First post (sorry...it's a wordy one), so be nice please

I have been running Adwords advertising since 2005. I run a healthcare clinic and Adwords has been a great source of business. Since that time, I have generally appeared in the top 2 or 3 of the Sponsored Links section. Since the beginning of the year, I've dropped to the 4/5 position way over on the right side of the screen. You know, the area that no one really pays attention to.

I'll admit, I've been bad and haven't kept up on new tools, info, updates, etc., and now I think I'm paying for it (literally).

So, I've done a bunch of reading and feel more confused and frustrated than ever. I feel like just flushing my campaigns and starting all over the right way, and need some help.

Since I run a clinic that caters to the local community, with no e-commerce, I'm really only interested in customers within a 20-25 mile radius. I am currently running a locally targeted campaign, as well as a general campaign. If I never had a visitor/click from outside that area, I would be extremely happy.

Some history:

The local campaign is targeted to the area within 25 miles. I have 4 keywords, search network only, with a click through rate of less than 1% on all. Keyword analysis for all gives the message: The Ads Diagnostic Tool "quick test" does not work in this campaign because the campaign's geographic targeting is not supported

Regional campaign has 2 adgroups, each targeting one of each of the 2 main cities that I cater to (within 20 miles). Each adgroup has ~20 words/phrases, equally split between exact match, phrase match and broad match. Quality score ranges between 4-7/10, but mosltly 6s and 7s. CLick through rate ranges from .5% to 6 and 7%. Some of the phrase match don't display during searches because exact match already covers the bases. And exact match has a better click through rate.

So, where do I start? Should I stick with a locally tagerted campaign only? Should I stick to the regional campaign and ditch poorly performing keywords (low click through and poor quality score)? If I have a logical starting point I can settle down and get to the business of fixing things. Or, should I scrap things and start over? I've read that poorly performing adgroups/campaigns/keywords can affect overall adwords performance. I've also read that I should be running many small campaigns and adgroups. Sooooo confused.

BTW, I know EXACTLY who my competition is if that's helpful. In my field there isn't that much competition, but enough who know what they're doing to relegate me to Tumbleweedville on the right side of the search results screen.

Thanks for your help (and for your patience).

As you know from your few years experience, adwords works. And what you have set up ie geo targeting seems reasonable. I can use search network only

I think there are a few things you need to do
One do not cancel the ads because they have the benefit of age. If you scrap things and start from scratch you may find that the cost per click is significantly higher.

Try split testing. You make two variations of the same ad and change only one thing e. g title, wording of the ad, keywords to see what works best. Only test one thing at a time. Once you have noted a difference in performance, keep the better ad and then test it against a new format

There really is no predicting what makes people click on one ad =rather than the other so testing is really the only way I know of that helps you get the best ad format out

With testing you should be able to eventually have an ad format that has a higher click through rate. i have ads that average 7 to 10%

It does take time though to get things right

The other thing is to invest in a good adwords training program I use Adwords guide and his advise is solid but shop around to find what suites you best

Good luck

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Thanks for your quick reply Niche.

When you mention geo targeting, I'm assuming you mean targeting to a specific radius around my physical business?

So I guess my first question would be: Since I'm catering specifically to a local target area, should I simply stick with a locally targeted campaign and scrap my regional targeting? Like I mentioned, I only want clicks from my specific area since customers need to drive to my location. If that makes more sense, I would transfer the more effective key words from my regional campaign to the locally targeted campaign. I'm assuming those new local keywords, if effective, would display in the Sponsored Links area even though the regional campaign would be shut down?

The keywords in the regional campaign definitely do better than local, and the CTR is better also.

In the regional campaign I am targeting the 2 major nearby cities (both within 20 miles of my physical location). For fun, lets say I'm a dentist and the cities are A and B. I am using general, phrase match, and exact match combinations in the regional campaign - eg. dentist in A, dentist in B, dentistry in A, B dentistry, etc. (combinations of the same keywords using the different match types). In the locally targeted campaign I am using simply the words: dentist, dentistry, dental...since it's local, I figured the cities would take care of themselves and those words wouldn't need to be part of the keywords/phrases.

Perhaps I should just use the different match types in a locally/geo targeted campaign and avoid the higher impressions/lower CTR that I'm likely getting in the regional. My high impressions with low CTR may be because people out of area are finding my ad (via regional campaign) but not clicking, since I'm so specific to my physical location.

Man I hope I'm making sense.

Thanks again for your help. I appreciate it!!

I agree with the advice to NOT start over but keep hold of the age advantage.
In any case, you can change your ad text, keywords, and other components of a campaign at any time, can't you? And as you do so, the previous results are immediately replaced by the new ones.
So don't reinvent the wheel. Simply change the tires!

Duncan

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Thanks Duncan:

I will keep what I have and run with the portions of my ads that are performing better. But I still wonder about regional vs. locally targeted.

Will I hurt myself by trying a locally targeted only campaign and putting regional on pause. It will expand my local campaign and increase my budget. It makes more sense but I want to make sure I'm not hurting myself in the process.

Thanks again!

It's hard to know what the results will be if you focus on local targetting. You'll have to simply do some split testing to find out.
As a general principle, though, I reckon that the broader your reach the more likely that people will find you. I also suspect it adds to your credibility.
At the same time, however, I do think it's advisable to incorporate your community in your keyword phrases (e.g. real estate st. catharines as opposed to real estate niagara region).

Duncan

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Acts as an Exclusive Buyer Broker for purchasers of residential, industrial, commercial, and investment properties in all parts of the Niagara Peninsula.
http://www.duncanpollock.com
http://www.iciniagara.com

Try something else, too. Is there a local web forum for the area? If so, and if you aren't already a member, sign up ad make posts, but use your web address as part of your signature.

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