Google’s Search Query Report
Aug 8, 2007 Google Adwords
The Google Adwords team has released a number of very highly sought after reporting tools over the past few months, one of which is the Search Query Report. If you’ve been in the pay-per-click arena for any length of time, you’ve probably had at least a passing desire to find out exactly what keywords people are using to find your ad. The report is powerful indeed, but it also reveals some of the inner workings of the machine that is Adwords.
The report is easily accessible through your Adwords account by clicking on “Reports” and specifying “Search Query Performance”. As a rule, I schedule this report to run weekly prior to regular client meetings or phone calls, because it can sometimes contribute to a serious shift in PPC strategy.
The power of this report really comes from fine tuning your keywords and campaigns, by analyzing matches that are not optimized. You can effectively reduce your keyword CPC by scouring the Search Query Performance report to find campaign negative keywords for instance.
In many of my existing campaigns that used broad match keywords, I found that I could effectively reduce poor ad traffic by excluding a number of keywords that I never would have imagined. Many times, it was obvious that traffic was misguided. For instance, if you targeted the broad match keywords ‘tercel canada’ you might see entries like:
- 1991 tercel in canada
- tercel ontario
- air canada
You laugh, but it’s true. For some reason, people will click your Toyota Tercel text ad, thinking that you might be Air Canada. And it happens more often than you think. How do you combat this stupidity? Campaign and ad group negative keywords. Google doesn’t necessarily know that your term Tercel is more important than your term Canada. So you have to tell Google!
It’s not Google’s fault that your ad is showing for all these inevitably fruitless searches, it is but just a machine that does your bidding. I like to call it Igor. Yesssss maasssster.
In addition, the report is also really good at fine tuning your campaigns to optimize search terms that come up often that you are not targeting through phrase and exact match keyword bids. It’s Google’s way of saving you Adwords spend, for those of us that want to look good for our clients.
Have a certain string of keywords that keep showing up as being matched to broad keywords? Make a phrase match keyword term that optimizes your spend. The traffic will be higher quality, your CPC will be lower, and you’ll probably eliminate the “Air Canada’s” from showing your ads.
Stay tuned tomorrow when I run 3 months worth of traffic through Adwords, adCenter, and Yahoo to see how each weighs in. It’s Truth or Dare - Impression Share time at PPC-advice.com!
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