Author: Nils Rooijmans

One of my coaching clients is an agency that is trying to double its number of clients without growing headcount.

A part of their efforts to grow the business was hiring an aggressive salesperson. 

Today, we got on a call to discuss his sales pitch. Here’s what he told me:

“One of the things I tell the prospect is that we keep the campaigns running 24/7 since the ads run 24/7.” 

The way he brought it up sort of implied that the agency employees are running 24/7 as well.

I recommended he not talk to any prospect again until our copy of R2-D2 is finished.

Here’s the thing: you can’t scale your PPC business without setting the right expectations. You can’t scale results without communicating relevant and reasonable targets.

24/7 support isn’t one of them. (Go tell your sales reps!)

If anything, scaling is all about managing the right expectations.

– Nils

Want to quickly see how your competitors are doing in your auctions?

Google Ads auction insights offer some amazing data, but the numbers are hard to compare and do not show trends over time. Analysing the data in the tables quickly becomes an excruciating exercise in number crunching.

Imagine having nice little graphs that show trendlines with your ‘impression share’ and ‘top of page rates’ compared to your competitors. A picture says more than a thousand numbers, right?

Luckily for us, our friends at Optmyzr created a nice little tool to help us out — enter the Auction Insights Visualizer:

https://www.optmyzr.com/free-tools/auction-insights-visualizer/

This tool allows you to drag and drop the data from Google and instantly turn it into a series of customizable charts that are suitable for sharing with a client or manager.

Here’s a 5-minute video that shows you how to quickly understand how competitor behavior has changed over time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgycHrR5diU

ACTION: Why not take a 10-minute break and try this for last month’s auction data in your top campaign?

– Nils

Here’s your PPC productivity tip for the day:

You can use the Shared library in your MCC manager account to create, edit, and remove negative keyword lists that can be applied to your client accounts.

If you’ve been laboriously adding the same lists of negative keywords to your client accounts manually, this is for you. I use them to share generic negative keyword lists that are not client-specific, like a list of words that are HR-related (e.g., ‘jobs’, ‘resume’).

Here’s how: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7519927?hl=en

NOTE: When you create negative keyword lists in your manager account, they’re added to the Shared library of all your client accounts by default. Your clients can see all the shared lists in your manager account.

– Nils

PS: if you like this post, be sure to check out my Google Ads Script for Negative Keyword Suggestions.

Recognize this?

You inherit an account with thousands and thousands of negative keywords spread all over the place like spaghetti sauce. No clue as to whether or not all these keywords still make sense, or will be blocking your newly-discovered golden growth opportunities.

Here’s the thing: as a GAds account grows, so does the amount of keywords, both positive and negative.

Managing all these negative keywords is boring as dog sh!t, a gear-grinding time sink, and prone to error.

Luckily, the Google developers were sensitive to some of this negative energy and came up with a script to relieve a part of the burden:

https://nilsrooijmans.com/negative-keyword-conflicts-alert-script-update/

This script checks your negative keywords to see if you are blocking any valuable keywords that are relevant to your audience. The script will find and save all conflicts to a Google Sheet, which is then sent to you via an email alert. 

The next step for you is to take action to remove these conflicts — either remove the terms from your negative keyword list or pause the keyword.

If you are not yet running this script in all your accounts, I highly recommend you do. It will only take a couple of minutes and three sips of coffee to set them up.

What are you waiting for?

– Nils

PS: I am looking for new scripting ideas to optimize the management of negative keywords. What tasks would you like to see automated?

Google announced that in some countries and languages, the new Phrase Match is already rolled out.

“As of April 2021, the updated phrase match behavior is available in the following languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian” 

…and,

“After July 2021, legacy BMM keywords will continue to serve, they’ll just behave as if they were phrase keywords.” 

Source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10286719?hl=en

To see how this new phrase-matching behavior differs from BMM, I decided to run some campaign experiments where the only difference is that BMM keywords in the Experiment are replaced by Phrase match versions.

In theory, this should help me predict what will happen to my BMM keywords in July, and anticipate the change in match type behavior.

Who wants to join me in the experiment and share results?

– Nils

Pivot tables are an essential tool for any PPC specialist.

Luckily, the teachers’ teacher Brad Geddes created a short video explaining the pivot magic.

It covers creating a pivot table, calculating fields, pivot table charts, filtering pivot tables, and refreshing your data.

Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbAeq_rac48

NB: even if you feel you are already familiar with pivot tables, it is probably still worth watching. Play it at 2x the speed.

– Nils 

PS: Are you a fan of pivot tables? If so, what is your favorite use case? I would like to learn about it. Thanks!

Every Monday, I ask myself: “What can I do to be more productive?”

Today I realized, subconsciously, I translate this question into a different one: “How can I be more efficient at things that are more effective?”

Here’s my take on these concepts:

Productivity is pure quantity.
There’s GOOD productivity and there’s BAD productivity. The good sort is where quantity meets quality; you’re producing high-quality output (result) that matters, in an efficient way. The bad sort is where you produce output that doesn’t really matter, or you’re wasting a lot of time and energy.

Effectivity is a measure of quality.
Effectivity measures the proportion of your output that works as intended — how much it contributes to the goal.

Efficiency is a measure of cost.
Just because you produce some output, it doesn’t mean you do it well, though it may prove workmanlike. If you are spending tons of resources (input like time, energy, and money) on something great, but it could be done in a way that consumes fewer resources, you’re not efficient.

If, this week, you are able to get more outputs from the same inputs, you are probably doing a great job.

– Nils 

Let’s say you’re Google and you’ve got a smart advertiser who is using a target ROAS bidding strategy.

The campaign is running smoothly, ROAS targets are crushed, and the campaign budget leaves room for a lot more spending.

What’s keeping you from setting a crazy high bid for that click in the next auction? Not much, right?

According to Google’s documentation, target ROAS bidding will 
“set maximum cost-per-click (max. CPC) bids to maximize your conversion value while trying to achieve an average return on ad spend (ROAS) equal to your target.”  

So, if the average ROAS is above target and the budget is not yet spent… guess what, extremely high CPCs are not an exception. We are all in it for the money, right?

Luckily for us, there is a slightly hidden secret to prevent this from happening: you can set a max CPC bid if you are using a portfolio version of the target ROAS smart bidding!

(It’s under “Settings > Advanced options” in your Portfolio bid strategy.)

– Nils

PS: Do you currently monitor for high actual CPCs in your account? If so, please let me know. I’d love to learn how you do it.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a list of the best scripts out there when it comes to Shopping campaigns?

Based on many requests from the community and Google search data, the answer is probably “Yes.”

So, I’ve started collecting scripts and am working on a list with the best ones I can find.

Here’s the first, “Exact Match For Shopping”: https://searchengineland.com/keywords-back-google-shopping-campaigns-230973

The script reads a list of exact match keywords for Shopping campaigns from a Google Doc and then excludes any search queries from your Shopping campaigns if they do not match those keywords by adding them as a negative.

Using this script, you could run a Shopping campaign just for your best-performing search terms and spend as little as possible on clicks from other search terms. 

But it also means that you can run your Shopping campaigns sort of like separating Broad and Exact campaigns. The “Exact” Shopping campaigns will bring in your high conversion traffic, and your Broad ones will bring in the less predictable long-tail queries. 

If you really want to take control over your Shopping campaigns, you can even use this script to map each user query to a specific product that you would like Google to show for that query.

Note: in my experience, this strategy does not scale very well and only works for shops with a limited number of items (<100).

– Nils

PS: The author shares a lovely insight at the end -> “Someone should tell Google that keywords are a great way to manage online advertising campaigns.” 

Want to get up to speed on everything that was announced at Google Marketing Livestream 2021? 

Here you go: https://officialppcchat.com/2021/05/28/google-marketing-live-2021-resources/

What’s your biggest take from the event? I would love to know.

– Nils

It is my mission in PPC life to help you be more productive, and enable you to spend more time on what makes you happy.

If you’re targeting ads to show up in the neighborhoods surrounding your clients’ offices/stores, you know adding radius targeting is annoying beyond belief.

Here’s another tool that I think will benefit a lot of you (discovered on Reddit via /r/PPC today): a Google Sheet that converts your locations into a format that is ready for bulk upload via Editor.

Explainer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f6S7CMyotU

The sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElPaPdflb3a-IGApt361eZ7zOi_23yFL95NcOSr4HzY/edit?usp=sharing

– Nils

Just outside my houseboat, there is a small pathway that connects the street to my front door. The pathway is shouldered by a parking space.  On this pathway, two motorcycles usually decorate the view out of my window.  

Today, some idiot bumped into one of these motorcycles while trying to park his car…

My Ducati fell. Mirror broken.

The point of the story is this: I had to go online and buy a new mirror for the Hypermotard. The transaction was easily paid via iDeal (the favorite payment gateway for Dutchies). And PPC-nerdy me immediately started looking for conversion tracking tags being fired on the thank-you page (please tell me I’m not alone). I couldn’t find the Google Ads conversion tracking.

Most probably, this vendor is tracking conversions via Google Analytics.

And this reminded me of an expensive lesson from my not-too-distant past:

If you are importing transactions via Analytics into Google Ads, and you did not add all the payment options in iDeal (or any other payment processor) to the ‘Google Analytics Referral Exclusion List’, these transactions will not be imported into Google Ads!

The reason is: let’s say furious Nils discovered your super-duper-Hypermotard-mirror-selling-webshop via a Google search and clicked on your ad.  To complete the payment, still-grumpy Nils goes to the website of the selected payment option (e.g., klarna.com, ing.nl). After completing the payment, Nils is slightly relieved and sent to your thank you page. Now in Analytics, this initiates a new session with the website of the selected payment option being the referral. Since Analytics attributes conversions to the last non-direct source/medium, the transaction is being attributed to the domain of the selected payment option (medium: referral). This transaction is not imported by Google Ads.

Here’s my advice: when importing transactions via Analytics into Google Ads, be sure to frequently check your Referrals for attributed conversions. You might want to add some domains to your Referral Exclusion List.

NB: This is especially important if you are running on Smart Bidding, because not having these types of conversions tracked in Google Ads strongly reduces performance.  

– Nils

A list member asked me this question today:

“How do you feel about Brand bidding? (on your own brand)”

Here’s my response: 

“If you want to maximize profits, don’t care about market share, and don’t need to control the brand messaging: Don’t do it.

Reason is: people searching for your brand will almost certainly be able to find you organically (free clicks), and your competitors’ ads will most probably have little impact on them converting on your site.
(Note: for branded searches, it is your business that GENERATED the search query in the first place)

If competitors are bidding on your brand and you want to maximize market share, or you want to control the brand messaging: Do it.

Reason is: first, even if conversion rates for your competitors are gonna be low, there’s still a small portion of your audience that will go for plan B if their ad shows up. Second, your PPC ads’ messaging is almost 100% in your control. You can’t say this for competitors showing up or even your organic listing.
(I love to use sitelinks in my brand campaign to highlight that new product/latest event/black Friday deal/…)“

Now, bidding on your competitors’ brands, that’s a completely different story…

In the end, my conclusion is that Brand bidding mostly benefits the party that allows it. 

Cheers to Google.

– Nils

Which bidding strategy is best?

If you are tied by a small budget and operate in a market with high CPCs, I suggest you go manual.

If you are tied by a small budget and operate in a market with low CPCs and high conversion rates, I suggest you go for Enhanced CPC.

If you don’t have a lot of time to get started, and short-term profitability is not important, I suggest you go for Maximize Clicks.

If your boss told you: “Just use tCPA or tROAS”, I suggest you flip a coin, choose the winner, and look for a better workplace.

– Nils

“As someone who likes to work smarter, not harder, I’m always on the lookout for time-saving inspiration.”

This quote is close to my heart and from a blog post that arrived in my inbox recently. 

The author addresses a “big gear grinding time sink” for PPC Marketers: audience creation in the Google Analytics property admin. 

I agree.

The good news is, he created a Google Sheet to bulk-create Analytics audiences with ease!

If you find yourself spending multiple hours setting up Audiences in Analytics for your clients, be sure to check it out.

Here’s the link: https://www.bedrock42.com/blog/paid-marketers-free-bulk-google-analytics-audience-maker

– Nils

An e-commerce manager walks into a PPC meetup. Asks:

“What is the most disturbing fact you know?”

Crowd screams:

“3 million+ retailers run smart shopping”

– Nils

PS: What’s your response? Would love to know…

As you manage PPC accounts, you need automation.

For instance, measuring conversions requires something like Analytics and/or a tracking script on your thank you page.

Great Google Ads scripts do one of two things:

1) They automate something that is nearly impossible for any human to do

GOOD IDEA: Create a script to check for redirects in all of your campaigns every day (impossible to do manually when the number of landers exceeds double digits)

BAD IDEA: Create a script to disable the “auto-applied ad suggestions by Google” (you should disable this horrible feature, but this is a one-time action that can easily be done manually)

2) Or, they relieve you from a time-consuming or ridiculously mundane repetitive task

GOOD IDEA: Create a script to automatically calculate and set bid adjustments

BAD IDEA: Create a script to update price extensions if you only have a few product price changes every year

Scale beyond what is humanly possible, or drastically reduce your workload. 

That’s what a script should do for you, really.

– Nils

Should you use Broad Match?

That depends…

What’s your goal?

If you are trying to grow your account, your current campaigns aren’t limited by budget, and you are meeting your CPA/ROAS performance targets, then yes, you should.

But if you are still struggling to make a good ROI, then no, you shouldn’t.

Here’s the thing: Broad Match is great for Exploration, not so much for Exploitation.

This goes for both you and the Smart Bidding algorithms.

Embrace with care.

– Nils

Are you running your Shopping campaign on tROAS?

If so, my latest rather surprising (or maybe not) experience might be of interest to you.

Last week, roughly 35% of the products of one of my clients went out of stock. I wish I could say that was because of me, claim victory, and pop another Veuve Clicquot. Unfortunately, it was a supply-side issue that caused the dramatic decrease in inventory.

Since the Shopping campaigns were still early in the game (we started tROAS bidding 4 weeks ago) and the ROAS targets have yet to be met, the campaigns are running on a fixed budget. And then suddenly, the smart AI had one-third of the products missing.

Now make a guess: what happened?

I won’t keep you waiting: CPCs increased by 40%. ROAS tanked.

Why?

Well, “out of stock” items won’t show up in your Shopping ads. But we told Google they are allowed to spend the daily budget right? So, it will.

If you have a lot of products that are out of stock, Google will increase bids on the remaining items to spend the budget. In our case, ignoring the fact that the ROAS target had not been met.

Lesson learned: don’t trust the Google AI to be able to handle dramatic increases in the number of out-of-stock items in your Shopping campaigns.

And, you best believe this little script kiddie here is going to make sure the next time this happens, he will be alerted in time.

Expect a script soon for alerting you of dramatic increases in the number of out-of-stock items in your Shopping campaigns!

– Nils