PPC Long Tail - Really Long Tail

Don't give your secrets away please!

[chewy]

I have a client I've been working with for over 10 years.

Due to some external factors, I may or may not re-win the client as they've been acquired and that halted all vendors.

in short, they have - to me - what seems to be an unusually large set of long tali keywords, many of them with zero impressions and the bulk - like 99% under 5,000 impressions in the last 5 years combined.

Yes, this group does convert, and show some metrics better than the head words - despite the low QS on these words.

Plus the client insists on zillions of long tail keywords which, of course, very few are searching on.

This is like selling "nouns" and the only keyword that gets a lot of impressions is "noun" and various common derivatives. Of course, there are lots of nouns in the dictionary, most of which are never used. And the client insists on throwing the entire dictionary in as possible keywords. Yikes.

Now, with the new acquisition, they will more than triple these long tail keywords. In effect, my account QS will plummet with the addition of these words - some of which will be winners, but the bulk of them will be well (WELL) under 5K impressions.

I know this is a core issue of strategy for account management (probably for many big accounts), and I know there are proprietary methods for dealing with this - has anyone got any case studies or white papers on how to manage this kind of account where 98% of the account is extremely low QS - and the QS will be going lower soon?

[lammert]

Yes, this group does convert, and show some metrics better than the head words - despite the low QS on these words.

If it works for them, it works. QS is just a metric. Conversions bring the money.

[NickMNS]

Many keywords that each only provide a single conversion, may in the aggregate result in more conversion than few keywords that provide many conversions. These are two fundamentally different paradigms, most metrics and tools are designed to deal with the few keywords and many conversions paradigm. This means that they are of little to no use for the other.

A long tail keyword, by which I mean a keyword for which there is very little search volume (not a long phrase), by its nature has very little competition, thus QS will have very little if any impact on the outcome of the auction.

[engine]

You're correct, it's an account management issue where it should be demonstrated that certain words are of no use. With at least five years of information it should be possible to demonstrate the value and cost. Value of having the word there, and cost in managing the extensive list.

Sometimes it's worth giving the account and overhaul, and I hope you get the opportunity.

I'm sorry, I don't have any examples.

[FranticFish]

I have always focused on CTR first, then conversions fed back into that, so I take Google's metrics with a the same pinch of salt I use for their bidding or other 'optimisation' recommendations.

However I have been paranoid enough to separate out 'rubbish' kw (in Google's eyes) that spoil metrics for my 'good' kw (in Google's eyes) to different campaigns once or twice. I can't say that I've noticed any difference in performance after doing this. Now I just pause zero impression kw after 3 months, especially where I have another broader match keyword in the campaign that will cover it.

The way the matching works in Google Ads these days you really do not need to fret about deleting exact match keywords where you have another that is similar.

[chewy]

I think my chances of winning back this marvelous client aren't very good - this has been my only large client that has persisted for over a decade and I know they are loyal to me -- but because I still have the account in my MCC, I know exactly who my competition is. They are both agencies to Fortune 500 companies and the like. I'm just a really not so bad one-man-band.

In this case, my dream job is to be engaged by the client and to hire and manage an agency like the very ones I'm competing with. Preferably someone who's got a good relationship with Marin or similar.

[FranticFish]

@ Chewy - off-topic I know, but my experiences of working with agencies (being white-labelled) was frustrating.

I worked with some great companies people-wise, who looked after me, put on great socials, who were generous, kind and respectful. No complaints there. The problems were:

1) The nature of agency work was too cut-throat and transient for my tastes.
Every time someone took over it seemed like there was a drive to reinvent the wheel and throw away whatever had been done before.

2) Your voice is just one clamouring to be heard
It's depressing to put forward SEO recommendations only to find that they cannot be implemented due to things like choice of CMS, ability of white-labelled devs, brand guidelines, silly 'priorities' from the client that no-one will take them to task for. Compromise becomes a way of life, and that's no good when the buck stops with you. You get stuck in a cycle of proposals without action, and feeling that your hand is tied.

I now prefer to work direct, with smaller businesses, and where I run the show. Egotistical I know, but it means I can get done what I need to get done in a few days and move forward, and also build on what's already been done rather than throw it away.

[RhinoFish]

I've built an agency from nothing, sold it, merged it, left it, started another.
I've owned and run PPC agencies since 2003.
Just one piece of advice for anyone hiring help...

Find an agency willing to work without a contract that locks you in.
Not easy to find, but the best agencies know they "keep" you by serving you.
They'll say they need the firm dates to forecast manpower... so the best trend analyzers in the world, the most agile teams, the best planners and budgeters money can buy, need you, one of many clients under their tent, to commit to a long term contract to smooth out their bumps... hahaha, hilarious!
Very often, those are the folks who are managing bandwidth to the point where it will affect you badly.

Find an agency with the ongoing confidence to know if they don't impress you, it's over.

And one more thing, if your agency does not knock your socks off with results, nuke them, napalm them, and then pour acid on them to "help" put out the fire.
They should be able to run circles around whatever you tried to do, that's the whole point of hiring an agency.