Our clients and our team love the new Report Editor and Dashboards.
It used to take my team 8 to 10 hours of time to prepare, create, and send out our monthly client AdWords reports. Now with the Google Ads Report Editor and Dashboard reporting we are able to cut our reporting time in half.
The Google Ads Report Editor is a powerful tool to create custom reports. I use the Report Editor heavily, but I like it best for being able to import these reports into Dashboards that I can set up to run on demand or on a schedule.
It is time consuming to set up the reports and Dashboard. It will typically take me from 18 to 36 minutes per Dashboard. But, clients love the data, and I love the ability to tell a visually interesting story of what is happening with a client’s Google Ads account.
I will typically start my Dashboard out with my own custom commentary, show an account scorecard for total account activity at a glance. Then I get into the meat – I will import bar graphs of clicks and conversions by day of the week, table data for campaigns and ad groups, pie charts of clicks by device and activity by conversion source.
If the client likes a specific report like a keyword detail or location of people that have clicked their ad, it is easy to create those reports in the Report Editor and add them to a Dashboard.
For large accounts we will set up both weekly and monthly Dashboards. If you want to know more about our Google Ads consulting services, I invite you to visit our website today.
We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing and Search Optimization.
New to Google Ads are responsive search ads. Not all accounts will see this option yet, but for many of our big accounts we are starting set up now.
A responsive text ads consists of the following items.
Six 30 character headlines.
Two 90 character descriptions.
A final URL.
Two 15 character paths.
Additionally Google gives some additional best practices for setting up your responsive search ads.
Google recommends only using a keyword in your account or dynamic keyword insertion in two of your six headlines. They recommend that other headlines mention, price, shipping, a unique feature, or a special promotion.
When Google Ads renders the ads your ad assets can be bundled in any number of ways by device. You may see three headlines, two headlines, or one head line and a description, or even two headlines and one description. It is all Google Ads choice.
Setting up the responsive search ads take about 12 to 18 minutes each. We are currently testing versions in client accounts. Will they convert better than a typical search ad? Google Ads says yes, so the time investment to create them is valuable.
We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing.
Should you use automated bidding methods in Google AdWords? The answer is both yes and no. Google AdWords aggressively requests for you to use automated bidding when they feel that you may get more conversions.
Before you jump in and change to maximum click bidding, target CPA bidding or maximize conversion bidding evaluate if Google will really have enough data to properly serve your account.
Here’s what I have seen in client accounts – if there are less than 15 to 20 conversions in any ad groups in a campaign and Google recommends target CPA bidding or maximize conversions, your click traffic will drop significantly and your cost per conversion will increase. Your cost per click will go through the roof.
If you have 15 to 20 conversions in a 30 day period, Google AdWords may very effectively be able to increase conversions and lower costs.
I caution moving directly into these bidding algorithms without these conversion numbers, even if AdWords says there will be an improvement.
When I do enable automated bidding, I very carefully monitor costs and conversion numbers. I have seen these automated bidding algorithms crash top performing accounts or crazily line Google’s pockets with cash by boosting up the cost per click to numbers I would never choose to bid to.
As always, if you need help with Google AdWords account management, we invite you to check out our credentials, services and pricing.
We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing.
As a Google Partner specializing in AdWords, I want to share several key benefits with you as to why working with a Google Partner in AdWords is important.
Google Tests Us Yearly
Each year I have to recertify with Google to keep my Partner status. I take the AdWords Fundamental Exam every year and every other year I also take the AdWords Advanced Search Exam. These are not “gimme” tests. I study over 30 hours for each professional certification examination and am tested on over 1,000 pages of features in AdWords as well as account management techniques.
These exams are hard. They are comprehensive, and studying the materials is a key to staying up-to-date on AdWords features and their use. I personally feel that I benefit tremendously from these intensive refreshers and so do my clients.
Google Evaluates Our Account Management Practices
As a Google Partner, Google monitors activity in my MCC (My Client Center) account. The MCC is where all my firm’s client accounts are linked, to allow me one login to manage all accounts. Google reviews how frequently I am in client accounts, the benefit of the changes I make to account performance and the features I am are using for each account.
Google Evaluates What I Do for Clients and How I Market Our Services
As part of initially establishing my firm as a Google Partner, Google had a third party review all my reports to clients, my marketing materials, and how I marketed Google Products to clients. Google means business when they share their name with firm and allow Google Partner Status. As a Google Partner I am held to a higher standard than others who sell similar services.
If you want peace of mind that your AdWords account manager is skilled to provide quality services, Google has done the vetting for you before awarding Google Partner status.
The Benefits of Using McCord Web Services as Your Account Manager
I have been an AdWords account manager for over 10 years. From a depth of experience, I understand how to leverage activity on AdWords to drive traffic, increase exposure but most importantly to generate leads for your AdWords program.
Routine management of your account includes a review two or three times a week based on what I am testing or evaluating. During each review I look to boost click activity, conversions, and the click through rate by refining keywords, adding negative keywords, reviewing actual search queries and reviewing and refining ad text. Additionally I review and add new features as they are available, troubleshoot performance problems, and give advice on landing page and website improvements. I am always keeping an eye on performance and the cost per conversion for your program.
With advanced knowledge of the AdWords system, years of account management experience, I have been able to guide many AdWords programs to success and boost inquiries through AdWords.
I have personally love the challenge of working in AdWords and live and breathe AdWords.
I work hard to be accessible to you and to offer honest advice and recommendations for Google AdWords as well as for content back on your website to lead visitors into contacting you with a program or service inquiry through our monthly strategy phone calls.
If you are ready for us to manage your AdWords program, know that our fees are affordable, our communication is proactive, and we are seriously focused on exceeding your expectations in all we do.
We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing,, Mobile, and Display.
Have you noticed conversions dropping in your AdWords account? Is this followed by an increase in cost per click to appear on the first page of search results? Why would this happen?
First, it is very important to remember that Google AdWords is an auction. The highest bidder does not get the top position, but each time a search is done an Ad Rank number using the cost per click bid and the Quality Score as well as the extensions that are used in the account is run and advertisers are racked and stacked.
In times when sales in a marketplace are slow, I will typically see a large jump in cost per click as advertisers, just like you, scramble to get leads. It may be that customers are just not buying and in an effort to get leads, other advertisers will drive up the price of the auction by their bidding; boosting your first page bid.
In other times when sales are hot in a marketplace, more advertisers who had been sitting on the sidelines move into the marketplace driving up the cost again.
As an AdWords Manager, I see these scenarios frequently. Sometimes it is seasonal and click costs will stay high during the high traffic peak buying season. Pest control firms are a good example of a seasonal business where traffic and conversions are hot from March all the way to November, but peter out from December to February.
So, before you just push your own AdWords cost per click up, take some time to evaluate what is happening in your account, in your marketplace, and region. In many cases your local reps can help you to understand if this is a situation that is a marketplace and consumer trend versus something that you are doing wrong that needs adjustment in your advertising account.
We Are a Google Partner Specializing in Search Marketing,, Mobile, and Display.
If you are not sure that AdWords is working for you, I encourage you to stop your advertising and find out.
Here’s what happened for two of our clients…
Both are doctors and both decided that AdWords clicks were too expensive and both stopped AdWords. Within a week, both medical practices were back up and running in Google AdWords again.
The comments from the two doctors were eerily similar – our phones stopped ringing and we had no new patients. Now that’s a real testimony to the power of AdWords for lead generation!
If you are advertising on AdWords and don’t feel it is working for you, I do recommend that you consider stopping your advertising for several weeks to 30 days. As these two clients found out, one week was long enough for them to know that AdWords was not all about clicks, it was about the phone calls and new patients that it brought in to their practices.
Need Help Putting AdWords to Work for You?
If you need help putting AdWords to work for you, I encourage you to review our AdWords Quick Start Services. We’ll help you get running fast and work to get the results you need for your business. Set up and the first four weeks of account management starts at $899. Don’t wait to sign up as we expect to raise our prices in the next month.
