Testing is one of the key factors for successful PPC management.  Whether you’re testing landing pages, bids, positions, ad copy, keywords or campaigns, constantly making tweaks will ensure your program is always moving forward.

Google launched AdWords Campaign Experiments (ACE) in early June, making it more efficient for PPC managers to test and measure. With this tool, you can tweak bids, match types, ad copy, etc. over a period of time and measure the performance of the experiment(s) versus the control as they happen – all within AdWords.  Previously, PPC managers had to test these aspects manually:  benchmark results before the test, implement changes, monitor results, then compare results to the benchmark.

Now that Google has enhanced the way we can test, here are a few elements you should consider testing to ensure successful PPC management:

Test Ad Copy

Testing ad copy or creative will help you identify what messages your visitors respond to best.  Programs with successful PPC management test different Call-to-Actions and different creative within the ads. By testing different messages, you can determine which generate the most click throughs and which your visitors respond to least.

You may be surprised to learn that a free webinar isn’t what your audience wants – and they’re more interested in downloading a case study.

By testing ads featuring different benefits you can see which generates more quality clicks.  This will help you increase your click through rates, which will likely have a positive impact on your quality score.

Test PPC Bids and Positions

Testing different bids, which consequently can change the position of your ads, can have a significant impact.  Testing top positions (usually appearing above the organic results) versus lower positions (ads usually appearing to the right of organic listings) is a PPC management technique that many experts experiment with since ad position can substantially have an effect on the quantity and quality of your clicks.

While the top positions above the search results will likely generate a lot of clicks, testing a move to the side can be a money saving maneuver. As you may get fewer clicks, these may be higher quality visitors from your PPC program since people have viewed other ads before choosing yours.  They’re selectively choosing your ad over competitors, whereas some percent of searchers that click on the top ads are just clicking on the first listing they see.  You may find that the decrease in clicks/conversions/sales has a negative impact, which is why thorough PPC management including testing bids and positions is extremely important.

Test Landing Pages

There are limitless elements you can test on a landing page.  You can test the amount of content, position and color of the elements, Call-to-Actions, etc.   It’s important to ensure your visitors have consistency throughout the experience. If you mention a case study in the ad the visitor clicked on, the case study also needs to be mentioned on the landing page.  Testing at least two versions of a landing page will also help you see which performs best.

Since testing is such a big part of daily PPC management, and can help improve your campaign performance, the more often you test the better. Your PPC management skills become enhanced and you continue to learn best practices as a result of testing outcomes.