Maxed Out on Brand Volume? Great, Now Funnel Your Traffic.

By Mike Scotto, Account Supervisor, Client Solutions

Most search marketers acknowledge the importance of the brand, are aware of the best practices, and are maximizing volume impressions and revenue.

Great. So now what?

Can we improve? Certainly. Ongoing optimizations are necessary to maintain efficiencies. Will it always translate into more impressions or revenue? Not necessarily, and if so, not by much.

Luckily the big guys over at Google and Yahoo pondered with this dilemma as well – after all more clicks, more money, right? Which is reason enough for the birth of Google SiteLinks and Yahoo Rich Media Ads in Search (Yahoo RAIS). These products have been in beta test for a few years now; however, lately they are being expanded to include more and more advertisers. The two products are very similar. In this post I’ll focus on SiteLinks.

But first, let’s start with the basics.

BRANDS AND PAID SEARCH
In paid search, when setting up campaigns, ad groups and keywords, the priority should revolve around launching brand terms, especially so when the brand is renowned.

For well known brands this is generally important for two reasons:
• Volume: The majority of search traffic directed to your site is driven by brand terms
• ROI: Brand terms are cost efficient, and generate high ROAS – Return On Ad Spend

However, prior to launching, determining the brand budget is just as important as the setup.
Proper budgeting requires allocating appropriate media spend towards campaigns that maximize your goals. Therefore, financial support for brand campaigns is essential to garner maximum effectiveness.
The information summarized above, once implemented, will allow you to fully leverage your most important asset – your brand – and maximize your return on investment: ROAS and awareness.

MAXIMIZING VOLUME? NOW INCREASE CHOICE AND RELEVANCY

Google SiteLinks – What is it?
This beta allows advertisers to place additional text links below their branded paid search ads. These links can then direct users to various pages within the site. Up to four links will be displayed by Google within your ad. However you’re allowed up to ten links, which will rotate when the ad is served.
Users will still be able to click on the headline – like a traditional ad – but will also have the choice to click on one of the other four links being displayed. The CPC (Cost-Per-Click) is the same and you will incur no additional fees.
SiteLinks Benefits – Maximize your goal potentials
This new feature allows you to extend the value of your existing brand ad. Following are a few of the top advantages derived from funneling your brand search traffic.
• Providing Choices - Users are now able to choose where to go and what to see
• Improving Interaction – Provide features, promotions, locater information, etc.
• Analyzing User Behavior – Click data allows advertisers to analyze users intent when searching your brand
• Boosting Sales – Multiple landing pages maximizes cross-selling, and up-selling opportunities.

How to Implement SiteLinks?
Once you’ve strategically chosen your links, implementation takes three easy steps:
1. Click on the Campaign Settings tab and go to the "Show additional links to my site" section under "Ad extensions"
2. List the names and URLs of up to 10 internal links (prioritizing the most important links first)
3. Click "Save" when you've finished adding your links

Sounds fairly easy? That’s because it is.

Discuss this opportunity with your Google representative, and then determine what strategy makes sense for your client. What links would maximize an action? What messaging would you like for users to be aware of? Present and discuss your ideas with the client. Since no incremental budget will be necessary, they will most likely agree to test it.
FUNNELING BRAND VOLUME: RESULTS
So, does it really work? Does it really improve performance?

We have researched this opportunity for our client. We gathered and compiled the information, outlined the purpose and strategy, discussed it with our client and, once approved, launched it.
We then compared 15 days of performance prior to SiteLinks vs. 15 days of performance post SiteLinks.

And the results surpassed our expectations!

Traffic Volume:
• Clicks increased by 26%
• The CPC dropped 16%
• CTR increased 24%

Performance:
• Revenue increased by 55%
• The Conversion Rate increased 27%
• Orders increased 60%
• ROAS improved by 46%