How General Keywords Can Influence Brand-Related PPC Purchases
Which search queries are leading users to make a purchase? The search funnel reports within AdWords can provide deeper insights into your account's performance.
Which search queries are leading users to make a purchase? The search funnel reports within AdWords can provide deeper insights into your account's performance.
We began our discussion on utilizing Google AdWords’ Search Funnels to enhance the performance of your PPC campaign last time. Now let’s continue on this topic by exploring how to determine if your general search terms (non-brand) are influencing your brand-related conversions.
For many of the PPC campaigns that I’ve managed, brand-related keywords have driven a great deal of conversions. This makes sense because once a user is searching directly for your company/brand, they are well aware of who you are and they are ready to take action.
However, it’s a mistake to think that your brand-related terms are generating conversions without help from any other terms.
Most users probably don’t know your brand (unless you work for a Coke, Pepsi, or Nike, etc.). This means that they will start their search process with general terms. For example:
As you can see in this example, the conversion would be attributed to the brand-related keyword within AdWords. However, there may have been one or more search queries that lead the user to make a purchase.
While the search query process isn’t always this linear, it does happen. This type of analysis is mission critical to your PPC campaign for a few reasons:
To analyze this data, you should enter the conversion funnel section of your AdWords account. You should view the Top Paths report, as seen here:
This report shows the campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and search queries that contributed to conversions within your account.
I work with a client that sells certificates, lapels, and other items. Within the example below, I have marked where users started their buying process by searching on general terms and ended up converting on brand-related terms.
From the Top Paths, you can see terms that are contributing to conversions (but directly generating sales). However, this report can also provide validation for removing keywords/ad groups/campaigns that are underperforming. Here’s a quick (and generalized) example:
As you review these reports you’ll have to make decisions on how much leverage you’re willing to give to keywords that aren’t converting — but assisting with conversions.
Some terms may generate a great deal of traffic but only assist in a handful of sales. Are you willing to take the hit on terms such as these and chalk it up to gaining more visibility with a poor ROI? You’ll have to make that call.
The search funnel reports within AdWords can provide deeper insights into your account’s performance. These reports can be overwhelming when you first begin to review them, but this only because they contain some much useful information. Do yourself a favor, and take the time to master these reports and improve the performance of your AdWords account.