1) I used Excel to concatenate my broad match terms into about 3000+ terms. Then, I created about 15 Ad Groups in a new campaign and I entered all of these terms as exact matches. So, Blue Widgets became [Blue Widgets] and [Blue Country_ABC Widgets] and [country_abc Blue Widgets] and Red Widgets became...etc.
2) I created multiple ads and used the {Keyword:} insertion technique in the titles to dynamically insert the search term into the title for higher ad relevancy. My new ads looked great, with the exact search term now showing up in the ads.
3) I added 2 ads to each Ad Group to test each out. I left auto-optimize on.
4) I paused my old Adgroups to let the new ones take over and build on clicks and check out their statistics.
5) I used the same CPC as before for a week, then I raised my CPC by 1/3 to generate clicks more quickly.
Results defied my expectations. (Based on 700 clicks so far)
1) Total clicks tripled - as expected, likely due more keywords and to ad copy and greater targeting. I now had 15 ad groups instead of a single large adgroup, so I could create more relevant ads
2) Conversion percentage dropped by 80%
3) Total conversions (absolute) dropped but spending per day tripled
4) Cost per conversion went way up
5) Conversions on the same exact terms as before fell significantly, thus leading me to believe this wasn't due to adding irrelevant keywords into my campaign.
Any ideas on what to do? I thought that tweaking would bring my Adwords campaign closer in performance to my Overture campaign, but instead it went the other way!
*My website, landing page, etc stayed exactly the same
*My old keywords are still in my new campaign, but as exact matches now.
For country/state targeting, be careful with the abbreviations. OR Widget Services (OR=oregon), is broad matched to Widget Services as OR is not considered an actual search term (This issue needs to be addressed for regional targeting). There are several other abbreviations that follow the above example.
Total clicks aren't as relevant as targeted clicks. Make sure you're not just blanketing the market for general terms, but that you are still targeting your audience.
Also, be careful with the use of dynamic insertion. I've seen many ads that just don't look right with it. For example, if you are targeting 'ROI Software', dynamic insertion usually just capatilizes the first letter so people would see 'Roi software' - which just isn't as appealing as using 'ROI Software'.
>>> {Keyword:} insertion technique
This might be causing problems with the conversion rate. Your ad copy title might say "Free Blue Widgets" when you are actually giving a free quote only.
Sift through your keywords carefully and see if it makes sense to have it on the title of the ad copy.
>>> I paused my old Adgroups
>>> Conversions on the same exact terms as before fell significantly
Let the old adgroups roll again. If there is a clash of keywords, let Google decide which ad copy/adgroup to show.
>>> I raised my CPC by 1/3 to generate clicks more quickly
Adjust (Reduce) the max CPC of the new adgroups to compensate for the lower conversion rate. Look at the ALL TIME data of the new adgroups. Since your clicks have tripled, your overall sales might still be better than what it was before you started the new adgroups.
