Wilderness Therapy PPC Account – Part I

Advertising Platforms: Google AdWords
Keyword Research & Planning Tools: Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, Keyword Shitter, Keyword Keg (Chrome Extension), SEMRush, Google Search (Suggestions)
Analytical Suite: Tableau
Spreadsheet Suite: Microsoft Excel

YA Wilderness is the best-performing ad group with 627 clicks, 12,074 impressions and 22 conversions at 1.8 average position. YA Wilderness ad group has the lowermost average CPC ($3.680) with a maximum number of impressions (12074).

+failure +to +launch +programs, wilderness programs for young adults, wilderness therapy for young adults, +internet +addiction +help, therapy camps for young adults, wilderness therapy programs for adults, +gaming +addiction +treatment, therapeutic wilderness programs for young adults are the best performing keywords with a good balance of clicks and impressions with click-through-rate and conversions with comparatively less average CPC.

In the visualization above, each ad copy (combo of headline1, headline2, description) is represented by the different symbol (on the right-hand panel). I have sized the adverts of all the campaigns by impressions, colored them by their respective campaigns, and labeled them with cost/conversion.

From this view, I can quickly see where I should change or test the ad copy (lots of impressions with an OK position, but not many clicks), landing pages (lots of clicks, but not many conversions), and bid strategy (a combination of average position and cost/conversion goals).

Ads belonging to Internet Addiction ad group (ad: Adventure/Wilderness therapy can ..), Video Game Addiction ad group (ad: unplug at home and reconnect ..) have received 0 conversions. They have a misbalance of lesser clicks and more impressions.

In the scatter plot above, I have sized the keywords of all the campaigns by impressions, colored them by their average position (high positions typically perform better but cost more), and labeled them with the cost/conversion metric.

From this visualization, I can quickly see where I should change or test the keywords (lots of impressions with an OK position, but not many clicks), landing pages (lots of clicks, but not many conversions), and bid strategy (a combination of average position and cost/conversion goals).

Below are two visualizations, one displays a stacked graph of clicks and conversions over time. The red line indicates the line of conversions specific to the date. And the other plot represents a lesser detailed version (monthly) with weighted conversions according to the total number of impressions.

October 2017 has received 10 conversions (maximum) with 250 clicks in total. December has 9 conversions with 268 clicks and 4721 impressions. Whereas, November has 311 clicks with 7143 impressions and a low in the total number of conversions.

YA Wilderness is the best-performing ad group with 627 clicks, 12,074 impressions and 22 conversions at 1.8 average position. YA Wilderness ad group has the lowermost average CPC ($3.680) with a maximum number of impressions (12074).

Campaign Settings

Campaign Network: Search Network with Display Select
Change to: Search Network only

Search Network offers keyword-specific targeting while the Google Display Network is decided by the website relevance. Mixing up both search and display network can screw up the Quality Score of the account.

I would suggest changing the network type to “Search Network only” as the daily budget for all the campaigns are low i.e., Failure to Launch: $20; Internet Addiction: $10; Video Game Addiction: $10 and YA Wilderness: $20. The Search Network only option encompasses ads with placement in Google Search and affiliated search partners.

As Display Select is included in the campaign network setup for the 4 campaigns, there are high chances of the daily budget getting exhausted before time (ad schedule; limited by budget). Each click is generally worth more and the high relevance of the keywords and the placement websites tend to reduce traffic. Display Select takes an automated approach & doesn’t give you much control; so, it likely results in lower impression volume than more traditional targeting methods on the Google Display Network.

 Location Targeting
As the daily budget is low, I would suggest creating a BETA campaign and choose the region where your customers belong to, live or where your business can serve them.  Location targeting can help focus your advertising on the areas where you’ll find the right and relevant customers.

After the testing of locations targeted (a location that produces more valuable leads) we can increase the adjustment in the bid.

Bid Adjustments can be done according to the maximum response in the type of Device, or in the location depending on the ad groups topics, or ad scheduling which targets the ad groups interests, remarketing lists and placements.

Ad Scheduling: We can increase the bid adjustments during peak hours to maximize opportunity or decrease bid adjustments during the weekends or nights when the office is closed.

Wilderness Campaign – Bid Strategy Type
Bis Strategy type chosen is maximum clicks, which could lead to a lower quality of clicks which could lead to lower quality conversions.

I would suggest you change the bid strategy type from maximum clicks/ maximum conversions to Enhanced CPC (ECPC) as this helps you to get more conversions from manual bidding because it automatically adjusts the manual bids for clicks that seem more/less likely to lead to a conversion on the website.

Wilderness Campaign 2
Campaign Subtype: Standard
Change to: All features

Standard campaign subtype is usually not recommended, as the standard option doesn’t give you the opportunity of advanced optimization features, so all the money spent goes into the bin every month.

Recommended Subtype: All features (to have access to every feature AdWords has to offer)
Delivery Method: Accelerated (As this option makes more sense to spread your ads out throughout the day rather than spending the budget as soon as possible)

According to me, YA Wilderness Campaign is the best performing campaign $3.66 as the average CPC (the lowest of all campaigns CPC’s), it has received a maximum number of clicks, click-through-rate, impressions and conversions.