I get this question all the time.
The typical scenario goes something like this:
We open up a PPC account, put keywords and ads in and send off a “Your account is live” email, which generally prompts the client to go to Google.com and start typing in keywords. Since the account has just been set up, the positions may still be low and there are any number of reasons the ads are not to be seen. A major one is geographic targeting! If the campaign is targeting somewhere in the US and the client is here, well those ads are not going to show.
But because they can’t see their ad, they keep trying with those same keywords over and over.
This is when the problems arise. When a person on a computer searches for the same keywords over and over without ever clicking on an ad, Google ‘thinks’ the search results are not appropriate for this person and will eventually change them. This will make those ads disappear. If the ads are showing up but not being clicked on, then the impressions within the PPC account are going up, clicks are still at zero. This is bad. Now we have a terrible CTR which then affects the quality score which affects the bids needed to be in top positions and on and on!
There is however a solution! A really simple one at that.
Google has this handy little tool called the Ad Preview tool. What this does is it mimics the exact Google interface and shows all the paid ads etc. What’s neat is that you can actually select the geographical area as well as the platform (google.com, google.ca etc) you would like to search. The beauty is that this tool doesn’t affect your account in any way and you can search as many times as you want and your ads will show up unless there are other issues like budget restraints etc.
Have a look at the following link to see the tool:
https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool
It is really important to use the tool to not manipulate the data in the account. If you have questions, feel free to contact us!
