A general view on a 3 step approach on how to build a fully automated AdWords platform

1. How to Build a
Platform
Scale it up!
Gustavo Moreira

2. Before we Begin...
Prerequisites, considerations, costs

3. Be sure to have...
● A manageable number of clients
● A strong engineering team
● A step-by-step/agile development
process*

4. What is your target growth?
● If you plan to grow explosively, not ideal to build
● Not enough time if # of customers is too high
● Manageable growth is ideal
● Better if you have time to learn
along the way

5. Strong Engineering Team
● Handle complicated coding scenarios
● Deploy and maintain servers
● Design for heavy load usage
● Keep up with API changes
● Clients will depend on their work

6. Step-by-step Approach
● Incremental, easy to steer
● The eng team will learn to work together
● AdWords knowledge takes time to spread
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

7. Three Technology Phases
0. Manual operations
1. Reporting
2. Account management
3. Automated optimisation
4. Landing page automatic creation

8. Phase Zero
Manual Operation

9. Phase 0 - Manual operations
● Experienced AdWords Account Manager(s)
● Learn the product and get the process right
● Use this knowledge to scope out the
automation

10. P. 0 - Expected Growth (Acc/AM)
● Scale horizontally only
● Requires more people to
handle more accounts
0# of accounts per AM
No automation
Eng Cost: 0

11. Phase 1
Reporting

12. Phase 1 - Reporting
● Customer reporting
● Account analysis
● Billing integration
● Enough automation for up to ~300
accounts per AM

13. P. 1 - Expected Growth (Acc/AM)
● Basic automation
● Around 1-2 months to
complete
● Very little maintenance
Customer Reporting
Google reporting
Account Optimizations
0
# of accounts per AM
Eng Cost: 1
Phase 1

14. 1. Customer Reporting
● Pulls reports from AdWords to local DB
● Use a PDF or HTML template
● Create your own reports
● Automatically send to customers
● AwReporting does that for you!

15. 2. Customer Analyses

16. Phase 2
Account Management

17. P. 2 - Account Creation Doctor
Car Dealer
Electrician
Baker
Nurse
Florist
Plumber
Cook
● Integration with your site
● Taxonomy (catalogue) building
● Sales tools
● Automated account management /
creation
● Up to ~500 accounts per AM

18. P. 2 - Expected Growth (Acc/AM)
● Dedicated team
● Business knowledge
● More experienced engineers
● Around 3-6 months to complete
● Some maintenance
0
Phase 2
Eng Cost: 2-3
Integration, existing system
Taxonomy building
Sales tool
Account creation

19. 1. Create Taxonomy
● Business segmented catalogue
● Instantaneously create campaigns for new
clients!
● Can be specialised by market segments
● Dentists in West London

20. 1. Taxonomy - Geo Targeting
● On a granular market, just modify the bid
● Sometimes can go as deep as the zip code
level
● Great for franchisees
● Awesome on mobile!

21. 1. Taxonomy - Geo Modification
Car dealership
Country (Australia)
Province (NSW)
City
(Sydney)
- Car dealership Australia
- Australia Dealership
- Car dealership NSW
- NSW Dealership
- Car dealership Sydney
- Sydney Dealership
- Car dealership Neighbourhood
- Neighbourhood Dealership

22. 2. Build a Sales Tool

23. Phase 3
Auto-Optimization

24. Phase 3 - (Auto) Optimisation
● Conversion tracking
● Manual taxonomy / keyword optimisations
● Automated bid
optimisations
● Further than many
platforms
● ~1000+ accounts per AM

25. P. 3 - Expected Growth (Acc/AM)
● Dedicated team
● Experienced team
● 6-18 months to complete
● Dedicated maintenance
● Auto Landing Page
creation?
Phase 3
Eng Cost: 3-5
Automated
taxonomy
optimization
0
∞
Conversion tracking
Manual taxonomy
optimization

26. Three Main Areas
1. Conversion tracking
2. Manual optimisation
3. Automated optimisation
CT
AO
MO
Full
Optimisation

27. Summary
● You made it! Your own platform!
● But a lot more can be done…
● Automatic landing page creation?
● Landing page optimisation?
● Predictive churn prevention?
● We didn’t talk too much about negative
keywords...

28. Quick Note...

29. Just for Clarification...
● The tools mentioned, are internal only to
the company
● External tools must implement the
respectives RMFs
● Basic way of seeing things:
○ Internal tools don’t expose AdWords data to the
customer
○ External tools do!