The Google AdWords system for PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is relatively easy to use. But if you don't know how to use it correctly, this just means that AdWords is an easy way to lose tons of money. One of the most important, yet overlooked secrets to AdWords success is correctly assessing the results of your split testing.



When you split test your ads, you have Google run two ads simultaneously. After the ads have run for a while, you will be able to see any differences in their performance. This is where assessment comes in. You can assess the performance of your ads in many ways, but certainly one of the most important characteristics of ad behavior is CTR (Click Through Rate).

Since AdWords displays the CTR for each ad, beginners think its easy to decide which ad performs better. Just look at the CTR for each ad and pick the highest one. Suppose each of your ads had been running for a while and one had 1000 clicks, and a CTR of 22%, while the other had 500 clicks, and a CTR of 11%. It would be easy to look at the results and say that the first ad was performing better. And you would be right. Unfortunately, things are seldom that easy.

Try this recent example from one of my campaigns. The first ad had 88 clicks and a CTR of 8.46%. The second had 83 clicks and a CTR of 7.9%. The simplistic approach would tell you that the first ad performs better. However, if you apply a statistical analysis to the situation, you will find that there is no way to tell which of these ads will perform better over time. Because the sample (the number of clicks) is relatively small, the difference in the CTRs is quite likely to be due to chance.

I could lie and tell you that I did the statistical analysis above myself. But I have no idea how to do that analysis. And even if I did, I wouldn't have the time to do such an analysis for every split test I run. It just wouldn't be practical.

Instead of doing all that math myself, I used a free online split testing tool. The software did all the number crunching, leaving me to assess the results and act appropriately. Depending on the results of my assessment, I will either design a new split test or let this one run longer until it generates more definitive results. And of course while this is going on, I will be assessing conversion rates, keyword performance and so on.

All this testing and assessing may sound like a lot of work, even with a tool to do the number crunching. However, it is something all the most successful Internet Marketers do, for one simple reason. It works. As they repeat the cycle of testing and assessment, the performance of their ad campaigns improves, and they make more money. Beginners slap together a campaign, then skip the testing and assessment steps. As a result, their campaigns perform worse than those of the pros and they make less money. Believe it: Assessment Yields AdWords Success.