When to quit doing Adwords?

[backwater]

I've been doing Google adwords for a while on a bunch of my key terms. It's been costing me quite a bit. Now I've finally got my page tuned to where I got a front page listing on a good many of my keywords. Would you stop doing the adwords now, decrease your budget, quit doing the terms I've got a frontpage listing on? Just curious. Adwords has me at #1 or almost #1 on the page, just a regular google search gets me in the top 10 on some of the terms. Also doing overture, but I'm terrible on a yahoo search, so don't see that going away anytime soon. Any advice would be appreciated!

[bateman_ap]

I would say keep on doing them as long as you are making money from your click throughs. As soon as it is unprofitable thats time to stop.

[KevinC]

why stop using adwords? If you are on the page naturaly and via ads, you now have just double your exposure. This increases your branding power and of course increases your chances of a sale. I would keep your ads visible as long as they are profitable.

[backwater]

I haven't been able to configure for my cart for CTRs so I'm not sure how profitable they are, I do get a lot of clicks each day from it. So I guess I should just stay with it. My prices are very cheap so my profit margin are low, just trying a find a way to make a little more money with it.

[LifeinAsia]

Simple answer: ROI.

Continue what works as long as it continues to work. Continue to tweak to try to get it to work better. Dump in favor of something that has a better ROI.

[sem4u]

Yes you should be measuring your ROI. This may help you to reduce your bids a little.

[minnapple]

There are several simple but effective methods for checking RIO of advertisements.

One is categorizing the type of ads you are running, then turning a category off for a time and then analyzing your costs to profit ratio.

Example: One category targets your main product line, another targets the accessories to that product line.
Turn off all ads related to the accessories for a week or so and see what it does to your bottom line sales and your advertising costs.

After doing this for a while you should realize what type of ads generate profits and which type of terms just generate traffic.

[derekwong28]

I still use adwords for keywords that are in pole position in the SERPs. But I make sure that the ROI is acceptable.

I feel that you are two types of users involved: One who will trust natural SERPS more than Ads, and vice-versa.

[sniffer]

I think if you are at the top of both you're sending a fairly positive message to those browsing for your products/services:

- well established
- commercial in nature
- NOW SELLING

[sgg24]

I'm only on google adwords and I've stopped doing it because I don't get the sales from click on my ad. I think it's reasonable that if you're top of the google regular search then that's far more likely to get you reliable business. Therefore I can't see any point in paying for the adwords clicks.

I should add that I'm nowhere near top on google search. I'd advise targeting search success, as a more efficient ROI - it doesn't cost.

I'm now going to find out how to improve my search status...

[chodges84]

As derekwong says different people look at search results differently.

If I'm looking to buy something I generally scan over the Adwords first, as they are generally trying to sell. Some searches just bring up millions of 'junk' like shopping comparisons and that auction site.

If I'm looking for information, natural serps it is. Thst's just the way I do it, but everyone's different.

[oldpro]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We have 1st page organic positions with most of our keywords and above the fold sponsored listings for Adwords. The more chances you have to catch the surfer's eye, the better. Besides having two listings on the 1st pages gives you more crediblity.

As an aside...with YSM/Overture we have a 1st page natural listing, so we bid for the 4th position (1st on the side). This gives us three listings which includes one in the blue down at the bottom.

The tangible results of this strategy is a 300% increase in sales and a 20% conversion rate.

Bottom line...you never can have too much exposure.

[msr986]

One of my sites was always at the top of the SERPs for my keywords. When I added Adwords, my traffic and conversions really increased. I can't picture life without adwords!

[R_Michie]

Most of my keywords come above the fold on Google. So I use keywords tactically. If I rank no1 i'll put my Adwords to appear below the fold. This way I get coverage for those who wnt to search further down, plus these clicks cost less and will no be used as regularly as higher up the screen.

Organic results are the way to go, but adwords saved the site recently when Big Daddy struck and I was dumped into supplementals.

There's no easy answers, it all depends on budgets and targets.