My Local PPC process (is yours the same?)

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boatboy

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Nov 20, 2009
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I am doing some local PPC for a plumber.

During the process of building the campaign I thought "I wonder if everyone takes this same approach & if I am doing it as efficient as possible for the local level?"

Below you will see my step-by-step process. (please submit yours or edit mine to increase efficiency/impact of the campaign)

End goal: Have a master copy step-by-step of making a local PPC campaign.

(hope this helps fellow noobs like me)


  1. Make sure my campaigns ads only show in set location I choose in adwords. (remember this is for a local PPC campaign)
  2. Keyword Research / Neg. Research
  3. Add all related possible keywords to campaign (my total for local plumber = 725) No geo-modifiers yet. (Example: plumber Cleveland, plumber in Cleveland)
  4. Break into adgroups
  5. Make 2 AdCopies to split test verse one another
  6. Run campaign (I will run the campaign till I feel it has given me enough data to take the next step)
  7. Take out under performing keywords
  8. Now I will start a new separate campaign targeting the whole USA, however all keywords will be attached with geo-modifers like state, city name, zip code.
**The reason why I start the campaign with the geo-modifers last is so I don't have to do the extra work of making both campaigns up front. I find out what keywords get the most clicks/impressions in my first campaign. (this campaign has no geo-modifed terms, just targted area) . Now I just add the geo-modifed terms to those keywords that get clicks/impressions***

Any insights from other noobs or anyone versed in the PPC game on how this process could be more efficient or more impactful?:338:
 


Don't forget to set your campaigns to "rotate ads evenly" not "optimize" under your campaign settings for EACH campaign.

Also a few other things to check off...

1. Separate campaigns for Google, Search partners, content network
2. I set my devices to "computers only" and turn off mobile for sites that are not specifically design for mobile. Filling out a lead form can be a bitch in a mobile phone if the site isn't designed right, which leads to lower conversion rates. Until you have a mobile site, i recommend you turn off mobile devices.
3. In smaller local markets it takes longer to get enough data to make good decisions. Make sure to let your ads run long enough to make a good decision about the winner. Once you have a winner, create 2 more ads, 1 will be a subtle change (maybe just headline or just body copy) the other will be a radical change (totally new ad theme). Test the 3 ads. Rinse, repeat.
4. another trick i use if you are not going to use geo-modifiers is to create an ad group with a keyword phrase match that is "plumbers in" and "plumbers near" and "plumbers around". That will get you a bit of a higher CTR w/o having to use all the geo modifiers. You can even try things like "Plumbers 1" "Plumbers 2" "Plumbers 3" etc trying to pic up people who search "Plumbers + zip code." But you may get a crappy QS on those, test it out.
 
I start with exact match keywords. When I find a winner I copy the ad group the keyword is in but change to modified broad matching at about 1/2 the max CPC I used for the exact match ad group.

This modified broad ad group has two purposes: 1) Discovers new keywords not shown by Google's keyword tool 2) Allows me to show ads for the 25% of searches that don't have sufficient volume to trigger ads (Low Search Volume Message on Keyword).

Remember that about 25% of searches are unique? You can't bid on those searches with exact matching because Google won't let you bid on keywords it deems to have low search volume.

Every 30 days I look at the search terms that trigger the modified broad ad groups and pull out anything with high impressions as an exact match. The goal for the modified broad ad groups in the long run is to show ads for keyword with low search volume - nothing else. Anything with sufficient volume (like 10 impressions in a 30 day period) needs to be pulled out as an exact match and added as a negative exact match to the modified broad ad group.

I've found TONS of low volume keywords that convert like crazy with this method.
 
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