If you’re about to launch a new Google Ads PPC search campaign, then there are 9 key settings you’ll want to double check to ensure you’re set up for success:

Initial Keyword Match Type
Negative Keywords
Initial CPC Bid
Budget
Ads & Ad Rotation
Locations
Networks
Devices
Conversion Tracking

1. Initial Keyword Match Type
A very common mistake that almost all new PPC advertisers make is to set the keyword match type to Broad. Broad match will give you the most traffic, but in the early stages of your test campaign you don’t want to risk showing your ad to irrelevant keywords.

For everyone who is not familiar with keyword match types, here’s a quick primer:

Broad
Modified Broad
Phrase
Exact

The match type of a keyword tells Google which keywords should trigger your ad to be displayed. For example, if all of your keywords are Exact match, then you tell Google to only show your ad when the exact keyword is typed into Google.

Phrase match keywords will trigger ads when the exact phrase is part of the keyword typed into Google. For example, if your Phrase match keyword is “office space” then your ad will display for “new york office space” and “office space in nyc.”

However, your ad would not display for “office in space” because the phrase “office space” is broken up by the word “in.”

Broad match keywords will trigger your ad for the exact match, the phrase match, and also for any other keyword that Google has determined is related. So as I said before you’ll get the most traffic with Broad match, but you risk showing your ad to irrelevant traffic that Google thinks is related to your product or service.

Modified Broad match is a more advanced technique to limit which keywords trigger your ads to be displayed.

So the first thing you want to check is to make sure your keyword match type is NOT Broad.

Google Analytics is loaded with reports and has many settings that can be customized to enhance reporting. The following checklist is designed for ecommerce merchants. By using Google Analytics’ reporting capabilities, merchants can obtain the data to grow their business.

Google Analytics Setup Checklist
1. Use the latest code. Make sure your Google Analytics’ tracking code is updated by going to Admin > Property > Tracking Info > Tracking Code to view the latest version.

Check that your Google Analytics’ tracking code is updated by going to Admin > Property > Tracking Info > Tracking Code.

2. Confirm time zone in Analytics matches AdWords. Ensure your Analytics and AdWords traffic align by time of day by clicking on the Admin > View > View Settings. The time zone setting is down the page.

Ensure your Analytics and AdWords traffic align by time of day by clicking on the Admin > View > View Settings.

3. Check “View Settings.” Give your Google Analytics View a descriptive name. It defaults to “All Website Data,” which is not very helpful. Set the default page to be your home page URL.

If you want certain query parameters to not appear in your content reports (so that pages are grouped together that contain those query parameters with different values), enter those parameters in the “Exclude URL Query Parameters” section.

Make sure your currency is correct.

Click the box to “Exclude all hits from know bots and spiders” to minimize this traffic from muddying up your reporting. I addressed spam traffic at “Google Analytics: Removing Internal Traffic and Referral Spam.”

You know that accurate tracking is key to proving your worth as a digital marketing professional. You’ve set up Google Analytics to track visitors from their first point of contact with the site to the time they leave. Yet when was the last time you double-checked your analytics configuration to ensure you were actually looking at the most accurate data possible?
While Google Analytics presents itself as a relatively “plug and play” interface, errors can make their way into tracking if you’re not paying careful attention. You may miss data for select pages on your site, or spam referrals may creep in.
In addition, you may not be using Google Analytics to its fullest potential. For instance, can you properly segment traffic from ad platforms? Are you able to determine what pages drive the most leads? You should make sure that you’re fully taking advantage of custom features in order to maximize the proof you have for your work.
In this article, we’ll walk through a checklist of key areas in Google Analytics, ensuring that you are both looking at accurate data and using the platform to track every action relevant to a website’s success. Start by making sure you’re tracking the people who land on your site in the first place.

Healthy Google Analytics Data

Make Sure You’re Tracking Users Properly
This is top priority for measuring any marketing initiative. If you haven’t installed Google Analytics correctly, you won’t be able to accurately measure your website’s results.

In the last 10 years I have audited dozens, or probably even hundreds of Google Analytics accounts. Most setups are far from collecting meaningful and reliable data.

This post will equip you with tools and tips to improve your setup in the next few days. I will discuss 10 different items that are important to get right from the start.

1. Account structure and raw data view
Google Analytics allows you to set up one account with multiple properties and reporting views. Read this support article if you are not completely familiar with it yet.

There is one golden rule here, always keep one data view without filters and/or other modifications. This is called a raw data view.

Filters and their effect on your historical data cannot be undone. Start out with segments and move to filters once you get more experienced with segmentation in general.

Every company should set up a few data views including raw data view and one view with IP address filters. This reporting view guide will tell you all you need about setting up different views for your business.

2. Bot filtering
In all your reporting views – except your raw data view – you need to turn on the bot filter setting.

If you’re about to launch a new Google Ads PPC search campaign, then there are 9 key settings you’ll want to double check to ensure you’re set up for success:

Initial Keyword Match Type
Negative Keywords
Initial CPC Bid
Budget
Ads & Ad Rotation
Locations
Networks
Devices
Conversion Tracking

1. Initial Keyword Match Type
A very common mistake that almost all new PPC advertisers make is to set the keyword match type to Broad. Broad match will give you the most traffic, but in the early stages of your test campaign you don’t want to risk showing your ad to irrelevant keywords.

For everyone who is not familiar with keyword match types, here’s a quick primer:

Broad
Modified Broad
Phrase
Exact

The match type of a keyword tells Google which keywords should trigger your ad to be displayed. For example, if all of your keywords are Exact match, then you tell Google to only show your ad when the exact keyword is typed into Google.