In 2017, I managed 10 Google AdWords accounts for clients, spending a total of $249,751. Here are the top three things I learned:

1) Don't Underestimate the Impact of Sitelink Extensions

Despite tons of A/B testing with ad copy, sitelink extensions (the little snippets that appear below ads on Google SERPs) drove 80% of total clicks across all campaigns in 2017. This number seemed really high at first, but after some research I discovered that it's common for clicks to skew towards sitelinks with broad match keywords.

Pro Tip: Add sitelinks to all of your AdWords campaigns (at the ad group level).

2) Set an Ad Schedule

Search ads served between 9am and 9pm had a 1.5x higher average click-through-rate with a 10% lower average cost-per-click. Multiplying this knowledge across the subsequent 10 million impressions allowed me to dramatically lower costs and drive the same amount of qualified clicks.

Pro Tip: Let your ads run all the time for a few weeks (or longer, if necessary). And once you have enough data to determine a statistical significance, set a schedule that optimizes for hour-of-day and day-of-week.

Sample range: January 1, 2017 - December 31, 2017 | Data represents all clicks across 10 separate AdWords accounts.

3) Don't Fret the Actual CPC

Actual Cost-per-Click of an ad is determined by a few factors, including (but definitely not limited to):

• Quality Score

• Expected click-through-rate

• Ad relevance

• Landing page experience

• Max CPC Bid

• Ad Rank

• The expected impact of ad extensions and formats

With all these different things to consider, it's easy to get hung up on the specifics when the CPC of a campaign starts to creep upwards. DON'T! The cost of your clicks is obviously important, but the results are ultimately what matter.

Pro Tip: Clearly define the objective for every campaign (lead generation, branding, eCommerce sales, et cetera) and balance your focus between the tactical and the strategic. And remember, don't fret the Actual CPC.

Are my results similar to yours? What would you do differently? Will this information impact your search campaigns? Let me know in the comments.