spreadsheet, can import those updates with Import CSV option Spreadsheets must binclude correct column headers and be saved in CSV encoding Import share file (AES): view proposed changes and accept/reject them Make sure youve downloaded most recent version of account (using get recent changes), import likely to fail if your view of the account is older/newer than exported version o Review and Imported File When import a file, the Review Proposed Changes panel appears 25

Contains a key to the highlighted changes in your account: proposed changes are green, unposted local changes are purple, conflicts between proposed changes and unposted changes are red Can view only proposed changes in data views of each tab o View menu proposed changes only o Accept or Reject Changes Have option to reject any changes you dont want to apply to account Reject a proposed edit entirely, select row containing the edit you want to reject then click reject selected proposals tab tool bar, option also in Edit Menu To reject aspects of proposed edit that conflict with own unposted local changes, select row containing edit you want to reject Edit menureject selected conflicting proposals Revert your unposted change, click Revert Selected Changes Once reviewed proposed changes, can take following actions to clear away merge panel and signal merge is finished Click Keep Proposed Changes to accept all proposals that you havent explicity rejected Click Reject Proposed Changes to clear away every proposed change, wont affect any edits youve made since importing proposal o Check Changes Reviews all unposted changes, helping to ensure changes comply with AW policies Editor will review changes and show count of how many items pass the check Items that fail checks will display red circle with exclamation mark to their left in data view o Errors and Warnings Displays red and yellow circles when it detects issues that may prevent campaigns from posting properly, such as editorial issues or missing maximum CPC values View MenuErrors and warnings only, errors only, or Warnings only Items that match selection will appear in data view, click on tabs to see errors To see details for specific error or warning select item in data view, explanation of error will appear in edit panel o Post Changes To post changes to AW account, click post Changes in tool bar AdWords Editor Best Practices o 1) Copy or cut and paste between ad groups/campaigns/across accounts: can use edit menu commands or keyboard shortcuts o 2) Make bulk changes to keywords or destination URLs using add/update multiple tools or Advanced URL Changes Example: add 100 keywords to one ad group using the Add/Update Multiple Keywords tool under Make Multiple Changes on Keywords tab Use Advanced URL Changes to edit destination URLs for 20 ads in 10 different ad groups o 3) if you need to edit your keywords or ads in spreadsheet, you can then bring those changes back to AW Editor 26

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4) Find duplicate keywords quickly in your account or in selected campaigns and ad groups, then select one of each set of duplicate keywords to delete or edit 5) Search your account quickly and perform bulk changes on the results of your search Type keyword into search box to locate all instances of that keyword in the account, then append text to that keyword or otherwise edit it 6) use advanced search to find items that meet the multiple criteria you specify Filter performance status of keywords (CTR higher than 2%) and increase their bids to improve their position and performance Find all keywords with average position lower than 1%, review keywords and delete or use advanced bid changes to change their bids Find all keywords with 0 clicks, make note of keywords that have many impressions but no clicks, may wish to use Make Multiple Changes tools on the negatives tab to add any irrelevant terms as campaign or ad group negative keywords 7) Once youve specified criteria for an advanced search, save that search to reuse in the future 8) make bulk edits inline 9) Drive more traffic to your site and improve ROI by using Keyword Opportunities tool Use keyword expansion tab to find new keyword ideas based terms that are currently performing well for account Use search-based keywords tab to find and add 10 relevant keywords to a new ad group Use keyword multiplier tab to combine lists of words into new keywords, tool will make sure you only add the ones that will bring traffic to your site Other favorite tips and features: Download selected campaigns if you want to focus your work on a subset of campaigns. Undelete and activate previously deleted text ads. Automatically organize your keywords into ad groups based on common themes, using the Keyword Grouper. Submit multiple exception requests at once. Save a snapshot of your account for archiving or for sharing. Later, you can import the archive file to restore your prior account settings.

Chapter 11: Performance Monitoring and Conversion Tracking Chapter 11.1: Overview of Performance Monitoring and Conversion Tracking By tracking performance and conversions, can identify which clicks more valuable and increase efficiency of ad spend How Google measures performance o AW uses dynamic variable called Quality Score to evaluate keyword relevance o Calculated every time keyword matches search query o Used in different ways Influencing keywords actual CPCs First page bid estimates Can lower costs, better ad position Overview of Common Performance issues 27

Low Quality Scores Keywords bid doesnt meet first page bid estimate, and quality score low, status column of keywords tab will read low quality score Neither status column nor keyword analysis field will show first page bid estimate Google Network Issues If ad isnt appearing on sites in google network, check to make sure campaign is opted in to display or search network

Chapter 11.2: AdWords Reporting Understanding AdWords Reports o Generate fully customizable reports on specific topics such as campaigns, keywords, ad text o Identify important trends over weeks, months, years Types of Reports o Data Sources: data for your AW account contained in metrics columns on the Campaigns Tab o Report Types Keyword performance: the table on keywords tab displays details on selected keywords and organizes statistics by keyword Ad performance: the table on Ads tab presents relevant statistics for ad variations, such as text ads, image/video/local business ads Destination URL performance: The "Destination URL" view on the Dimensions tab displays statistics and measures the performance of destination URLs. Ad group performance: The Ad groups tab shows statistics for each of your ad groups. Campaign performance: The Campaigns tab shows statistics for each of your campaigns. Account performance: The views on the Dimensions tab display statistics for your entire account. Geographic performance: The "Geographic" view on the Dimensions tab shows the geographic origin of your visitors. Demographic performance: The "Demographic" view on the Dimensions tab displays the age and gender of your visitors. Search term performance: The Keywords tab shows performance data for the search terms that triggered your ads. Placement performance: The Networks tab shows statistics for ads that appeared on specific domains or URLs in the Google Display Network. Running Adwords Reports o Creating/Saving Reports Can download any data table on campaigns tab as a report o Sharing reports with other users: can email report to yourself to other users of account, click email and schedule report link in download panel when creating report Interpreting AdWords Reports o Ad, Ad Group, Campaign, URL performance Reports: lets you view statistics on how specific types of ad variations are performing, lets you see performance stats on text ads, image ads, video/mobile/local business ads 28

Ad group, campaign, URL performance reports shows info for each level of account o Interpreting Account Performance Reports: gives info on entire account, from Attributes column, select ad distribution you want to see for account Two conversion columns offer conversion statistics broken down by type, ad conversions, ad conversion rates o Keyword Reports: view statistics on how keywords performing across all campaigns or in selected campaigns Interpreting Placement Performance Reports o Two places where you can see info for report: Networks Tab, Reporting/Reports tab o Think in terms of conversions: recommend rely on conversion data to guide you, understand how individual sites converting o Focus on right areas by sorting: Networks tab, Last 7 Days and Tab Options, allow to focus on areas that matter the most by filtering results o Act only on statistically significant data: some sites may have little data associated with them on Networks tab o Dont focus on CTR: dont worry if CTR on display Network sites lower than what used to seeing on search network, its normal o Optimize for success: Re-evaluate keywords and creative: if ads appearing on irrelevant pages, take steps to optimize keyword lists and ads Utilize placement targeting feature: for sites meeting ROI objectives, target them using placement targeting feature Consider the site and category exclusion tool: sites not meeting ROI objectives, exclude them from campaign Interpreting Search Term Reports: reports allow to see every search term that triggered your ad and received clicks o Report can: Select appropriate match type for existing keywords Identify new keywords you may want to add Identify existing keywords may want to delete Interpreting Impression Share Reports: impression metric available at campaign and account level for search and display network o Campaign: if advertiser has more than one campaign competing in same target market, resulting impression share for any one campaign wont be penalized if it loses impression opportunity to another campaign from w/in same account o Account: reports at this level will not penalize impression share from competition across all campaigns Exact Match impression Share: percentage of impressions that campaign received for searches that exactly matched keyword o Keyword match type can affect impression share, metric can help determine share of voice for just the specific searches youre targeting, without requiring you to make adjustments to your campaigns Interpreting Reach and Frequency Reports o Metric within the Report Center that shows how many people saw your ads and how many times they saw them over a certain period of time o Reach is number of unique users exposed to particular advertisement during a specified period of time 29

Frequency is average number of times a user is exposed to an advertisement Metrics can help understand how people saw ads within placement-targeted campaigns and how often each person saw them o Report available at site, ad group, campaign levels for CPM placement-targeted campaigns only Interpreting Demographic Reports o Contains info about gender and age groups for your users o Can optimize campaigns with demographic bidding Interpreting Geographic Performance Reports o Gives info about geographic origin of AW metrics such as clicks o Help advertisers refine the targeting of their campaigns based on geographic distribution of users who see it o Campaign, Ad Groups o Country/Territory o Region o Metro o City o Impressions o Clicks o Avg. CPC o Cost o Conversions, conversion rate, cost/conversion Interpreting Invalid Clicks Reports o Provides data on number of invalid clicks filtered during the reporting period o Invalid clicks rate column provides data on percentage of clicks filtered out of your total number of clicks during reporting period Best Practices o Use report center assess performance of accounts at more detailed level o Schedule reports to run on reg basis and emailed to you o Advanced options allow to customize every report with additional columns/metrics

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Chapter 11.3: Conversion Tracking Basics Understanding and Calculating ROI o Conversion occurs when click on ad leads directly to user behavior you deem valuable o Advertising only effective if it generates measurable results for business o ROI can also be called Return on Ad Spend, ROAS o Calculated from sales, minus advertising costs, all divided by cost of advertising Two Types of Conversions o Conversions (1-per-click) 1-per-click count a conversion for every AW ad click resulting in conversion within 30 days Other metrics related to conversions (1-per-click) Conversion rate (1`-per-click): conversions divided by total clicks Cost/conv: total cost divided by conversions o Conversions (many-per-click) Conversions (many-per-click) count conversion ever time conversion made within 30 day following ad click 30

Conversions will count multiple conversions per clicks Conversion rate: conversions divided by total clicks Cost/conv: total cost divided by conversion Setting up Conversion Tracking o Installing conversion tracking code Adding code to website is simple cut/paste procedure Make sure copy all of code from within account and that when adding code to website completely within HTML tags o Verifying Conversion Tracking Code Simplest way to verify that youve implemented AW Conversion Tracking is to check page source Check if code working by waiting for conversion to occur or completing test conversion yourself o Recommended Privacy Policy Maintain users trust and protect privacy, may consider telling users about tracking methods May include displaying google Site Stats text o Disabling Conversion Tracking Can fully disable AW Conversion Tracking from AW Conversion Tracking page of Reporting tab Analyzing Basic Conversion Data to Improve ROI o Define Conversion Data Columns in Report: start seeing non-zero values for conversion columns once visitors start converting on site o Conversion rate is percentage of clicks that become conversions o Cost/conversion (1-per-click) is total cost divided by number of ad clicks o Cost/conversion (many-per-click) total cost accrued over time period while youre viewing divided by number of conversions (many-per-click) you received as result of those clicks o Google Analytics Conversion goal is a website page that serves as conversions for your site thank you page after user has submitted info through a form Purchase confirmation page or receipt page An about us page Particular news article Can import goals into Conversion Tracking to spot further opportunities to optimize advertising campaigns Must allow data to be shared between AW Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics o Troubleshooting Conversion data Conversions page is simple way to confirm that something wrong with conversion tracking before reviewing sites actual source code Ensure that Conversion Tracking is activated within account, check and see that status columns says reporting Check again after time has elapsed Conversions and transactions get attributed to the date of the click, not date conversion occurred o Common reason why conversion tracking statistics may not appear is due to implementation errors with the tracking code itself 31

Verify that youve implemented tracking code properly by reading though conversion tracking implementation checklist Make sure conversion code is on correct page Place code on conversion confirmation page Problem may be that youve inserted code for dynamic pages according to instructions for static pages vice/versa Check to see that code on pages is same as in account

Chapter 13: Optimizing Performance Chapter 13.1 Overview to Optimization Optimization is process of adjusting parts of account as well as website to improve the quality and performance of AW ads o Optimization meet advertising goals, be it to gain traffic, lower costs, improve conversions Campaign improvements o Organizing campaigns o Changing language and location targeting o Changing ad delivery times and position Ad group improvements o Editing keywords o Editing ad text o organizing ad groups o changing bids o using keyword matching options website improvements o changing website to improve flow and relevancy o choosing right landing pages optimizing can mean higher quality score, lower costs, better ROI advertising goals/desired results most important thing to keep in mind when optimizing goal: I want more clicks o increase ad exposure by adding relevant keywords and site placements to ad groups while making ad text more compelling goal: I want to increase my CTR o focus on ad quality. Attract more clicks by refining ads, and eliminate extra impressions by using negative keywords goal: I want to improve my ROI o focus on ads and keywords to attract right audience. Then focus on website. Be sure landing page and entire website is set up to let users find the specific thing being promoted in ad improve your ROI o to identify and optimize ROI you need to measure conversion data instead of CTR, traffic, or other measures o to optimize for ROI, aim for high quality scores which can reduce costs, encourage conversions with enticing ads and by using the right landing pages, and target customers who are likely to convert lead potential customers to the most relevant page on site add call to action in ads to highlight action you want customers to take 32

include unique selling points to make ad stand out allocate your budget according to performance group highly relevant keywords and ads together so that your ad text will match a users search target the right region and language for your business use conversion optimizer to get more conversations at a lower cost o improve CTR really about making ads more relevant to your potential customers optimization should focus on creating more relevant and compelling advertising to help drive more targeted traffic to your website filter out irrelevant searches by refining keyword list and incorporating negative keywords where appropriate ad text should reflect users search as closely as possible use keywords in ad title and text to make ads more relevant use negative keywords to eliminate unwanted impression that wont result in clicks create a relevant keyword list to target when your ads will show use keyword insertion to make your ad more relevant to a diverse audience o increase your clicks and traffic consider running on a broader range of keyword variations running on very general keywords can negatively affect quality score and increase costs create keywords for unadvertised parts of website find new keyboard variation ideas using keyword tool increase daily budgets and maximum CPC bids and/or increase quality scores reach more customers and maximize traffic by targeting the Display network broaden your location targeting settings o promote brand awareness designed to increase traffic to your website and enable customer to interact or learn about companys brand might design to run CPM campaign in addition to CPC campaign supplement your text ads with image and video ads that are great for branding messages use display network placements to show your ad to people who are interested in what you sell choose a landing page that focuses on the interaction with your brand types of optimization tools o targeting tools keyword tool: provide ideas for new keywords that can add to ad groups, find negative keywords, estimate keyword traffic, see additional keywords that may also trigger ads placement tool: provide you with ideas for websites and areas in the display network where you can show your ads traffic estimator: provides traffic and cost estimates for keywords, get estimates for keywords status, search volume, average CPC, cost per day, average position the search terms report and search query performance report allow to see every search query that triggered your ad 33

optimization tools opportunities tab is central location for optimization ideas across your account website optimizer: allows to experiment with content of website to determine what users respond to best choose what parts of webpage youd like to test and google runs experiment on portion of site traffic conversion optimizer: uses conversion data to get you more conversions at lower cost, optimizes ad serving to avoid unprofitable clicks and gets you as many profitable clicks as possible tracking tools google analytics: shows how people found your site, how they explored it, how you can enhance experience improve websites ROI, increase conversions, make more money conversion tracking: measure conversions account statistics on campaigns tab: give you instant insights into performance optimization tool use cases keyword tool: use tool to brainstorm keyword lists and find negative keywords, use while creating campaign or any time want to expand keyword list traffic estimator: find keyword traffic and cost estimates ot identify potential keywords to add or to optimize keyword bids, better forecast ads performance based on CPC bid, targeting options, other criteria placement tool: good keyword list will provide sufficient targeting, filter out placements that do not accept that ad type and format opportunities: consider tab when looking for fast, efficient way to find new keyword ideas or recommended budgets conversion optimizer: use tool if campaign focuses on conversions and want to optimize bids on case by case basis website optimizer: tool to test changes to websites landing page to see which is most effective in improving conversion results

Chapter 13.2: optimizing campaigns and ad groups organization helps achieve advertising goals, make edits quickly, target ads appropriately create well-structured campaigns by theme or product good campaign structure also allows you to o determine which ads are generating best traffic and conversions o monitor changes easily o have better control over budget and costs o easily locate specific keywords o easily manage and edit campaigns organize campaigns by topic o tightly-themed ad groups focusing on just one product or service you offer o create separate campaigns for each of product lines, brands, types of services or offerings o each ad group should contain specific keyword lists that relate directly to the associated ad texts target the right languages and locations

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target your audience appropriately by choosing languages and location that relate to your business create highly specific ad groups o build ad group around single product or service o group keywords and placements into related themes avoid duplicate keywords across ad groups tools and strategies for optimizing campaigns and ad groups: common ways to structure account o products and services: creating effective campaign structure is to mirror websites structure o performance and budgeting: create separate campaigns in account to set different daily budgets separate ad groups may be created whenever youd like to set different maximum CPCs for keywords that may be highly competitive or that convert less often o themes of functions: set up separate campaigns or ad groups when same product or service can appeal to variety of needs o websites: all ads in ad group have to promote same website o geographic location: create separate campaigns for each area business serves o targeting: create separate campaigns focused on display network and on search separate campaigns allow to use settings more effective for display network than search, such as different bidding methods o brand names: branded keywords convert better than generic product descriptions advertiser may want to designate separate ad groups or even separate campaigns for each brand, depending on variety of products under given brand label o seasonal products/services: seasonal products organized into own campaigns or ad groups so that these can be paused and resumed according to season optimizing keywords o when choosing keywords, think like a customer o choose specific keywords that relate to your business, ad group, landing page o include variations o take advantage of keyword matching options get more ad impressions, get more focused targeting negative match keywords are an especially important part of most keyword optimizations o use unique keyword URLs o keywords are not case-sensitive o do not have to include punctuation o avoid including duplicate keywords across different ad groups/campaigns optimize keywords for better CTR: delete keywords with high impression counts but low number of clickthroughs o important to focus on negative keywords o consider trying different keyword matching options like phrase match to reduce the number of irrelevant searches optimize keywords for better ROI o bottom line for any keyword is how much value generates compared to cost o identify and delete keywords that accumulate high costs but very few conversions 35

once understand value of keyword, increase keywords profitability by adjusting CPC/CPM bid use appropriate keyword matching options to control who sees your ads use negative keywords to eliminate unwanted clicks o filter out different products/services o filter out irrelevant searches o filter for serious buyers optimizing ad text o include keywords in ad text show users that ad relates to their search if part of ad uses same words user searches for, phrase will appear in bold o create simple, enticing ads highlight key benefits in ad o use strong call to action o choose appropriate destination URL o test multiple ads in each ad groups optimize ads for ROI o define a clear call to action goal to maximize ROI call to action should reflect action that you consider conversion o relate ads to their landing pages o filter out unqualified clicks optimize ads for CTR and traffic o be descriptive o include deals and benefits o match your keywords as closely as possible o consider keyword insertion optimize ads for branding o try different ad formats try visual ad formats like image ads graphical messages grab attention run ad performance report and use data to identify low and high performing ads use different metrics to measure ads success optimizing language and location targeting o target only languages and locations relevant to business o location targeting settings affect ads on Display as well as on Google o Target right language for business Single language: target the language in which ad is written Multiple languages: create separate campaign for each language Combine with location targeting: language targeting also gives excellent way to reach users even if they are physically located in non-native areas o Target right location for business Country targeting: target countries or territories if business or website serves wide audience across one or more countries Region and city targeting: target regions/cities if business serves specific geographic areas or if want different advertising message in different regions Receive more qualified clicks from smaller, more relevant population

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Customized targeting: ad relevant only to very precise geographic area where you do business Targeting internationally Set up separate campaign for each main location and select relevant language for each campaign Separate geographic campaigns makes it easier to manage account and track each regions ROI Optimizing display network placements o Managed placements: choose individual websites within Display Network Use only relevant placements, find potential customers interested in exactly what advertising Delete poorly-performing placements: eliminate irrelevant impressions on ads and improve quality score Use sites compatible with ad: make sure placements select will accept ad formats and sizes you plan to run Use most effective bidding strategy: can use CPC or CPM pricing Experiment with different bids: to improve position of ads, try increasing maximum CPM/CPC bid for individual placements that perform well for you Assign destination URLs: placement level destination URLs send users to a specific landing page Group placements by theme: review placements and look for themes within overall list, consider creating separate ad groups with highly specific ads for each of these smaller groupings Combine with keywords: mixing placements with keywords in same ad group good way to refine Display Network campaigns Use placement diagnosis: help determine whether display ad is running on particular display network placements o Automatic placements: keyword list determines which placements on display network will show your ads Use relevant keywords: AW systems looks through every possible page in Google display network to find placements that match keywords Group keywords by theme write ads that match your keywords o optimizing display network placements find relevant placements: use placement tool to select websites/other placements in display network where youd like ad to appear campaigns focused on branding/traffic: think of what type websites target audience might visit campaigns focused on ROI and conversions: consider type website potential customer likely to visit when most likely to make purchase or convert track success with placement reports: shows performance statistics for ads on specific domains/URLs focus on conversions, not CTR o Optimizing Bids and Budgets Budget and maximum bids are tools to help control costs while working to get most profit from ads Daily budget determines how often ads show throughout day 37

Good budget strategy can maximize your ad exposure and take advantage of traffic available to you Bids help determine ad position on page and profit margins Understand your ROI Understand relationship between cost and quality Understand how good quality score can enhance any spending strategy Higher keywords quality score, lower the price you pay for each click Allocate budget according to performance: prioritize your products/services then match budgets to each campaign based on priority Experiment to see what works: test different bid amounts and budgets, measure how effective change is Tools for optimizing bids and budgets Evaluate keywords value: bottom line is how much value keyword generates compared to cost Track conversions from keyword with conversion tracking tool or Google Analytics Optimize for ROI Use conversion tracking to track cost per conversion, cost for each conversion should be less than the amount you receive for that conversion Use advanced ad scheduling if campaigns make more sales or other conversions during certain times of day Reallocate budget from campaigns that dont convert well to high ROI campaigns limited by budget Test bids adjustments until achieve optimal performance Set display network bids so you can bid separately for ads on display network Use conversion optimizer to get more conversions at lower cost Use keyword positions report in google analytics to help decide how to adjust keyword bids Optimize for clicks and traffic See effect of different keyword bids Use bid simulator or traffic estimator tools Increase bids for valued keywords to improve ad position try automatic bidding to get most traffic available within budget experiment with higher budget: ads show more often use recommended budget to help choose budget amount bid to appear on first page of paid search results see what youre missing by using impression share report to see percentage of possible impressions ads could have received if budgets were higher optimizing ad scheduling, serving and positions control over display of ads, AW offers some advanced optimization features when ads show: ad scheduling lets you specify certain hours/days of week when ads appear where on page ads show: position preference lets you tell google which ad positions prefer among AW ads on given page which ads show: if multiple ads in single ad group, AW determines when to show each ad based on ad serving settings

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optimize: default setting and show high performing ads more often o rotate: serve all active ads in ad group more evenly on rotating basis, regardless of performance o Tools and Strategies for Optimizing Ad Scheduling, Serving, Positions Ad Scheduling: select times when want to show ads Can also adjust pricing for ads during certain time periods Can set maximum six different time periods per day Position preference Direct-response advertisers can target their most cost-effective ad rankings Brand advertisers can make sure their ads run only in most visible positions Ad serving settings: specify how youd like ads in ad group to be served Optimize (default): tries to show higher performing ads more often than the other ads in ad group Rotate: show all ads in ad group more evenly, regardless of which one has the best CTR Campaign and Ad Group Optimization Best Practices o Know your goals With main advertising goal, can choose optimization strategies that will best help you to meet specific goal o Measure the results Use conversion tracking, google analytics to see which ads/keywords most profitable o Experiment and adapt Allow ad performance to educate you about effective strategies for achieving goals

Chapter 13.3: Optimizing Websites and Landing Page Optimization Overview of Optimizing Websites and Landing Pages o Need to optimize website content o Need goals for site, activities on website that are important to success of business o user should be focus of optimization efforts o google has developed landing page quality guidelines, helpful to optimize site o three primary elements of quality relevant and original content: attracts users and keeps them returning to site transparency: being clear about nature of business, how site interacts with users computer, how use visitors personal info navigability: providing easy path to find what looking for on site o Benefits of Optimizing Websites/Landing Pages Increasing ROI on advertising Teaching you about likes/dislikes of customers Try out alternatives used by competitors Break down preconceptions about what works Convincing your team to try something bold or different Keep users on page/improve ROI 39

o Users decide to stay/leave site in just few seconds Basic Strategies for Optimizing Websites and Landing Pages o Improving landing pages: make sure page is one where users can find product/service promised in ad Tailored to keywords user is searching for o Content: relevant/original content attracts users/keeps them returning to site Pages in appropriate title tags easier for users to find and search engines to index o Transparency: openly share information about business and clearly define what business is/does If use trust seals/credibility indicators, make sure effectively located o Navigation: user should be able to quickly understand how to navigate site and find information Make sure most users able to find what they want in 3 clicks or fewer

Chapter 13.6: Optimizing for Greater Conversions Key Metrics for Tracking and improving conversions o Maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA): the most youre willing to pay for each conversion o Average cost-per-acquisition (CPA): average cost for each conversion o Recommended maximum CPA bid: average of keyword bids, weighted by number of conversions for each keyword o Return on investment (ROI): ratio of cost of advertising relative to profit generated from conversions o Daily conversions: daily number of clicks on ad that lead directly to user behavior you deem valuable Using Conversion Optimizer with Conversion Tracking o Optimizes placement in each ad auction to avoid unprofitable clicks and gets you as many profitable clicks as possible o Bid using maximum CPA o Using historical info about campaign, conversion Optimizer automatically finds optimal equivalent CPC bid for your ad each time its eligible o To calculate optimal equivalent CPC bid, optimizer first calculates predicted conversion rate for each auction, taking into account ads conversion history, keywords broad match query, users location, conversion rates of googles search and display network partner sites o then generates ad rank by combining CPA bid, quality score, predicted conversion rate enabling conversion optimizer o must have AW Conversion Tracking enabled, campaign must have received at least 15 conversions in last 30 days, campaign must have only keywords Responding to Conversion Optimizer Data to Improve Conversions o Guideline1: compare campaigns conversions and average CPA before enabled optimizer to performance since then o Guideline 2: look at performance of campaign in light of goals for conversion optimizer Can shift performance according to primary goal by raising/lowering max CPA bid

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Guideline 3: keep in mind changes in ad performance are natural, may need to use Conversion Optimizer for some time to get accurate understanding of its effects on campaigns performance Troubleshooting for Conversion Optimizer o Cant enable conversion Optimizer: relies on historical data collected through AW Conversion Tracking, so isnt available for new campaigns o Actual CPA exceeding maximum CPA: actual CPA depends on factors outside of Googles control, so may exceed maximum CPA you specify o High Average CPA: if average CPA higher than you prefer, can lower bid which will decrease both average CPA and # conversions o Traffic rate decreases after enabling Conversion Optimizer: likely that the initial maximum CPA bid too low o Conversion rate decreases after enabling Conversion Optimizer: possible to see drop in conversion rate when start using optimizer because observing average of conversion rate across all clicks o Compatibility with other AW features, search/Display network, third-party ads Following features not compatible Separate display network bids Position preference Advanced ad scheduling Best Practices o Use Conversion Optimizer on mature campaigns: relies on historical conversion data in order to predict accurate conversion rate, so longer campaign has used conversion tracking, more data optimizer has to improve ROI o Start with recommended bid: best to start with recommended bid to help ensure smooth transition to new bidding mode If want to increase traffic/conversions, can raise maximum CPA or: If consistently hitting budget, increase it for more visibility Opt in to google display network Add more relevant keywords to ad groups o Using conversion optimizer with multiple conversion types and values in single campaign: make sure each product/landing page pair has own ad group and set of unique maximum CPA bid for each ad group o Guidelines for making changes to campaign: conversion optimizer able to adapt quickly when changes are made which have minor effects on campaigns conversion rate o Following unlikely to have negative effects Editing maximum CPA bid Creating new ad group Deleting/adding keywords Making small changes to ads Changing conversion type reported in tracking code

Chapter 14: Managing Multiple Accounts Chapter 14.1: Overview of Managing Multiple Accounts Three tools to help manage tens/hundreds of accounts: My Client Center (MCC), AdWords Editor, AdWords Application Programming Interface (API) My Client Center: Manage hundreds accounts from single location 41

View relevant info for all linked accounts in one easy-to-read dashboard Track performance, find accounts, manage account budgets, create, link, unlink accounts o Monitor accounts more efficiently using alerts-summary page, shows all alerts for linked accounts and includes robust search capabilities AdWords Editor o Store several accounts for easy viewing and editing (only one account at a time can be edited) o Help clients create new campaigns by creating/sharing with them an example campaign that can be used in multiple/different accounts o Copy/move campaigns between accounts or within account API allows developers to create and use applications that interact directly with AW server to manage their accounts, instead of using usual online AW interface o Generating automatic keyword, ad text, URL, custom reports o Integrating AW data with other databases, such as inventory systems

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Chapter 14.2: Managing Accounts with My Client Center (MCC) Umbrella account containing access to individual AW accounts and other client manager accounts, acts as shell account that links accounts in one location Benefits of using MCC o Easily view all linked accounts via My Client Center view o See high-level statistics for all linked AW accounts in one place o Use single login to access all accounts o generate reports across multiple client accounts at once, download client dashboard into .csv file o invite client to be managed through automated message o create AW accounts in your MCC, automatically link them to your master account upon creation o create separate billing for each client Navigating MCC pages o Can navigate linked accounts by using jump to client drop-down menu o Makes it easy to view wide range of client account statistics from highest level of MCC account o Performance/budget statistics for client accounts shown on separate tabbed pages o Performance page has stats on clicks, conversions, conversion rates, separate columns for Search/Display network CTR o On Budget page, accounts using account-level budgets or accounts on manager defined spend, find info about start/end dates, percent of budget spent, total spend for each account MCC Levels: each top-level MCC can branch out to manage individual accounts or other MCCs, sub-level MCCs can branch out to manage more individual accounts or MCCs and so on o Link to maximum four levels of MCC above/below your own Assigning Managers/Roles/Permissions o Once you link sub-level MCC to top level MCC, can manage account in same way that you currently manage individual AW accounts o To access managed MCC, sign in to top level MCC

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Can give someone access to only some of managed accounts in MCC by taking advantage of MCCs ability to link to another MCC Changing Client Managers: simple to move managed account to another MCC within top-level MCC o If move account on MDS from one MCC to another, both MCCs must have access to Manager Defined Order (MDO) funding account for ads to keep running Monitoring and Organizing Managed Accounts in MCC o MCC Alerts: dashboard includes alert summary box telling you about any current alerts associated with managed accounts Managing Client Budgets in MCC o Manager Defined Spend (MDS): simple way for MCC account-users to control their managed accounts budgets o Billed for these accounts via one manager order-level monthly invoice o Managed account eligible for MDS if it is one of following: On monthly invoicing On credit card postpay On direct debit New o Ineligible for MDS if either On prepay Account in which client is billed directly o It's simple to set up and start using MDS. Here's how: With your AdWords Account Manager, decide which managed accounts you want to put on MDS. Your Account Manager will work with our finance team to approve your MCC account for MDS and set up a Manager Defined Order (MDO). Once approved, your Account Manager will send you a service agreement. Review, sign, and return the service agreement. Depending on your country, the service agreement may contain a URL and pin number that will also allow you to accept online. Your Account Manager will notify you once the MDO has been applied to your MCC. At this point, you will be able to create a budget for each managed account that you want on MDS. You will be able to modify your managed accounts' budgets at any time via your MCC dashboard. At the end of the month, you'll receive in the mail one Manager Order-level invoice for the managed accounts that you have on MDS, which you can pay via check or wire transfer. You can also access this invoice by clicking consolidated (.pdf) on your My Client Center account's Billing Summary page. o Troubleshooting Problems in MCC Defining access for just certain groups of client accounts Solution: use sub-MCCs, can group specific accounts underneath that sub-MCC and grant someone access to that MCC only Building out additional client accounts and sub-MCCs Solution: create unique log-in emails, only one AW account can be associated with a Google Account login, so must use distinct login emails for each of managed accounts linked to MCC 43

Linking and account that youre now managing, that used to be managed by another MCC Solution: client needs to take step to unlink from previous manager

Chapter 14.3: Using AW API Application Programming Interface (API) allows developers to use applications that interact directly with AW server o Advertisers can manage large accounts and campaigns more efficiently o Designed for developers representing large, tech-savvy advertisers and third parties o API developer documentation available in Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean Benefits o Many development and integration opportunities o Generating automatic keyword, ad text, URL, custom reports o Integrating AdWords data with other databases, such as inventory systems o Developing additional tools and applications to help better manage aaccounts Programming Languages Supported o SOAP 1.1 Simple Object Access Protocol Used for information exchange and RPC, usually over HTTP o WSDL 1.1 Web Service Description Language Provides formal description of web service, much like CORBAs IDL o All messages sent via SSL to protect users privacy, authenticated via embedded passwords Signing up for API o Need MCC account, sign up directly from My Account tab o Invoicing for API is separate from other AW payments you make for other charges o API charges will be applied to total company credit line with Google o Assigned Developer Token once application approved, key to accessing API About API Web Services o Create/manage campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads o Generate keyword suggestions, get traffic estimates for predicted impressions, receive clicks and CTR, retrieve reports on actual performance o To access/manage AW account using API, build client application that connects to one or more of provided web services o Most require client application to use multiple services o Core messaging technology for API is Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) XML and HTTP based protocol API Units, Fees, Billing o Developers charged $.25 per 1000 API units consumed Tools and Resources o Resources in addition to code documentation o Provide open source client libraries and existing applications that can serve as foundation for new apps o Offer sandbox environment so developers can experiment without making changes to account or using API units o Information Sources 44

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The AdWords API Developer Guide is the technical reference for individuals building AdWords API applications. The AdWords API Help Center answers frequently asked questions about the AdWords API offering. The Developer Forum offers a place to discuss the AdWords API with fellow developers and members of the Google AdWords API team. The AdWords API Blog hosts all AdWords API announcements, tips, and program updates. All product changes and new version launches are announced on the blog. The AdWords API Mailing List sends program announcements, updates, and launch notifications to your email address. Sandbox: testing and development environment that replicates functionality of API web services Develop/test applications without spending API units Test logic that would modify campaigns Develop API client library without having an AW account Develop against new or changed API methods before changes go live on production service Code Resources: Developer Guide includes multiple client code libraries and samples Provide high-level view of API functionality Troubleshooting ensure using correct version of API Best Practices API team routinely posts best practices to API blog

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