AdWords Releases Advanced Phrase and Exact Match

AdWords recently released improvements to their advanced matching options, slightly expanding phrase and exact match, so that users that are typing in misspellings and very close variations of your chosen keywords will still see your ads. This change will help boost traffic on phrase and exact keywords without bringing in irrelevant queries like broad match tends to generate.

A lot of advertisers have been vary of broad match, because of the sometimes irrelevant expansions by the system and have chosen to use phrase and exact match instead of broad match altogether.

If you'd like to opt out of this new feature, you can do so in your campaign settings page, where you will now see a new section Keywords matching options. There. you'll be able to select your preferences to include or prevent close variants.



I still recommend checking your search query reports to ensure you are utilizing the match options effectively and excluding those irrelevant queries.

Show Your Business Contact Info on Yahoo & Bing ads with adCenter Ad Extensions

adCenter recently launched ad extensions to enable advertisers to show their business contact info with the ad. It's an easy and quick way to ensure your ads stand out. To enable it, go to your campaign settings, and under the advanced settings section, you should see an Ad Extensions option. Make sure that you select to display your address and phone number, and you are all set.

Before you'll be able to take advantage of this option, you'll need to add a business location by clicking Manage your business locations on the Campaigns tab.

How Long Does It Take For You To Covert a Customer? Find Out Through AdWords Search Funnels

A lot of advertisers I work with are not aware of how long their customers take to convert. However, knowing your sales cycle is important information for many reasons, including to better understand the results you are getting from your advertising efforts and to further optimize your campaigns and marketing efforts.

Some products, like lead generation websites, have faster conversion cycles since there is a less of a commitment on a user's end. Others, like many e-commerce sites or B2B products, can have much lenghtier sales cycles.

To figure out where you stand, you can check out AdWords Search Funnels. You'll need to have AdWords conversion tracking enabled in your account to access this information.  In your AdWords account, go to Tools and Analysis and select the Conversions sub-tab. Next, click on Search Funnels to get the following view.

On this screen, you'll be able to see the average days to conversion, as well as how many clicks and impressions it takes to convert a customer. If you click deeper within the links below the overview tab, you can find out even more information and details, including how the various campaigns and keywords work together and relate to your conversions. Keep in mind that this information is, of course, specific to your AdWords account and that it's likely that users from other traffic sources are converting a bit differently.

If your average visitor takes several days to convert, keep this path in mind as you analyze your metrics and launch new campaigns. It might take longer for you to truly understand the impact of any new promotions or optimization efforts, since your conversions are not immediate. You may also want to add in time sensitive offers to help speed your visitors along their decision process.

If you have lengthy conversion cycles, I also suggest you use remarketing to remind visitors of your brand. I suggest all advertisers try remarketing, but it's an even more important strategy for advertisers that need to stay in their customer's minds, as these customers take their time to make a decision and research further. You can read more about what remarketing is in my previous post and also learn about remarketing best practices here.