People always say more is better, and, in some instances, they are right. Having a big budget to work with in AdWords gives you the freedom to bid on high search volume keywords that will reach a large audience. That’s great. But when running B2B campaigns with specific products and applications and small budgets, less is actually more. There are three important factors to formulating your B2B AdWords strategy: the language of the searcher, keyword match type and the search terms report. Paying close attention to each of these and other parts of the campaign during optimization will keep costs low and within budget. Here’s how we manage AdWords campaigns with a limited budget.
B2B user search terms are much more specific than those used by someone looking for a pair of running shoes, and we understand that. Understanding your client’s products, their features and their benefits will help you understand what your target market is searching for. That said, you probably know searchers looking for your client’s products won’t use words like “where to buy,” “how to” or “do it yourself” due to the high level of technical application. This is where the “search term” report helps narrow the searches that trigger your ad.
The search term report lets you see what people are searching for and the specific terms that either generate a click or just an impression. Decide what terms are important and not already used, and add the terms into your campaign. Do just the opposite for words costing you and bringing irrelevant searchers to the site. You can easily add these negative keywords to your negative keyword list on the ad group or campaign level. This prevents more unwanted traffic to your client’s site.
Lastly, be selective in your keyword match type. After researching your client’s products and services, you now have refined keyword lists. You even eliminated irrelevant words and added terms that generated quality traffic. But you’re still generating tons of impressions with few clicks, and you’re seeing your click-through rate go down. Chances are, some of the terms in your keyword lists match those used in common searches. If you’re using broad match type for a very specific product, your ads will show but to the wrong audience. Tailor your keywords to match your target market’s searches using phrase, modified broad and exact matches. This will reduce irrelevant clicks and impressions that cost you more and bring your click-through rates down.
As I said earlier, less is more in the world of B2B paid search marketing. Fewer clicks and impressions aren’t bad. Now you have a way to reduce unwanted clicks while still connecting with your target market and staying within your client’s budget. See how we can manage AdWords campaigns with a limited budget.
