Google ADWORDS User Manual

Insider’s Guide to AdWords

What’s Inside

Section 1 Using this guide
Section 2 AdWords basics

• How it works

• Account structure

• Account navigation

• How to organize your account

Section 3 Keywords

• Creating effective keywords

Section 4 Ads

• Writing relevant ads

• Targeting ads

• Getting ads closer to the top

Section 5 Tracking results

• Online results

• Offline results

Section 6 Troubleshooting

• Making sense of your bills

• Reasons for ad unseen

Section 7 Additional help

• Getting online help

• Glossary

Using this guide | Section 1

Have you ever read one of those books that let you pick different ways
to get to the ending? Well, think of this “Insider’s Guide to AdWords”
the same way. You can take the traditional route and read it straight
through. Or you can skip between sections, using the section
headings, the table of contents, and the glossary as your guide.

Section 1

How do I use this guide?

Whichever way you choose, you can’t go wrong. Both paths lead to
the same objective – a stronger command of AdWords and targeted
customers for your business.

One thing to remember: This is a constant learning process, especial­ly in the beginning. We suggest you log in to your AdWords account
while perusing this guide. Turn some of the examples you read into
practical applications of your own. Everything takes practice, so don’t
be afraid to make mistakes.

Ready to get started? Flip to section 2.

Section 2

AdWords Basics

AdWords Basics | Section 2

How do these little ads actually work?

When a user enters a search query on Google.com, Google scans
keywords on each webpage in its index to see if that page matches
the user’s query. Google then displays the webpages that most relate
to the word or phrase entered in the query.

Google also displays ads in response to search queries. But with ads,
Google scans the keywords that you’ve chosen to represent your busi­ness. When a user searches for keywords you’ve selected for your ads,
your ads can appear next to the search results.

Ads on Google search results pages are available on a cost-per-click
(CPC) basis. This means that you’re charged only when somebody
clicks on your ad and visits your website. Google also offers pricing
on a cost-per-1000 impressions (CPM) basis for site-targeted cam­paigns. Learn more about other pricing options here:

http://www.google.com/adwords/pricing.

Section 2 | AdWords Basics AdWords Basics | Section 2

How is my account structured?

While it might seem a little daunting at first, your AdWords account is
organized so that you can run one ad on a few keywords, or hundreds
of ads on thousands of keywords for tons of products1.

Accounts

CampaignCampaign

Ad GroupAd Group Ad GroupAd GroupAd Group

1

Well, to be exact, you can have up to 2,000 keywords per Ad Group, up to 2,000 Ad

Groups per campaign, and up to 25 campaigns per account.

Account

At the account level, you set your email address (such as yourname@
gmail.com), password (make it tough to guess), billing information,
and user preferences. These settings remain the same for everything
in your AdWords account.

Campaigns

Under the account level, you have one or more different campaigns.
For each campaign, you set your daily budget, language and geographic
targeting, the types of sites you want to advertise on, and start and end
dates. You can organize your campaigns in any way you wish. Some of
the more effective ways include by geography (New York, Chicago, and
London), language (English, Spanish, German), and distribution prefer­ence (search engines only, content sites only, or both search and content).
Don’t worry – we’ll explain all these options later in the section.

Ad Groups

In each campaign, you can have a number of Ad Groups. At the Ad Group
level, you write your ads, pick your keywords (coffee beans, fair-trade
coffee, coffee drinks), and determine the cost per click you want to pay.

Keep reading, and we’ll start explaining all of this in more detail.

Section 2 | AdWords Basics AdWords Basics | Section 2

How do I navigate my account?

Your AdWords account is organized into different compartments
called ‘tabs.’

Campaign Management tab

This tab is where you control all your costs, as well as your account,
campaign, Ad Group, and keyword activity. The top level shows your
performance data for different campaigns. Clicking on a campaign
shows Ad Group performance information, while clicking on an Ad
Group shows keyword performance information.

Reports tab

This tab allows you to create customized and detailed reports by
keyword, ad text, account, and other variables. Experiment by running
different reports. We’ll store up to five reports at once in your Download
Center. Or you can have them automatically emailed to you.

Analytics tab

This tab provides you with advanced tools to track your campaign
results and other data. We’ll cover this more later (see section 5).

My Account tab

Use this tab to control all your personal information, such as your
login information and user preferences. You’ll also find all your billing
information here.

Billing Summary page

The Billing Summary page will show only the high-level items, such
as charges, credits, and end-of-month balances. For each month, you
can see how frequently you were charged, and for how much. To see
your overall charges in more detail – such as itemized charges - click on
the link for Advertising costs for a complete invoice (see section 6).

For more information about your how to navigate your account, visit

https://adwords.google.com/select/navigation.html.

Section 2 | AdWords Basics AdWords Basics | Section 2

What’s the best way to organize my account?

Google gives you a basic structure to work within. From here, it’s
essentially up to you to organize your own campaigns, Ad Groups,
and keywords in a way that makes the most sense. With a logical
organization, you can determine what works and what doesn’t.
Organization is a key component to starting off strong.

Step 1: Stick to one goal per campaign.

Every account starts with a single campaign. (If you haven’t set up a
campaign yet, visit https://adwords.google.com/select/steps.html to
learn how.) Structure each campaign based on a simple, overarching
goal. Ask yourself, “What do I want to achieve with this campaign?”
Your answer might be to sell more coffee beans or gift baskets, for
example.

We suggest you separate campaigns by theme or product line (such
as coffee beans, coffee gifts, teas). Or use the same structure for
your campaigns as you do for your website. If your website is already

grouped into categories, your job is almost done. Map your structure
on paper first. This step produces an easy-to-use template.

Step 2: Make Ad Groups out of your keywords.

Just like your campaigns, your Ad Groups should be organized by
common theme or product. Think about which keywords you want
to use. Then group similar keywords together. You should be able to
come up with at least three groups per campaign. Finally, make a
distinct Ad Group for each group of keywords.

For example, if your goal for one campaign is to sell coffee beans,
keyword groupings for each Ad Group might be:

Gourmet
coffee beans

Keywords:

• Specialty coffee

• Full-flavored
coffee beans

• Gourmet coffee

• Gourmet coffee
beans

Shade-grown and
organic coffee beans

Keywords:

• Organic

• Shade-grown coffee

• Shade-grown

• Organic coffee

• Natural coffee

coffee beans

coffee beans

French roast

Keywords:

• Decaf French
roast coffee

• French coffee beans

• French coffee

• Decaf French coffee

• French roast

Section 2 | AdWords Basics AdWords Basics | Section 2

DO…

• Create multiple Ad Groups per campaign

• Group campaigns and Ad Groups by theme, price, geography,
or product line

• Make it easy to maintain

• Continue refining your keywords and ad text

Step 3: Review, test, and refine.

Take a look at one campaign at a time. Are your keywords logically
grouped into Ad Groups? Does the campaign help you achieve a goal?
Does your budget match your goals? If you have a low budget, scale
down the number of keywords.

DON’T…

• Create just one Ad Group and one big keyword list

• Mismatch keywords in the same Ad Group

• Run dozens and dozens of keywords for a low budget

• Stop checking your stats

Remember to check your progress and continually refine your key­words and your ad text in your account. This step is where the rest
of the book will pay off big time. Keep reading to learn how to create
effective keywords.

Section 3

Keywords

Keywords | Section 3

How to select the most effective keywords

Selecting keywords might be one of the most important parts of creating
a successful campaign. The trick to picking the best keywords is to use
this five-step process: expand, match, scrub, group, and refine.

Expand

Your first step is to come up with as many relevant keywords as possible.
Go to the Keyword Tool (http://www.google.com/adwords/keywordtool) and
try entering a few words to see what happens. For example, you could
enter gourmet coffee, French roast , and coffee beans. Better still, enter
keywords relevant to your own business. You can even generate additional
keyword ideas simply by entering the URL of any webpage that reflects your
business. Don’t worry about capitalization – our system is not case-sensi­tive. Sort the results so you can work with them. Many advertisers put them
into a spreadsheet.

Match

Now it’s time to choose your keywords match type: broad match, phrase

match, exact match, and negative match.

Section 3 | Keywords Keywords | Section 3

Broad match is the default setting for all keywords. This term means

that all searches using that word (in any order or combination) will
display your ad. For example, coffee beans will show your ad for all
searches with the words coffee and beans. This could, but won’t
necessarily, include searches for coffee made from green beans and
beans for espresso coffee.

Phrase match narrows your reach by requiring the words to appear in
that exact order. So “coffee beans” (entered with quotation marks)
shows your ad for searches with coffee and beans in that order, as in
chocolate-covered coffee beans. Your ad won’t appear, however, for
searches with any words between coffee and beans.

Exact match further narrows your reach by showing your ad when the
exact phrase is used in the search – without any other words before,
between, or after. So [coffee beans] (with brackets) shows your ad for
searches with just the words coffee beans, not coffee green beans or
shade-grown coffee beans.

Negative match eliminates searched phrases you don’t want your ad to
appear on, such as cheap or free. To choose the negative match option,
you enter the negative keywords with a minus sign, such as -free. This
option prevents your ad from showing to people searching for free coffee
(something we’d all love to find).

Scrub

After creating, expanding, and targeting your keyword list, it’s time to
refine (‘scrub’) it. Start by cutting all the keywords that aren’t relevant to
your business from your list. Two- to three-word phrases are usually best.
Remember to avoid generic keywords, which can result in less-relevant ads.

Group

As we mentioned before, you should organize keywords into similar
themes, products, or types so you can write ads targeted to each group.
Remember to structure your account in a way that makes sense and is easy
to track. For example, place keywords relating to whole-bean coffee in one
Ad Group. Group keywords relating to ground coffee in another Ad Group.

Test and Refine

Search advertising is dynamic – advertisers are constantly revising their
ad campaigns and searchers are constantly searching for different things.
To keep up with this ever-changing environment, you should continue to
test and refine your keywords. Build on keywords that work, and delete
others that don’t. Track your results using your performance stats in your
account (such as clickthrough rate and our conversion tracking tools -

see section 5). Flip to the next section to learn how to write targeted ads.

Section 4

Ads

Ads | Section 4

How to write ads that will get people clicking

Writing ads may well be the hardest part of AdWords to master. On
the other hand, with AdWords, you’ll know what works and what
doesn’t right away, because your clicks will tell you. The best way to
see which ads bring you the best results is to write three or four at
one time. Then check your clicks. Ads with the highest clickthrough
rate (the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of
times your ad is shown ) are top performers.

Here are some tried-and-true tricks from seasoned AdWords veterans:

• Include keywords in your ad headline, since that’s what people are
looking for. It makes your ad seem more relevant.

• Relate your ad to the content on your website users see when they
click your ad so they’re more likely to purchase from you.

• Get to the point – fast. Include the most relevant information about
your business first. Make it concise, and encourage the user to
take action.

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

Writing relevant ads

Your ad consists of three parts:

A 25-character headline

You get 2 lines of 35 characters to
describe what you have to offer.

www.Your-35-Character-URL.com

Let’s take a look at two ads that might appear for a site called
Frothing Latte Bean.

Just What You Want

Frothing Latte Bean has many
different types of coffee you luv!

www.frothing-latte-bean.com

The problem with this ad is that it doesn’t tell the reader what you
have to offer or why they should care (two criteria all ads should
meet). Also, there’s no call to action, so people don’t know what to
expect when they click through. Not to mention “luv” isn’t really a
word, so we won’t approve your ad.

Gourmet Coffee Beans

Order fair-trade, French roast,
decaf coffee beans. Free shipping.

www.frothing-latte-bean.com

This ad, on the other hand, tells people what you offer and why they
should order. It also gives them a call to action (‘Order fair trade,
French roast, de-caf coffee beans) which tells them what to do when
they click through.

Handling headlines

The best headlines are directly related to the keywords being
searched. That makes your ad seem especially relevant to the searcher’s
interests. And, if a word or a phrase in your ad text is identical to the
keyword searched for, it will appear in bold font in your ad.

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

Developing descriptions

The description has to convey both the benefits of your product or
service and the call to action. Keep everything as short and simple
as you can. To start, list your products (coffee beans, gourmet coffee,
decaf coffee) and benefits (shipped overnight, easy to order). Then put
it all together with a call to action, such as “Order now” or “Join now.”

Designating Display and Destination URLs

The Display URL (web address) that appears in your ad doesn’t have
to be the same as your Destination URL. But it should be an actual
URL for your site. Choose a Destination URL that promotes the exact
product or service your audience is searching for, rather than your
usual homepage. Don’t get us wrong – we’re sure your homepage
is lovely. But it’s usually most effective to direct your searchers to a
landing page that they’re most interested in, as soon as you can.

Targeting your ads

You’ve just created a really well-written ad. Now it’s time to target it
(by language and location) to reach the people who are most likely
to click on it. Targeting your ad helps eliminate unwanted clicks and
gets your ad to the right audience.

When you first set up your AdWords campaign, you chose from vari­ous targeting options. You can check to see what you chose on the
Edit Campaign Settings page within your AdWords account.

Language targeting

You can reach people in over 40 languages . But you must write
your ads and keywords in the language of your choice (Google won’t
translate for you). If you’re targeting multiple languages, we strongly
suggest setting up a new campaign for each one, although you can
choose to run ads in all or any number of these languages.

Location targeting

You can set each campaign to target searchers at a country/territory,
regional, city or customized level. If you chose regional, city, or

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

customized targeting, you might want to add a counterpart country
or territory-targeted campaign to your account. Even if you can offer
products or services only to people within a very specific geographic
area, a broader campaign can help you get more qualified clicks from
your prospective customers on Google and our partner sites (which
we’ll explain in a couple of paragraphs). Your locally targeted campaign
should have general keywords such as coffee beans or shade-grown
coffee, while your country-targeted campaign should be full of location­specific keywords such as Seattle coffee or New York coffee basket.

The Google advertising network

In addition to placing your ads on Google, you get to decide what
other kinds of websites your ads will appear on. You have two basic
choices: the Google search network and the Google content network.

The search network: If you choose to show your ads on the search
network, your ads can appear alongside relevant search results on other
search engine websites (in addition to Google.com). This list includes:

• Google Local

• Froogle

• Ask Jeeves

Example of ads on the Google search network.

• AOL

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

The content network: If you opt in to the content network, your ads

can appear alongside content (or text) that’s relevant to your keywords
on any web page within the Google content network. These partner
sites include:

• The New York Times

• About.com

• MarthaStewart.com

• Many smaller niche sites covering thousands of topics

In many cases, only Google can offer access to the ad inventory of these
sites. For example, an ad for the keywords shade-grown coffee could
appear alongside an article in The New York Times about the cultivation
of coffee beans, or at the top of the www.we-love-coffee.com website.

While content targeting is mostly an automated process, we can also
provide you with control over where your ads appear and don’t appear
across content sites through Site Targeting. Site Targeting provides you
with the tools to search easily through the thousands of sites in our
network and select the ones on which you would like to place your ads.

Example of ads on the Google content network.

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

For example, luxury car makers could place their ad on all of the wine
sites in our network because they believe that drinkers of fine wine
also like to drive fine cars. Learn more about Site Targeting at

http://adwords.google.com/select/AFC/sites.html.

The Google Network is one of the largest online advertising networks
available, reaching more than 80 percent of Internet users2. To take
full advantage of that reach, make sure your campaigns are opted in
to both the search and content networks.

Want more info? Try these lessons:

• Ad Distribution:

http://www.google.com/adwords/network

• Writing Targeted Ad Text:

http://www.google.com/adwords/adtext

• Language and Location Targeting:

http://www.google.com/adwords/targeting

2

Unduplicated reach of Google and Partner sites, according to Google analysis of

comScore Media Metrix, May 2005

How to get your ad closer to the top

The best way to get your ad closer to the top of the search results is
to be more relevant than everybody else. Relevance works like this:
The more relevant your ad is to searchers on Google, the more likely
users will click it. (For example, caffeine addicts searching for coffee
will click on ads for coffee more often than ads for SUVs.)

How we assess keyword relevance

We use something called a Quality Score to assess the relevance
of your keyword. The Quality Score is determined by the keyword’s
clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of your ad text, historical keyword
performance, landing page quality, and other factors specific to your
account. Then, based on this Quality Score, we assign your ad a
minimum bid. This bid is the minimum amount you must pay per
click in order to keep your ad running for the matched keyword. If
your keyword is not running, you can either (1) increase your key­word’s maximum cost-per-click (CPC) above the minimum bid, or (2)
optimize your keywords and ad text to be more relevant.

For more information about keyword performance, visit

https://adwords.google.com/select/performance.html.

Section 4 | Ads Ads | Section 4

Here’s a summary of different ways (which we’ve covered in previous
sec-tions) to increase your ad’s relevance and improve your ad’s position:

• Use two- to three-keyword phrases.

• Create both locally-targeted campaigns (with general keywords,

such as coffee beans) and nationally targeted campaigns (with

How to improve your ad position

Technically, your ad position is determined by multiplying the
matched keyword’s Quality Score by its maximum cost-per-click (we
call this formula Ad Rank). We’ll reward more relevant keywords and
ads by lowering the minimum cost-per-click you need to bid. The best
way to improve your ad position without raising your cost is to have
the most relevant ad text and keywords possible.

geo-specific keywords, such as Seattle coffee beans).

• Use keyword matching options.

• Make sure your keywords relate to your product.

• Use keyword variations (such as synonyms or alternate spellings).

• Use Ad Groups to organize similar keywords.

• Write clear, compelling ad text.

• Include keywords in your ad text and title.

• Include a call to action in your ad text.

• Take users to the best landing page.

• Test multiple ads per Ad Group.

For more information, see sections 3 and 4 on creating keywords and
writing ad text. Or visit our Optimization Tips page at

https://adwords.google.com/select/tips.html.

Tracking Results | Section 5

Tracking online results

Measuring online results is the best way to know whether you’re
spending your money wisely. If you measure your results well, you’ll
be able to tell which keywords and ads bring you the most customers,
which ads bring in the most business, and ultimately how much re­turn you’re getting on your AdWords investment. Then you can adjust
your campaign settings based on those results.

Section 5

Tracking Results

Conversion tracking

You spend money on AdWords in order to get people to do something
– buy your product, sign up for your mailing list, join your club, or
whatever. Every time someone comes from an AdWords ad to your
site, and then does whatever you want them to do, it’s called a
“conversion.” If you can track your conversions, you’ll have information
about which campaigns, Ad Groups, and keywords work best.

How AdWords conversion tracking works

Whenever anyone clicks your AdWords ads, we give them a “cookie”
(not a chocolate chip cookie, but a delicious electronic one), so you
can see if they actually go to one of your conversion pages. Think of
this cookie as an “I clicked on your ad!” sign that your website visitor

Section 5 | Tracking Results Tracking Results | Section 5

wears for 30 days after clicking on your ad. (Note that we can’t
accurately track conversions from visitors who erase their cookies.)

When you set up AdWords conversion tracking, we give you a little
snippet of code to post on your website wherever any conversion
happens. For example, you might post the code on the “Thank you”
page that visitors see after placing an order on your website, or on the
“Contact us” page that will drive visitors to call you up on the phone.
Then, every time a visitor with your cookie visits your conversion page,
your tally of conversions in your AdWords account increases by one.

More info:

• Visit the Conversion Tracking section of your Campaign
Management page for everything you’ll need to know about
AdWords conversion tracking.

• See a comprehensive section in our Learning Center about
analyzing your account:

http://www.google.com/adwords/accounts.

AdWords conversion tracking tool

Section 5 | Tracking Results Tracking Results | Section 5

Your conversion tracking options

We recommend two ways to measure online results. The simplest
way is through the free AdWords conversion tracking tool that we just
discussed. It should take you or your webmaster just a few minutes
to set up. Once it’s live, you’ll be able to tell how many of the clicks
from your AdWords ads produced conversions.

A more sophisticated way to measure online results is through Google
Analytics, another free Google service. While Google Analytics helps
you track conversions to your website, it also provides you with tools to
better understand where your users come from and what they do on your
site. The information you receive helps you improve your web design
content, optimize your AdWords campaigns, identify visitor preferences,
and track referral sources. Visit https://www.google.com/analytics for
more information.

Google Analytics

Section 5 | Tracking Results Tracking Results | Section 5

If you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one. Simply ask your
customers how they found you. There’s the traditional, direct way

Tracking offline results

– over the phone or in person (“So how’d you find us?”). And there
are the not-so-traditional, indirect ways – through a web survey or a

Even though many purchases or signups happen offline (such as by

form (the question still applies).
phone or at your place of business), it might have been your website
and AdWords ad that drove the result. The best way to measure your
offline results is by tracking customers to a conversion, such as with a
coupon or an order form.

When posting a survey or a form on your site, make it simple and

concise. In general, you don’t want to ask more than four questions.

Add a sweet incentive to get a customer to fill it out, such as “Get a

free, 5 oz. coffee fix by filling this out!” Finally, the golden rule for

everything online is to kill the pop-ups, pop-unders, pop-anythings.

Everyone abhors a popup, unless it’s an edible one.

Section 5 | Tracking Results Tracking Results | Section 5

Quick tips for converting even more clicks to sales:

• Make your ads sell: Make sure that your ads tell people what you

expect them to do when they click through. If you want them to
buy, encourage them to do that.

Give a little back with coupons.

Posting a coupon on your website is a great way to track your results
– not to mention bring in business. Make sure the coupon is different
from others you use elsewhere, such as in a flyer or a newspaper. It’s
a good idea to make the coupon good for both online and offline usage.
Include an expiration date. Perform a Google search on coupons to
see some examples.

• Take users to the best landing page: Point people to the page

that relates to your ad. Don’t leave them guessing.

• Keep signups simple: Ask for only the bare minimum of what

you need to complete a signup. Make sure that you give them
something of equal or greater value for the information they
give you.

• Deliver on your promises: Stick to the price or promise you

specify in your ad. The number one source of dissatisfaction
with purchases comes from expectations that are not met.

• Be creative: Find fun and entertaining ways to make your offer.

A creative offer will attract and hold your visitors’ attention.

Section 6

Troubleshooting your Account

Troubleshooting your Account | Section 6

How do I make sense of my bills?

The first thing to understand about your Billing Summary (in your My
Account tab) is that you’re billed based on your credit history with
Google as well as your activity. That means we automatically bill your
credit card every month, or when you reach your credit limit –
whichever comes first.

Credit limits

The initial credit limit of US$50 is incrementally raised each time an
account hits its credit limit before 30 days have ended. The credit
limit is first raised to US$200, then to US$350, and then to US$500.
The amount invoiced and/or billed might be slightly in excess of the
credit limit if an account accrues clicks very quickly. But don’t worry,
you’re charged only for clicks to your ads that we’ve registered.

Credit limits (continued)

Troubleshooting your Account | Section 6Section 6 | Troubleshooting your Account

• On Oct. 5, Alan reached his first credit limit of $50, and was
charged for the amount accrued in clicks ($51.25). At this time,
his credit limit was raised to $200.

• On Oct. 21, Alan reached the next credit limit of $200, triggering
AdWords to charge him for clicks ($202.75). His credit limit was
then raised to $350.

• On Nov. 18, Alan accrued more than $350 in charges and was
automatically billed. When charged, Alan’s credit limit was then
raised to $500.

Example of billing activity for Alan for the months of October and November

• Alan’s next bill will be processed on Dec. 18 or when he exceeds
the final $500 credit limit, whichever comes first.

Unexplainable line items

From time to time, you might notice adjustments in your Billing
Summary. Adjustments usually reflect any promotions or credits
applied to your account. In addition, there’s something called an

Overdelivery credit that might appear in your invoice.

Overdelivery is our way to help you receive the most clicks possible.

Your ad traffic is never constant from day to day – sometimes it’s
high and sometimes it’s low. To adjust for low-traffic days, we may
allow more clicks (up to 20 percent each day) than your daily budget
specifies. This overdelivery amount helps you reach your customers
when they’re searching for you. At the end of your billing period, we’ll
multiply the number of days in the cycle times your daily budget. If
the clicks you received exceed the amount you owe, we’ll credit the
difference to your account. You never pay for any additional clicks you
might receive.

For example, if you receive US$32 worth of clicks over a 30-day
period at a daily budget of US$1 per day, you’ll be credited US$2.

For more billing information, such as how to switch credit cards and
how to print out your bill, visit http://www.google.com/adwords/billing.

Troubleshooting your Account | Section 6Section 6 | Troubleshooting your Account

Quick tips for controlling your spending:

• Set your limits: Don’t bid more than you can afford. If you find that

you’re not getting the results you expected, scale back your cam­paign instead of raising your costs. Figure out which ads and key­words are bringing you results, and delete the others. This will give you
more bang for your buck.

• Focus on relevance: Build your campaigns slowly. Spend a lot of time

hand-picking your keywords and writing your ads (see sections 3

and 4). When your keywords and ad text are more relevant, you’re

likely to pay less than the amount you bid. So creating highly relevant
campaigns is the most cost-effective way to manage your budget.

• Grow from what works: Once you know what works, you can start

to build more campaigns and Ad Groups to attract your potential
customers. Keep regular tabs on your account statistics. Is your
clickthrough rate high and your minimum bid low? If so, this usually
means you’re doing well. Tweak your targeting settings, keyword list,
and ad text to test different results. Use tracking methods, such as
conversion tracking or Google Analytics, to find your top performers

(see section 5).

Troubleshooting your Account | Section 6Section 6 | Troubleshooting your Account

Why can’t I see my ad?

This is the number one question we receive from advertisers, so
you’re not alone. Here are the most common reasons:

Daily budget

If your daily budget is lower than the system’s recommended amount,
Google will show your ad when it has the highest demand, depending
on traffic patterns. For example, we might show 70 percent of your
daily budget in the morning if the demand is higher at this time,
and 30 percent in the afternoon if demand is lower at this time.
This way, you’ll have a better chance of reaching advertisers when
they’re searching for you. To make sure your ad shows for all relevant
searches, you can increase your daily budget to the recommended
amount.

Maximum CPC exceeds daily budget

If you’re running a keyword-targeted campaign, your ad won’t show if
your maximum CPC for an Ad Group is higher than your campaign’s
daily budget. Because your daily budget could be exceeded in one click,
we recommend that you lower your maximum CPC or raise your daily
budget, so that your daily budget is more than your maximum CPC.

Ad Rank

Your ad might not appear on the first page if your Ad Rank isn’t high
enough to place it in one of the top slots. We don’t show the same
ads on each page, so your ad might be appearing on one of the next
pages. If you’d like your ad to appear on the first page, you can
increase your CPC and/or refine your ad text and keywords to help
increase your Quality Score.

No ad

Make sure there is an active ad in your Ad Group. If all ads within
your Ad Group are currently paused or deleted, this means there are
no ads running for your keywords.

Ad disapproved

If an ad doesn’t meet our Editorial Guidelines, we’ll stop your ad from
running, and you’ll see the word “Disapproved” listed below that ad
in your account. Once you’ve made the appropriate edits, simply save
your changes to automatically resubmit your ad for review.

For a complete list of reasons why you can’t see your ad, visit

http://www.google.com/adwords/seeing-ads.

Additional Help | Section 7

Where do I find helpful answers?

So you want a quick, helpful answer to a problem? The first step is to
click Help from any page in your AdWords account. Clicking one of
the topics listed in the Help Center will open up a series of frequently
asked questions and support materials. Here are some additional
resources, all available through the AdWords homepage that we’ve
created to solve most of the problems you’re likely to encounter:

Section 7

Additional Help

Help Center: Frequently asked questions and help documents.

https://adwords.google.com/support

Learning Center: Text or multimedia lessons and quizzes on

everything AdWords.

http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter

Demos and Guides: Step-by-step demos about your account,

local targeting, conversion tracking, and more concepts.

https://adwords.google.com/select/library

Inside AdWords Blog: Frequent updates about AdWords, straight

from our product team.

http://adwords.blogspot.com

Additional Help | Section 7Section 7 | Additional Help

Where can I find a glossary of terms?

Some of the terms used in this kind of online advertising can be a
bit confusing. So here’s a quick translation guide, in case you come
across something that doesn’t quite make sense.

Ad Group

A collection of ads within a campaign that correspond to a group of
similar keywords.

Campaign

Ad Groups are organized into campaigns. Campaigns can be created
for different product lines, promotions, geographic regions, and so on.

Click through

The action of clicking a link that takes the user to another web page.

Clickthrough rate (CTR)

CTR measures the number of clicks your ad generates in proportion to
the number of times it’s shown for each keyword. For example, your CTR
is 5 percent if 100 people are shown your ad and five
people click through to your site. CTR is used to help assess your
Quality Score. The CTR is also known as the ad impression ratio or yield.

Content targeting

The ability to run relevant ads on content websites, rather than on search
results pages; also known as contextual advertising. Content-targeted
advertising is dynamic: The ad system examines words on the page (the
“content”), and delivers up a related ad (the “context”).

Conversion

A defined action in response to your ad. A conversion may be a sale, a
registration, a download, or a signup, depending on your campaign goals.

Conversion rate

The number of visitors who respond to your ad divided by the number of
clicks on the ad, multiplied by 100, and expressed as a percentage. For ex­ample, your conversion rate is 25% percent if 100 people are shown your ad,
four people click through to your site, and one person makes a purchase.

Additional Help | Section 7Section 7 | Additional Help

Cost-per-click (CPC)

The amount you pay each time a user clicks on your ad. A typical
range is 5 cents to US$1 per click. The CPC is the most you’re will­ing to pay each time a user clicks on your ad for a particular keyword.
Also called pay per click.

Destination URL

The webpage to which a user will “land” after clicking on your ad. It’s
not necessarily your homepage. Also known as a landing page or a
clickthrough URL.

Display URL

The URL displayed in your ad to identify your site to users. It doesn’t
need to be the same as your destination URL.

Google Network

Places other than Google where your ad can appear. These places
include both search and content sites. Search sites offer web search
capability. Content sites include online publications, community
sites, and other information services running AdWords ads on
targeted content pages.

Image ad

A graphical AdWords ad that appears on select content sites in the
Google Network.

Impression

The single display of an ad on a search or content page. Also known
as exposure.

Keyword

A specific word, or combination of words, entered into a search
engine that results in a list of pages related to the keyword. A
keyword is the content of a search engine query.

Local targeting

The distribution of ads to a particular geographical area.

Quality Score

How we measure the quality of your keyword and determine your
minimum bid. Your Quality Score is determined by your keyword’s
clickthrough rate (CTR), relevance of ad text, historical keyword
performance, and other relevancy factors.

Section 7 | Additional Help

Return on investment (ROI)

The benefit gained in return for the cost of your ad campaign.
Although exact measurement is nearly impossible, your clickthrough
rate and your conversion rate, combined with your advertising costs,
can help you assess the ROI of your campaign.

Text ad

An ad designed for text delivery, with concise, action-oriented copy
and a link to your website. Because they are not accompanied by
graphics, text links are easy to create and improve page download
time. Also known as a sponsored link.