Harvardgreyarea.org Niche News

pIts never been a particularly closely guarded secret that you can buy your website a great listing in the search results for any keyword you want.br /br /It isnt going to do you much good having an exceptional a href=http://www.cpasitesolutions.com/cpa-website-design/ target=_blankCPA website design/a if nobody finds out about it. There are lots of ways to showcase your website, but one of the fastest is advertising using Google Adwords. br /br /You have no doubt seen the sponsored listings on Google search results pages. They appear on the right side of the search results page, and often up to the first three positions on the left side. These websites are marketing their ads through Google Adwords pay-per-click (or PPC) platform. An impression is incurred when Google displays the ad. An advertiser pays for the click when you click on one of the sponsored listings. In other words, that advertiser pays Google per each click their ad receives.br /br /The price you ultimately pay Google, will be impacted by your landing page quality score. Quality score is determined by many different factors, including the relevance of the page content to the search term, and the Click Through Rate, or CTR.br /br /Click through rate is the rate of clicks to impressions. If your ad is displayed 500 times, and receives 100 clicks, then your CTR is 20%. A high CTR signals to Google that you are showing a relevant ad for the search phrase, and this will improve your quality score for that keyword.br /br /The higher your landing page quality score, the lower your actual cost per click will be. Adwords is essentially an auction. You bid on keywords. In very straight forward terms, the more you bid, the higher your ad will be displayed.br /br /Now there are a number of valuations and specific calculations Google makes to specify where your ad will be placed. These calculations happen in real time when the search is being conducted. Well explore the specifics of these calculations in a future article. For now, it is just important to realize that what you bid, is not what you will pay for a click. If you bid $2.00 for a click, and your quality score is 5, you will pay more for a click then if your quality score is 7, and you will never pay more then your bid, or $2.00, for a click.br /br /Remember Googlersquo;s first priority is to display relevant search results, even for the sponsored listings. Certainly they could just give the first spot to the person who bids the most, but that would only ensure the advertiser willing to spend the most money would be listed first. The most relevant search result however may not be the listing with the highest bid.br /br /A great example of this is your company name. Letrsquo;s say you are Adidas, and you want to bid on the keyword ldquo;Nikerdquo;. The most relevant search result for the keyword ldquo;Nikerdquo;, is obviously the Nike website. Google is going to give Nike a higher quality score for that keyword, in effect rewarding them for their relevancy for that keyword.br /br /Before we look at tips to improving your quality score, itrsquo;s important to also understand match types. There are three match types you can and should bid on for each keyword. They are broad, phrase, and exact match types.br /br /Exact Match: Exact match is the best keyword to bid on. An exact match means the search phrase being searched on is an exact match for the keyword for which you are bidding. For example if you are bidding on exact match for ldquo;Accounting Firmsrdquo;,nbsp; your websites ad will be displayed only when someone searches for ldquo;Accounting Firmsrdquo;.br /br /Phrase Match: Phrase match means your keyword is a phrase within the search string. For example, if you bid on a phrase match of ldquo;Accounting Firmsrdquo;,nbsp; you ad will be displayed when someone searches on things like ldquo;small accounting firmsrdquo;, or ldquo;accounting firms and CPAsrdquo;.br /br /Broad Match: Broad match essentially letrsquo;s the search engine determine if the search phrase is a match for your broad match keyword or not. Bidding on broad match keywords is both crucial, and dangerous. Itrsquo;s important because a broad match for ldquo;accounting firmsrdquo; might be triggered when someone searches for ldquo;accounting servicesrdquo;. It also can be triggered when someone misspells a word, such as ldquo;acounting firmsrdquo;. The danger is that Google may determine that ldquo;Accounting Suppliesrdquo; is a close enough match to ldquo;Accounting Servicesrdquo;, and trigger your broad match keyword. This is why Google allows advertisers to declare negative keywords. Well talk more about negative keywords in a moment.br /br /Now that you have an understanding about your keyword match types and websites quality score, here are some tips on how you can improve your quality score and click through rates.br /br /Ad Copybr /br /The copy in your ad should reflect the search phrase, or keyword you are bidding on. The person doing the search will be more apt to click an ad if it includes their search string. For example, if you bid on ldquo;CPA Servicesrdquo;, you want the headline of your ad to be something like ldquo;Quality CPA Servicesrdquo;. If your ad title says Jims Accounting Firm, the searcher then has to stop and think… are they going to find what they are looking for if they click you sponsored link. Their decision is often made within a split second, so you donrsquo;t want the prospect to have to stop and think. Show them exactly what they are looking for. If that means having 25 different ad titles for 25 different keywords, so be it. Your work will pay off in the end.br /br /Landing Pagebr /br /The landing page is the page on your site that the searcher is taken to when they click your ad. Frequently this should not be your websitersquo;s homepage. If someone searches for Tax Preperationrdquo;, they should be taken directly to the page on your website that explains your tax preperation services rather than a generic accounting related homepage. If the ad goes to your homepage, and they have to search through a big pile of CPA related content just to find what they are looking for, theyll probably just click the back button and go to the next advertiser.br /br /If your website doesnt have a suitable landing page for the keyword, add one. It really is that important.br /br /Similar to the ad copy, you want to remove as much of the decision making out the process as possible. Make it as easy as possible for the searcher to find what it is they are looking for. Your quality score will be rewarded for having a landing page that is specific to the keyword, because it improves the search experience for people who find you through their search engine.br /br /Negative Keywordsbr /br /Knowing what keywords you dont want to trigger your ads is just as important as knowing what keywords you do want to bid on. Phrase and broad matching make this essential. If you bid on the broad match of accounting services, you may not want your ad displayed if someone searches for ldquo;accounting suppliesrdquo;, so you would want to have supplies added as a negative keyword.br /br /When a search phrase includes one of your negative keywords, Google will not display your ad.br /br /Location Targetingbr /br /Ive saved the best for last. Location targeting is extremely important, especially for firms that provide a service such as accounting or CPA services. CPA and accounting firms typically will want to be able to meet with their clients, and more importantly the client is very likely looking for an accountant close to their business. Having prospects 100 miles away clicking on your ad is going to become a huge waste of money.br /br /There are two ways to target a location. The first is to target your ads to only be displayed within a certain radius, such as 10 to 20 miles from your business location. You can bid on more general keywords, like accounting firm, within a very specific location.br /br /The second way to target location is with very specific keywords in a more general area. For example, you might display your ads to anyone in California, or even the country, if they type in the specific keyword ldquo;Los Angeles CPArdquo; or Los Angeles Accounting.br /br /Keep these basic principles in mind while youre setting up your websites with Adwords campaigns and youll find the learning curve a lot easier and your initial results will be a lot more profitable!/p