Did 2016 start on a good note?

Posted February 22nd, 2016 by Kirti & filed under Google Ads Tips.

Compared to the last year, how did we fair this year? Here’s a comparison of campaign and keyword performance from one of our PPC accounts to determine whether this year holds more of good news or bad. The findings suggest that the year did start on a fairly good note with improved click rates and conversions. This is a great start for the year.

But before we have a look at our observations, let us quickly tell you the how to compare your current performance with previous year’s.

Step 1: Select the current year’s date range

Step 2: Turn ‘Compare’ on and select ‘Same Period Last year.

Step 3: Apply the changes and start with your analysis by expanding the ‘+’ sign in each column to see the comparisons.

Here are the observations drawn from our analysis.

Lost Impression but Gained Clicks

A comparison drawn on the top 8 campaigns (sorted via impression) suggests that the campaigns did have a good share of presence in the search/ display space. Impressions witnessed a drop in 50% of the campaigns and from the rest of them the maximum rise in impression was observed to be of 222%.

Across these campaigns the clicks have increased despite half of the campaigns showing a drop in impressions. Barring two campaigns (from Display Network), the rest saw a considerable improvement in the clicks compared to the last year. The highest click change % was observed to be of 140% and the lowest came to 4%.

Rise in Conversions and Converted Clicks

Overall the conversions and converted have seen an improvement from the previous year. It reflects the previous year’s untapped opportunity has been captured successfully in the start of this year. Keyword up-gradation and continuous negative keyword updation has contributed in meeting the business goals along with targeting the right audience that has resulted in rise in conversions and clicks (as shared above)

New Performing Keywords

The previous year’s top 10 keywords have witnessed lost impressions in the start of this year and there place have been taken by a new list of keywords. The top 2 keywords of this year were staggering behind at no. 3 and no.10 the last year. The overall impressions have seen a great improvement with the change percentage being 86%

Similarly the conversions of the top 10 keywords of last year have dropped and the order has got changed in the start of this year. It points towards the continuous review of search query report to identify new sets of keywords or identify the ones performing better than the rest, who’s bid can be modified as a result.

Conversions Stay Stable

The overall conversions of the keywords this year stays on the positive with a 30% change from the last year. However the top performing keywords of the last year witness a drop in conversion value.This year’s top performing keyword see an increase in conversion to 440%.