4 Tools You Should Be Using

Essential tools to make your account better, stronger, faster

Just as you should have your basic wrenches and screwdrivers in your toolbelt when fixing up a house, there are a few tools that are indispensible when working on your Sponsored Search account. We put the feelers out to our Customer Solutions representatives to find out which tools they most frequently recommend, and here are the top four:

1. Analytics – to put your money where your money is 
We offer two types of analytics tools, both of which help you learn more about your clicks and conversions:

Conversion-only analytics, which will show you how many conversions occur from clicks coming in from your campaign ads. You can also see the total revenue brought in by these conversions. Learn how to activate conversion-only analytics.

Full analytics, which tracks conversions and website activity, follows your visitors after they click on your ad, go to your landing page, what they browse from there, if they put something in the shopping cart with the intent to purchase, and when they checkout. Full analytics is like a secret agent on a mission to let you know how visitors are viewing and using your site, so you know which pages and products catch the most attention and lead to revenue. Learn how to activate full analytics.

2. Reports – to see if your account gets an “A”
Using reports, you can compare ad performance, landing page performance and keyword performance, then identify trends that you would like to repeat (or not). You can save report views and even have them emailed to you automatically. How’s that for service? Learn more about the various reports we offer.

3. Forecasting tool for keywords – to see into the future
This handy graph with a scroll bar provides a little clairvoyance on your keyword performance by predicting the outcome of your bids. So you can use it as a guide to determine how much you should raise or lower your bid to achieve your desired position in search results. Plus, it’s just plain fun to scroll back and forth and visualize a profitable future.

The data in our forecasting tool is based on historical traffic for the keyword, which is calculated using a combination of your bid on this keyword and the keyword’s track record, including previous bids of other advertisers and monthly click volume. Many factors, including the bidding behavior of other advertisers, your campaign settings and the quality of your ad and its relevance to searches, could significantly influence your actual results. Learn more about forecasting tools.

4. Campaign tune-up – because a good mechanic is hard to find
You may be able to craft a strong account on your own, but sometimes it helps to get an expert evaluation to find the spots in need of repair.

The campaign tune-up analyzes your campaigns to generate a proposal of suggested keyword bids, match types and spending limits that may help you improve campaign performance. To use this tool, your  account must be at least 90 days old (in order to have enough information in its history to provide data for analysis).

Once requested, the campaign tune-up goes to work reviewing performance history, estimated future performance, monthly budget and other factors. After finishing the analysis, you’ll receive notification in the alerts panel of your account Dashboard that your tune-up proposal is ready. Learn more about campaign tune-up.

Keep in mind that your account is always a little bit of fixer-upper. By being willing to constantly track and fine-tune, your investment is more likely to pay off.

—Kastle Waserman, Communications Manager

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Robert S. Donovan.