Adwords - performance benchmarks

[jrtapp]

I am not looking for any specifics, I am just looking for some "rule of thumb" type numbers.

What would you consider "good" numbers for CTR, Conversion rate, and Cost per Conversion?

I know the last one probably varies the most by market. Our sites focus on the automotive aftermarket part market and similar. If you have any feel for this market or similar, it would be great.

The reason I am asking is that the site owner has hired a service to manage the Adwords campaign and we would like to get some feel of whether or not they are worth their fee. At this point, they haven't improved on our "amateur" efforts, but it has only been a couple of weeks.

The follow up question to this is how long before you would pull the plug if there wasn't noticeable improvements?

Thanks in advance for all of your input!

[claybutler]

That's easy. As long as you're making more from the clicks than the clicks cost then you're "good". It's not what you spend, it's what you make. Of course we all strive for the maximum ROI, but that is the bottom line; making more than you spend.

[jordanmcclements]

I agree with Clay (except to be pedantic; profit is more important than ROI )

ctr, ppc, all vary immense depending on circumstances.
They are worth it if they make more profit after their charges.
But you'll need a fair while to be sure.

[confettiguru]

I agree with Clay (except to be pedantic; profit is more important than ROI )

I don't think you're being pedantic at all. It's very perspicacious to realize profit is more important than ROI. Smiles Guys, a little tease there

[jordanmcclements]

I don't think you're being pedantic at all. It's very perspicacious to realize profit is more important than ROI. Smiles Guys, a little tease there

By the way 'ppc' in my last reply should have been 'cpc' (Stupid android phone)..

(Looks up dictionary.com) - He He - Yes, perspicacious I reckon...

[jrtapp]

Thanks guys for your input, I agree that the net profit is what really matters.

What I am trying to figure out is whether or not Google Adwords is right for our market space. I was hoping to get some benchmarks that could either point me in the direction of "You need to optimize your ads/campaign/site/whatever to get the most out of Google" or "you are getting what you will get from Google adwords and maybe you should spend your ad budget elsewhere".

We have been working our Adwords campaigns for about a year and have seen great improvements and lots of traffic and lots of sales. We are not seeing a lot of success from our third party Adwords "expert". If I look at it objectively, I have to say that our spend on Adwords is not pulling its own weight. So, I am beginning to think that maybe Adwords may not be the right place to be investing.

The problem with this line of thought is that I don't know if what we are doing with Adword is good enough or not. If I could get some idea of what is "good" vs. "not good" or "average", it would really help me make this decision.

Thanks again.

J.R.

[deepsand]

If I look at it objectively, I have to say that our spend on Adwords is not pulling its own weight.

If it's yielding a positive ROI then it's "pulling its own weight" and more. In which case, discontinuing the use of AdWords necessarily entails realizing a net loss of revenues.

[cleanfreak]

You may not even fully realize the benefits of Adwords until you stop using it. For Example - We are able to measure our return on investment with orders placed online, but orders placed over the phone are impossible to know exactly how the customer found you. If you ask and people just say Google, is that from organic or ppc. Most people don't even know the difference. So as long as you're at least breaking even, on the trackable returns from Adwords, I'd say you're doing good.

[deepsand]

So as long as you're at least breaking even, on the trackable returns from Adwords, I'd say you're doing good.

Given that AdWords may yield repeat business that is not captured by AW stats, even a negative AW ROI may be in fact be profitable.