Google AdWords Series: Unrealistic Expectations and Negative Keywords
Last week, we began a series discussing some of the most commonly made mistakes by entrepreneurs who use Google AdWords. Each of the mistakes we will discuss throughout this series is both surprisingly common and potentially catastrophic, but also more than reparable.
Here are the two mistakes made using Google Adwords we are focusing on this week.
The mistake: having unrealistic expectations about what AdWords can do for you
There are plenty of small business owners who get frustrated with AdWords simply because their expectations are far too unrealistic.
Ultimately, what you are able to get out of using AdWords is directly proportional to what you are willing to put in. It’s unlikely you’re going to launch the next huge global digital sensation with a tiny budget allocated to AdWords. A budget of just $100 or so per month is not exactly going to draw hundreds of thousands of viewers to your website — that’s not the way AdWords (or the internet) works.
Simply put, it takes patience to be successful with AdWords on a limited budget. Many times you won’t be able to test out how your ads perform until you actually see the results coming in. It’s also difficult to get your AdWords campaign exactly the way you want it with outstanding results right from the get go.
Another thing to consider is that if you have a small budget to work with, you are going to burn through that money quickly each month. This can get frustrating quickly, because it feels as though any progress you make is stretched out over months rather than the results coming in right away.
This is not to say you should put more money into AdWords than you are comfortable with budgeting. It’s just a reminder to work as hard as you can to manage your expectations. You can stick with a large enough budget that allows you to drive a good amount of traffic while still having plenty of working capital to spend in other areas of digital marketing. Just make sure you stick with your campaigns long enough to give them a chance to gain some traction so you can accurately measure their success before moving on from them.
The mistake: failing to use the negative keywords features in AdWords
Google AdWords allows users to implement negative keywords as a means of excluding potential searches that would not match up well with your products. However, far too many entrepreneurs do not use this functionality, which means they are likely getting far too many clicks or impressions that are not relevant.
For example: if you owned a store that sells men’s clothing but not athletic apparel, you would not want your results to show up when a user searches for “men’s athletic clothing” or “men’s running clothes,” but you would want them to show up for “men’s clothing” or “men’s clothes.” Therefore, you could put “running” or “athletic” into Google AdWords as negative keywords to eliminate those potential results from displaying your advertisements.
You can implement negative keywords at either the campaign or ad group level. This means that if you want, you can exclude certain words from only one particular ad group rather than from your entire campaign, giving you the ability to target your keywords and groups in even greater detail.
To find words you think should be excluded, you should carefully analyze your Google Analytics, as it will provide you with detailed information about the specific keyword searches that are displaying your brand and ads. Go to the Analytics tab, click the “Acquisition” link, then “AdWords,” and then follow through to “Matched Search Queries.” You can use the functions within this feature to pinpoint any unrelated search results that routinely appear, so you have a better idea of which words you should set as negative keywords.
Stay tuned next week as we continue to discuss some of the most common and potentially damaging mistakes made by AdWords users.
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