Yahoo have lost 15%, MSN have lost 21% and Ask has also lost 21% over last year.

Searchers are also now using longer search queries when searching for what they want on the web. What does this mean? This means that the average searcher now knows (better) how to use a search engine to find the results that he/she is searching for.

Longer search queries are becoming more popular as year over year increases (and decreases) show just that.

• 1 word search queries have dropped by 3%
• 2 word search queries have dropped by 5%
• 3 word search queries have remained stable
• 4 word search queries have increased by 2%
• 5 word search queries have increased by 6%
• 6 word search queries have increased by 8%
• 7 word search queries have increased by 12%
• 8 word search queries have increased by 22%

This means that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) management have become a lot more difficult as search queries become longer and therefore more varied.

Paid advertising using keyword targeting will become more difficult as accounts become larger due to increased keyword numbers. As keyword phrases become more targeted, so too must paid advertising campaigns such as Google AdWords, in order to maximise quality score, reduce Cost Per Click (CPC), and thereby increase Return On Investment (ROI).

Hal explains that advertisers want to show relevant ads (most of the time), users want to see relevant ads, and Google wants the best for both advertisers and users.

Hal explains how the maximum Cost Per Click (CPC) is not necessarily what the advertiser will pay.

Hal continues to explain quality score. The most important factor is Click Through Rate (CTR), followed by relevancy (how well ads relate to keywords bid upon), and last, the landing page quality in relation to both ads and keywords bid upon.

Quality score ensures that the most relevant advertiser is ranked first and therefore gets the most visibility. Quality Score also ensures that the price paid per click is reduced for the most relevant advertiser.

Watch the video below for a clear, precise explanation:

Quality Score is Google’s way of determining how relevant your ads are to your competitors and to what your are selling or offering to your clients. Quality score is used in Google AdWords to ensure that the highest bidder on any particular keyword, may not in fact always achieve the first place ranking in search engine results. Instead, certain other factors are taken into consideration in order to determine the order of paid listings in Google. These factors are:

• The keywords you are bidding on and their relevance to your ads and the content on your website.
• The landing pages you are using and its relevance to your keywords.
• The keywords that you use in your ad text.
• Targeted campaigns that focus on a specific set of keywords.

Therefore by making your campaigns highly targeted in terms of a specific set of keywords, ad group text, landing pages and campaigns you can significantly increase your quality score and thereby decrease the amount needed to bid on any particular keyword, compared with that of your competitors. It is therefore very important to have a professionally setup Google AdWords account to ensure you are getting the highest possible Return On Investment.

Visit our website for more information on our Pay Per Click management service.