Conversion Optimizer really works – now there has never been a more important time to be using Conversion Tracking in your Google AdWords campaigns.

But to get the best from it, it’s essential you know your numbers and have established a realistic Cost per Acquisition (CPA).

• What it is
• Why you need it
• What it does
• How to get it
• How to implement it
• How to manage it
• How to turn it off

What it is
Conversion optimiser from Google is a free, fully-automated, intelligent and learning keyword bidding program.

There are paid bid management services available, but with Google’s system you no longer need them.

Why you need it
You need it because every keyword you’re bidding on has a different conversion rate depending on many factors, including

• bid price
• click through rate
• ad delivery
• ad serving
• network (search, partner and content)
• daily budget
• time of day scheduled
• location
• other advertiser ads
• keyword match types

Conversion Optimizer takes all these factors into account and automatically controls your bid prices depending on the highest conversion potential of your Keyword at your predetermined cost per action (CPA).

Keywords not delivering conversions at or below your target CPA are gradually eliminated from the auction by lowering bids until no clicks result.

How to get it
You must have Conversion Tracking enabled on your campaign, and Google has recently lowered the eligibility to only 30 conversions in the last 30 days – that’s just one a day.

If you have converting ad groups in a different campaign which isn’t eligible, it’s recommended to move them to the Conversion Optimiser campaign (use AdWords Editor to drag and drop them all).

You can be eligible sooner, but it’s recommended at least 14 days conversion history data exists to enable Conversion Optimiser to function effectively.

Make sure you’re not going to be making any significant changes to your campaign before turning it on.

How to implement it
If you’re eligible, you can turn it on in your campaign bidding strategy options.

If not, it will tell you how many conversions have accrued over the previous 30 days so you can see how close you are.

How to manage it
There are some intriguing twists to campaign settings with Conversion Optimizer in charge, which are the opposite to many common best practices.

They are:

• set ads to Optimise Delivery (not Rotate)
• if introducing a new ad for testing, set delivery back to Rotate for a time whilst the optimiser learns the new performance history
• set Delivery to Accelerated
• make sure your Daily Budget is sufficient and keep an eye on it
• turn Scheduling off (unless you have human intervention in your conversion funnel)
• you can safely enable Search Partner networks as Partner sites not converting are eliminated from serving ads
• you can safely run on Content Network, as non-converting sites are eliminated
• Broad (Expanded) match is desirable, so police this with your Search Query Reports
• you can safely set your target CPA to below Google’s recommendation without affecting conversion cost although traffic and conversions may reduce
• You should manage each ad group to your target CPA, rather than the whole campaign – well-converting ad groups can be set significantly under target CPA to fund the others.

You can safely revert back to a different Bidding Strategy at any time, and historical performance prior to Conversion Optimizer is preserved

Here’s an interesting article with their findings so far

http://searchenginewatch.com/3632476

If you’ve any questions, as ever just ask them at the Helpdesk