Every single day PPC account managers typically start by reviewing the performance of their accounts from the previous day. Not every account manager starts their day exactly like this but every elite PPC account manager typically completes these 4 daily tasks to achieve the best results for their clients.

#1 Mine Search Term Reports

Mining search term reports is not an easy task but are one that pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee after first sitting at your desk. The purpose of mining search term reports is to find either unintended paid for searches to negate or new keywords to add.

Add Negatives

One of the earliest rules all new PPC account managers learn is that it is better to add a negative to your ad group then adjust your bid. Negatives impact your quality score in a positive manner by reducing the number of search terms that are correlated to your keyword i.e. search term density.

Also, negating search terms that are not intended to be a part of your campaigns that were launching your keywords ensure proper campaign management on behalf of your clients. If you’re advertising on the keyword “+yellow running +shoes” somehow launches for a user searching for “yellow Nickelback shoes”, then “Nickelback” would be a prime negative candidate.

Create New Keywords

Search term reports provide new keyword opportunities for campaigns as well since they provide insights into what exactly a user searched prior to clicking your ad. With this important user-level insight into the performance of your campaigns, taking that insight and adding new keywords to match what users are searching for is highly recommended.

#2 Adjust Bids

Bids are one of the most important entry points into all PPC campaigns that need continual monitoring and maintenance. This includes both increasing and decreasing bids to achieve the best performance.

The number of dimensions to be bid against in PPC campaigns is ever growing year after year. Account managers need to analyze performance across keyword, audience, interest, device, location, age, gender, income status, and the list goes on.

Increase Bids

With new advertisers entering the search marketplace every day increased bids to remain competitive in results pages might be possible. Increasing bids should be a last resort tactic after increasing negatives. However, it’s always best to be mindful of all potential upward changes in bids that may be necessary.

Decrease Bids

With ever-increasing negative keywords, in an ad group, campaign, and/or account, cost per click decreases with increased relevancy. Bids on keywords that are over 50% higher than the average cost per click over the past 30 days leds to “false economies” and over priced auctions. Continual downward adjustment of bids to accommodate increased relevancy is key for all PPC account managers.

#3 Check For Down Pages

A nightmare for anyone in PPC is sending traffic to a 404 page. Pages fall off of a website, IT updates something on the backend, or any number of changes could have a real impact. Ensuring all traffic that is being paid for and directed to a website necessitates checking landing pages to make sure they are active and running smoothly.

Pause Campaigns

If there are issues with the landing pages this necessitates pausing campaigns immediately to redirect the traffic to an active landing page or what for the original landing page to be fixed. It’s a bad experience for the user to land on a page without the product or service they were looking for while also having a client pay for that privilege.

#4 Budget Pace

Clients rely on PPC account managers to manage the budget allocated for PPC campaigns wisely at the right moments for conversion. This also includes pacing budget for an entire month of advertising to ensure performance isn’t too heavily weighted either too early or late. Budget pacing for the month is an activity that requires pulling current spend and weighing against projected spend numbers to understand next steps.

Increase Daily Budgets

If the budget pace is cold, this requires increasing daily budgets strategically across campaigns to ensure the budget is properly weighted in key moments. Holding back on potential budget causes missed clicks and sales which neither are ideal.

Decrease Daily Budgets

If the budget pace is hot, turning down budgets gradually ensures spend is not weighted too heavily early in the month. This gives more data through the back half of the month opposed to seeing performance peak early and die off every single month.

Use This As A Daily Task Guide

Now that you know the top four tasks for all ppc account managers, go out and use this as a guide for success. If you follow this daily tasks you’ll be well on your way to mastering PPC.