There are many PPC account managers out there who are so tied to their original campaign structures that their account performance remains stagnant or even falters in the ever changing landscape of search engine marketing.

Whether it be out of fear or pride, we cannot expect a campaign which was created a year or more ago to still be relevant today.  Trendy strategies which were developed under different rules (such as Quality Score), under different economic conditions and under different webpage designs may now be inhibiting the goal of continued growth within a PPC account.

When an account starts to slip, strategies no longer work, CPA & CPC increases – You need to ask yourself… When is enough, enough?

I chose a late verse out of the song ‘In the Year 2525′- By Zager & Evans, to illustrate the concept:

In the year 8510
God’s gonna shake his mighty head
He’ll either say I’m pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

The song has to do with the evolution of man from his original ‘design’ and how, overtime, that design lost relevance.  Ultimately towards the end of the song man is wiped away. The last verse begins with the same lyrics as the 1^st verse – Thus restarting the cycle.

Visit the following links for the YouTube Video and Song Lyrics: Lyrics / Video

How does this relate? – Don’t be afraid to take your account, tear it down, and start again. Reevaluate the structure keywords, negatives, ad creative, grouping and overall account structure and begin it all over again.  You have learned many things over the past year, now re-apply that to a structure more conducive to those strategies.

Google allows you to undelete any/all campaigns which made it into an account; don’t allow fear to be the reason inhibiting you from making drastic changes.  Don’t fear that your historical data will start from scratch, if you need it, you can still run a manual.  Don’t allow your pride to get the best of you.  That masterpiece you constructed in Google over so many countless hours may now be at time in which to say goodbye to.  “Pride is a personal commitment. It is an attitude which separates excellence from mediocrity.” – Unknown

I can affirm to you – Your beloved keyword history/click-discount WILL translate into your new campaigns.  Of the dozen or so times I have used this strategy, it has been effective for me 100% of the time.  Below are the performance changes of my last rebuild. An ever increasing average CPC was our main challenge to overcome.  We rebuilt it, started our keywords at a much lower CPC, and adjusted it up form there based on its new performance starting on July 22nd, 2009.

This is the 3rd rebirth of this account.  It is built to address the world of today, not of yesterday.

Account Structure, PPC