Marketers generally don't audit their search campaigns, but when they do, it's usually when the project is not going as well as expected. So typically what they do is put their work up for tender in the hope that a new agency will get them back on track. However, instead of waiting until things have gotten so bad that a switch is considered or that you have to ask your agency to come up with new ideas, why don't you ask a neutral party to audit things? Call it a fine-tune up.
Here's what digital marketers should focus on as they evaluate their search campaigns.
Why audit in the first place?
It's simple: to check that what you're doing is working and if it's resonating with your target audiences. Search is an accountable and efficient medium, but often there are lots of hidden inefficiencies. An audit can dig into the granular details, uncover the inefficiencies, and show you where and how you can get the most out of your search. There is always room for improvement, regardless of how bad or good things seem.
Reducing waste
When agencies manage search campaigns, marketers are often unaware of the complex, behind-the-scenes work taking place on their campaigns. And unfortunately these activities can cause a lot of wastage that is generally hidden by agencies. A third-party audit helps highlight this wastage and helps put the steps in place to lessen them in the future.
Uncovering hidden problems
Traditionally, there are very few people who truly understand how search engines like Google work. What the audit does is look at the search campaign's data at a granular level -- from a "Google perspective" -- highlighting discrepancies in how people are managing and using their keyword data.
For example, an audit highlights issues with some of the basic elements responsible for campaign success, such as how well query data are being interpreted and matched with advertisements, and how broad and exact match phrases are doing.
However, one of the main challenges with carrying out such a granular audit is that there are so many data points that are gathered. The problem with this is that there are very few people who are suitably qualified to analyze, interpret, and make recommendations on data.
Therefore, it is crucial that whoever has been tasked to lead the audit has the necessary skills to make the exercise worthwhile. This is, arguably, the gem that will help you take your campaign to that next level.
Only once all these factors have been taken into account can marketers and their agencies take the next steps required to improve their search campaigns.
There are four steps to an audit. They are as follows:
1. Clean your data and get them into a format that will give you insight down the line. Before any data can be extracted and interpreted, the data need to be cleansed, and all the unnecessary information needs to be removed. This is critical, as it will influence the outcome of the audit.
2. Extract the data using a proven data extraction methodology. If extraction is done properly, it will make life a lot easier in the next step of analyzing and interpreting the data.
3. Analyze the data. This step speaks for itself. At this stage, the audit interprets any key trends, highlighting where waste might be occurring or where problems might exist.
4. Optimize, optimize, optimize. Now that the data have been interpreted, you can begin to act on them. Using the analysis, new tactics can be put in place to improve the search marketing campaign and increase the number of keyword matches and click-throughs.
Following these steps will enable marketers to understand any inherent problems they might be unaware of in their campaigns so that they can make improvements. In addition, it will also benefit the user in the long run as the searches that they are entering will be found, and ultimately be more relevant.
Overall, an audit can also help marketers find significant cost savings on keywords that might not work, and also help show them where they should be allocating their budget -- and if more or less is required.
Conclusion
If marketers decide to go down this route, they need to do so with objectivity and fairness in mind. They shouldn't view an audit as a means to replace their existing agency if things aren't going as expected, but as an opportunity to highlight what is (or isn't) working, and discover how they can collectively be more efficient with their resources. After all, it might be that your agency is doing a good job already.
Chris Neuner is managing director, North America, at Acceleration.
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