Search Engine Marketing Campaigns

Setting up a search marketing campaign is, technically, not a difficult task. Most search engines have a decent interface and make it easy to get started. The elements of the campaigns are divided into levels: Campaign then Ad Groups, then (together) Ad Copy and Keywords. Thinking through the objectives of the search program prior to establishing the campaigns is the key to a successful effort. Below, we cover the basic structure of a campaign and the various elements. In the end, there are a couple of recommendations to get started in the right direction.

The Search Campaign Structure

Search engines have different ways to set up campaigns. Fortunately, the two biggest, Google and Yahoo! have virtually the same structure:

Client
- Agencies or larger companies with multiple departments might use this. most won't.
Campaign
-Unique efforts. Might be season, product, promotional, etc.
-Can manage budgets, geographies, etc at the campaign level.
Ad Group
-Multiple ad groups to a campaign.
-Focus on like keywords and / or keyword strategies.
-Allows for copy to be well targeted to keywords and landing page.
-Improves ranking and decreases CPC.
-Ad Copy
--- Multiple copy executions per ad group are possible.
--- Can target % of impressions.
--- Engines can optimize delivery based on Click through rate or CTR (clicks divided by the number of impressions).
-Keywords
--- Group like keywords under each ad group.
--- Set minimum and maximum bid.
--- Assigned unique destination URL query string to track on site.

This structure allows for flexibility and control over ads, budgets, destination pages and managing overall program performance.

To properly take advantage of this, campaigns need to be thought out well in advance of setting up the search program. Understanding how you will measure your success will allow you to set the appropriate metrics for each keyword and ad group.

While not all engines have this set up, you can mimic it to some degree through the association of ad copy to specific keywords. Within some engines, it may be necessary to create different campaigns for different keyword groups. While this may appear to be a pain, in the long run it will pay off.

The Search Ad
The primary unit of advertising in search is the text ad. It consists of a Headline, about 70 characters of copy, ad display URL (what the user sees) and the destination URL (where the user ends up when they click). As with any good advertising, you will want to give great consideration to the elements of the advertisement. One of the many benefits of search advertising it the ability to easily change ads, run multiple ads and measure results.

Search Ad Copy
In a little bit of space, you need to get the users attention with relevant copy. Because relevancy is the key to good rankings, this is not a place for gratuitous attention getting words. Shock value has no value. Promote what is special - price, service, offers - about your site, product or service.

The way search engines allow you to set up your advertising program, you have the ability to customize ad copy to the keywords. Take advantage of this. If you have different products, create different ad copy for each. The interface will allow you to do this.

The display URL should be the same base url as the landing page. This improves the relevancy and increases your ranking, or lowers your CPC.

The destination URL may (should, actually) be the same as your display url. However, to make the most of SEM, you should add query strings with relevant information that you can track once the user clicks through. Knowing where people who clicked on specific keywords, or ads or campaigns go and do in your site is key to optimizing programs beyond the CPC.

Keywords
There are many different strategies to setting up keywords. Before you start, you should understand that there are different match types. While engines refer to them differently (you should read the definitions), the categories of keyword types tend to be: Broad Match - the site uses an algorithm to determine if the search query entered has anything to do with the keyword. Phrase Match - the keyword or phrase must appear somewhere in the search query string. Exact Match, as the name says, the search query must match the keyword exactly. There is also Negative Match. If the search query contains the word in a negative match, your ad will not be shown. This helps minimize unqualified traffic.

As mentioned above, the grouping of the keywords depends on the intent of the user and how you are going to speak to them. You will need to use your industry knowledge of the product or service your advertising. To assist you, most engines have a keyword suggestion tool. Use this to get a list of related keywords, but use you own knowledge to decide if they are meaningful and how to structure them within your search program.

There is the long-tail concept. Loading up on a lot of seldom searched keywords, that in aggregate, can make by a large chuck of traffic. Conceptually, this is a great idea. However, if your time is limited, I'd suggest focusing on optimizing the main keywords first.

Recommendation:
Experiment. Change out ad copy, establish landing pages on your site that match the content of the ad. Even when things are working, divert a small amount of your traffic to new ads. You may be surprised to see that other things work even better.

Prior to starting any campaign, segment your keywords into logical groups. These may be based on how you talk about the product (more importantly, how the consumer does), where on your site you are going to direct the user, or keyword type strategies (long tail vs head).

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