Why wait for spring cleaning when the start of the year is the perfect opportunity to freshen up your Google ad campaigns! With these quick 5 steps, we are going to cut the dead weight from your campaigns and breathe new life into our account.
Ideally, you are continuously optimizing your campaigns for peak performance, but sometimes non-crucial things slip through the cracks, especially during the holiday season. Now is the perfect chance to clean it up!
Now let’s roll up our sleeves and jump in:
Step 1: Remove Non Serving Keywords
Look at this! Google has done half the work for us. In your keywords under status, Google will label keywords as “not eligible. Low search volume” if there is little to no search history on google for this term.
Some people may have a hard time removing these keywords because they seem relevant to their ad group and they want to cover their bases. However, if google is telling you that no one searches for that term, then it is just cluttering up your account.
Time to pause these keywords and focus on your keywords that are receiving impressions. By cutting out the unnecessary terms, you will have a better view of what is relevant.
Step 2: Remove Keywords With Few Impressions
Now, step two is similar to step one. We are still cleaning out those keywords, except this time, google hasn’t done the first part for us.
When looking at about a year’s worth of data, focus on the keyword impressions. If a keyword has received relatively few impressions or even zero impressions, it is time to pause them. No sense in having them distract from important keywords that you have running.
Why are these keywords not receiving impressions?
They might not be receiving impressions simply because few people are searching for them. They also might not be receiving impressions because your other keywords are picking up the relevant search terms.
Over the past few years, Google has changed its definition of “phrase” and “exact” match keywords to be much more broad. Thus one keyword is more likely to pick up broader search terms.
Now, the majority of the time these are keywords that can be removed all together without a second thought. However, if you have a relevant keyword that you know gets a substantial number of google searches, but you still aren’t receiving impressions, it might fall to your bidding as the issue.
In this case, If you are working with manual bidding you need to consider your budget and goal CPC. If you believe your keyword is just that strong, then increase your max CPC. Just remember to check back in with this keyword and how it is performing!
Step 3: Cleaning Up Your Ads.
Alright by step three I’m sure you are getting the hang of it! Don’t keep what you dont need. It is very easy for ads to build up in a single ad group and before you know it you have ten ads and only three ads are regularly being shown.
What have we learned so far? CUT THEM!
You may have been trying out a new headline or body copy variation, but if they aren’t being shown, you don’t need to keep them around.
Step 4: Review all Extensions and Assets.
Extensions and assets are a pesky one that tends to fall between the cracks because people often focus on their ad group or ads pages as a whole. It’s time to make sure everything being shown is still relevant. Some things to check:
- Do you have any seasonal language that is out of date for this time of year?
- Are all products and services promoted still provided?
- Are the prices still accurate with current site pricing?
- Has there been any update in product packaging or company branding that doesn’t match your image assets?
Not only is it important to check in on your extensions to make sure they are relevant but giving yourself a refresher on what copy and assets are running in tandem with your ads is always a good practice. And we get it. This seems very simple, and it is! However, we have also noticed that extensions often are live for an extended period of time and get overlooked or forgotten when managing a large account.
Step 5: Clearing Out Ad Groups With No Impressions
Now after all of that, removing keywords, removing ads, and removing extensions, lets jump into our final step. Take a look at your Ad groups as a whole and how many impressions they are receiving.
If you have an ad group that isn’t receiving any impressions, you may have already noticed this when cleaning out keywords and ads that have not received any impressions.
Hypothetically this ad group might not even have any keywords or ads left in it. If this is the case it is almost time to let this campaign go, but first a few checks.
- Make sure your ad group is set up correctly and make sure no information is missing.
- Verify your targeting is set up properly for your intended market.
- And finally, is your bidding competitive?
If all of this seems in check and you still weren’t receiving impressions, say goodbye to the unneeded ad group and hello to a cleaned-up account!
Summary
Congratulations! With those 5 steps under your belt, you now have a clean account for the start of the new year.
We know people either love decluttering or hate decluttering but either way, the feeling of a clean account is always a good feeling. Now hopefully, you can find insights and important information faster because you can focus on the elements that actually matter.