AdWords Landing Pages

Google AdWords landing pages

[JillJ]

I am using Google AdWords again after many years. Just testing the waters and trying not to blow my entire marketing budget on this. First thing, should I be using a landing page specifically for the AdWords link? Is it acceptable to make a duplicate copy of a page or should I make something specific for this purpose? Also, we have the ad set up to show only in the US but I am getting hits that appear to be coming from this ad from Mexico and India. Also many clicks in sequence to the linked page from the same IP. I am not sure how they serve the ads up but I don't want to get into the same "click farms" that FB seems to use and waste my time and money. AdWords is showing more "clicks" than I am showing on my stats program. I'm hoping someone can help.

Thanks
Jill J.

[KimClink]

Hi Jill,

I bet the AdWords User Interface has changed since you last saw it ;)

Landing Pages
You can use any landing page on your website or create a landing page dedicated to the AdWords traffic. Your landing page should be relevant to the ads and keywords in the ad group. The landing page should also be optimized for conversions e.g. important info and CTA above the fold.

Location Targeting
If you are only targeting the US and still seeing traffic from outside the USA try checking your Campaign Settings > Locations Options (advanced) and make sure your target is set to "People in my targeted location".

Repeat visits
That one is tricky. What network(s) are your targeting? Have you looked at an invalid click report to see if you are being credited for those repeat clicks?

Stats discrepancy
No two platforms will be the same. It seems no matter what platform I am in the numbers are off a little bit Here is a good help center article on discrepancies between adwords and analytics data. [support.google.com...]

[JillJ]

Thanks Kim! I should mention I am currently using AdWords Express. While I have the option to narrow my audience by location, and I chose USA only, I don't think I can choose people in my targeted location, but I assumed that if I chose US only that is where the clicks would come from.

[KimClink]

I have not looked at AdWords Express for a long time so I don't recall all the settings.

If people outside of your location are looking for something in your location and their search query includes your location it can cause the ads to be served outside of your targeted location. That is why they added that option a while ago to be more specific on the targeting. Again tho I am not sure if that setting exists in Express. Maybe try to see if you can exclude India and Mexico and see if that fixes the issue?

[JillJ]

Thanks again, Kim. I think I will have a relevant landing page made up so we can better track the actual clicks into the site from the ads.