AdWords Conversion Rate Optimization Tip - Add Keyword to Landing Page with Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
One of the most effective ways to boost conversion rates for Google AdWords campaigns is to make sure to include the exact keyword that the user searched for to get to your site on the landing page. Not a slight variation of the keyword they searched, but the exact keyword they searched! The easiest way to do so is by utilizing Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI).
Let’s say we want to set up an AdWords campaign to advertise musical instruments for sale. Here’s how I would set it up from the beginning.
1. Create a new AdWords campaign called “Musical Instruments”. Configure the campaign settings so that the ads only show up on Google search results.
2. Create an Ad Group called “Guitars”.
3. Bid only on Exact Match keywords, such as [guitar for sale], [buy guitar], [buy American Standard Telecaster guitar], etc. It is critical that the keywords are Exact Match! Otherwise, there runs the possibility that the keyword the user searched for and the keyword you bid on are different, and thus the keyword inserted on the landing page with DKI will not match what the user searched, which may end up confusing and discouraging the user.
4. Create a new text ad. Add the DKI keyword to the end of the Destination URL. For example, if my landing page is www.mymusicstore.com/guitars.php then I would make the Destination URL www.mymusicstore.com/guitars.php?kw={keyword}.
The AdWords campaign is ready, now we just have to add some code to the landing page itself.
5. If you’re using a PHP-enabled page, place the following code at the top of the page to grab the keyword parameter from the URL.
6. Now that you have grabbed the keyword from the URL and stored it as a PHP variable, you need to add it to the content of the page. Here is an example that I have used on several sites with much success:
The code above checks to make sure that a keyword parameter is actually in the URL. If there is, it echos a DIV container which outputs the exact keyword that the user searched for:
This is just a simple yet very effective way to maximize the relevancy of your AdWords landing pages and as a result, boost the conversion rates and ROI of your campaigns.
I am proud to say that I have been officially recognized as a Qualified Google Advertising Professional. In order to be recognized as a QGAP, the following requirements must be met: