Ok, so thanks to Part 1, you’re up on AdWords with a basic keyword set that is highly relevant to your business and some performance data. We’re ready to begin the optimization process!

It’s important to get as granular as possible when looking at the data. You can take a look at keyword performance and adjust the bids up or down depending on what is working for you, but a main point to keep in mind with paid search is that it is all about the actual search queries, not the keywords (which are really just sets of queries).

If you take a look in the Dimensions tab, you’ll have the option to see performance data for searches users entered under View: Search terms, as seen below:

Here you’ll find a list of all actual search queries that you’ve been serving ads for. There are two major action items:

Whether you have a brand-new client who has never used AdWords, are launching an additional product line in an existing account, or starting up a new promotional campaign, starting a PPC account with no history to go on can be tricky. There’s so much going on in paid search, so where’s the best place to start? (Note: stay tuned for a future part 2 post on optimization steps!)

Build out Keywords
Before you can do anything, the first step is to figure out what you are going to bid on. With no historical performance data available, you’ll need to pay for information to find out what works and what doesn’t, so adding thousands of keywords off the bat can be an expensive and ill-advised plan.