This work by Matt LeVeque is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Oct
9
Learning to See in PPC | The Pareto Principle
October 9, 2008 |
“IT’S NOT WHAT you look at that matters, it’s what you see”. I recently came across this quote by Henry David Thoreau which made me think about how I manage paid search accounts and what it is I look at and what it is I see and ultimately do. Unfortunately times are much different today than back when Thoreau lived deliberately along the shores of Walden Pond and in this fast paced World 2.0 we live in I would argue that it does matter what you look at and what you see and do.
The Vital Few & Trivial Many
From an agency perspective when there are multiple large client accounts* to manage it is critical to not allow yourself to get sucked into looking at every component of AdWords or Y!SM or adCenter. Many times a client will have all three programs in play and it is foolish to think you can or should be expected to manage each account down to every single keyword.
At a high level what I would suggest is that the obvious place to look for ways to improve an account is to begin where the spend or revenue is highest over a 30-60 day period. Keeping seasonality in mind, this typically where you can take action on ineffective, high cost, zero converting keywords and/or ad groups and make the best use of your time .
At a more technical level, if you want to understand where to begin apply the Pareto principle first at the Campaign level, then at the ad group level and then at the keyword level. The Pareto principle, also referred toas the 80/20 rule, suggests that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. In PPC that would mean 80% of all cost or revenue or some other KPI come from only 20% of your campaigns, ad groups, keywords or ad creatives.
Once you’ve determined where you want to begin your optimization work using the Pareto principle there are various actions you can apply such as pausing keywords, increasing or decreasing bids, adjusting match types. Beyond that you should try ad creative testing using Taguchi methods and mining search query reports for keyword expansion & negative keyword implementation.
Any one or a combination of these tactics should help move the needle up and to the right. The idea is to remember to stay focus on areas where you see the greatest opportunity to make an impact. Hopefully this advice will help you sort through the complexities of large, multiple PPC accounts allowing you to focus on making the most efficient use of your time and effective use of your sanity.
Related Article
Pay-Per-Click Process | What Do You See?
Related Tools & Resources
* I hesitate to put a number on ‘large client accounts’ for a number of reasons. I have come across accounts in all shapes and sizes and in some examples smaller accounts are more challenging than the bigger ones. The point, lager or small, remember to focus first on where you can make the greatest impact and prioritize your work from there.
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