Last week, Google started rolling out a brand new AdWords feature called Search Funnels. It’s still in beta, of course, but we here at Engine Ready have been poking around with it anyway, like all shiny new toys deserve to be poked around with.

So, first things first, what the heck is a Search Funnel, and why the heck is it capitalized?

Well, you know how sometimes people don’t always buy things or sign up on the first click of your ad? Yes? Maybe?

Yes, sometimes they don’t. In fact, sometimes it takes quite a few search queries and clicks before a customer ever gets to the check out lane or sign-up form. That means, in a nutshell, that your PPC campaigns aren’t necessarily getting all the credit they deserve, especially when a customer does something like click on your ad, check things out, decide what they want, then wait until their paycheck comes in or their wife approves to get to your site organically and buy everything.

This is where the Search Funnel comes in. No longer will your campaigns be undercut by indecisive or vacillating searchers, because AdWords will be keeping tabs on every single click and query that leads to a conversion.

To put it simply: Search Funnel equals conversion path. All roads lead to the conversion, and the Search Funnel is the map.

So how do you check out this nifty new Search Funnel feature?

In your AdWords account, hover over the Reporting tab and click Conversions. Then, on the next screen, hit the Search Funnels option on the left hand side. This brings you to an overview of all your conversions, including stats on the average days, ad clicks, and ad impressions to conversion, among others.

So far, we’re still playing around with all the different data the Search Funnel feature provides, and we suggest that you do the same. While it might not change your entire outlook on conversion reporting in AdWords, it does provide some very valuable insight anyway. And yes, people can still switch computers and clear their cookies, so the system isn’t entirely perfect, but it’s still another step closer to the goal of happier optimizing.

Want more information on Search Funnels? Google’s got it covered.

Adwords, conversion improvement, conversion reporting

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This design below has been converting between 6 and 8 percent…

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conversion improvement, Landing Page Optimization

So you are getting visitors to click on those alluring 75 characters that make up your pay-per-click ad. The obvious good news is that your site is gaining traction, but the bad news is that you are shoving out advertising dollars on traffic, not guaranteed leads. Yes, more traffic most likely results in more leads, but there are ways to get the same amount of leads, if not more, by modifying your landing page. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could convert traffic into leads without spending the extra advertising dollars? Thus paying less and receiving more? Let’s go back to the basics:

Con-ti-nu-i-ty [kon-tn-oo-i-tee]

1. the state or quality of being continuous.
2. a continuous or connected whole.

Is the landing page congruent with the ad creatives? You may get plenty of visitors with an ad reading “Signup today to win a tropical cruise”, but your bounce rate will be through the roof if your landing page has images of Alaskan vacations. (more…)

conversion improvement, Landing Page Optimization