Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Exploiting Expansion Protocols

Where you start and how you expand depend mostly on your online business model. We recommend that e-commerce and lead generation sites begin with different traffic streams to start with the traffic “most likely to succeed.”

In the following lists, each level represents a turn of the faucet in the “open” direction: more volume, less qualified traffic. That's why it's so important to achieve profitability at one level before setting your sights on a more permissive one. And of course, you can and should adjust your bids based on the data you collect in your account.

E-commerce expansion

For e-commerce advertisers, we recommend starting with exact match keywords in the Search network only, then expanding in order, as follows:

• Exact match, Search network (computers and tablet PCs only)
• Exact match, Search network (mobile phones)
• Phrase match, Search network (bid 80% of exact match to start)
• Broad match, Search network (bid 60% of exact match to start)
• Text ads, Display network (bid 50% of exact match to start)
• Image ads, Display network (bid 25% of exact match to start)

Lead generation expansion

For advertisers whose primary website goal is lead generation, we also recommend beginning with exact match keywords in the Search network for research purposes (see Chapter 4). Additional expansion steps depend on the results of this first campaign, as follows:

• Exact match, Search network

  If exact match campaign isn't profitable in the Search network, skip ...