Step-by-Step with Your Google Adwords Keyword-Targeted Campaign

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NEW VIDEO TUTORIAL AVAILABLE! This tutorial now available on video. Click the video image below to start watching or simply continue to scroll down the page for the written tutorial.

Prefer to Read? The Written Tutorial is Below:

1. To start a keyword-targeted (pay-per-click) campaign, on your main account page, you'll want to click "keyword-targeted" as shown below:

2. This will take you to a screen where you need to choose a few settings. Here you'll a.) name your campaign b.) name this ad group (you will be able to make more ad groups within a campaign later) and c.) the language(s) you want to target with your campaign.

TIP: Your campaign will probably have a more general category name (ex. "baby strollers") and each ad group will be more specific phrases/products within that category (ex. "ergonomic strollers"). You want each ad group to be as specific as possible.

3. On the same screen, you can now choose the location(s) you want to target with your ad. You'll see something like this below:

When you click the "change targeting" link as shown above, a pop-up screen will appear that allows you to specify where you want your ad targeted. The pop-up screen that appears will allow you to search on a map, but it is likely easier to click the "Browse" tab and choose from the list of countries shown.

If you click the + sign on each country, you can further target your locations.

4. When you've chosen your location(s), click "Continue":

5. Next, you'll be adding your first ad for this ad group: Enter your headline, first line of your ad (Description Line 1), second line of your ad (Description Line 2), the URL you want to show in the ad, the actual URL where you want your visitor to go.

Tips:

• Pay close attention to the line lengths. The maximums are shown below.
• The display URL needs to include your domain name, even if it is not exactly the same as the destination URL.

When you've entered your ad details, click "Continue".

6. Create more ads. At the top of the next screen, you'll see the opportunity to "Create New Ad". Click this and enter text for your next ad.

You'll be taken to a screen much like the one in step #5, but your ad text will already be filled in for you. To start with, we recommend simply using the same ad and simply changing the headline as headlines tend to have the most influence on the success of an ad.

Once you're done, click "Continue" again and repeat the process once more. You want to have 3 ads with different headlines to start with, so you can determine a winner among those ads.

7. Choose your keywords. This page offers you a variety of tools on the page. On the right you'll see that Google attempts to create categories of keywords based on the destination URL you input. You can click any of those categories to get more keywords that you can easily add into the box on the left. You can also enter a word or phrase into the search box for more suggestions.

If you have an independent keyword list that you created based on research at  WordTracker or other online databases, you can paste those into the box on the left.

Tip: Remember as we discuss in the previous page, AdWords allows you to show your ads only when an exact phrase is entered without any extra words (exact match) or the exact phrase plus extra words allowed (phrase match).

Put quotation marks:

" "

around the phrases you want "phrase match" for.

Put brackets:

[ ]

for an "exact match"

When you're done entering your keywords, click "Continue".

8. Set pricing for your campaign. Enter how much you're willing to pay per day for your campaign as shown below:

9. Next you'll choose the maximum you're willing to pay per click. This is not necessarily how much you WILL pay. Google automatically adjusts your bid, so you only pay as much as you need to in order to move into a higher position...plus, remember you are rewarded for having an ad with a good click through rate.

CPC = Cost Per Click

(Note: We are leaving the CPC Content Bid  that is shown below blank as we are only looking for pay-per-click ads on our first campaign. You can edit your campaign settings to remove this option when you're done by clicking on the campaign on your main page and clicking "Edit Campaign Settings" at the top. On the right side, you'll want to make sure that the box for "Content Network" is unchecked. It's always a good idea to go through all your settings when you're done to ensure you didn't miss anything.)

Always click the "View Traffic Estimator" as shown above as it will give you a good idea of your competition and where you might want to adjust your bids. In order to get a good position (aim for the 2nd, 3rd of 4th ad showing) to start with, you might want to start your bids high. After you've established a good clickthrough rate, you can reduce your bids.

An example from the Traffic Estimator" is below. It shows you the estimated cost per click to get in the top positions, how many clicks per day and the estimated cost per day.

When you've established your maximum bid, click "Continue". You'll be asked to review everything on the next page. When you've done so, you can "Save Campaign" or "Create Another Ad Group."

Then repeat the process.