It’s Spring cleaning time!
It’s that time of year again, spring has arrived and it’s time to air things out and clean up. Just as your house may need a good cleaning, your AdWords account could likely use some sprucing up as well. Here are some quick and easy tips that can make a big difference in your account performance.
It’s Time To Let Go
If you are packing up your winter clothes and are about to include that blue poncho sweater thing you haven’t worn since 2001, get rid of it. Now. Like the sweater, we need to let go of things that just don’t work for us anymore and likely never will. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and not know where to start though.
It’s simple, really. Look at your AdWords data over the past year (this should be done more often but this is a spring cleaning article!) Sort by the highest costing campaign and start there. Look at each ad group within that campaign and the overall cost per acquisition (CPA). Which ad group has the highest CPA? Now do the same with the keywords within that ad group. You may want to pause some keywords or perhaps the whole ad group if you deem that it has been costly and not converting well.
Another easy way to further streamline your account is to delete keywords with 0 impressions and 0 clicks. It’s very important to pause keywords with low click through rates (CTR) as well. 
Isolate To Optimize
Let’s be honest, many people experience the, “Uh-oh, summer clothes a little too tight” saga. Don’t beat yourself up about it too much. It happens to the best of us. Focus on the things that do fit and wear them well (and maybe, increase your daily workout a little and stop eating those late night snacks). And just like focusing on those summer clothes that look great, focus on those ad groups and keywords that perform great. Break down campaigns further by isolating your top performing ad groups into new campaigns.
Try New Things
It’s spring and I hate cleaning. Trying something new is always a positive thing. If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest new options available in your account you have some work to do. There is always something new to try! Check out the AdWords blog and the Ad Innovations Blog to see what you may have missed during that winter hibernation.
What’s new?
Broad Match Modifier Although it seems this has been around for ages; we are often finding when reviewing new accounts that this option has not been introduced. If you have struggled with broad match in the past, you should try this match type.
AdWords Automated Rules Going on spring break and want a new promo to go live while you’re away? No problem. With automated rules you can set ads to go live at a specific time. You can also set rules to automatically change bids according to CTR and conversion data or simply bid to position.
New Display Network Tab This was announced in late March 2012 and you can access and optimize display network campaigns from one place. The contextual targeting tool has also been revamped.
