MKT30120 Digital Marketing Session 5

• The course is MKT30120 Digital Marketing, Session 5 by Dr. Katie Nguyen.

Mid-term Quiz

• The mid-term is on March 4th at the Blackrock exam center from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
• It consists of multiple-choice questions and covers all assigned material from Weeks 1 - 6.

Administrative Class

• Only participation in class discussion counts.
• When emailing include your, name and questions that you answered.

Session 5: Agenda

• Overview of SEM and how it works
• Keyword research: understanding long tails and any other considerations
• Ad copy and other ad types
• Ad ranking: quality score and bid amount

Review

• An URL that contains a target keyword phrase receives heavier weight in terms of relevance than a URL that does not contain the keyword phrase.
• The "h2" header is not necessarily the largest header and will, therefore, receive the highest relevance score when the header name matches the keyword search phrase, this statement is false.

Overview of SEM

• Pay-per-click or paid search or Cost-per-click is an advertising tactic in which advertisers pay the search engine only when someone clicks on it.
• Advertisers bid on keywords related to their target or sector of activity for search engines.

Paid Search Value

• Searchers are ready to buy, increasing conversion chances
• Searchers are more open to ad influence due to lack of brand loyalty
• Advertisers tend to pay high rates, and Google captures most of the value

How it Works

• Advertisers bid for keywords, paying a maximum amount for a click.
• Bidding process uses search engines which run an auction based on bid amount, ad relevance, and Quality Score.
• Higher bids increase ad position, but quality and relevance also matter
• Pay-per-click (PPC): Advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked, not just displayed.
• Costs are based on clicks, ensuring payment for actual engagement.
• Advertisers can set daily/monthly budgets to control spending.

Setting up a campaign

• Campaigns define overall budget, settings, and where ads appear (geography & networks) such as cars, Fords, Toyotas, motorcycles, Harley Davidsons and Triumphs.
• Ad groups are organized buckets containing similar keywords/products.

Keyword Research

• Brand keywords: Include the name of a specific brand or product, like "Nike shoes" or "Apple iPhone."
• Generic keywords: Broad, non-branded terms related to a product or service, like "running shoes" or "smartphones".
• Long-tail keywords: More specific and usually longer phrases that target niche search queries, like "best running shoes for flat feet" or "affordable smartphones with great cameras.”

Understanding Long Tails

• Most search traffic is located on Long tail searches which accounts for 70% of keywords and search traffic.
• Fat Head = 18.5%, Chunky Middle = 11.5%

Types of Correspondence of Keywords

• Exact keyword = [Keyword].
• Exact expression = "Keyword”
• Broad query = Keyword
• Broad modifier = +keyword a + keyword b

Keyword Match

• Broad match targets searches that are remotely related to the target, resulting in very low conversion rates.
• "Phrase match" expands potential targets by matching related searches with similar intent.
• [Exact match] selects high converting advertising targets.

Negatives

• Negative keywords prevent ads from showing up for specific searches.
• They help filter out irrelevant or low-converting traffic.
• Using negative keywords saves money and improves campaign efficiency

Keyword Match Examples

• Broad match of white socks = These words, similar words and misspelt words buy socks
• Broad match + modifier +white +socks = Containing these words in other orders socks that are white
• Phrase match "white socks = This phrase and very similar ones cheap white socks
• Exact match [white socks] = The exact phrase and ones that are very close white socks
• Negative match -white = Anything that excludes this word black socks

Ideal Keywords

• The ideal keyword is one that has high purchase intent, high volume, and low competition.
• Keywords with two strong dimensions are more realistic like high purchase intent + low competition + low volume - these are worth bidding on and likely to generate profitable sales.
• High purchase intent + high volume + high competition is worth bidding on, but avoid being the highest bidder; reasonable bids can yield profitable traffic.
• High volume + low competition + low purchase intent are not valuable, low competition allows low bids, but low conversion results in losses.

Other Considerations

• Search engines allow targeting specific regions.
• Create multiple campaigns for smaller geographies.
• Allocate more budget to profitable areas.
• Search behavior differs across devices; ads should adapt
• Adjust budget based on device-specific behaviors and target mobile users.
• Mobile searches are often urgent and should be treated as a "now-or-never" type.
• Not everyone within a particular geography always speaks the same language
• Segmenting based on language can be an effective strategy

Ad Copy

• This is an art form that requires limited characters including the display URL
• Ads must be relevant and compelling within the character limit
• There is no limit to the number of ads you can create
• Strictly text with five elements consisting of final URL and Headlines
• Display Path
• Description(s)
• Ad extension
• Including the keyword in the ad boosts click-through rates
• Shows the site matches the searcher's intent
• Bolding keywords in the description grab attention

Writing Ad Copy

• A company's ad competes with 7 other ads
• The ad must show why the site is superior to others
• The unique value proposition sets the site apart from competitors
• Relevant ads with a strong UVP encourage clicks from searchers
• A CTA can provide the final push for a click - but the value of CTAs have declined in prominence, suggesting they may be less crucial for success now
• Ad extensions are set up during the "Select campaign settings" step
• Advertisers can't control when or which extensions appear
• Google decides when to show extensions based on relevance
• Advertisers can opt into specific ad extensions
• Ad extensions add extra information to make ads more relevant and noticeable to potential customers
• Sitelink extensions: Additional links to specific pages on your site.
• Location extensions: Displays the business address and a map link.
• Callout extensions: Short, non-clickable text that highlights special offers or features.
• Call extensions: A phone number that allows users to call directly from the ad.
• Structured snippet extensions: Lists specific aspects of your products or services.

Other ad types

• Shopping Ads
• Local Search Ads
• Call Ads
• Remarketing Ads
• Search Ads
• Metasearch Ads

Shopping Ads

• Used for Display product images, inventory and prices
• Results in large improvements in CTR and conversions

Local Search Ads

• Target users searching in nearby locations
• "Near me" is not required to trigger a local search ad

Remarketing

• Search ads targeted to prior website visitors that also need to have done a search on targeted keywords

Call Ads

• There is no option to visiting said website instead it initiates a phone call to the business.

Metasearch Ads

• Provide booking information directly to the searcher.

Achieving High Ad Rank

• Need to have low costs with high ad exposure
• Ad Rank relies on Bid Amount and Quality Score
• Quality score uses expected CTR, Landing Page experiences and Ad Relevance

Notes for Session 6

Mid-term Quiz

• The mid-term is on March 4th at the Blackrock exam center from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
• It will include questions 10 and 11 from Quinn
• It consists of multiple-choice questions and covers all assigned material from Weeks 1 - 6.

Administrative Class

• Only participation in class discussion counts.
• When emailing include your, name and questions that you answered.

Session 6: Agenda

• Paid Search continued: achieving high ad rank and bidding method
• Display Ads: including the display network, how to pay, campaigns, targeting, ad copy and measurements

Review Questions

• The best keywords would be (D) All of the Above, Brand, Generic and Long-Tail Keywords
• Search engines bold any word in a description that matches a word an individual uses in their search phrase is true.

Achieving High Ad Rank

• All advertisers want low costs with high ad exposure
• Achieve this with the key metrics of Bid Amount and Quality Score
• Quality score uses an algorithm composed of expected CTR, Landing Page experiences and Ad Relevance

Quality Score

• A Google metric and is a measure of the quality of the ad.
• The higher the quality score, the higher the position potential
• The quality score formula is calculated on these 3 factors: Ad relevance, Expected click-through rate and optimized Landing page experience.

Expected CTR

• Google values high CTR for better ad placement and earnings
• Improve CTR by using Writing good ad copies and running A/B tests
• Increase CTR by using a "Bid popping" technique: Using higher initial bids leads to higher ad rank and a higher expected CTR, but it costs more initially

Ad Relevance

• Determined by the keywords in the ad
• Achieve this though Incorporation of relevant keywords and Organize ad groups around 5-10 closely related keywords

Landing Page Experiences

• Good web design principles improve landing page experience and reduce bounces
• Incorporate keywords on to the landing page
• Have a unique landing page for each ad group to match searchers' intent

Bidding Methods

• These typically use CPC, CPA and automated bidding

Impression

- occurs when ads are displayed
- counts each time an ad is loaded

CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions): - used for brand awareness. Advertisers pay for every one-thousand impressions their ad receives. CPA (Cost Per Acquisition):

• focus is placed on conversion, advertisers pay when users sign-up/purchase. CPC (Cost Per Click):
  • focus is placed on traffic and users click on the ad,

Conversion

• These metrics use a combination of CPC & CPA

Automated Bidding

• Uses algorithms, data, and time to outperform manual bidding and adjustments though keyword bids to maximize conversions within you established parameters for spend.
• Different Optimization models can also be used like conversion value

Manual Bidding

• Advertisers can manually bid with "Enhanced CPC" for bid optimization
• Recommend those with limited data, as automated bidding may take too long to deliver data.

What is Display Advertising?

• Display Network = a group of publishers following set of ad guidelines.
  • defines ad sizes for publisher (website).
  • manages ad placement.
  • collects payments from advertisers and shares revenue
  • provides reports back to the publisher.
• Publisher = a partner website in the display
• the website must meet the ad specification / sizing.

Advertiser

- Creates ads based on data provided
- Manages ad platform to show ads
- Sets targets/demographic ranges.
- Gains reports on ad placements
- Gains traffic from displayed ads