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Paid Search Marketing

Paid search marketing is a critical tool for any marketer or small business owner. But it’s not easy. From navigating the world of bidding, to writing ad copy that resonates, to setting up Google Ads conversion tracking and more: there are a lot of skills that fall under the paid search marketing umbrella. At WordStream, we’re here to help you refine those skills. Check out our paid search marketing blogs and get the knowledge you need to succeed.


Using Google’s New Mobile Speed Scorecard & Impact Calculator to Improve Your AdWords Account

Google just released two new free tools to help advertisers succeed on mobile. Today, we’re going to take an in-depth look at both free tools--the speed scorecard and the impact calculator--and discuss how they can be used to lower cost and improve performance in your AdWords account.

8 Ways to Improve Your Finance & Bank Advertising with AdWords

The financial and banking industries are highly competitive, and costs for advertising can be high. But that doesn't mean you can't advertise! Here are are eight smart, data-driven strategies to make your bank advertising a success.

Google Ads Event Tracking Made Easy

AdWords custom event tracking is an amazing way to quantify all those valuable actions taken on your website that regular old conversion tracking can’t capture. Today, senior paid marketing strategist Griffin Nauss discusses custom event tracking setup.

7 Ways to Stop Burning Your Google Ads Budget

Using Google AdWords is the only way to ensure that your brand appears at the very top of the page when people are searching for products or services like yours. But it's easy to waste money on AdWords. Make sure you're following these practices to get ROI from your AdWords buys.

How Will Chrome’s New Ad Blocker Impact Your Ads?

Google just launched a new ad blocker for Chrome. Its primary purpose is to combat and eradicate poor mobile browsing experiences, but how will it affect your advertising? Here’s what the new Chrome ad filter is actually going to do (and how it’s going to do it).

10X Your A/B Testing with Google Ads Variations

Google AdWords Ad Variations help advertisers test fresh copy at scale. But first you need to know how to use them. Learn about the three different types of AdWords text ad variations, how to implement them, and some unique ideas for testing brand new, high CTR ad copy in your account!

Here’s How the Google Speed Update Will Impact Your Site (& Google Ads Account)

Google just made a change to its mobile ranking factors. It's called the Speed Update, and it could impact your organic rankings and the amount you pay in AdWords. Learn what the Speed Update is and what you can do to determine its impact on your business.

How Did Google’s Recent Budget Changes Actually Impact Advertisers? [Data]

In 2017 Google announced that it was changing the way it allocated daily budgets in AdWords, a change that allowed the search giant to increase daily spend by 100% on any given day. What was the impact on real advertiser accounts? We looked at the data to see exactly how this change played out at the end of 2017.

The Great PPC Diet: How to Correct Over-Optimization in Paid Search

It's the perfect time of year to get your pay-per-click campaigns in fighting shape, but did you know you can actually OVER-optimize in PPC? Too many ads, too many keywords, or overly granular product groups are a few of the ways you can sink your results. Here's how to fix it.

What Rehab & Addiction Facilities Need to Know About Recent Google Policy Changes [Data]

Google has started restricting ads that come up when someone searches for addiction treatment on its site. Here's what you need to know about these sudden Google ad policy changes and how they'll affect you.

8 Real, Data-Backed Predictions for PPC in 2018

Between new features and new advertising channels, 2018 promises to be a crazy year for PPC. To learn more about what might be on the horizon, dig into WordStream Senior Data Scientist Mark Irvine's 8 Real Data-Backed Predictions for PPC in 2018!

RIP Google Ads Review Extensions (+ What to Replace Them With)

Your AdWords ads will no longer have the privilege of being accompanied by third-party reviews in the form of review extensions. Learn about what's changing and how to replace your old review extensions with other AdWords Features.

Google’s New Campaign Total Budget vs. Daily Budget Setting: Which Should You Use?

Advertisers now have the choice between setting up a daily budget or a campaign total budget when managing their campaigns in AdWords. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of each campaign type so you can decide which budget setting is right for your campaigns.

5 AdWords Scripts for Smarter Bidding

AdWords has built-in tools to help with bidding, but to really excel, it’s helpful to use some additional tools to enhance your flexibility. These scripts help automate the AdWords bidding process, enabling far greater control and speeding things up by avoiding repetition.

How to Supercharge Conversions with Targeted Ad Groups

Learn the 16 simple steps to supercharge your AdWords conversions! Your account's keywords and demographics for search hold the secret to improved conversion volume. Using AdWords and Google Analytics, you can optimize your ad copy to further enhance performance.

The Year in Google Ads: The 27 Biggest Stories of 2017

AdWords had tons of major changes in 2017! From platform redesign to new features to fundamental strategic adjustments, the world's most popular search marketing platform experienced MAJOR upheaval. Learn more about the 27 most profound changed AdWords experienced this year!

Major Changes to Google Ad Grants: What Your Nonprofit Needs to Know

Last week, Google made some major changes to how their ad grant program works. These alterations will 'add clarity and raise standards of quality for [Google’s] free advertising grants.' Here’s everything you need to know to ensure that your nonprofit can maintain its Google Ad Grant.

Every Important Google Algorithm Update Since 2003

Google's search algorithm has evolved quite a bit over the years. Here's a to-date history of every important Google algorithm update since 2003.

Google Releases Life Events Targeting to Everyone!

Life events targeting in AdWords is now available to everyone! Learn how and why to target audiences going through important life events like marriage, graduation, or moving.

Google Customer Match Expands to Include Targeting by Phone Number & Address

As great as customer match is though, not all advertisers have a large list of emails for their customers or prospects to target their ads. Even when they did, Google wasn’t able to match every email to a user on their network.

4 Super-Useful New Google Ads Features You Need to Try

Google just unleashed 4 super-useful new AdWords features to help you improve performance in every cranny of your paid search account. Here's everything you need to know about them.

3 Creative Ways to Use Ad Extensions (that Google Won’t Tell You About!)

What kind of online advertiser doesn’t want a competitive advantage? Use these three creative, alternative applications for ad extensions to dominate your competition in AdWords.

The 8 Best Tools for Finding Competitor Keywords

Need to see what keywords your competitors are using? Check out these eight powerful tools you should incorporate into your competitive keyword research workflow.

How to 3X Google Ads Conversion Rates Without Touching Google Ads

I've discovered that you can drastically reduce cost per conversion and increase conversion rates in a Google Ads RLSA campaign, without even touching Google Ads! Here's how.

Case Study: Google Search Ads vs. Facebook Ads for a Small Local Business

By testing and trialling both Facebook ads and Google search ads as part of the marketing mix, you can find what works best for you. Here's what happened for a small local business.

Guest Author
October 27, 2017
Facebook Ads

How to Pass the Google AdWords Certification Exam: 7 Tips from Newly Certified Professionals

Need a little help preparing for the AdWords certification exam? Learn helpful info on how to pass the AdWords exam from recently certified professionals, including study tips and more.

Breaking: Major Changes to How Google Spends Your Budget

Google has announced a major change to the way daily budgets work and can now spend TWICE your daily budget on any given day. Learn more about how your ad spend will be impacted.