Searching To See Your Ads on Google is a Bad Idea.
So you’re using Google’s AdWords to promote your property, and you want to see how your ad looks (or if the darn ad even shows up!). You enter the keywords you’ve targeted and search results pages appear. If your ad does show you’re happy…but wait, there’s an issue. You’ve damaged your ad’s Click-Thru-Rate!
Google uses a complex secret algorithm to calculate ad rank, choosing the higher ranking ads to display higher up on the page. One measure of ad rank is the click-thru-rate–the percent of people who see the ad then click thru to your web site.
Damaged Ad Ranking?
Every time the ad is shown on a page Google counts it as an ad impression but if people don’t use your ad, they don’t click, it’s counted too. Low click rates mean a poor, irrelevant ad. If you cause your ad to display but don’t click thru, you’ve told Google your ad is not relevant. [If you do click it will cost you money].
Use Google’s Preview Tool
Our friends at Google have provided a method for advertisers to conduct the searches to check on ad appearance without harming ad rank or increasing impressions. It’s called the Google Ad Preview Tool. This tool is built into all AdWords accounts, under the Tools tab at the top of the account screen. But I prefer to use their anonymous link, just quicker to access and use: https://adwords.google.com/apt/anon/AdPreview
This post is inspired by an article from Jeff B. Copeland at Dex Media. Read the Dex Media article for even more useful information.
Do your ad checking searches using the AdPreview tool and you won’t be impacting your all important Ad Rank.
Not using AdWords or Analytics by Google? Maybe we should talk…
David Strait
The RV Park Marketing Guy