If your pay per click campaign has been running for awhile you probably have keywords and ads that have been added, paused, and deleted throughout your campaigns and adgroups. Your adgroups and keywords may no longer share that tight alignment that you (and Adwords) had hoped for. So what is one to do about it? There are two options; one start completely over and rebuild the campaign from the ground up using the knowledge gained from the existing campaign. Or two, use the current campaign structure and make improvements where they maybe so desperately needed.

If you are going to start fresh, compile your Adwords data from the last 3 months and begin to build a keyword pool using all the keywords that led to conversions and met the business’s requirements (performance metrics met, i.e. cost/conversion etc). Take those core keywords and begin to build out your keyword list with an emphasis on what worked in the past; all while keeping in mind what didn’t work. Once you have the list, begin to pare down and sort into categories (adgroups). Take a similar approach in identifying which adcopy were producers and which ones should be revamped. Pay close attention and look for patterns in your adcopy so you are able to realize which messages worked and which fell short when writing new adcopy.

Option two, the patch and repair method, while not as complete and comprehensive, you should still try to dedicate a few hours to making campaign improvements. Begin by heading into adgroups and removing keywords that have yielded little or no return. Think about each keyword as you prepare to remove them and ask yourself “Is there a better keyword or keyword permeation I could use in place? “; If not, hit the delete button. If your ad group contains keywords that have been paused (either by you or Google), and you can’t justify a reason to keep them …hit the delete button. Go through your Ads and purge any that are no longer working. Make a promise to yourself that you will revisit the Ads and their messages when time allows as well as look for other keyword opportunities in the near future.

The one piece not talked about was the offer / landing page component, as this warrants more than just a spring cleaning and tends to have more stakeholders involved.

Now that cob webs are removed and the vacuuming is done… you just maybe able to breathe a little easier the next time you login to manage your pay per click account.