Adwords Help Please

martindow

I am having a go with Adwords on my site as Google sent me a voucher. I am using a phrase like "red widget" (with the quotes).

I thought this would show the ad when people searched for red widget but also for old red widget, red widget connectors or any phrase with red widget somewhere in it. Is this how it should work? It only brings up the ad for red widget when I check.

I want the ad to show for any phrase containing red widget (in that order). What am I doing wrong?

OneADay

Does not work like that precisely, the content of your site determines what google in the end choose to display - you cannot do anything else.

tronator

OneADay wrote: »

Does not work like that precisely, the content of your site determines what google in the end choose to display - you cannot do anything else.

You're right for the search results, but the OP wants to use AdWords and is paying for it.

martindow

Thank you both. I can confirm that my question is about getting Adword ads to display. I think I am misunderstanding how to set it up.

bingo_bango

Right.

Are you paying for Adwords, or are you hoping to receive money for displaying ads on your site, which is Adsense?

As you have received a voucher from Google, I will assume that it is the former.

You state that you have paid for the phrase red widget to appear, and when you check, it does.

What you seem to be asking is why the ad does not show up if you search for a phrase containing another word and red widget. Well if you haven't paid for the phrase, then it won't come up. I understand that you believe that any search query containing red widget should return your ad, but if you could make any ad so generic then Google's profits would decrease.

What's to stop me buying the phrase 'mobile phone'? Should I then expect any query containing mobile phone to return my ad? I think that you have discovered the limitations of Google ads here, and that should help you to decide whether or not it is right for you.

martindow

Thanks. Yes it's Adsense pay per click. I don't understand the logic as G charge for clicks. If my ad showed up for red widgets and also for another word plus red widgets there are likely to be more click throughs and more cash for G.

I'll go off to consider some more phrases.

buglawton

I think you mean it is Adwords and you plan to pay when people click on the ad you placed?

Google will allow fuzzy searches based on any of your keywords within a search phrase, but if your bids are not set high enough, you ads will rarely appear. It is more efficient to target key phrases, the bid value may be lower and although the exact phrase is rarer in a search, the potential customer using that phrase will be a better target.

littlepanther

Don't use adwords if you can. Work on the organic searches. I watched this video, did a bit of research and now top of the listings, no adwords, http://www.jargonfreehelp.com/episode.asp?video_id=websites01, also check out the one on Twitter, I followed the advice and honestly it made a difference, Twitter works if you're not using it to tell people what sandwich you're eating. I get new followers everyday and I can see from Google analytics that people are coming to my website.

Useful things I learnt:

Title at the top of the page is most important then work on the headings. Also get a google account and use the webmaster tools to upload a sitemap, all instructions are there. All of this will make a difference, there is more but that should get you started.

You want people to search for what you do not necessarily the name of your website which is important too. For example, if you are pcworld you want people to search for computers to find you.

buglawton

All true. If you do use adwords - that Voucher must be tempting you - the as quick as you can install Conversion Tracking, free tool from Google adwords. You can learn precisely how cost effective you advertising spend is. I must say that this free tracking service makes Google an honest trader.

PasturesNew

martindow wrote: »

Thanks. Yes it's Adsense pay per click. I don't understand the logic as G charge for clicks. If my ad showed up for red widgets and also for another word plus red widgets there are likely to be more click throughs and more cash for G.

I'll go off to consider some more phrases.

I tried not to get sucked into this discussion as Adwords is a HUGE subject... so I will just deal with ONE item here and then I'll run away.

You have created an advert
But you are a new site and Google doesn't know how many clicks it'll get for your advert
But, Bob the Red Widget guy has been advertising with Google for 3 years now - and they KNOW that when they show his adverts people click on them.
So, Google have a page to display and they need to work out whose advert to put highest, whose advert to display.... and they didn't pick you.

There are all sorts of things about Adwords, like how much per click, the CTR your ad gets, the rate you're prepared to pay, how relevant they think your landing page is to the clicker..... it's not as black and white as they make you think.

You might be paying £2/click and Bob the Red Widget Guy's only going to pay £1, but Google might prefer his advert because they know he has a CTR of 15% and his landing page is hugely relevant.

Lots and lots of things to research, read, learn, implement.

Most beginners will burn through their budget at a rate of knots. On the other hand, I have a friend who just scribbled out some ads to his website and instantly people started buying his companies products and it was successful (never worked out why, must be a fluke) :@

martindow

Thanks all. It is Adwords despite what I said in post 6. I suspect I have bitten off more than I can chew here but the keywords I have chosen are only costing a pound a day at the moment as they are fairly focussed. I'll install Conversion Tracking (thanks for the tip buglawton) to try to see how much sense the campaign makes.

I do list well in organic listings but have noticed that a lot of my competitors who are also in the top few search results have ppc ads as well.