AdWords Mistake #1 - Displaying Only 1 Ad for Many Keywords
Most folks know that Google's paid listings are a quick method to obtain traffic to their websites. But few AdWords advertisers take advantage of the real power of the Google AdWords system.
This is the first of a series of articles about the most common mistakes made by Google advertisers.
Too Many Keywords in a Single AdGroup?
And how your competitors know...
Anyone that uses Google has become used to the almost ubiquitous "sponsored links", aka Google AdWords ads, that appear at the top and on the right side of most Google web searches.
AdWords is a tremendously powerful tool for businesses and website owners to use to obtain targeted traffic to their sites.
All the advertiser needs to do is to open an AdWords account, bid on some keywords or keyword phrases, write an ad linking back to their site, and traffic will begin to flow. Literally in minutes!
Google makes it so easy.
Easy to spend your money. Not easy to dominate a market.
There are many mistakes an advertiser can make, but the biggest is to dump all of the advertising keywords into a single Ad Group.
Doing so means that only a single ad is used for a wide variety of keywords. This will lower the effective click-through rate (CTR) for the AdWords campaign, which increases the cost to the advertiser.
Finding advertisers who have made this mistake is easy, even with only the smallest amount of research.
For example, we did two searches on Google involving the Nashville real estate market. The keywords searched were "buy home nashville" and "nashville real estate". The Adwords ads appearing on the first page of results are listed below:
SEARCH FOR "BUY HOME NASHVILLE"
1 - Buy Home
First Tennessee offers advice on
Mortgages & Loans. 1-800-456-4581.
www.FirstTennessee.com
2 - Monster Sale on New Homes
Save 3 Days only at Del Webb and
Pulte Homes. Oct 19-21 Open 8-8.
Pulte.com
3 - Search Nashville Homes
Beat Other Buyers to Hot New Homes
Find the Perfect Home Fast
www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
4 - Nashville TN Home Search
No obligation search of the entire
Nashville MLS. 1000's of listings.
www.exitrealtyofthesouth.com
5 - Find a Home/Condo
Get Free Email Listings 2X A Day
Includes Photo & Custom Search
www.JustListed.com
Nashville, TN
6 - Low USAA Mortgage Loans
USAA Provides Exclusive Loan Rates
For Members With Military Families.
www.USAA.com
7 - Nashville Home
Search styles, floor plans, photos,
builders and more free!
www.NewHomeGuide.com
8 - Buy Home
Get Flexible Monthly Payments with
Fixed Rate Security - Smart 30 Loan
www.QuickenLoans.com
Tennessee
9 - Find A New Home
Let your local Coldwell Banker®
agent help you find your new home.
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/
10 - What's My House Worth?
HouseValues' free service helps you
determine the value of your home.
www.HouseValues.com
Nashville, TN
******************************************************
******************************************************
SEARCH FOR "NASHVILLE REAL ESTATE"
1 - Nashville Real Estate
Beat Other Buyers to Hot New Homes
Search Thousands of Homes Now
www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
2 - Nashville MLS Search
Begin searching Nashville, TN MLS
for your next home immediately.
www.nashvillerealestatehomes.com
3 - Monster Sale on New Homes
Save 3 Days only at Del Webb and
Pulte Homes. Oct 19-21 Open 8-8.
Pulte.com
4 - Nashville Real Estate
Search over 10,000 homes online
w/ multiple photos and virtual tours
www.jgr.com
5 - Nashville Real Estate
search Nashville TN & surrounding
area Just like a real estate agent
www.NashvilleHS.com
6 - Love Old Homes
Bungalows,Victorians,Tudors
Nashville's Historic Home Resource
www.restoreNASHVILLE.com
7 - Tennessee Real Estate
Search Free Real Estate Listings by
Price, Size, Location, & More.
www.Realtor.com/TennesseeRealEstate
8 - Nashville MLS Listings
Free Online MLS Search Sign Up Now!
Find Homes for sale like Realtors
nashvilleprops.com
Tennessee
9 - Coldwell Banker®
Get real estate tips & tools at the
award-winning coldwellbanker.com
www.coldwellbanker.com
10 - April Consulo, Realtor
Nashville's Top Producing Agent.
I'll Help You Find The Perfect Home
www.buyingnashvillehomes.com
******************************************************
******************************************************
By simply comparing the lists of top advertisers for these two simple searches, we find the following advertisers in common in this market;
1 - Pulte.com
2 - www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
3 - www.coldwellbanker.com
So, for only two simple searches (representing a fraction of all the keyword searches involved with the Nashville real estate market), we've found 3 competitors who are each using Google AdWords.
What can we learn about the keywords and AdGroups of these 3 competitors?
Of the three, only www.coldwellbanker.com is using different ads for the two searches. The other two are using the exact same ad for the two search terms. Do you think that a visitor searching for "buy home nashville" might have different needs than one searching for "nashville real estate"? Of course!
But if the advertiser doesn't display a different ad for different keywords, they pay Google MORE than their competitors who use the AdWords system intelligently.
AdWords is a tremendously powerful tool for businesses and website owners to use to obtain targeted traffic to their sites.
All the advertiser needs to do is to open an AdWords account, bid on some keywords or keyword phrases, write an ad linking back to their site, and traffic will begin to flow. Literally in minutes!
Google makes it so easy.
Easy to spend your money. Not easy to dominate a market.
There are many mistakes an advertiser can make, but the biggest is to dump all of the advertising keywords into a single Ad Group.
Doing so means that only a single ad is used for a wide variety of keywords. This will lower the effective click-through rate (CTR) for the AdWords campaign, which increases the cost to the advertiser.
Finding advertisers who have made this mistake is easy, even with only the smallest amount of research.
For example, we did two searches on Google involving the Nashville real estate market. The keywords searched were "buy home nashville" and "nashville real estate". The Adwords ads appearing on the first page of results are listed below:
SEARCH FOR "BUY HOME NASHVILLE"
1 - Buy Home
First Tennessee offers advice on
Mortgages & Loans. 1-800-456-4581.
www.FirstTennessee.com
2 - Monster Sale on New Homes
Save 3 Days only at Del Webb and
Pulte Homes. Oct 19-21 Open 8-8.
Pulte.com
3 - Search Nashville Homes
Beat Other Buyers to Hot New Homes
Find the Perfect Home Fast
www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
4 - Nashville TN Home Search
No obligation search of the entire
Nashville MLS. 1000's of listings.
www.exitrealtyofthesouth.com
5 - Find a Home/Condo
Get Free Email Listings 2X A Day
Includes Photo & Custom Search
www.JustListed.com
Nashville, TN
6 - Low USAA Mortgage Loans
USAA Provides Exclusive Loan Rates
For Members With Military Families.
www.USAA.com
7 - Nashville Home
Search styles, floor plans, photos,
builders and more free!
www.NewHomeGuide.com
8 - Buy Home
Get Flexible Monthly Payments with
Fixed Rate Security - Smart 30 Loan
www.QuickenLoans.com
Tennessee
9 - Find A New Home
Let your local Coldwell Banker®
agent help you find your new home.
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/
10 - What's My House Worth?
HouseValues' free service helps you
determine the value of your home.
www.HouseValues.com
Nashville, TN
******************************************************
******************************************************
SEARCH FOR "NASHVILLE REAL ESTATE"
1 - Nashville Real Estate
Beat Other Buyers to Hot New Homes
Search Thousands of Homes Now
www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
2 - Nashville MLS Search
Begin searching Nashville, TN MLS
for your next home immediately.
www.nashvillerealestatehomes.com
3 - Monster Sale on New Homes
Save 3 Days only at Del Webb and
Pulte Homes. Oct 19-21 Open 8-8.
Pulte.com
4 - Nashville Real Estate
Search over 10,000 homes online
w/ multiple photos and virtual tours
www.jgr.com
5 - Nashville Real Estate
search Nashville TN & surrounding
area Just like a real estate agent
www.NashvilleHS.com
6 - Love Old Homes
Bungalows,Victorians,Tudors
Nashville's Historic Home Resource
www.restoreNASHVILLE.com
7 - Tennessee Real Estate
Search Free Real Estate Listings by
Price, Size, Location, & More.
www.Realtor.com/TennesseeRealEstate
8 - Nashville MLS Listings
Free Online MLS Search Sign Up Now!
Find Homes for sale like Realtors
nashvilleprops.com
Tennessee
9 - Coldwell Banker®
Get real estate tips & tools at the
award-winning coldwellbanker.com
www.coldwellbanker.com
10 - April Consulo, Realtor
Nashville's Top Producing Agent.
I'll Help You Find The Perfect Home
www.buyingnashvillehomes.com
******************************************************
******************************************************
By simply comparing the lists of top advertisers for these two simple searches, we find the following advertisers in common in this market;
1 - Pulte.com
2 - www.MusicCityHomeSearch.com
3 - www.coldwellbanker.com
So, for only two simple searches (representing a fraction of all the keyword searches involved with the Nashville real estate market), we've found 3 competitors who are each using Google AdWords.
What can we learn about the keywords and AdGroups of these 3 competitors?
Of the three, only www.coldwellbanker.com is using different ads for the two searches. The other two are using the exact same ad for the two search terms. Do you think that a visitor searching for "buy home nashville" might have different needs than one searching for "nashville real estate"? Of course!
But if the advertiser doesn't display a different ad for different keywords, they pay Google MORE than their competitors who use the AdWords system intelligently.
5 Days to Success with Google AdWords
Free 5 Day Course from Perry Marshall
Google has a new system that makes it possible, for the first time in the history of the world, to deposit five bucks, write a couple of ads, and instantly get access to over 100 million people - in less than 10 minutes.
It's called Google AdWords and it's hot. In fact it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site.
But it's not always as easy as I just made it sound - AdWords has some nuances, and most people have a rough time at first.
Well my colleague Perry Marshall has written a very helpful e-course called "5 days to success with Google AdWords" and there's no charge for it. You can find out about here:
It's called Google AdWords and it's hot. In fact it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site.
But it's not always as easy as I just made it sound - AdWords has some nuances, and most people have a rough time at first.
Well my colleague Perry Marshall has written a very helpful e-course called "5 days to success with Google AdWords" and there's no charge for it. You can find out about here:
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/12/2009) 
Cut Your AdWords Cost in 10 Days or Less - Guaranteed
Save Nothing, Pay Nothing
- AdWordsGeeks.com
- How to lower Google AdWords pay per click cost in 10 days or less
by dseldon
I'm Dave Seldon, living with my wonderful wife Debbie in Nashville, Tennessee. Father of 4 great kids, one still in college.
I've worked for myse...
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