Upon choosing my key phrases (all mine are at least 2 words) the traffic estimator was showing the average position for a lot of them as 1.0 I am seeing the impressions of these phrases and they are not 1.0 One that showed 1.0 showed up as 15.0 another that estimated 6.1 showed up as 18.0 I know these are estimates but these are way off.
As I said I have a lot to learn. When I actually set up the account I used exact match and phrase match. Could this be the reason for the false estimates? Do you use the same key phrase and put them in 3 times as exact match, phrase match and broad match?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Welcome!
Put little faith in the "traffic guesser". Do some research, search the phrases yourself and make your own conclusions.
Do you use the same key phrase and put them in 3 times as exact match, phrase match and broad match?
That's certainly a legitimate testing technique. I often do it and make adjustments after a few days if needed.
As a very general rule, broadmatch tends to least effective, phrase match is more valueable, exact match can be effective but you must use it carefully to get any impressions/clicks.
All these suggested guidelines won't work for all campaigns, it's bound to take some trial and error to find what will ultimately work for your situation. Fortunately, we're mostly trying to move something different, otherwise we'd be in real trouble!
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TIPS:
Always go for more specific over general!
Think like a typical user would search, not like you search. If you're fortunate enough to have a grandma, ask her to search for your product and watch her technique. Otherwise, find some with limited computer skills (assuming you're trying to sell to the general public).
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Want Keywords?
[plastics] - No, only kidding!
If you don't want to spring for the WordTracker tool for search statistics, you can download "Good Keywords" for free which shells Overture results and gives you an idea for how people search. It contains some other neat features when you right-click on the results. I use them all the time.
Wordtracker might be something you want to download for a one day ($7.95?) trial as you get settled, however.
Good Luck and while you may want to give up on certain approaches after a week or two of no sales, don't give up on AdWords too fast. Your first month or two might be disappointing.
patient2all
When I look down the list I see 4 of my phrases each got a hit. Where did the other 3 come from?
The content hits don't show up under your keywords. AdWords scans not your keyword list, but your page to see if your ad/page is a relevant fit for the content page. So hits against keywords are only registered when someone clicks your ads from either Google itself or somewhere else on the Search Network.
I've never been too sure how Google determines the charge when someone clicks your ad on the "Content Network" pages.
Now that being said, let me tell you something the AdWords neophyte should be aware of. In fact, many experienced advertisers fail to realize this:
There are 3 venue types where your ads may appear.
1) Google pages themselves by default. You have no choice there, they must appear on Google proper.
2) The "Search Network" - These are large search services such as AOL, EarthLink, Ask Jeeves, News Service sites, etc. that subscribe to AdWords results.
3) The "Content Network" - These are sites which subscribe to AdSense and gain a portion of the revenue from your clicks. Some of the sites on the Content Network are of questionable integrity. They can range from perfectly respectable "niche" sites related to your ad content to sites specifically set up to show only AdWords and make money off your clicks.
Some people develop sites with content and apply to AdSense, then when Google isn't looking, take off the content and it simply becomes an ad page with no other legitimate purpose. Some of these are exploited by the so-called "armies of clickers" who make their money off these contrived sites as well as some third-tier search engines which also show AdWords ads.
Seven meaningful clicks for the day is far better than several hundred generated simply for the purpose of making the CLICKER some money.
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My experience and the experience of some others on this board is that the ROI is far better from Google and the "Search Network" than from the "Content Network".
So were I new, I would go to "Edit Campaign Settings" and uncheck the box for "Content Network", but leave checked the box for "Search Network".
BTW, were you to uncheck both, your ads would only show up in the Google pages.
Keep reading all that you can on AdWords and marketing, you'll be an expert sooner than you think!
patient2all
A good thing about content ads is that you get free exposure, even if the visitor doesn't click. If they see your ad 30 times on different sites, you raised their expactations and soon enough they click just of curiosity. I noticed that behaviour in myself.
I started out doing phrase matching and dropped it for broad matching. If you are going to go the route of broad matching, you need to do to a good job of creating an extensive negative keyword list. If I had a greater restraints on my budget I would consider going back to phrase matching but its pretty open right now (the ROI on adwords is pretty darn good when compared with other online vehicles solos, newsletters, banners, affiliate..)
Give it some time and test your ad creatives religously. I did not start testing my landing pages until I had a good idea as to what google ads worked best.
In the end its not rocket science, you just gotta test test test test test and do research research research research.
We still find value in the content network so we continue to use it. If the ROI turns into a negative though, poof its very easy to turn it off.
