Whether it’s your own name, your business name, keywords you want to rank for, or some dirt before going on a date, we all do it – Googling. We can’t help but be curious about the information that will show up on Google! Knowledge is power, and we are all for empowering yourself, but curiosity also killed the cat.

If you are running a search engine marketing campaign online for your business, here are 6 reasons why you need to stop Googling to view your ads.

You’re Wasting Impressions

Sometimes businesses want to see what their ads look like on the search engine results page, or they want to confirm that their ad is showing up for the keywords they intended to target. This is completely normal; of course you want to verify that the ads look and are performing well. The problem with wasting impressions is lowers your click through rate, and subsequently effects your quality score. Based on Google’s complex bidding formula, you’ll end up paying more money for the keywords you are targeting.

You’re Lowering Your Click Through Rate

As mentioned previously, when you are searching for your keywords on Google, you are increasing your impressions for your ads. By not clicking on the ads that are served to you, you are lowering your click through rates. Click through rate is the percentage of clicks to your website based on the number of impressions an ad receives. Click through rates are one of the many factors that affect your quality score.

You’re Lowering Your Quality Score

There are various factors that affect your quality score on Google AdWords including: ad relevance, keyword relevance, history of campaign, website user experience, click through rate, and more. Your quality score determines your cost per click on AdWords, and the higher your quality score, the lower your CPC (cost per click) is.

You’re Increasing Your Cost Per Click (CPC)

When you search for your keywords on Google but don’t click through to your website, you lower your click through rate, lower your quality score, and in effect increase your cost per click. Consequently, you decrease the number of clicks to your website and lose potential customers. Googling your keyword results is essentially wasting your marketing dollars and losing you business.

You’re Lowering Your Relevance to Keywords

Relevance is another crucial factor to a high quality score. If you continue to search for the keywords you are targeting on Google, without clicking through to your website, Google’s algorithms will determine that you are not interested in the website. They assume that based on your search, the ads and the website are not relevant to the keyword. This decreases your relevancy score and your quality score.

You Won’t See Your Ads

Google’s algorithms were created to find the most relevant website result for your search query. If you happen to click through on your ad to your website, thinking that this will help improve your click through rate, you’re wrong. Google will only think you are a competitor trying to sabotage a Google AdWord’s budget and it will stop serving ads to your IP Address, or you will increase your website’s bounce rate. Either way, you are going to hurt the health of your search engine marketing campaign.

The Solution!

If you are working with an agency, don’t Google your keywords. Simply ask your account manager to provide a list of the keywords and screen captures of the ads.

There are a variety of SEO and SEM tools that you or your agency can use to provide details about the results of your campaigns including:

• Google Analytics
• Google Keyword Planner
• MOZ
• Googe AdWords Ad Preview and Diagnosis

If you want to see if your ads are showing up for a keyword, a Google AdWords certified professional will know how to use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool in AdWords to provide “proof” of ads ranking for specific keywords. This tool was designed to prevent wasted impressions and to help advertisers save money.

Keep in mind that there are so many factors that determine whether an ad will show up on the search engine results page. If you aren’t seeing your ads, consider the following:

• Are you in the geo-targeted area?
• Is your ad scheduled for certain times of the day?
• Is your budget limited and therefore ad delivery is limited?

If you have are running a search engine marketing campaign and would like Eden’s help with management or reporting on results, contact us today! We have Google Analytics and Google AdWords certified professionals ready to help!