Rhys Williams, Founding Partner at agenda21, recently presented at the IAB: World without Search Conference. He spoke about the importance of making sure your search teams and campaigns are focused on optimisation rather than admin, and also how developing Trading Algorithms can improve campaign performance.

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© agenda21 2013 – Private &
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PPC – An Agency View
Presented at IAB: A World Without Search
Rhys Williams, Founding Partner
July 19th 2013

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Super search: a media channel like no other
▸ Search is not just a media channel, its becoming
influential in almost every decision we make
▸ When was last time you did something
important without searching first ?
▸ Check out your personal Google search
history - http://www.google.com/history
▸ And no I totally failed to fix the broken rear axel
on my bike !
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That needs to be central to a brands digital eco system
▸ Search needs to sit at the heart of a brands
digital eco-system
▸ Its complicated and there is no hiding place for
brands or agencies
▸ Management and optimisation requires a new
approach from agencies and clients
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Its totally transparent
▸ What other media channel allows a client (and
PPC managers) to login and see every change
made ?
▸ No hiding place for badly managed and run ppc
teams
▸ Equally PPC teams can show clients the work
they are putting in on an account and the results
its delivering
▸ One of the biggest challenges for any PPC team
is focussing on the right tasks that add value
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So that means you need a PPC team like no other
▸ 24/7 always on media channel
▸ Understand and adapt quickly to both market and platform
developments
▸ Accounts managed and optimised outside of the 9-5
▸ In-depth understanding of business dynamics and KPIs
▸ Data geeks, traders, planners and communicators
▸ In-depth understanding of tech platforms and custom build
▸ Need to harvest and integrate data into actionable insights
Challenge
▸ Dynamic and fast-paced trading
environment
▸ Business critical
▸ Requires specialist knowledge
▸ Technical
▸ Data intensive
Deliverable

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What does reacting to market conditions
mean in practise ?
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Why is operating outside of 9-5 so important ?
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▸ You don’t always need someone in the office and
make full use of ad scheduling
▸ But you do need the right technology partners
▸ Team process and management is critical
▸ Affiliates have become a lot smarter
and will target brands:
▸ Outside of 9-5 (when most
people check)
▸ On different devices
▸ Using advanced settings i.e
language

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1+1 should always = 2
▸ Firstly, get the data collection right:
▸ Review of current data sources
▸ Identify gaps in data and business
knowledge
▸ Correct setup of KPIs aligned with
business objectives
▸ Secondly, implement more advanced
techniques i.e
▸ Segments and custom variables
▸ Assisted conversions
▸ And finally build useful dashboards and
alerts to with link to PPC optimisation

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Hallelujah its raining tech
▸ Bid management technology has always played a key role in PPC optimisation but how much difference does it
really make?
▸ Great for organisation and workflow but can generic algorithms give advertisers a competitive
advantage
▸ Use in conjunction with custom bid optimisation/rule setting and that means PPC, data and tech
working together on PPC campaigns
▸ Historically, agencies (and clients) have not been good at developing tech but this has to change

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© agenda21 2013 – Private &
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Next generation optimisation – Trading Algorithms
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Client Market
Paid CPCs
Conversion Rates
Impression Share vs.
Lost Impression Share
Hierarchy of
Priorities
Market
Conditions
Trading
Algorithms
Search Volume
(Historic)
Search Volume
(Predictive)
Search CPC
Product:
Product example 1
Product example 2
Product example 3
Product example 4
Availability
Volume
Value
Margin
Frequency

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Not just any geek’s
▸ PPC campaigns are administrative heavy and this
can mean that less time is spent on optimising
accounts
▸ Work flow and process is mission critical but often
poorly managed and neglected
▸ At agenda21:
▸ 55% of time spent talking to clients and
optimising accounts
▸ 28% of time spent on admin and reporting –
working hard to drive this down further with
tech/data team
▸ How does your team/agency stack up ?
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Getting the right team and structure
▸ Most accounts have grown organically and will have been
built, amended and optimised by different teams
▸ Different PPC strategies when combined with staff turnover
will have a detrimental effect on performance
▸ Need to build a process to review and restructure accounts
(if required) on a regular basis
▸ Agencies have to work harder at keeping PPC team’s
engaged and motivated:
▸ Smaller ‘micro-teams’ with senior people actively
involved with accounts
▸ Integration with data and tech teams
▸ Need the right client commercials
▸ Efficient process and workflow – not just lip service
▸ Benchmarking and KPIs
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Process is good
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Checklists + Process
Daily planning and deliverables
Setting milestones
Time tracking and reconciliation

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Search and planning
▸ Having a strategic direction for accounts and a clear
communication platform is still important in search
marketing and often neglected
▸ Increasingly we are buying audiences and behaviours
not just keywords
▸ Keyword paths
▸ Re-targeting
▸ Integration with display
▸ Mobile search
▸ Shopping and Product Listing Ads
▸ Image and video search
▸ Needs planners and clients to think specifically about
search environment. Not just day-day tactical.

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Benchmarking PPC performance
▸ No need for expensive and often misleading
buying reviews
▸ How relevant is the bought CPT or CPC vs
pool for digital media ?
▸ Measure performance directly against the
market and your competitors
▸ CPC
▸ CTR
▸ Bounce Rate
▸ Impression share
▸ Device
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Looking to the future
▸ Search is no longer just buying keywords and increasingly its
about buying audiences/behaviours. Need strategic direction
and media planning.
▸ Your PPC team has to reflect the complexity of the channel
and that means binging together all the different skills in the
right way
▸ Harvesting the right data and getting it into actionable insights
is now vital– don’t die in excel hell
▸ Technology on its own is not the answer and you cannot just
“fire and forget”
▸ Increasing requirement to develop bespoke trading algorithms
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© agenda21 2013 – Private &
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For more information, please contact
Rhys@agenda21digital.com