Google Adwords Certification Exam Guidance

What   is    Adwords  ?

AdWords (Google AdWords) is an  Online advertising service by Google for businesses wanting to display ads on Google and its advertising network. TheAdWords program enables businesses to set a budget for advertising and only pay when people click the ads. The ad service is largely focused on keywords.

Online advertising allows you to show your ads to the people who are likely to be interested in your products and services, while filtering out folks who aren't. And you can track whether those people clicked your ads. Online advertising also gives you the opportunity to reach potential customers as they use multiple devices — desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

AdWords allows you to take advantage of the benefits of online advertising: show your ads to the right people, in the right place, and at the right time.

AdWords offers several benefits, but here are the key ones:

1. Target your ads

Targeting gives you the ability to show your ads to reach people with specific interests — namely, people who are interested in your products and services — and show them relevant ads.

AdWords offers different ways of targeting, which we'll go over in more detail later. For now, here's a look at the choices that you have with online ads that can make your marketing campaigns even more targeted:

·        Keywords: Words or phrases relevant to your products and service, which are used to show your ads when customers search for those terms or visit relevant websites.

·        Ad location: Show your ads on Google search results pages and websites that are part of the Google Search and Display Networks.

·        Age, location, and language: Choose the age, geographic location, and language of your customers.

·        Days, times, and frequency: Show your ads during certain hours or days of the week, and determine how often your ads appear.

·        Devices: Your ads can appear on all types of devices, and you can fine-tune which devices your ads appear on and when.

2. Control your costs

AdWords gives you control over how you spend your money. There’s no minimum. And you can choose how much you spend per month, per day, and per ad. You’ll only pay when someone clicks your ad.

3. Measure your success

With AdWords, if someone clicked your ad, you’ll know. If they clicked your ad and then did something valuable to your business -- purchased your product, downloaded your app, or phoned in an order -- you can track that, too.

By seeing which ads get clicks and which ones don’t, you’ll also quickly see where to invest in your campaign. That, in turn, can boost the return on your investment.

You can get other valuable data, including how much it costs you, on average, for advertising that leads to your customers’ online purchases or phone calls. And you can also use analytical tools to learn about your customer’s shopping habits -- how long, for instance, they tend to research your product before they buy.

4. Manage your campaigns

AdWords also offers you tools to easily manage and monitor accounts.

Consider your goals   :

Each bid strategy is suited for different kinds of campaigns and advertising goals. For the purposes of bidding, you'll want to consider three basic types of goals, along with your current campaign settings.

·        If you want to generate traffic to your website, focusing on clicks could be ideal for you. Cost-per-click (CPC) bidding may be right for your campaign.

·        If you want to increase brand awareness—not drive traffic to your site—focusing on impressions may be your strategy. You can use cost per thousand viewable impressions (vCPM) bidding to put your message in front of customers.

·        If you want customers to take a direct action on your site, and you're using conversion tracking, then it may be best to focus on conversions. Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bidding lets you do that.

Where your ads will appear on Google

Before you take advantage of all that online marketing can do for your business, make sure that you understand the difference between paid advertising and organic search results.

Let's say someone conducts a Google search for products or services related to your business while you're advertising with AdWords, Google's online advertising platform.

• Section 1 can contain AdWords ads. Ads can appear on the top or bottom of the Google search results page next to or under an "Ads" label. Ads are ranked primarily based on how relevant and useful they are to what the person searched for, your bid and a few other factors.
• Section 2 is made up of "organic" search results. These are unpaid links to websites with content related directly to what the person searched for. The more relevant the site is to the search term, the higher the link will appear in the list. Your related website could appear here, but your ad won't.

When you advertise with AdWords then

Where your ads can appear

When you advertise with AdWords, your ads can appear on different places across the web depending on how you target your ads, to whom you choose to show them, and the types of ads you create.

This article describes where your ads can show and who might see them.

On Google Search and other search sites

Your ad can appear on Google when people look for the product or service you offer. When you create your ad, you'll choose a set of keywords—the words or phrases that will trigger your ad to show. Then, when people search using the words or phrases you picked, your text ads can appear alongside or above search results.

• Google search sites: Ads can appear above or below search results on Google Search. They can appear beside, above, or below search results on Google Play, Google Shopping, and Google Maps, including the Maps app.
  
• Google search partners: Ads might appear with search results on websites of Google search partners. For text ads, search partners include hundreds of non-Google websites, as well as Google Video, and other Google sites.

On websites that your customers visit

You can also choose to show your ads to people as they browse the web. Your text, image, and video ads can appear on the Google Display Network.

The Display Network is a collection of websites—including specific Google websites like Google Finance, Gmail, Blogger, and Youtube—that show AdWords ads. This network also includes mobile sites and apps.

If you've ever seen an AdWords ad on your favorite news site or in your Gmail account, and wondered how it got there, now you know: websites like these are part of the Google Display Network.

Your ads can appear on websites based on the targeting methods you choose. On the Display Network, there are several ways to target your ads:

• Choose keywords and topics related to what your offer
• Choose specific websites or pages
• Choose specific audiences based on their interests, demographics, or whether they've visited your website before.

Learn more about where ads might appear on the Display Network.

On different devices

You can show your ads to people as they search or visit websites on the go:

• Your text ads can appear when people search on Google from their mobile devices and tablets.
• Your text, image and video ads can appear on Google Display Network websites when people visit these sites from high-end mobile devices, such as iPhones, Android devices, or tablets.
• Your ads can also appear on mobile apps, which are considered part of our Display Network.

In selected locations or languages

If you have text ads, you can choose to show them to customers in an entire country, a certain geographic location, and even to customers who use names of locations in their searches.

To better reach your potential customers, you can also target your campaigns to the languages they speak. And if your customers speak multiple languages, you can create separate campaigns to manage ads and keywords for each of those languages.

Consider your goals   :

Each bid strategy is suited for different kinds of campaigns and advertising goals. For the purposes of bidding, you'll want to consider three basic types of goals, along with your current campaign settings.

·        If you want to generate traffic to your website, focusing on clicks could be ideal for you. Cost-per-click (CPC) bidding may be right for your campaign.

·        If you want to increase brand awareness—not drive traffic to your site—focusing on impressions may be your strategy. You can use cost per thousand viewable impressions (vCPM) bidding to put your message in front of customers.

·        If you want customers to take a direct action on your site, and you're using conversion tracking, then it may be best to focus on conversions. Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bidding lets you do that.

        

        What is ppc or Cpc?

      Pay-per-click (PPC), also known as cost per click (CPC), is an internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a website owner or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked.

       

Manual CPC(Full control)

This is the classic setting for having total control over bids with a focus on driving click traffic. AdWords will take the ad group default bid first, unless a different bid is manually specified at the keyword level.

Automatic CPC(Maximize clicks)

In this setting, advertisers focus on driving click traffic but give AdWords control over individual CPC bids. Set a daily budget and AdWords automatically adjusts your bids with the goal of getting the most clicks for the budget. With automatic bidding, AdWords does all the work to get the most clicks.

Enhanced CPC

This bidding option is for the conversion-focused advertiser. Conversion tracking must be enabled, so that based on conversion tracking data, AdWords will automatically increase or decrease CPC bids to drive most conversions.

Learn How to Create A Search Network Campaign for Manual Cpc:

10 smart way to create backlinks

Because that traffic is directly related to the quality of the backlinks your website has, the more authoritative websites that link to you, the better rankings and traffic you’ll get.

And of course you want to keep an eye on your Google rankings. When crawling the web, Google looks in particular for your website’s backlinks, to understand how your pages are connected to one other and in what ways. Certainly there are hundreds of ranking factors. But backlinks represent the most important metric for SEO.

Now, needless to say, quality backlinks are hard to get, but they shouldn’t be. In fact there are smart ways to build or earn backlinks, to get authoritative websites to link to your online business. Here are ten:

1. The broken-link building method

I love the broken-link building method because it works perfectly to create one-way backlinks. The technique involves contacting a webmaster to report broken links on his/her website. At the same time, you recommend other websites to replace that link. And here, of course, you mention your own website. Because you are doing the webmaster a favor by reporting the broken links, the chances of a backlink back to your website are high.

So, to use the broken-link method, first find relevant websites in your niche that have resources pages. Find them by using these search queries in Google:

• your keyword + links
• your keywords + resources
• keywords inurl:links

For example, if I have a parenting website, I'll search for parenting + links.
To easily find broken links on those pages, download and install the Google Chrome plugin called Check my Links. Using this plugin, I quickly discovered all 404 links from this page:

Now, back to that webmaster: When reaching out, be friendly and introduce yourself. Tell this individual that he or she is linking to some resources that are no longer available. Always provide the exact location of the broken links, so they can be easily found. Give some alternatives to replace those links, including your own website. Try to be helpful, not greedy to get a backlink. Often, this method will work, but there will be cases when the webmaster will refuse to link back to you.

2. Backlinks through infographics

Infographics are one of the most popular methods for bringing traffic to your website and gaining valuable backlinks. They're also great because they're easy to understand and share. Everyone loves visual data, right? That's why the demand for infographics has increased considerably. Consider that influential online publications like Mashable publish numerous infographics from all over the Internet.

Now, choose your infographics carefully: Each one should include a unique and interesting story for your audience. To make your selection, follow currently trending topics and see what people are looking for, then create your infographic using statistical data.

To get started, research and gather data for the content. Then find someone to make your content visual.

There’s a misconception that creating an infographic is expensive; that's not always the case. Figure on an average price between $150 and $300. Assuming you may earn 10 backlinks per infographic, you'll be paying $15 per link. For five backlinks, the price will be $30 per link. That’s very cheap for backlinks earned through webmaster moderation. And if your infographic goes viral. you win even more.

Try using Dribble to find designers with good portfolios. Contact them directly by upgrading your account to PRO status, for just $20 a year. Then simply use the search filter and type "infographics." After finding someone you like, click on "hire me" and send a message detailing your needs and requesting a price. Fiver is another place to find great designers willing to create inexpensive infographics.

Next, once the infographic is ready, you need to make it easy for others to share it. To do this, create your own embed code using Siege Media generator.

Once everything is in place, and your infographic shines on your website, it’s time to distribute it. There are numerous infographic directories where you can submit yours. For example,

pinterest.com is best example

Last but not least, do email outreach to people who have previously linked to similar infographics or have shared them on social media. Ask for feedback on your infographic, but never ask for a link directly. If they like your infographic, they'll know what to do.

Related: Build Links for SEO 

3. The advantage of guest articles

Guest blogging is the most effective way to reach new audiences. By publishing articles on other popular websites, you'll get your content in front of new readers and win more exposure. Sometimes, it’s not just about the backlink, but about increasing your online reputation or your social media followers. 

Guest blogging helps you leverage your relationships and expand your audience. In case you have doubts about guest posting, consider that even Google accepts guest contributors on its Google Analytics blog. Here’s a tweet from Google showing this:

 Follow

Google Analytics 

✔@googleanalytics

Guest post on our blog from @johnpkoenig - Storytelling with data using @Measureful and Google Analytics: http://goo.gl/XZfr9u 

12:19 AM - 11 Mar 2014

Storytelling with data using Measureful and Google Analytics

The following is a guest post from John Koenig , CEO at Measureful . The democratization of data within organizations over the last fe...

analytics.googleblog.com

 
•  2121 Retweets
 
•  2525 likes

Numerous ways exist to find websites that accept guest articles. Here are three::

Use Google search queries to find blogs accepting guest contributors:

• your keyword + inurl:write-for-us
• your keyword + guest-posts
• your keyword + inurl:guest-post-guidelines
• your keyword + become a contributor
• your keyword + bloggers wanted
• your keyword + submit an article
• your keyword + want to write for
• your keyword + contribute
• your keyword + become an author
• your keyword + guest post by
• your keyword + now accepting guest posts

Find influencers publishing guest posts on a regular basis and try to contribute on the same websites they've had in the past.

Consider the example of a profile by freelance writer . From her Google Plus profile, click on "About," then scroll to the contributor section, where you can see a list of all the websites  where writer has contributed articles to.

Repeat the process with other influencers, and you’ll find endless opportunities to publish content on third-party websites.

Use social media to discover other options.

On Twitter, search for "guest post," "guest article" or "guest author." To automate the process, use Topsy to set alerts for the keywords you want to track.

When publishing a guest article, always make sure you are linking to your social media profiles. If someone enjoys your post, he or she can easily follow you for similar future articles.

4. Spy on your competitors.

If you are serious about getting more organic traffic, staying up to date with your main competitors' online marketing strategies is mandatory. You have to spy on your competitors on social media and look for their link-building or earning techniques, as well as their content-marketing methods. Here are some tips:

Set yourself up for alerts when competitors are publishing new content on their websites. 

Subscribe to their email newsletters or follow them on social media. Another smart way to catch up with their new content is to create a Google alert for the keyword “site:yourcompetitor.com." For example, if my competitor is TechCrunch, I can set a Google alert using the keyword: site:techcrunch.com

Know when and what backlinks your competitors are building or earning.

This will help you replicate their best backlinks and better understand what methods they are using to promote their website. If they are getting links through guest blogging, try to become a guest author on the same websites. If most of their links come from blog reviews, get in touch with those bloggers and offer them a trial to test your tool. Eventually, they might write a review about it.

My favorite tool to spy on my competitors' backlinks is called Monitor Backlinks. It allows you to add your four most important competitors. From then on, you get a weekly report containing all the new links they have earned. Inside the tool, you get more insights about these links and can sort them by their value and other SEO metrics. A useful feature is that all the links my own website already has are highlighted in green, as in the screenshot below.



Using this technique, I can easily determine new link-building opportunities. With Monitor Backlinks, I can keep track of all the backlinks my website is earning. Each time my link building campaigns are successful, I can see all the new backlinks I’m getting in my dashboard.  

5. Build internal links.

Internal links are a key factor for running a successful blog. They are passing link juice, and you can use your anchor texts. With a good internal linking structure, you can help users easily navigate through your website and increase the overall user experience.

There are tools that can automatically create internal links on your blog, especially if you are running Wordpress, but you should do this manually. Microsoft's Matt Cutts has recommended that webmasters keep their number of internal links per page below 100, for both usability and SEO.

6. Promote your content.

Great content won’t get you backlinks unless you know how to promote it right. You have to get out in the world and do email outreach to promote your best articles.

One of the best strategies to do this is to contact bloggers or websites running weekly or monthly roundups. Again, you can use Google and search for queries like “keyword + roundup.” Make sure you choose, in order to see results only from the past week or month.

Then contact the webmasters and give them a quick introduction to your website. With your message, send a link to one of your best tutorials or guides. If they find your resource useful, they may link back to you in their next weekly roundup.These bloggers are constantly looking for great content, so they definitely want to hear from you.

As with the other techniques, make sure you do not abuse your relationship with any webmaster by asking for a link directly.

7. Write testimonials.

An easy method to earn quality backlinks is to write testimonials for websites you are using. You'll spend only a few minutes, and you can earn a link from the homepage of an authoritative website. As long as you are a customer of that product, there’s a high possibility you can get a link in exchange for a testimonial.

List all the tools you are currently using and reach out to discuss the likelihood of featuring your testimonial on a desired website.

8. Contact journalists and important bloggers.

To get links to your website, you have to spread the word about your business. And what better way to do this than email outreach to journalists and influencers from your niche? Fnding someone’s email address can be challenging, but there’s no reason to be discouraged. Here’s how to find anyone's email address:

• Over 90 percent of the email addresses at publications and websites are formatted like this: john@website.com or sjohn@website.com or smith.john@website.com. So, try sending your pitch to these emails directly.
• If the above formats don't work, use tools like Voilanorbert, Thrust.io or Emailfinder.io. Just enter the name of the person you are trying to contact and the website he or she works for.
  
  
• Alternately, you can send your message using social media, with Google Plus or Linkedin.

Also consider that every pitch should be short and to the point. No one has time for long and boring emails from strangers.

9. Donate.

Yes, you can earn backlinks by donating to nonprofit organizations. This method is quick and straightforward. All you have to do is find websites in your niche that accept donations and link back to sites that have donated. Simply submit the amount of the donation you want to make and write your website URL.

Finding these websites requires some searches in Google. These are some queries that usually give good results:

• contributors page + donate + your keyword
• donation + contributors + your keyword
• contributors page + your keyword

10. Get interviewed.

Online interviews are hot right now, and a great and easy way to earn backlinks to your website. Once you become the authority in your niche, you'll get lots of interview invitations, but until then, to get started, you have to make the first step. Look for websites that are running interviews and tell them you would like to participate and what knowledge you can contribute.

broken links strategy? & The broken link building process

What is the broken links strategy?1

The broken link building process is used by many SEO agencies and experts to build quality one-way backlinks. How can you do this? Easy! Here’s how the process goes:

You search for broken links on websites in your niche. Most likely these links will be found on “r2esource” pages.
When you find a broken link, email the webmaster and notify about the problem. Nobody likes 404 pages, and it’s also considered an SEO problem to link to pages that don’t exist.
In the email approach, suggest the webmaster to replace the broken link with your website. Because you have done a favor and told them about this problem, it’s more likely that they will link to you. Your website must provide valuable information in the same niche as the broken link.
Repeat this process!

Now the questions that probably come to your mind are:

Do I have to check for broken links manually?
How do you find sites that have broken links?
How to approach the webmaster?

How to check for broken links on a page

Install the plugin “Check My Links” for Chrome.

This plugin will run all the links on the website and highlight the broken links with red. Instead of having to check all the links manually, this helps you automate the process.

When you are on the page where you want to verify the links, click on the plugin icon.

 

If you don’t use Google Chrome or you want to do complex searches for broken links, use our HTTP Header Status Checker Tool.

How to find potential websites with broken links

Most of the time, you will find these backlinks on resource pages, where webmasters tend to link to websites or articles. There are numerous .edu and .gov websites that have this page, and you can approach those, as well. I will show you an example on how you can find broken links from dog websites.

So, to use the broken-link method, first find relevant websites in your niche that have resources pages. Find them by using these search queries in Google:

• your keyword + links
• your keywords + resources
• keywords inurl:links

&  also  You can use these footprints in Google:

“Your keyword” + inurl:links
“Your keyword” + inurl:resources

Do a search on Google for: “dog breeds” + inurl:links

As you can see, there are thousands of websites that have resource pages. Now let’s check the first one. Click on the “Check My Backlinks”1 plugin and wait for the results.

I just found 22 broken links on the first page I just checked. That’s my first opportunity. It takes about 30 seconds to verify each page. Check as many websites as you can, and create a list with the ones where you find broken links.

How to approach the webmasters and request for a link1

Now that you have created a list with the websites that have broken links, you will have to contact the webmasters. Your goal is to convince them to switch the broken links with your URL. Follow these tips:

1. Present yourself as a business owner that works in the industry. Let them know that the website they link to it’s no longer available and mention your website as an alternative resource. If you are trying to approach big brands of blogs, make sure you point to the benefits of adding your website.
2. Focus your attention on helping the webmaster, instead of concentrating on your SEO goals. Make them understand why they should remove those links.
3. You can also act like a fan of their website that has found this problem. Offer some alternatives, and include your website.
4. Try to find the name of the webmaster, and customize your email as much as possible. Don’t make your email look like a spammy template.