Thanks for your comment – just swung by and checked out your post too, it’s really excellent.

Re conversion maximisation being the ultimate goal – of course it’s really only part of the picture; the sooner we move away from last click attribution models the better, eh?

In an article I wrote on my blog about using Google Analytics data for Google AdWords management, I give a few examples where conversion, CTR, CPC and Quality Score data might suggest a keyword should be paused, but page views, time on site, repeat visits and bounce rate might suggest otherwise ( http://www.alanmitchell.com.au/techniques/intelligent-analytics-for-intelligent-adwords-management/ ).

Of course, most advertisers might see conversion maximisation as the ultimate goal from PPC, but optimising keywords based solely on their ability to generate immediate conversions, rather than create awareness and interest, may be damaging to long-term growth.

Totally agree re ‘free’ in some instances it can work for a client.

However I’d be inclined to negative match free on the existing campaigns, and then bid on ‘free ‘ in a seperate campaign, it just makes the results easier to judge and you have more control over budget etc.

Thanks for commenting ]]> http://www.gravytrain.co.uk/blog/2009/08/adwords-it-pays-to-be-negative/comment-page-1/#comment-1067 Alan Mitchell Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:35:24 +0000 http://www.gravytrain.co.uk/blog/?p=730#comment-1067 Nice post, and some great examples. I come across irrelevant "jobs" and "careers" searches all the time in search query reports, so its good to add negative keywords such as these at an early stage to prevent wasted budget. "Free" can be a bit of a nuisance - in its strictest sense it may not be relevant to your business, but I've often found people may be willing to upgrade to paid products / services once they see the benefits, and can often be cheap to bid on due to the low competition. Thanks for the post. Alan Nice post, and some great examples.

I come across irrelevant “jobs” and “careers” searches all the time in search query reports, so its good to add negative keywords such as these at an early stage to prevent wasted budget. “Free” can be a bit of a nuisance – in its strictest sense it may not be relevant to your business, but I’ve often found people may be willing to upgrade to paid products / services once they see the benefits, and can often be cheap to bid on due to the low competition.

Thanks for the post.
Alan