Top 5 AdWords Tactics We Don’t Do Because We Shouldn’t

Search Engine Journal (SEJ) has recently posted a helpful article about managing and optimizing AdWords campaigns. We always like these professional quick takes to see whether our internal practices are inline with industry norms or if we have a different way of doing things. We think, luckily, this time around we are 100% on board with what SEJ thinks is the top 5 Most Overrated PPC Tactics

What are the Top 5 PPC Campaign Mistakes?

1. Position 1 No Matter What – Totally agree. It’s  not usually in the best interest of a campaign to just attempt to be number 1 all the time.  We have always stressed that you can get a better ROI if we can settle your ad in the top 3 positions with more compelling ad text and structured data.  This is especially true if we are also managing your Local SEO or you’ve been optimized with our Local Business Manager tools.
2. Not Bidding on Brand Keywords – Agreed 100%, again.  Your business is local and your brand is your name.  The importance of reputation management (part of our Local Business Manager toolset) can be leveraged in your AdWords campaign by bidding on your business name and similar names.  You should own your brand name AdWords…and perhaps it’d be the only time we’d recommend to ignore point #1 above.
3. Casting the Net Wide – Agreed, but with caveats.  As a local business you may need to expand the audience you’re attracting in a limited geography.  Sometimes, when we are confronted with an underspending campaign with additional ad budget available we will broaden out our keyword list.  However, it’s important to do this intelligently and make proper use of keyword match types so you don’t waste money.
4. Single Keyword Ad Groups – This recommendation is, we think, self-fulfilling and able to be avoided when you build your campaigns out correctly from the beginning.  You should be organizing your account by conceptual or similar idea ad groups.  We hardly ever have single keyword ad groups because we like to think ahead of how to best optimize and manage the account in total from the very beginning.
5. Remarketing First – We agree with caveats again.  Unless your business model is specifically well suited for remarketing first then we believe kickstarting your business with an excellent AdWords campaign first is ideal.  You can always add remarketing later (that’s recommended actually) but you should try to capture NEW VISITORS first with a targeted local AdWords campaign first and foremost.

You can see why those are important AdWords tactics to avoid and why, sometimes, there are exceptions to this.  Still, as a rule, we agree wholeheartedly and appreciate the affirmation from SEJ that we manage our client’s AdWords campaigns effectively and are applying the right skillset and tactics.