Top 5 Free PPC Tools
It's December, and around the world the holidays are upon us. For many, the holidays bring a spirit of giving. In keeping with that spirit, I thought I'd list my top 5 favorite free PPC tools. Think of it as my PPC gift to you. (wink)
#1: Adwords Editor
Without a doubt, Adwords Editor is #1 on my list. All the other tools are, well, not useless, but much more difficult to put into practice without Adwords Editor. When I train new Fluency Media PPC staff, the first thing I have them do is "download Adwords Editor."
If you're new to PPC, or are a PPC Luddite, Adwords Editor is a downloadable application that lets you edit your Adwords campaigns offline. So if you're without an internet connection, you can still work on your campaigns, and then post the changes the next time you're connected.
Adwords Editor is also great for creating campaigns, copying campaigns, ad groups, or keywords, moving keywords or ads from one ad group to another, and making changes in bulk. It was originally developed as a tool for Adwords staff and was built off the Excel platform, so it has many of the features we all know and love from Excel, including find & replace, sorting, filtering, appending, copying….. You get the picture. I literally could not do my job effectively without this tool.
#2: Google Keyword Tool
While the Google Keyword Tool has undergone several recent changes, and is notoriously inaccurate at times, it's still my go-to tool for finding keywords. I like to start with the "website" feature, entering a URL and letting the tool tell me what keywords it thinks are relevant. Not only does this give you a lot of keyword ideas for your PPC campaigns, it alerts you to potential issues with the page that could negatively affect your PPC and SEO results. In other words, if you think the page is about one thing, but the keyword website tool tells you it's about another, you've got a problem - and you'll need to address it if you want to earn the best Quality Score and organic rankings.
#3: Acquisio Modified Broad Match Tool
I just discovered the Acquisio Modified Broad Match tool about 2 weeks ago, although it's been around since July. The guys at Acquisio are awesome - I consider Marc Poirer, their co-founder, to be a great friend in the SEM industry - and this tool is simply incredible.
Earlier this year, Google introduced Modified Broad Match and SEMs all said, "Finally!" It's long overdue, and is easy to implement if you're only modifying a couple of keyword or keyphrases. However, applying modified broad match to a long list of keywords is daunting. Excel's Concatenate function won't do it, Adwords Editor won't do it, and the thought of typing that "+" sign over and over is enough to make my stomach hurt.
Enter the Acquisio tool. Just copy and paste your keywords into the box, indicate whether you want all words modified or only specific words, and click "generate." Voila! It's that simple. I recently created a huge holiday campaign with several hundred modified broad match keywords in a fraction of the time it would have taken me otherwise, just by utilizing this tool.
#4: SplitTester and SuperSplitTester
If you're running ad copy tests (and you should be), you'll need a tool to tell you whether your test results are statistically significant or not. There are several good tools out there that fit the bill, but I like SplitTester and SuperSplitTester.
If you're just looking at one metric, i.e. CTR, conversion rate, or whatever, use SplitTester. Enter the number of clicks (for CTR) or conversions (for conversion rate) and the CTR or conversion rate percentage, and it tells you whether the results are significant, and at what confidence level.
SuperSplitTester takes it a step further and incorporates CTR, conversion rate, and cost per impression. It runs all those metrics through its super-secret algorithm, and tells you which variation will make you the most profit over time. We use this free tool for almost all of our clients' PPC tests, and the results speak for themselves.
#5: Twitter
Twitter? Yes, indeed - Twitter is one of my favorite PPC tools. It's not a tool like the other 4 I've listed, in that it doesn't take in data and spit out a result. Nonetheless, Twitter is my go-to place when I'm having a PPC problem that I can't solve, or when I want to get quick feedback on something. It's also become my news reader: I get breaking PPC news from Twitter before I see it anywhere else, and it aggregates everything into one place. Not only is it a great way to keep up with friends in the industry, it's really become a valuable PPC tool.
Bonus Tip:
Since I'm feeling especially generous, here is a bonus tip: My good friend Alex Cohen from ClickEquations wrote an article for Search Engine Watch not long ago on 43 Paid Search Tools. It's long, but as always, highly educational. Check it out!
#1: Adwords Editor
Without a doubt, Adwords Editor is #1 on my list. All the other tools are, well, not useless, but much more difficult to put into practice without Adwords Editor. When I train new Fluency Media PPC staff, the first thing I have them do is "download Adwords Editor."
If you're new to PPC, or are a PPC Luddite, Adwords Editor is a downloadable application that lets you edit your Adwords campaigns offline. So if you're without an internet connection, you can still work on your campaigns, and then post the changes the next time you're connected.
Adwords Editor is also great for creating campaigns, copying campaigns, ad groups, or keywords, moving keywords or ads from one ad group to another, and making changes in bulk. It was originally developed as a tool for Adwords staff and was built off the Excel platform, so it has many of the features we all know and love from Excel, including find & replace, sorting, filtering, appending, copying….. You get the picture. I literally could not do my job effectively without this tool.
#2: Google Keyword Tool
While the Google Keyword Tool has undergone several recent changes, and is notoriously inaccurate at times, it's still my go-to tool for finding keywords. I like to start with the "website" feature, entering a URL and letting the tool tell me what keywords it thinks are relevant. Not only does this give you a lot of keyword ideas for your PPC campaigns, it alerts you to potential issues with the page that could negatively affect your PPC and SEO results. In other words, if you think the page is about one thing, but the keyword website tool tells you it's about another, you've got a problem - and you'll need to address it if you want to earn the best Quality Score and organic rankings.
#3: Acquisio Modified Broad Match Tool
I just discovered the Acquisio Modified Broad Match tool about 2 weeks ago, although it's been around since July. The guys at Acquisio are awesome - I consider Marc Poirer, their co-founder, to be a great friend in the SEM industry - and this tool is simply incredible.
Earlier this year, Google introduced Modified Broad Match and SEMs all said, "Finally!" It's long overdue, and is easy to implement if you're only modifying a couple of keyword or keyphrases. However, applying modified broad match to a long list of keywords is daunting. Excel's Concatenate function won't do it, Adwords Editor won't do it, and the thought of typing that "+" sign over and over is enough to make my stomach hurt.
Enter the Acquisio tool. Just copy and paste your keywords into the box, indicate whether you want all words modified or only specific words, and click "generate." Voila! It's that simple. I recently created a huge holiday campaign with several hundred modified broad match keywords in a fraction of the time it would have taken me otherwise, just by utilizing this tool.
#4: SplitTester and SuperSplitTester
If you're running ad copy tests (and you should be), you'll need a tool to tell you whether your test results are statistically significant or not. There are several good tools out there that fit the bill, but I like SplitTester and SuperSplitTester.
If you're just looking at one metric, i.e. CTR, conversion rate, or whatever, use SplitTester. Enter the number of clicks (for CTR) or conversions (for conversion rate) and the CTR or conversion rate percentage, and it tells you whether the results are significant, and at what confidence level.
SuperSplitTester takes it a step further and incorporates CTR, conversion rate, and cost per impression. It runs all those metrics through its super-secret algorithm, and tells you which variation will make you the most profit over time. We use this free tool for almost all of our clients' PPC tests, and the results speak for themselves.
#5: Twitter
Twitter? Yes, indeed - Twitter is one of my favorite PPC tools. It's not a tool like the other 4 I've listed, in that it doesn't take in data and spit out a result. Nonetheless, Twitter is my go-to place when I'm having a PPC problem that I can't solve, or when I want to get quick feedback on something. It's also become my news reader: I get breaking PPC news from Twitter before I see it anywhere else, and it aggregates everything into one place. Not only is it a great way to keep up with friends in the industry, it's really become a valuable PPC tool.
Bonus Tip:
Since I'm feeling especially generous, here is a bonus tip: My good friend Alex Cohen from ClickEquations wrote an article for Search Engine Watch not long ago on 43 Paid Search Tools. It's long, but as always, highly educational. Check it out!
Labels: adwords, pay per click ad testing, pay per click strategy, search engine marketing
posted by Melissa at
8:04 AM
1 Comments:
I like that you put Twitter there, it works well if you know how to use it!
I would like to note that a new tool for media managers and SEM's is out now, Edge.BI, quoted on SearchEngineLand recently, and bringing business intelligence to paid advertising. It is not a me too campaign management tool and those that need to deal a lot with paid search data analysis may like it. Find Edge.BI in the SEL article here
http://searchengineland.com/from-web-analytics-sem-to-business-intelligence-55325
By
easynet_search_marketing, at 4:59 AM EST
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