How can I increase traffic to my ads on Google?

February 21st, 2008

ktweber asked:


I’ve got a Google Adwords account and my ads seem to have a very high ‘impression’ rate but clicks are minimal. Any suggestions on how to increase traffic? I’ve read the Google help page, but I’d like some real experience type of feedback…

Caffeinated Content - Members-Only Content for WordPress

Tags: Google Adwords, Help Page, Increase Traffic
Posted in Search Engine Optimization |

One Response to “How can I increase traffic to my ads on Google?”

1. lhephner Says:
   February 21st, 2008 at 5:58 pm

   The best way to increase clicks on your ads is to make sure that the ad message (ad text–the three lines of text you can program) is closely related to the keywords/keyphrases, and that the ad message is compelling to your audience.

   For Example, if you had two keyphrases, “basketball cards” and “football cards” you might be tempted to use an ad that covers both, such as
   Low Cost Sports Cards
   Wide selection of sports cards. All
   years, college & pro, free shipping

   Better would be to separate the two terms into different ad group,and tailor the ads to the keyphrase

   Low Cost Football Cards
   Wide selection of football cards.
   All years. NFL & NCAA. Free Ship

   Low Cost Basketball Cards
   Wide selection of basketball cards.
   All Years. NBA & NCAA. Free Ship.

   Note that the more specific you are the better, and it is often not enough to just use the “insert keyword here” placeholder variable in your ads.

   Other things to look at include
   Position–if you get lots of impressions at position 10, then you are not likely to convert well–you’ll need to raise your Google quality score (comprised of max. bid, landing page score, and ad score) for better position and clickthrough rates.

   Type of keyword advertising–if all your keywords are “broad” then you may be getting lots of exposure, but not specific enough searches. Trying phrase (enclose keyword in quotes) or exact (enclose keyword in brackets) may get you a more qualified audience at a lower CPC.

   Finally, take a look to see whether your impressions are “search” impressions or impressions on the content network. “Search” impressions are far more likely to convert, because they represent people actually searching on your keyword/keyphrase. Content impressions (or Ad Sense) are shown on sites with content related to your ad, and the people seeing it may not be looking for your product/service.

   And of course test, test, test–Google gives you many great free tools that you can use to optimze your ads and your landing pages–use them!

   Hope that helps some.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.