Track PPC Keywords Real Time

How can you feasibly expect to make the most of your Adwords or PPC campaigns if you are not tracking your keywords and learning which keywords are converting to sales? Lots of clicks on a particular ad for a certain keyword doesn't guarantee that that keyword is the one providing the sales / leads. It could be that on checking your campaign you see 10 clicks on one particular keyword and 2 clicks via another keyword. With 2 sales as a result of these 12 clicks your first instinct is that those 10 clicks have most likely provided your 2 sales.

This is most definitely not always the case. I've seen some keywords receive lots of clicks but zero sales and other keywords make a sale with almost every click. If you are serious about running the best campaigns for the highest ROI (Return On Investment) you should be tracking which keywords are converting to a sale / lead. You can loose serious money if you're not tracking your keywords at this level. So how do you do this?

You could use Googles own 'Conversion Tracking' tool, which is part of the Adwords system. In fact you should. But there's one problem. The statistics are not real-time, there's a one hour delay between the click on your ad and the report of the click in your administration area. Although not a major issue this presents the possibility that you will haemorrhage cash initially until you run through all your testing, keyword and bid editing and filtering for your campaign. There is another option.

Track Your PPC Keyword Conversions In Real-Time
Another way to track is to add some very simple code to your landing pages. (Note you will need to do this with the Adwords Conversion tracking tool as well). By adding some basic code to your landing page and the destination URL in your ad you can track in real-time which keywords are converting. To the point of having the exact keyword / phrase that results in a sale / lead delivered with that sale or lead. In other words as each completed sale or lead arrives in your inbox you also get the keyword / phrase that resulted in that sale / lead. This will allow you to quickly spot a trend or a hot keyword and adjust your bid accordingly to bring in more clicks for that converting keyword.

The Dynamic Landing Page
Another benefit of using this method is that you can tailor your landing page to any particular keyword / phrase coming via your Adwords campaign. What do I mean by that? It's very simple. You can take the keyword / phrase that has just resulted in a click on your ad and rather than just have it sent to your inbox with a sale / lead you can have it displayed on your landing page. Wherever you choose. Think about that for a moment. A prospect has just searched on Google, clicked on your ad, arrived at your landing page and seen the exact same keyword / phrase he's just used on Google. How much more inclined will he be to believe he's found what he's looking for? How much more likely is he to take action because of this?

Answer: You will see a huge increase in your conversions!

Placing this keyword in the browser title, the page title, the alt tags and the body copy moves your prospect much closer to taking action and becoming a customer.