Ever since my days of composing film scores, I've said that simplicity is an art. In those days, I said it because I was not very good at composing and lacked the technical knowledge to compose complex scores. I had to write simple pieces. Now that I'm in marketing, I fully appreciate the meaning behind that statement. Complexity impresses marketers, but not customers. Customers want simplicity, convenience, and ease of use. This is why one of the best things you can do to optimize conversion rates is to "remove friction" in the buying process. When it comes to Google Ads accounts, I find the same principle to hold true. The more complex an ad account gets, the less likely it is to handle change. Markets change over time, buying patterns change, (Lord knows people change), and very little remains constant. Except for principles. If you understand the principles behind marketing and human psychology, you can build a stable foundation in all of your ad accounts that you proceed to build on over time. Complexity, when done right, is nothing but layered simplicity. One simple layer added onto another, and another, and another... begins to look complex. When done wrong, complexity is a jumbled mess with unnecessary steps and elements that exist for nothing more than the ego of the one who designed it. This is the backstory behind my facepalm when I saw an account with a $500/mo account-wide budget that had 214 keywords. Because of the 80/20 principle, I know that most accounts are going to be carried by a small batch of keywords. Those keywords may trigger many different search terms, but the terms that convert the most won't vary a ton. Most everyone learns what to search for in a given industry and they use that when they're ready to buy. So you really don't need to throw 214 broad match keywords into an account that can only spend $500/mo. You may not even need 214 keywords in an account that spends $5,000/mo. With so many keywords in an account, Google sends the budget toward the things people search first and/or search the most.

I have an HVAC client that wants to focus on "air conditioning repair" for the summer. I initially went with google recommendations with broad match keywords and was getting decent results but still a lot of "off target" leads. I switched to phrase match keywords and now google is telling me that I need to increase my budget. Is this normal?

Greetings, Folks! I'm a recovering high school English teacher turned marketer. I put my writing skills to work as a copywriter, then found that my clients needed help not only with the messaging but also with message distribution. So I'm building my paid ads skills so that I can better serve my clients. I'm currently nomadic, traveling around the country in a converted school bus chasing whitewater (my other passion) and park the bus for the winter and head to Ecuador where the quality of whitewater is high and the cost of living is low. Looking forward to learning from all of you!

There is a lot of confusion about which bidding strategies to use and why, so I want to share my thoughts. (Disclaimer: there is no 100% right or wrong answer. If you try something that should be right for you and it doesn't work, change it! Marketing is all about starting with your best guess, then monitoring and adapting based on the data.) Manual CPC: When you absolutely, positively HAVE to maintain full control over your bidding. (I pretty well never use this anymore) If you're going to use this strategy, expect to spend a lot more time analyzing engagement metrics around device, demographics, time, location, etc, and adjusting bids at those levels and at the keyword level. Enhanced CPC (eCPC): The same as Manual CPC, but with the option to let the algorithm in just a bit for bid increases when Google thinks a conversion is likely. Can choose to optimize for conversions or conversion value. CPCs are affected by all bid adjustments. This is a great choice when you're starting a new account and need to collect some conversion data before going full-auto on bids. Maximize Clicks: A strategy I always told people not to use and now find myself testing from time to time. As with the other click-centric bidding strategies (manual and eCPC), it is affected by all bid adjustments. This is a strategy to use with caution. It attempts to get as many clicks as possible, which can cause it to bid low to get more clicks for the available budget. Low bids can mean low ad position, which can mean low CTR, which can mean low impression share, which can mean the only clicks you get are from bottom-of-the-barrel search terms. If high-intent CPCs are generally low in your industry and you have a good amount of budget, you could test this to collect conversion data, but eCPC is generally considered a safer starting point. (I see this used more with Display or Brand campaigns) Target Impression Share: Easy to mess up, not always worth the effort. This is used most with Brand campaigns, from what I see. The idea is to show up in the top 3 or absolute top ad position as often as possible. It is only affected by 100% negative bid adjustments on device.

Pure fun and no brain power required. What is your favorite Bidding Strategy? Bonus points if you leave a comment explaining why. (NOTE:This is absent of context on purpose)