Here are some basics and specifics for helping Google Adwords Pay Per Click campaigns:

1. Give the adgroup a name relevant to the keywords in that adgroup.
2. Create targeted adgroups that have tightly themed keywords. Around 5 to 40 keywords that are tightly themed.
3. Use keyword or keyword phrase in the Headline,  either by specifically coding it there or by using Dynamic Keyword Insertion.  This will cause the Headline to be Bolded for the keyword used in the search.  Do the same in the ad copy where possible.
4. Split Test ads.  Use at least 2 ad creatives for each adgroup, and after some time, use Splittester.com to see which ad has a statistically significant lead over the other.  Then, pause the ad which is not performing, and write a new one to test against the better ad.
5. Test with different matching options.  Broad, Phrase and Exact.  After a good test period, choose the keyword with the best click through rate (CTR) and lower CPC.
6. Send ads to a landing page “optimized” for the ad keywords.  For highest quality score, it is critical that the keywords of the ads and the keywords of the landing page have agreement.  Be sure and add the Quality Score column in the Adwords interface, it is not part of the keyword columns by default.  Quality score starts at 7/10 and goes up or down with the ad’s history.
7. Mulit variant landing page testing.  This is a pretty advanced effort, but changing different elements on a landing page can have a significant impact on conversions. Learn more here:  Google discusses Quality Score
8. After some testing,  update the meta tags on each landing page with the best performing keywords.  Also, use the best performing and highest converting keywords in the Title tags of the landing pages.  And last, use the exact ad text from the best performing creative in the meta description tag.
9. Google strongly favors sites that seem legitimate and credible.  To add credibility to your site, these types of pages will help: About Us page, Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions, Contact Us.  Google ads are pre-approved and then manually reviewed later.  If your site looks like a doorway site, an affiliate site, or a spam site, Google will “slap” the quality score of the site and bid prices can go up 5 to 10 times or more.  For example, from $1.00 to $5.00 keyword bid price.
10. Negative match.  The more impressions your ad gets without a click means the lower the CTR, eventually creating a lower Quality Score and then a higher CPC.  Use negative keywords, typically at the campaign level, to get a razor focus for when your ads appear.
11. Install Conversion Tracking code to see which keywords are getting results.

I hope this has helped those running PPC campaigns or anyone looking to improve their ROI by increasing their Quality Score. If you would like more information or would like our Houston-based Google Adwords Management service, please get in touch.