To Pause Or Not To Pause That is a Tough Question – Pause Google Ads Campaign

Sometimes a keyword has to be paused; which raises a tough question: how to determine if a keyword is a pause candidate or not? In this article we will review some strategies to determine pause candidates.

Suppose we have an exact match keyword [HD TV] with a Quality Score of 1, and another exact match keyword [LED TV] with a Quality Score of 10. Quality Score as the only decision-making criterion would indicate that [HD TV] should be paused. Question: would that be a good decision? Answer: it depends. Before we press the pause button let’s take a quick look at the clicks metric.

Clicks as a Pause Criterion

Here are some possibilities that clicks analysis might reveal:

• • [HD TV] does not have any clicks

Some experts have put forth the hypothesis that a keyword with a poor Quality Score and no clicks is bad for the health of the campaign. Based on our analytics so far we have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove the hypothesis. Our experience is that keywords with very long-tail have a poor Quality Score and very few clicks. You’ll have to make a judgment call whether to pause or not.

• • [HD TV] has clicks

Yes, a keyword with a Quality Score of 1 can have clicks. It is likely to be an expensive click. Do we pause [HD TV]? Answer: it depends. Before the pause button is pressed let’s take a quick look at the engagement metric.

Engagement as a Pause Criterion

Here are some possibilities that engagement analysis might reveal:

• • [HD TV] engagement factors such as “bounce rate” and “time on site” are unacceptable

This could indicate a mismatch between the keyword [HD TV] and the landing-page. At this point you have some choices:

• Fix the landing-page to be in sync with the keyword
• Or update your negative keyword list to eliminate the irrelevant traffic
• Or pause the keyword; end of story
• • [HD TV] “bounce rate” and “time on site” are acceptable

Yes, a keyword with a Quality Score of 1 can have clicks and acceptable engagement. Do we pause [HD TV]? Answer: it depends. Before the pause button is pressed let’s take a quick look at the conversion metric.

Here are some possibilities that conversion analysis might reveal:

• • [HD TV] conversion is unacceptable

Everything has worked well so far along the pay-per-click (PPC) value chain up to the conversion point. Failure at conversion point would indicate that something is wrong with the conversion point itself:

• Perhaps your price point is higher than the market: e.g. market price is $1 and you’re asking $2
• Perhaps you’re asking for their social security number before they can download a whitepaper or signup for an event. It’s unlikely to happen

The problem is not with the keyword [HD TV]; the problem is with conversion point. You have a choice: pause the keyword or fix the conversion point. Psst … fix the conversion point.

• • [HD TV] conversion is acceptable

Yes, a keyword with a Quality Score of 1 can have clicks, acceptable engagement and acceptable conversion

Do we pause [HD TV]? Answer: if the keyword is delivering positive ROI then the answer is “NO”. If the keyword is losing money then “YES” pause it yesterday.

Bottom-line: as we go up the PPC value chain, the data and analytics available can help us make a better informed decision.

Other Possible Scenarios

What if the keyword [LED TV] with a Quality Score of 10 has the following scenarios?

• Unacceptable clicks
• Acceptable clicks but unacceptable engagement
• Acceptable clicks and acceptable engagement but unacceptable conversion
• Acceptable clicks, acceptable engagement and acceptable conversion but unacceptable ROI

Each scenario will require a different strategy.

Summary

It is dangerous to make a pause decision on a single metric, it is critical to take the whole picture into consideration. It may not be advisable to pause a keyword with a Quality Score of 1; yet on the other hand it may be advisable to pause a keyword with a Quality Score of 10. It depends.