Google AdWords™ for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 18. Ten (Or So) AdWords Case Studies

In This Chapter

• Split-testing their way to success

• Dissecting ads that worked — and ads that didn't

• Getting paid to generate leads

• Discouraging the wrong visitors

• Building tight ad groups

The best way to see the strategies and concepts from this book in action is by viewing actual examples. I can't show you all the details because successful advertisers guard their keywords, strategies, and metrics like the recipe for Coca-Cola. I've compiled case studies from consultants who hope you'll think they're clever enough to hire them, from clients who hope you'll go to their Web sites and buy their products, and from friends egotistical enough to want to see their names in a book. Among these three groups, you'll see enough gems to keep you busy for a while.

Using Sales Conversion Data to Save $14k per Month

A client who sells a consumer product online and doesn't want to reveal its identity was spending about $35,000/month on AdWords. The client was tracking conversions but not the actual dollar amount of each sale. When we connected the shopping cart data to AdWords conversion tracking, we could now see the exact ROI of every keyword, site placement, and ad in the client's account.

We began collecting data on February 7, 2008. I started split-testing ads at that point. After 3 weeks, I ran a keyword performance report and paused negative ROI keywords. I ran a placement performance ad and excluded the negative ROI placements. I ran an ad performance ...