If you didn’t know it already, search engine SERPs are competitive! Especially when Google reduces real estate by removing sidebar ads... Rivalry can be healthy, spark innovation, and even push the underdog to accomplish things they would have never imagined. But for some advertisers, PPC competition can be incredibly difficult to manage, whether it comes in a constant stream, or shows up out of the blue. So it begs the question: Do you know who your PPC competitors are? Do you hesitate when asked that question? Never fear! In this session, we’ll review the 5 “W’s” (Who, What, Where, Why, & When) every paid search marketer can use to analyze and understand their competitive landscape.

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COMPETITIVECOMPETITIVE
PPCPPC
INTELINTEL
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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 Director of Paid Search at
Point It Digital Marketing
 Oversee $35M+ in Yearly Media
 Global SEM Program Lead
 20 Person Team
 30 Languages
 60 Markets
 2015 US Search Award winner
“Young Search Professional”
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
Maddie!

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@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
AuctionAuction
MetricsMetrics

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AUCTION METRICS
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
Impression Share
How often received an impression in the auctions eligible for
Overlap Rate
How often a competitor received an impression when you did
Position Above Rate
How often a competitor was shown above you
Top of Page Rate
How often a competitor was shown at the top of page
Outranking Share
How often you outranked a competitor

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@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
5 W’s5 W’s
ofof
CompetitiveCompetitive
PPC IntelPPC Intel

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ASK YOURSELF…
WHOWHO
are
your
competitors?
WHATWHAT
kind of
competitors
are they?
WHEREWHERE
are they
competing
with you?
WHYWHY
are they
competing
with you?
WHENWHEN
should you
take action?
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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WHOWHO
are your
competitors?
ASSUMPTION:
I know exactly who my online competitors are
Pull Auction Insights data to determine:
Who are my relevant competitors in PPC?
Do the domains you’re showing with seem irrelevant?
Maybe you aren’t bidding on the right keywords then…
Then, take that data & make it actionable!
No, not by starting at rows & rows of raw data in Excel
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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WHATWHAT
kind of
competitors
are they?
ASSUMPTION:
All my competitors are exactly the same
Research domains showing with yours ads to identify
Affiliates
CSEs
OTAs
Understand if you’re getting the full story
Do different internal groups point to the same domain?
Escalate non-approved trademark users
 Search Arbitragers
 Resellers
 “True” Competitors
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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WHEREWHERE
are they
competing
with you?
ASSUMPTION:
Non-branded keywords see the most competition
Label top performing keywords, including Branded!
Don’t pull your hair out monitoring every single keyword
Focus on your “cash cows”
Set up alerts, reports, & automated bidding rules
Set up automated Search Impression Share Reports
Use Google & Bings automated rules
Test Google’s Portfolio Bid Strategy: Target Page Location
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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WHYWHY
are they
competing
with you?
ASSUMPTION:
I should only worry about my ad copy
Review competitor ads regularly
What are you competitors’ messaging strategies?
What are their CTAs?
Are you competitive with them on price, offering,
perceived quality?
Have they launched Google Expanded Text Ads (ETAs?)
Test your messaging tactics
Test copy to see what ACTUALLY drives results
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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WHENWHEN
should you
take action?
ASSUMPTION:
I’ll worry about my competitors later
Later? You cray cray! Take action now
Don’t spend every waking moment obsessing
Priority #1 = driving results for your account
But competitors can rock your boat, and knowing how to
steer the ship is the first step in the right direction
Take your ego out of it. Use the 5 W’s
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
33rdrd
PartyParty
CompetitiveCompetitive
ToolsTools

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Research US + INTL markets
PLA vs. Paid Search trends
Domain vs. Domain
Desktop vs. Mobile ad copy
Great for SEO, too!
3rd
Party Tools
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
NOTE: I was not paid by any of these tools

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Google vs. Bing ad copy
First & last seen dates of ads
Ad URLs with tracking params
3rd
Party Tools
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
NOTE: I was not paid by any of these tools

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Color-coded ad change grids
Highlighted top performing ads
Keyword Venn diagrams
Segments top competitors
(paid & organic)
3rd
Party Tools
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
NOTE: I was not paid by any of these tools

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@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
Using YourUsing Your
OwnOwn
DataData

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AdWords Keyword Planner
Review relative impression share
for new keywords compared to
top market leaders &
similar advertisers in your
keyword categories
Keyword Planner Tool
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

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BrainLabs Auction
Insights Script
(my favorite!)
Copy/paste script into Google Sheet
Pull segmented data
 Campaign raw data
 Auction insights
Automatically generates graphs that
illustrate competitive metric trends
alongside your trending CPCs
Auction Insights Data
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon

19. #pubcon
@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
BIG TAKEAWAYSBIG TAKEAWAYS
•Create a competitive analysis calendar (monthly, quarterly)
•Closely monitor your keyword “cash cows”
•Check SERP to identify competitors’ ad copy strategy
•Leverage 3rd
party tools to get glimpse into keyword overlap
•Use your own data – Google & Bing Auction Insights!
•Make smart bidding decisions, not (costly) territorial ones

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@MaddieMarketer || @point_it || #pubcon
THANK YOU!THANK YOU!
Twitter:
@MaddieMarketer@MaddieMarketer
Wordstream guest blog post:
bit.ly/ppc-competitor-analysisbit.ly/ppc-competitor-analysis
Maddie!