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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.


5 Seriously Underused Paid Search Strategies

AdWords is one of the best ways to raise brand awareness and acquire new users, but it can be tricky. In this article, Asi Dayan outlines five effective paid search strategies that most advertisers tend to overlook.

A Look Inside Google Ads’ New Ad Suggestions Feature

Ad Suggestions are designed to help busy advertisers who aren't diligently split testing their ad copy do just that. Learn what ad suggestions are, how they work, and how they can positively impact your Google Ads account.

Google’s "More Results" Test Could Spell Drastic Change in Paid Search

In this post, we’ll give a full rundown on the More Results test as it has unfolded, and discuss the potentially substantial ripples it could send throughout the world of paid and organic search.

4 Boxes to Check Before You Think About Scaling Your Online Ads

Think it's time to scale your Google AdWords or Facebook ads? Think again! If you're not prepared, your wallet and your well-being could implode. Learn the four essential items you must complete prior to scaling your paid advertising efforts.

How to Link Google Ads & Search Console to Understand Your Paid & Organic Search Relationship

Learn how you can better understand the relationship between your organic and paid search marketing efforts by linking your Google AdWords and Search Console accounts.

Inactive Google Ads Accounts Are About to Go Bye-Bye

Starting Monday, March 26, inactive AdWords accounts—defined by Google as those that have not spent any money at all in the past 15 months—will be cancelled. Here's everything you need to know about why it's happening (and how to reactivate your cancelled account).

PPC Playoffs: Improve Your AdWords Performance & Win $2,500 in Prizes

This year, for the first time, WordStream is bringing the excitement of playoff basketball to the world of AdWords. Starting March 5th, we’ll be putting on a winner-take-all tournament to decide, once and for all, who can most improve their AdWords account performance. Winner walks away with $2,500 in prizes!

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.

Allen Finn
February 27, 2018 | Paid Search Marketing

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.

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).

Allen Finn
February 15, 2018 | Paid Search Marketing

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.

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!

Allen Finn
February 12, 2018 | Paid Search Marketing

Are You Missing 80% of Your Conversions? The Importance of Call Tracking [Case Study]

AdWords conversion tracking is time consuming and confusing: one simple mistake can cost your business money. This is especially true for on-site call tracking. Learn how to resolve complex call on-site call tracking issues through this valuable case study!

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.

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!

Allen Finn
December 18, 2017 | Paid Search Marketing

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.

Allen Finn
December 18, 2017 | Paid Search Marketing

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.

Mark Irvine
November 29, 2017 | Paid Search Marketing

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.

Mark Irvine
November 28, 2017 | Paid Search Marketing