If you have worked with Google Adwords before, you have probably seen the campaign option where Google by default tries to show the best performing ads more frequently. So here is the million dollar question. If Google loves its advertisers and wants to provide you with the best value, then should you defy them and uncheck this option?

The answer is a simple yes. Under no circumstances (I don’t care what it is), should you have that option on. Here is why. Nobody says that PPC marketing is cheap. In fact, the costs tend to go up every year by some percentage, so even if you are doing everything right, there is a good chance that you could take a hit when Google updates its algorithms or more competitors enter your industry. One way to combat that is to become a ninja in testing. It means that you test, test, and more test your ads, keywords, and everything else (URLS, Capital letters, Small Letters, Bids, Ad tone, Placements) to figure out ways to manage your CPA. A/B testing is the most basic type of testing you could do, which basically allows you to put two ads against each other and figure out which one wins in terms of impressions, clicks, CTR, and …

If you allow Google to optimize your account and show the best performing ads more frequently, then you basically don’t get to do a fair A/B testing done for your ads. An ad might get the first 10 clicks and be extremely successful after a small amount of impressions, but the results need to be statistically significant. With that option on, you basically tell Google to push that ad more often, which means the other ad doesn’t get a chance to show its potential. So the answer is no! You should always go with rotation.

Many ask me this question about the best way to pay your Google bills. Should you choose the Prepaid method or the postpaid method. Obviously there is no wrong answer her as both could work for you. But let’s see this in detail:

Why Prepay: you pay in advance. It sort of works like the prepaid phones from AT&T. You deposit $25 or more and you can use those funds to run ads. Once you run out, you run out. Your ads will stop until you pay them again. This method is usually for people who want to have no surprises at the end of the month. You get what you pay for basically. Now if you run out of ads in the middle of the day, then you will lose prospects for the rest of the day. It could work for smaller businesses. Also if you want to deposit a million dollars for the whole year, that could work too. But post pay is much easier to deal with.

Why Postpay: Postpay is easier to work with as you are billed at the end of the month or when you reach $50 (your first threshold). The threshold is then increased to $200, $350, and $500 if you reach them before your 30 days are out. The postpay allows you to play with your thresholds and never run out of money. Basically you depend on your budget and not the funds you have with Google. This method is used to maximze the number of prospects received. Big businesses almost always use Postpay. If you are working for an agency, there is a good chance that they do invoicing with Google, which shows Prepaid option is not used that regularly.

The challenge here is to choose the option and stick with it. You can’t change your method from Prepaid to Postpaid or vice versa. So you don’t want to pick one and then try to go after the other. I would suggest using Postpaid version to my clients and those who ask for my advice. However, prepaid could work for you depending on your budget restrictions and your business model. Whatever you do, pick one and stick with it. It’s not like you will get a chance to change it again.

Google has made some changes to their Adwords keyword tool and now they show search estimate numbers per keyword which is very useful. After the death of Yahoo keyword tool, I thought there was little chance Google would entertain this idea, but they have finally done it!

You pretty much get the average search volume and search volume per month which makes the Google Adwords tool a must use keyword tool! Wish Google had done this earlier but better late than never.