You’ve probably been there, it’s 1:30 am and your best friend is about to make a big mistake. It’s up to you to be the bigger man (or woman) and step up. Well, AdWords is no different because friends don’t leave friends…

…have too many keywords in a single ad group.

Since an ad group is Google’s lowest level of targeting, it should ideally be used to express a single idea or theme. In general, I find that the more specific, the better. I generally find that any ad group with more than 50 keywords is probably too broad. The exception would be ad groups with a large number of misspellings. More targeted ad groups mean more administration, but it will also mean a much better return on investment.

…use “Broad Match” with no negative keywords.

The default setting for keywords in Google is Broad Match. That means any search phrase that contains your keyword can trigger your ads, whether they’re relevant or not. I remember working on a campaign for a printing company and finding that their ads describing screen-printed t-shirt printing came up with the very popular search phrase: wet t-shirt. Setting “wet” as a negative phrase was a simple fix.

…I don’t understand the difference between “Search Match” and “Content Match” (and set unique campaigns for both).

Google does a good job of letting a site determine where its ads will be shown. But many AdWords advertisers use this setting indiscriminately. I would suggest that the campaigns be set to either “Search Match” or “Content Match” (but not both). The simple reason is that the ads that will attract people who are actively searching for a phrase will be quite different from the types of ads that will attract browsers that see “content match” ads.

…Always bid for the #1 position.

I often see new AdWords advertisers paying more for clicks because they’re looking for the #1 position. I think they assume that being in the #1 position is always best,’ but I think when you consider the additional cost of the position No. 1, many times positions 2-5 are much better value.

…Run a single ad for an ad group.

I’m a big fan of split testing, both on websites and in pay-per-click management. New advertisers should create two or three ads for each ad group and, after about a month, see which ad has the best cost per conversion. Ad split testing should be an ongoing process. One tip I like to use is to pause my old ads instead of deleting them, that way I can see what ads I’ve already tried.

…use AdWords without tracking conversions.

This could be the cardinal sin of Google AdWords optimization. Conversion tracking only requires a little effort to set up, and is an essential step in identifying which keywords lead to conversions and which just lead to clicks. Without conversion tracking, you really are flying blind.

2:04 am – There, isn’t that better? I promise you, you’ll thank me in the morning…