Using reverse engineering, an International education organization in Shanghai was able to rise to the first position in Google’s carousel growing its brand visibility by 80% YoY.

Background

An inbound marketing team was frustrated that despite following best practices their client’s were not included in Google’s carousel.

The carousel is a feature that appears at the very top of Google search results page for certain queries in a list-like rotating image display.

Because of how this feature influences brand visibility and search queries for educational organizations, it is imperative to be included. 

The Solution

By analyzing the school profiles for those displaying we were able to find a pattern between: 

• Wikipedia infobox
• Wikipedia categories
• Google knowledge graph card
• Google My Business listing

Once each of the above were aligned the educational institution became the top position in the carousel within 24 hours. 

2020 was a year unlike any other in ecommerce—the global coronavirus pandemic changing so many aspects of business. One of which being consumer behavior.  

An outdoor recreation equipment company had been doing exceptionally well with organic traffic at the beginning of the pandemic – until heavy hitter brands encroached in their niche. 

Visibility and sales were plummeting in the months leading up to the Holiday shopping season. 

When the online retailer needed to shift strategy quickly, they sought out an SEM partner with a track record of success and ability to right the ship quickly.

The Solution

A thorough audit of Analytics, Ads, Social, and Sales was conducted. 

Once the initial audit was complete, I began with quick fixes: correcting attribution to clean up data and tightening in the targeting to stop unnecessary spend. 

Quick fixes are minor adjustments to the Ad Account and Campaign settings that ensure greater control of where Ads are placed. 

Reviewing time lag and path length reports in Analytics increases the efficacy of attribution models. Better data means you can make better marketing decisions. 

Applying audience segments by targeting interests, age/gender and geolocation set up Ads to show only to users most likely to make a purchase.

Behavior flow charts provided insight into the ad language, extensions, and landing pages buyers were most interested in. 

Once these Ads ran for 7 days – or collected a minimum of 50 sales – we moved manual CPC bidding to ROAS bidding.

The last step, likely the most crucial step, to maximizing the return on ad spend is to carefully monitor actual search queries daily and respond appropriately.

Axe anything that does not serve you.

Brands tend to hang on to keywords that they want to work; even though historically it doesn’t serve them. 

Utilizing historical data to inform this Ad Campaign is the main reason it was able to generate $65K with a $3K Ad Spend. 

This wasn’t a one time fluke either. This Brand has consistently hit close to – and more often than not – over 1,000% ROAS month-over-month. 

Here’s a snapshot of results from when I first stepped in to manage this company’s Google Ads up until mid-March 2021. 

What is next?

With this level of success, naturally you want to continue striking while the iron is hot. So back to the data I went.

Ah-ha, search engines in Microsoft Ads network have less users but a much higher ecom CVR than Google. 

Our strategy is now extending ad campaigns to target more high-intent buyers and I very much look forward to sharing Microsoft Ads results with you.