Pay Per Click

Every pay-per-click campaign is unique, but the most successful campaigns all share the same characteristics: a logical, organized structure, comprehensive keyword research, and ongoing management and maintenance.

However, while it is important to focus on and devote sufficient time to each of these areas, successfully managing a pay-per-click campaign is about working smarter, not harder. After all, you've got a business to run, and PPC management can be a full-time job. That's why it's important to maximize your impact in as little time as possible, freeing up precious time to focus on what really matters is growing your business and taking care of your customers.

The Importance of Pay-Per-Click Campaign Structure

Many advertisers are primarily concerned with their keywords and rightfully so, given that keywords are the foundation upon which pay-per-click campaigns are built, but how those keywords are organized and structured is equally important. Despite this, far fewer advertisers concern themselves with their account structure, which can result in diminished performance and an increase in wasted spend.

Although there are many ways in which you can structure a pay-per-click campaign, such as a structure that mirrors the architecture of your website or by categorization of different product lines, all successful paid search campaigns share the same five elements:

• Campaigns
• Ad groups
• Keywords
• Ad text
• Landing pages

Campaigns are the highest-level element within a paid search account. A single AdWords or Bing Ads account may have only a single campaign, whereas others might have dozens of campaigns. However many campaigns you are running, campaigns are the topmost level within your account.

Inside each campaign are your ad groups. Ad groups are the second-highest level account element. For example, you may be running a single holiday-themed campaign to capitalize on end-of-year online shopping trends, and this campaign might contain two ad groups, one for winter clothing, and another for outdoor winter sporting equipment.

Within each ad group are your keywords, ad text, and landing pages. Keywords should be relevant to their ad group, you shouldn't include keywords related to your winter sporting equipment in your winter clothing ad group. Ad text should be unique, written with prospective customers in mind, and contain the keywords that are relevant to that ad group. Finally, landing pages should match their accompanying ads (in terms of both keyword relevance and overall messaging).

This account structure is logical, highly organized, and relevant, all criteria that Google and Bing Ads use to determine the relevance of your campaigns. It is vital to consider the structure and relevance of your pay-per-click campaigns before launching them, as poorly organized accounts can be more difficult and time-consuming to organize and correct once they are launched and active.