Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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Thursday: Close the PPC ROI Loop

Today you’re going to start a new “invest” cycle in your PPC ROI loop. You’ll drop the

duds—unsalvageable low-performing keywords—from your PPC campaign. And you’ll line

up some promising new PPC keyterms and adjust bids based on performance data so far.

Add New PPC Keyterms

Adding a few new keyphrases to your PPC account is a fairly flexible process. You can

do this in any number of ways:

• Use your PPC service’s keyword tool to suggest additional terms.

• Grab some more terms from your preliminary organic keyword list that didn’t

make the cut for top-priority optimization.

• Go for the “long tail” and add some longer, highly focused versions of existing terms.

Adjust Bids Based on Performance

Each Friday during your PPC Quick Check, you’ve been adjusting your PPC bids to

keep your spending balanced and on schedule. Now, if you have PPC conversion track-

ing in place, you can also adjust bids based on conversion performance. If you found

any unexpectedly high or low conversion rates among your PPC keywords, you may

wish to increase or decrease your bids for them today.

Drop the Duds

At this point, you have a good sense of which keywords are pulling their weight in

your PPC campaign. You also know which ones may deserve a second chance. Now

you’ll drop any that are working against you. Here are the keyterms we call “duds”:

• Low or zero click-through-rate terms that are costing you more in administrative

work than you think they’re worth (tasks that eat up time include appealing an

editorial decision, closely monitoring a very expensive term, or just performing

routine management on a campaign that has grown too large over time)

• Terms for which you’re paying more per conversion than your estimated conver-

sion value

• Terms that don’t accurately represent your offerings

Now:

Adjust bids for keywords with unexpectedly high or low conversion rates.

Now:

Brainstorm more ideas for key words in your PPC campaign. If your budget allows, add them to your

account.

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