CheezeDMG Blog

CheezeDMG is a Search Engine Marketing centre of excellence. Over the last 10 years we have been at the forefront in the implementation and management of successful Search Engine Marketing (PPC) campaigns. From initial in-depth keyword research and analysis, through to the continual tracking of our clients’ campaigns, we ensure that each individual PPC strategy constantly achieves the best possible results and the highest ROI.

From its inception, CheezeDMG has witnessed (and been a part of) the rise of the search marketing industry. We have done this by developing many successful campaigns for numerous market leaders, including Monarch Airlines, BUPA, AXA, Canterbury of New Zealand and Budget Rent-a-Car to name a few.

Our unique approach to PPC combines our expertise in all areas of search marketing and we believe in providing bespoke PPC strategies and search marketing solutions.

Our affiliations & accreditations include:

• IPA Digital Media Group and Search Group
• Google Adwords Qualified Company
• 15 In-house Google Professionals
• Yahoo Strategic Ambassadors
• MSN AdExcellence Qualified

Top 10 Tips to effective Search Engine Marketing:

1. Understand your objectives.
Before commencing any campaign it is essential you understand what the campaign needs to achieve. Some campaigns may have multiple objectives and your search campaign should be structured accordingly to allow full control – anything from high visibility branding (ensuring your adverts are in top position) to direct sell (controlling bids to come in at a set cost per booking).

2. Long-tail keywords are key(!)
Any campaign can be set up with 50 very generic keywords on a broad match setting and cover a whole range of search queries a customer may make. This, however, is a very expensive and inefficient method which can prove very costly with little control. Expanding out to a large number of long-tail search queries will not only help to improve the quality score of a campaign but will also enable very specific ad creative to be displayed against a relevant search query.

3. Different customers need to be targeted in different ways.
No one customer is exactly the same and any marketing campaign needs to reflect this, whether it’s a different terminology they use to undertake their search query or the time of day they are likely to search (weekend research leading to Monday purchase). All of these potential customers will use different search phrases, be attracted to different sales messages and require different information to help them make their purchase decision.

4. Group your keywords into relevant campaigns & ad groups.
Relevant grouping of keywords ensures that many variations of ad creative can be used which relate more closely to a customer’s search query and also mean that bids can be quickly amended to reflect high conversion rates or seasonal activity. Setting up the campaign to reflect the website you are sending customers to is an easy and effective starting point and means that you can deep-link to a web page which mirrors the search query used and enables you to display ad creative which is relevant to the page a customer lands on. For example creative saying ‘get a quote now’ should send customers to a (preferably pre-filled) quote page whilst creative saying ‘find out more’ should send customers to an information page with a clear call to action once they have found what they are looking for.

5. Make sure your campaign uses negatives.
Effective use of negative keywords will help to ensure your adverts do not appear against non-relevant search queries. By undertaking regular search query reports this will help to identify phrases which customers are using and clicking through on which may not be relevant to your offering.

6. Good creative = good click-through rates = good quality score.
Regular updates on ad creative will also greatly assist in improving a campaign’s quality score. Adverts on sponsored listings are much quicker to update than natural listings and allow advertisers to quickly and easily promote last minute offers or seasonal messages. For one of CheezeDMG’s travel clients a regular change in their ad creative resulted in a 300% uplift in their click-through rate. Online creative can also be a great and inexpensive way to test sales messages which you may be looking to use in an offline campaign – the advert with the best click-through rate will be a good indication of which terms are most popular with customers.

7. Deep-link your campaign.
Nothing annoys a customer more than having to search again when they have been very specific in their search enquiry but get sent to a non-specific landing page. Deep-linking from a search listing to a page which is relevant to the customer’s enquiry will greatly improve the conversion rate.

8. Be ‘on trend’.
Remember to take into account seasonality and special events which customers will be searching for. For example use romance related keywords and creative in the run-up to Valentines or sporting related creative in the run-up to a large sporting event can help to attract customers and make your advert stand out against the crowd. Be aware, however, that using seasonal related creative without any real relevance to your product can be confusing and may attract the wrong customer. Valentines related creative is great if you are advertising a romantic holiday but not so relevant if you are advertising car insurance!
 
9. Track everything.
Digital is the most measurable media and the key to a great search campaign is detailed tracking. Everything can be tracked from the individual keyword to the creative used and even through to the preceding activities a customer undertook online before they made the final conversion.

 
10. Think beyond just the search network.
Google Search is only part of the Google network upon which advertisements can be placed. CheezeDMG has run some very effective campaigns on Google content targeting (your advert appears against relevant editorial pieces on a website) and Google site targeting (you can choose which sites your advert appears on). For both of these forms of advertising you are not just limited to text ad creative but can also utilise Flash animated creative of all sizes and even rich media video creative.

…And don’t forget mobile advertising. Google predicts that mobile search will grow as fast as desktop search did between 2000 to 2004, over the next 3 - 4 years.

It doesn’t start and end with Google!
Whilst this top 10 tips has concentrated on Google – there is no denying the reach and influence Google has on digital advertising – it should not be forgotten the opportunities which also exist with both Yahoo and MSN Search. Cheeze has experience in running some very successful campaigns on both of these search providers, each of which have their own unique best practice, quite different from Google.
For more information or to discuss your Paid Search plans and requirements and how we can help, get in touch:

Tom Griffiths
Email: tom.griffiths@cheezedmg.com
Tel: 01473 236892
Mob: 07760 209403

www.cheezedmg.com