Mistakes in search engine marketing (SEM) are all too common and typically easy enough to correct — if you know what to look for and can catch them quickly.
If not, even simple mistakes can escalate into a dumpster fire.
How can you avoid this fate? Check out these critical errors and see what you can do to prevent them in your own campaigns.
The operation left in charge of that YouTube campaign was forced to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to the brand.
Again, this was 100% preventable.
I hope these examples will stick with you. Know this: At any given moment, you are a flip of a switch (or lack thereof) away from turning your campaign — if not your career — into a raging dumpster fire.
And all because you made a simple, common, and completely avoidable mistake.
No viral DontFireScott campaign will save your butt from the ramifications.
In no particular order of severity, here are some of the worst and most common catastrophes in SEM.
10 Most Common SEM Mistakes
- Using only one match type… and it’s Broad Match.
- Not doing SEO in conjunction with SEM.
- Failing to control your spend.
- Not using negative Switzerland Phone Number keywords (the most important match type).
- Poking the bear in competitor bidding.
- Geo-targeting all the wrong places.
- Improper placement targeting & optimization in YouTube/GDN.
- Haphazardly applied engine recommendations.
- Running a strategy and not giving it enough time.
- Structuring the account wrong from the start.
Before we dive in to each one, let’s see exactly what may be at stake.
Even Honest Mistakes in SEM Can Cost You — Big Time
Back in 2005, an online pharmacy learned just how quickly SEM mistakes can go nuclear.
They were bidding on the word [pharmacy] with an unlimited daily budget, $100 bid cap, and targeting the entire world.
They had a “black card” on file, and had elected to launch their program at 5 pm on a Friday.
On day one, that company inadvertently spent $85,000.
By Monday they had spent $493,000.
The company had a self-valuation of $500,000. They were forced to close up shop due to this, after just 2 weeks of advertising on Google.
This was 100% preventable.
More recently, I audited a YouTube account that had been left largely unchecked by the advertiser.
Imagine their surprise when they discovered that despite their ads for sports drinks featuring scantily clad men and women, they’d spent 40% of the budget on children’s nursery rhyme videos.
