X-APR® helps our clients see new opportunities for growth, expansion, exploration, and stability for search terms in their campaigns. With X-APR®, we can take our client’s campaigns in any desirable direction, depending on the circumstances of their marketing budget and goals. When we are consulting with our clients we review the financial factors and varying results surrounding their online marketing campaigns. Questions we ask clients may include: Does your spending match your marketing budget? How could your spend be efficiently distributed in the campaign? Would you prefer to focus spending/budget on new, exploratory (AKA Beta) keywords? Perhaps, more towards reliable, stable, proven (AKA Alpha) Keywords? Would the Betas in your campaign be better off tested in social media marketing? With our X-APR® script helping to explore and grow our client’s campaigns there are many opportunities that await them.
The Use of X-APRs in conjunction with Google Ads
X-APR® (X-Alpha Progress Rate) is an optimization solution utilized by our team which tracks and plots growth rates of winning keyword additions. In other words, it is a progress report of search terms that provide conversions in an Alpha campaign. These winning search terms are what are known as “Alpha Keywords”. In opposition, the search terms that did not win are known as “Beta Keywords”. Tools like X-APR® provide information regarding the progress rate of Alpha keywords, and the evolutionary progress of both Alpha keywords and beta keywords. Our X-APR®’s also oversees how much of the budget is being spent on search terms that work successfully (provide good conversion rates), or have converted in the past.
Achieving Alpha Keyword Status
For a search term to be considered “Alpha”, candidate search terms must first achieve conversions within a campaign, gain approval by our X-Alphas® system, and earn “Alpha” status. For example, an account has 100 search terms. Out of 100 search terms, 10 eventually convert and earn “Alpha Keyword” status. Over additional time, 8 more search terms provide conversions and become “Alpha Keywords”, increasing the total number of Alpha keywords to 18. These search terms must convert within an Alpha campaign first. Also, an APR is a percentage that shows how many additional Alpha keywords have achieved conversions. If 100 conversions belong to an account that has a 90% Alpha Progress Rate, 90 of those conversions are from Alpha Keywords.
Google Ads Convert with Stable Alpha Keywords, Experiment with Exploratory Beta Keywords
Alpha keywords within Google Ads are often favored by us since they reliably provide conversions, and will be repeatedly used to bring more conversions. While Alpha keywords continue to provide stability in a campaign, the Beta keywords still remain relatively useful and don’t have to go to waste. We can use those Betas as Exploratory Keywords, meaning that they can experiment within a campaign. After tests and trials, some may evolve, and bring conversions. These are the desired winning keywords, as they bring stability (Alpha) into an account, once surpassing the exploration (Beta) phase. Our goal is to expand and grow all of our client’s accounts and campaigns. In order to achieve this goal within Google Ads, clients must consider investing generously in Beta/Exploratory keywords.
APR’s Exploratory Percentage
Thanks to APR, we get insights into identifying and weighing stability and exploration. X-APRs® also helps us keep track of the Exploratory Percentage. The exploratory percentage in X-APRs® indicates what percentage of the budget is spent on exploring and which of those keywords would win. However, keep in mind that investing in Beta Keywords also means that APR percentage may decrease incrementally over time. Clients that have good APRs will greatly favor stability (Alpha Keywords) over exploration (Beta Keywords). However, our clients must carefully consider favoring stability over exploration if they seek continuous growth. Beta keywords are essential for continuous growth.
Consequences of Favoring Stability over Exploration
Solely favoring stability also means that you might be leaving new conversion opportunities on the table. By investing in exploratory keywords, we would be able to obtain more keywords that convert and add more value to your marketing efforts in the search ad campaigns. Alpha Keywords may get you far in your marketing efforts, but also paying attention to Beta Keywords (creatively testing and modifying), would eventually evolve into additional Alpha Keywords, i.e. the winners that will bring you more conversions.
Why X-APR® Triggers are Key to Discovering New Keywords
X-APR® is meant to trigger growth signals and opportunities based on marketing goals from a higher level. If X-APR® were to reach a certain percentage (I.e, over 80% or so) it could trigger/notify our account managers to create a guide toward exploratory keyword spending. This creates opportunities for expansion projects for us and our clients to efficiently grow the client’s brand. Hypothetically, if we did not have a system like X-APR®, we wouldn't get the benefits it provides, and miss out on opportunities to help our clients grow in online marketing. As time without X-APR® progresses, growth opportunities are missed, as triggers signaling the need to find new keywords would be non-existent. Thankfully, we have such an optimization tool to prevent this situation. In addition, X-APR® can even set dynamic threshold triggers, which will be displayed in KPIs (Key Progress Indicators). Once thresholds are reached/surpassed, we are immediately notified. This way, new opportunities to explore new keywords are always within a moment's grasp, should the occasion arise.
Google Ads Expansion Teams and Corrective Action
We use our expansion teams to handle the remaining spending on Beta Keywords. From there, our expansion teams can increase Beta Keywords and re-allocate spending to other forms of marketing, such as Microsoft Advertising, Facebook, Instagram, etc. This is most feasible if a client’s account has a higher budget, and can afford to spend more. If a client has an account that is limited by budget, then conservation will be more prominent but also result in a lower X-APR®. A low X-APR® combined with a low budget means that corrective action must occur; spending would have to be allocated on Alpha Keywords, to bring conversions to the account. In contrast, accounts with a higher budget and a higher APR show less spending on Exploratory Keywords.
In conclusion, X-APRs can help us and our clients select stability and growth strategies, and actively monitor new opportunities for campaign growth. Stability strategies with X-APR® include a selection of winning search terms (Alpha Keywords) that reliably bring conversions to the campaign. Growth strategies with X-APR® discover new opportunities for brand growth and expansion by testing exploratory keywords (Beta Keywords) that may end up being Alpha keywords someday (sooner, rather than later). Different clients will have different goals and budgets. Thanks to the flexibility that X-APR® allows, we can continue to uniquely identify and weigh stability and exploration in our client’s campaigns to match their marketing budgets and help them meet their goals.