As it was Halloween yesterday, I thought I’d share my favourite PPC horror story.
I call it…
“The Broadest of all Broad Keywords”
Here’s what happened…
I once had a client who helped people get UK visas.
And, for some clients, he was even able to offer a service where he could get you a visa the same day.
But, to do that, some things had to be true. For a start, you had to already be in the UK.
Anyway…
Before this guy was my client, Google kept trying to give him “advice” about his PPC campaigns.
He’d get phone calls from their reps. They’d send him emails – offering to help.
And, eventually, he relented.
He said, “OK, set up some new campaigns for me. But leave them paused so I can review them before I make them go live.”
So the Google rep created a bunch of new campaigns.
One of those campaigns was set to run worldwide. And, within that campaign, was an ad group with the broad match keyword “next day.”
So, wherever you were in the world, if you did a search that contained the words “next” and “day” (or close variants), you could trigger his ad.
So, if you were in Melbourne, and searched for “next day flowers,” his ad could be triggered.
Or, if you were in New Orleans and wanted a “USB cable with next day delivery,” you could see his ad.
If that campaign had been allowed to run, it could have burned through a ton of money.
Now, fortunately, the guy was smart. He saw one look at the nonsense Google had created for him, and called me. And I worked with him to create some effective campaigns.
The moral of the story?
Just because someone is a Google rep doesn’t mean they know anything about how to increase your PPC profits.
Chances are, they’re working off a script and never given any thought to your business or what you’re trying to achieve.
And taking advice from a marketer who doesn’t understand your business is like taking advice from a doctor who hasn’t examined you.
Just my 2p,
Steve Gibson
