Spring is upon us! Well, uh, almost. It’s actually 20 degrees here in Boston. We’re still digging ourselves out of the last snowstorm, and it doesn’t look like we’re out of the woods yet weather-wise…
Still! Spring means newness, and in the spirit of newness, WordStream has some exciting news for folks looking to double down on their online advertising efforts: Today marks the official launch of our new-look, way-improved AdWords Performance Grader!
To date, the AdWords Performance Grader (or “The Grader,” as we like to call it) has generated over 2 million reports, and analyzed over $ 14 billion in ad spend. It’s been an incredibly valuable resource to AdWords users looking to gain insight into account performance, and we’re happy to provide it free of charge. Still, we’re not resting on our laurels. We’re constantly looking for ways to help customers and prospective customers alike save money in AdWords, and learn how to advertise online more efficiently. We believe our new AdWords Performance Grader gives advertisers the best chance to do that.
Let’s dive into a few of the Grader’s exciting new features.
New performance & account structure metrics
In addition to clicks, conversions, average monthly spend, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate—the account diagnostics you’ve come to know and love—we’ve added some new account structure metrics to give you even more insight into your account performance. Now you can see all the details of your account in one easily digestible field: active campaigns, active ad groups per campaign, active ad groups, active keywords, active text ads.
In order to help you better evaluate the performance-based positives and negatives of your account, we still provide the same great performance metrics. Only, we’ve made the panel displaying them more digestible. Because the more granular you can get in determining why your quality score is so high or low, or why your wasted spend figure looks the way it does, the more accurately you can make the corresponding account-level adjustments.
New industry benchmarks for 2018: how do you stack up?
We pulled from an embarrassment of customer data—we’ll say it again: over 2 million reports, and over $ 14 billion in ad spend —to determine to-date advertising benchmarks for YOUR industry. Curious how active your competitors are in their AdWords accounts? Find out how you stack up based on account actions taken:
Concerned you’re falling behind in text ad optimization? Compare your account by number of active text ads, or text ads per ad group:
Wondering what your quality score benchmark should be? Competitor data is a click away:
Our commitment to fresh data ensures you know exactly where you stand: in any given metric, at any given time.
New mobile insights for a mobile-first world
If you’re an online advertiser of any kind, chances are you know the statistics. Mobile web browsing overtook desktop web browsing way back in 2016, and the ramifications of its exponential growth continue to be felt throughout the search marketing world (see: Google Speed Update). To help advertisers stay on top of their mobile performance, WordStream is introducing a peer-based mobile scoring system:
Now, not only can you compare in-account desktop and mobile performance, but you can see how your mobile performance stacks up against industry competitors. Too often, we see neglected mobile strategies drag down otherwise well-performing accounts. Our updated mobile advertising tab is a big step toward remedying that issue.
Achieve your best click-through rate with keyword insights
With our new click-through rate (CTR) optimization tab, you can find the best and worst performing keywords in your account. See which keywords in your account perform best in terms of impressions, clicks, position, and CTR; see which perform worst; and see which accrue impressions, but no clicks.
Then, when you have a handle on the keywords in your account and how they’re performing, evaluate them against industry-specific click-through rates for your average position.
Leverage these reports to weed out the worst performing keywords in your account, home in on the keywords that are driving clicks and revenue, and compare your click-through rates with expected click-through rates in your industry.
Stay up to date on AdWords best practices
Much like our newly updated mobile advertising tab, our PPC best practices tab now comes complete with a peer-based score, seen in the form of a percentage. The rules that define search marketing are constantly in flux. Staying on top of best practices is tougher than ever. Our best practices score helps you easily visualize and track changes in best practices performance.
We evaluate your account on its ability to adhere to 10 best practices in AdWords. Where you fail to meet a best practice, we provide a diagnostic explanation as to why you’re failing, as well as a comment further elaborating on the issue. Your score is an indicator of how well you meet our PPC best practices compared to your peers. Follow our recommendations, and your score will rise considerably! See your score rise considerably, and your account performance will follow.
Check out the Grader, in all its glory!
The above updates are the result of testing, user feedback, and constant tinkering. We set out to determine how we could make our AdWords Performance Grader more valuable to online advertisers. Our goal in providing free performance reports has always been to help users assess their accounts, identify their successes, and leverage actionable insights to remedy their failures. Features users haven’t found useful, we’ve cut out. Features that have helped users save money and become better advertisers, we’ve expanded upon. We strongly believe this is our best Grader yet!
Want to evaluate your AdWords performance, and see how you stack up in your industry? Get your account graded today!
About the Author
Gordon Donnelly is a college hockey washout, failed poet, and all-around oxford comma enthusiast. He"s a sucker for: fly fishing, mudslides, Jim Morrison driving around aimlessly in the desert, and the dwindling half-light of Clery"s basement. Tweet him @gord_donnelly.
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