I have recently run in to a number of small business owners that had tried to do their own Adwords campaign or simply had set up very ineffective Adwords campaign structures for themselves and I was told that this very basic document that I had provided was very helpful for those looking to understand how things worked at the most basic level.  There are so many things you can tweak and do in Adwords that it can be a little daunting. I think the biggest mistake people make is in keyword matching and in structuring campaigns in to adgroups.  The high level definitions are in the document below. I hope this helps anyone that is struggling with basic campaign efficiency.

Adwords Structure (other venues similar)

  • Campaign: Highest level where geography, overall daily budget, etc. are set
  • Adgroup: Next level of campaign targeted to specific keyword concepts with its own ads and landing pages
  • Ad: Specific advertisement related to keywords in an adgroup.  You can rotate multiple ads for the same keyword group to test effectiveness
  • Keywords: The specific keywords based on several matching factors you are targeting with your adgroup.

Keyword Match Types Provided by Google

  • Keyword match types are the biggest error I see people make.
  • Far too many people set up broad matches that eat up the budget and are inefficient.
  • Learn the match types here and start with broad modifiers, then tweak your campaigns as the data comes in to narrow to more specific phrase and exact matches to get the best use of your budget and  more specific targeting.

Campaign

A set of ad groups (ads, keywords, and bids) that share a budget, location targeting, and other settings. Your AdWords account can have one or many ad campaigns running.

  • Each campaign consists of one or more ad groups, a budget, language and location settings, distribution settings for the Google Network, and other settings.
  • Campaigns are often used to organize categories of products or services that you offer. You can also create separate ad campaigns to run ads in different locations or using different budgets.

Ad group

A set of keywords, ads, and bids that is a key part of how your account is organized. Each ad campaign is made up of one or more ad groups.

  • An ad group consists of one or more ads, keywords, placements, or other targeting methods. You also set a default bid for each ad group.
  • We recommend that you create a separate ad group for each theme such as for each product you offer (like wedding catering and party catering), selling points (like free consultation and gourmet menus), or ways to describe your business (like caterer and on-site food service). The ads and keywords in each ad group should directly relate to that group’s theme.

Keywords

Words or phrases describing your product or service that you choose to help determine when and where your ad can appear.

  • The keywords you choose are used to show your ads to people. Select high-quality, relevant keywords for your ad campaign to help you reach only the most interested people, who are more likely to become your customers.
  • When someone searches on Google, your ad could be eligible to appear based on the similarity of your keywords to the person’s search terms. Keywords are also used to match your ad to sites in the Google Network that are related to your keywords and ads.
  • A great keyword list can help improve the performance of your ads and help you to avoid higher prices. Poor keywords can ultimately cause you to have higher prices and lower ad position.
  • You can add match types to your keywords to help control which searches your ad can be matched with.

 

 

 

 

Summary
Article Name
PPC Basics: Google Adwords Fundamentals
Google Certified Partner and SEM Specialist
I was told that this very basic document that I had provided was very helpful for those looking to understand how Adwords and PPC worked at the most basic level.
Jeremy Skillings