Campaign Optimization

Objective: Learn how to fine-tune and improve the performance of your adCenter campaigns.

Introduction

Microsoft adCenter provides a set of research and reporting tools that can help you fine-tune and improve the performance of your campaigns.This fine-tuning process is also called optimization.

This tutorial presents four different campaign-performance issues, and possible solutions, illustrating how you can optimize your own campaigns.

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Report Types

Optimization is the process of adjusting your search advertising campaign to increase the likelihood of a greater return on your investment.

Microsoft adCenter reports can help you analyze your ad's performance and determine if you need to make adjustments to your ad or campaign. Performance reports include:

• Account performance
• Campaign performance
• Ad performance
• Keyword performance
• Ad group performance

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Low Click-Through Rates

For example, suppose that your campaign isn't achieving your expected click-through rate. Let's see how Simon from Fourth Coffee optimizes a campaign that has a high number of impressions but a low click-through rate.

First, he creates and runs a campaign performance report that summarizes all the ads in the campaign.

Simon can see the number of impressions and the overall customer traffic, including his click-through rate. To gain deeper insight, he can even review the detailed data shown in the charts.

Why do some ads produce low click-through rates? A common reason is ad copy that isn't relevant, direct, or clear enough to appeal to potential customers.

Simon reviews the Microsoft Editorial Guidelines and decides his ad copy needs improvement. He rewrites his ad using the same words his customers are likely to use, and makes a very clear offer. After his new ad is approved and available online, he can evaluate its performance.

While ad copy is very important, you can use additional strategies that may help you raise click-through rates:

• Optimize your keywords
• Reorganize your campaign hierarchy
• Place more ads in your ad groups
• Try dynamic text or target your customers by their demographic characteristics

You can learn more about any of these strategies by reviewing adCenter Help.

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Low Number of Impressions

Carol from Tailspin Toys has reviewed a campaign performance report and realized that one of her campaigns has a very low number of impressions. Her ads are not appearing on search results pages.

There could be several reasons for this. Many of Carol's selected keywords may have low relevance, her keywords may have been disapproved, her bids may not be high enough, or her click-through rate may be too low for her ads to be displayed.

The adCenter keyword performance report can help identify which keywords can be effective in delivering impressions. If just a few keywords are failing to deliver impressions, Carol could consider using either shorter or more general keyword phrases. The adLab keyword group detection tool can help her identify keywords that are related to the ones she has already selected.

If Carol isn't bidding on frequently misspelled keywords, she may be missing key customers. The adLab keyword mutation tool helps identify common misspellings.

Carol could also adjust the match types that she selected for the keywords. A balance of phrases and broad match keywords may boost her impressions.

You'll find other ways to potentially increase impressions, too. You might raise your bid to help your ad appear in the top five positions or evaluate whether demographic or geographic targeting is limiting your audience too much.

For more information about bidding or targeting customers, review adCenter Help.

ROI is Low

Michael from Alpine Ski House has concluded that he's not getting the return he anticipated from his advertising spend.

When he reviews his budget summary report, he sees that he's spending his ad budget, but his impressions and click-through rates are low. In this situation, Michael could optimize his campaign for cross-country skis in any of several ways.

• Analyze a keyword report and delete expensive and underperforming keywords
• Lower his bids on certain selected keywords
• Set adCenter to spend his budget evenly across the month
• Target his customers by more specific days of the week or times of day

You can learn more about any of these topics by reviewing adCenter Help.

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More Ad Budget is Available

Eric Anderson of Coho Winery has a two thousand dollar budget for his monthly search advertising spend. His budget summary report reveals that he is spending only about eight hundred dollars with his current keyword selection.

Erik can optimize his campaign in several ways:

• Increase his bid price
• Increase the number of keywords he's bidding on
• Improve his ad position on search results pages by applying targeted bidding

Erik can run a keyword performance report to help him identify which keywords are getting the most clicks.

Back on the keyword bid page, the keyword bid estimator can help him test to see how manipulating bids for certain keywords might influence his ad's position on search results pages.

Erik can also choose to create additional keywords for his ad on the Ad Group page.

Erik could use targeted bidding to focus his ads to more specific audiences or change his ad group settings to provide even more targeting options.

As he changes the targeting options for his ad, adCenter automatically recalculates his budget estimates, an important feature that can help Erik use his budget more effectively.

For more information about optimization, review adCenter Help.

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