Whenever you go into Google AdWords and set up a new campaign, by default it is set to appear both in search results & on the Google Content Network (pages running adsense ads). There are two problems with that:

Problem 1. Searchers & Page Viewers Have Different Motives

A searcher is actively looking for your product / service. Whereas someone viewing a webpage with AdSense ads on is probably not actively looking to buy from you. Obviously there are situations where these require slightly different ads, different keyword triggers & different landing pages. Just as there’s a difference between cold-calling someone at home, or having them call you requesting information.

Problem 2. It Makes Tracking & Optimisation 10x Harder

Because of the above difference, ads on the ‘Content’ and ‘Search’ networks perform very differently… Keep Reading this entry –»
 

In the UK, Google offers two different search options:

• Search the web
• Search pages from the UK

The second option is a subset of Google’s index, showing only pages that Google thinks are in the UK.

If you’re a UK company that doesn’t appear in the ‘pages from the UK’ index, you could be missing out on 30% or more of your potential traffic. This can be costly to your business, and can confuse both current & potential visitors, so knowing how to make sure Google thinks you’re in the UK can be quite important. Here are the three ways to make sure your page appear in ‘pages from the UK’:

1. Use a .uk Domain Name

Hosting your site on a .uk domain name is the simplest way to ensure you’ll be in the ‘pages from the UK’ index. There are currently 13 UK ’secondary level domains’ to choose from (.co.uk, .me.uk, .org.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk, .net.uk, .sch.uk, .ac.uk, .gov.uk, .nhs.uk, .police.uk, .mod.uk, .mil.uk). Hosting your site on any of these (for example yoursite.co.uk) will work just fine. Of the domains available to the general public (ie. excluding .ac.uk, .gov.uk, etc) .co.uk is by far the most familiar to the UK’s population & is the defacto standard.

It’s worth noting that anyone can buy a .uk domain name whether they are a UK resident or not
Pros of using .uk domain names to appear in ‘pages from the UK’:

• cheap to buy (around $5 / £2.50 per year)
• Just reading the domain name tells people that you’re UK-based
• can be hosted anywhere & still appear in the Google ‘pages from the UK’ index

Cons:

• if segments of your target audience live outside the UK, they may be put off by this domain name, which hints that your content may not be relevant to them
• unsavvy users may accidentally type in the .com equivalent of your address

2. Host Your Site In The UK

Even if you have a non-UK-specific address (eg. yoursite.com) you can still appear in the ‘pages from the UK’ index by hosting your site on a UK IP address (ie. putting your site on a server within the United Kingdom).

Pros of hosting your site in the UK to appear in ‘pages from the UK’:

• Doesn’t limit your domain choice
• Can simplify expansion (say, for example, you’re a UK company looking to expand into France. A .uk address may not work for that purpose, whereas a .com is considered fine in both countries)

Cons:

• Reading the domain name doesn’t automatically identify you as a UK site
• .co.uk domain names seem to (all other factors being equal) rank higher in Google UK than non-UK domain names

3. Buy AdWords Ads

Though I would never recommend ignoring the previous two options & relying solely on this, if you’re in a position where you are simply unable to either buy a .uk address or host in the UK, purchasing AdWords ads is a simple option to ensure you’re visible in the UK.

Pros of using AdWords ads to appear in ‘pages from the UK’:

• Doesn’t necessarily limit your domain name or hosting options
• While you can only track clicks on your natural search listings, AdWords has a full reporting suite & allows you to view ‘impressions’ (the number of times the ad has shown), conversions, etc.

Cons:

• Can be costly
• Natural search listings usually receive far more clicks thank AdWords ads

Best Practice For Websites Aimed at a UK Audience:

1. Use a .uk domain name
2. Buy the equivalent .com domain name & set it to 301 redirect to your .co.uk address to make sure you don’t miss out on visitors accidentally typing in the .com address
3. Host your site in the UK
4. If you don’t want (or cannot have) a .uk domain name, include ‘UK’ in your page titles to make sure that even a quick glance at your Google natural listings highlights the fact that you’re UK-based
5. If you can’t host in the UK & can’t have a .uk domain name, try advertising at least your brand-related terms using AdWords

This is a really simple tip to increase the Click Through Rate of your Google adwords ads. As an example, we’ll say that your ad is targeting the keyword ‘Laptops’. Here’s a look at some of the competition at google.co.uk:

The tip - something that Comet, PCWorld Business & LaptopsAndSpares don’t seem to have noticed - is that words in your ad matching the user’s search terms appear in bold. Here’s a suggestion for a simple improvement to the Comet ad:

That’s it: Including the target phrase on each line increases the contrast of the area & makes the ad stand out.

This may seem crude, but the thing to remember is that most Google users will simply ‘look’ at your ad, rather than reading it word for word. The phrase they’re searching for (in this case ‘laptops’) will be in the front of their mind, and the majority will click on impulse. What you are aiming to do here is simply:

1. Catch the user’s eye over and above the natural search area and
2. Catch their eye over and above competing paid ads
3. Appear to be highly relevant to the term they’re searching for

From that point it’s up to your landing page.

Why don’t more sellers include pricing in their AdWords ads? Ads in virtually every other marketing medium (billboards, magazine ads, TV/radio, catalogues, store displays) include pricing prominently, yet price-inclusion is by far the exception in PPC advertising. Why is that? Could including ads boost your campaigns?

At the most basic level, including a price in your AdWords ad can do one of two things:

• A: Boost Clickthrough
• B: Reduce Clickthrough

In my experience, ‘B’ is by far the most likely outcome: Including product pricing in your AdWords ads will reduce the number of viewers that click through & hit your site. On the surface that sounds like a bad thing, but there are a few factors to consider before discounting the idea completely.

Why would CTR reduce?

First off - why do clicks go down when the price is included? Well, why do people click your ad in the first place? They click to find out what’s behind the ad. If you’re advertising a product, the primary information a potential buyer is looking for is generally:

1. Brand (yours)
2. Brand (product)
3. Benefits
4. Features
5. Price
6. Stock/Delivery Info

Some of those will be included in your ad, some won’t. The clicks you lose by including pricing in your ads are the clicks you would have got from people looking to find out the price. ie. by including the price, you’re cutting out a significant number of people who are buying largely on price. Price-based buyers (people for whom item ‘5′ in the above list is currently the primary purchasing consideration) generally fall into the following category:

• They’re looking for the lowest price possible
• They’ll click on several ads to compare prices
• No matter how good your landing page/copy/sales funnel is, if your price isn’t right, they’re not going to buy

Higher Quality Traffic

That being the case, including your price up-front can actually be a good thing: clicks have gone down, but a big chunk those clicks were never going to convert anyway. What you’re left with is higher-quality traffic; traffic that’s more likely to convert into sales, thus increasing your ROI.

What About The Quality Score?

However, something you should be aware of if ad positioning is important to you (ie. do you want to retain the top spot? top 5?) , is that knocking down your CTR may knock down your ad positioning. ClickThrough Rate is one of the primary factors in the AdWords Quality Score, meaning that - all things being equal - if you include a price in your ad & (due to putting off price-based bidders) a smaller percentage of your ad viewers click through your ad than they do your main competitors’ ads, you will drop down the listing & they will rise.

What if You Do Have The Best Price?

If you do have the most competitive price, including it in your ad can be an all-round winner: If every other item in the buyer-consideration list (Brand, Benefits, Features, Stock, etc) is equal to your competitors & you put it all up front in your ad, then you’ll capture more clicks (boosting your ad position via the Quality Score) and those clicks will convert as well (if not better) than your competitors.