Google introduces some Maths to its AdWords custom column interface

Maths is a constant feature in the world of Pay per click advertising. It’s a numbers game and having a good grasp of the formulas and metrics make PPC management a lot easier.  The famous English Mathematician James Joseph Sylvester once said: “Mathematics is the music of reason.”  Search engine marketers utilise a variety of mathematical formulas to optimise accounts.

Google made an announcement  two days ago on the new AdWords custom column formula feature on its interface.  We will quickly look at a simple set up guide and how this will help bring better rational to your AdWords optimisation and reporting.

Steps to setting up AdWords custom column:

• Log into your AdWords account and click on the column drop-down and then modify columns. The modify column section is an area where you could add or remove reporting columns such as cost per conversion, conversion rate, invalid clicks, revenue and total cost.

• The second step is to scroll down to the custom columns section and click on custom columns. This will open a world of customisation possibilities for you.

• The door of customisation possibilities is now open and all you have to do is add the custom name, description, metric and formula.

• It is now time to add your metric, segment and your chosen formula. For this example, I have chosen performance as my metric and mobile conversions as the first segment. I then divide this by the total conversions from mobile, desktop and tablets. This gives us a good view of how many leads are generated from mobile phones as against desktop and tablets.

• Finally, you then apply this to the selected columns and check the reporting interface to ensure it is fully functional.

The above account indicates that there are more conversions on desktop and tablets than mobiles. This is why we have a mobile conversion rate of 5.26%, which consists of 2 conversions on mobile as opposed to 36 from desktop and tablets combined. This data on the reporting interface of Ad Words enables a marketer to further optimise the account to ensure that the conversions can be improved on mobile phones or any other selected segment.

This update is a welcome development in the world of Pay per click advertising. Need some help with the formulas and customisation? At Cariad, we have a team of qualified Google Ad Words professionals, ready to tackle the maths of advertising so you can focus on your business.  Give us a quick call on 01992 582824 or leave us an enquiry and we’d love to see how we can help you.