All Keywords Broad Match

keywords broad match

[jebernier]

Just took over an AdWords account for a Company and all keywords are set to broad match!

I've got some major work in front of me on this one but was wondering if the first thing I should do is set them all to phrase match to save some ad spend while I re-word the Campaigns?

-JB

[buckworks]

If I were doing this I wouldn't try to salvage the existing campaigns; I'd pause them all and create new campaigns from scratch.

Cherry pick the busiest searches and reuse the best ads to start with, then expand from there. Make extensive use of phrase match, exact match and modified broad match, and dig into the query reports to collect negative keywords that should be blocked.

Broad match can sometimes be useful, but I like to keep those queries in their own ad group(s) or campaign(s), with very conservative bids. (That sounds more upscale than "cheapskate bids". :) )

Be sure the site has conversion tracking snippets in place, and also the snippets for remarketing.

From the sounds of it you should be able to deliver quite a bit better value for the client than they had been getting. You'll be a hero!

[jebernier]

Thanks buckworks,

Think that's the way I'm gonna go. They have conversion tracking but I've discovered the metrics they are using as a conversion are terrible (Time on Site, Visits to Contact Page ...not even a contact form submission, etc...). They do not sell online but a least I've set-up conversion tracking on all the website form submissions i.e. visitor get Thank you page.

I'm gonna have to explain to them that the conversion numbers they have been seeing are bogus and they will come down once I implement the new Campaigns but at least they will be REAL conversions (a.k.a. Leads)

[jebernier]

Think I should stop Recording for the following Goals they set in Google Analytics:
- Specific page visits
- Low Bounce Rates
- Pages per Session
- Time on Site

[buckworks]

Any updates on this? Any lessons learned? It would be great to hear how this project is going.

[s_rahbari]

My take on this: I'd change the broad match keywords to phrase match, then I'll start from there. The downside would be mixing the data. But I can refine the account faster. But I too have seen cases when there's no way to optimize the current campaigns and I have to go for new ones.

There was also one nice point in the things you've shared: convincing the customer about your results and the fact that they are more real. That's the most difficult part of PPC management.