Your Google® Game Plan for Success: Increasing Your Web Presence with Google AdWords, Analytics, and Website Optimizer

Chapter 3. Cost-per-Click Advertising

Knowing how to do everything within the Google AdWords interface is great, but it's usually a good idea to have a solid foundation in the basics of cost-per-click advertising before you get too far into your advertising budget.

Advertising online has definitely come a long way in just the last four or five years, but some of the basics are still very much the same. There are some strategies you'll want to use to maximize your dollars. Some of them are self-explanatory and probably obvious, while others may not be so obvious. In this chapter I'll talk about some of the core concepts of cost-per-click advertising, different keyword match types, geo-targeting, and some good examples of different ad variations that you could use in your ad groups.

A Brief Review of Cost-per-Click Advertising Online

You've opened up your Google AdWords account and have created your first campaign. The green "active" text appears next to your Campaign, Ad Group, and Keyword lists and you've established your daily budget. You're now ready for thousands of qualified, ready-to-convert visitors to come to your site.

Before you even get your very first visitor, a lot of things are happening behind the scenes to ensure a level playing field between you and your competitors, and to ensure that AdWords' policies are being followed to the letter. Your ads are going to go through editorial review, which will look at the keywords you're bidding for, the ads you've written, and other ...