To manage your Adwords campaigns effectively you must be different than the crowd. You not only have to know when to follow what works, but more importantly, when the crowd is wrong and you should go the other way.

Ever been in a checkout lane at a supermarket, where you and 10 others were waiting their turn, only to notice a newcomer use the lane four aisles over and get immediate service? The lane was open all the time, but you got into the crowded one because everyone else was, too.

It works that way in the Adwords management game as well. Everyone is following everyone else; they are using others’ keywords, using the same ads, and even coveting equal top ad positions on the page. Now don’t get me wrong. There is much to gain by legally and ethically using your competitor’s work to take a shortcut to where you need to be, but you have to know when to follow and when not to.

Many times the most hotly contested keywords are simply not worth the price others are paying. And more times than not, I suspect, the company with the ad in the very top position is losing money on that placement. Often, people are bidding up keywords that don’t even bring conversions – these keywords are what we call “losers” – and probably aren’t worth minimum bid pricing, but since everyone else has that keyword and the price is high, then people just naturally “follow the crowd.”

There have been many studies that show that people often do something I call “clicking their way down.” In other words, they click first on the ads with the highest position, but they are prone to hitting the “back” button and clicking on lower ads until they are satisfied that they have enough information to make a purchasing decision.

Now, armed with this information, do you still want to follow the crowd and buy your way to the top ad position? Maybe!

Here are the rules I like to follow:
-Covet top ad positions for well-thought-out keywords.
-Try to rank lower for more generic keywords

In cases where the prices on keywords are artificially higher because of intense competition, I don’t really care to be in the top ad position for that keyword – ESPECIALLY if it not a targeted keyword, meaning it is too “generic.”

It does not make much sense to pay an outrageous price per click in an effort to be in the top ad position for the term “legal”, but it may make lots of sense to be in the top ad position for the term “legal real estate services in Austin”.  The latter keyword indicates that the searcher knows exactly what she wants. She has, perhaps, already performed a few searches that were not quite as targeted as this one, and has now refined her search in an effort to get more pertinent information.

So what are the instances where we SHOULD be a follower of someone’s Adwords campaign. A good example is “stealth research.” Others call it “spying.” But whatever name you call it, keyword spying is perfectly legal, ethical, and vitally important if you want to take a shortcut to profitability and learn from your competitors’ efforts and mistakes.

Keyword spying involves using a free or paid research tool that tells exactly what keywords your competitors have been using over a certain time period. You can use this research to find profitable keywords. For now, don’t worry about how these spy companies get their data, just make sure that you take advantage of one of these services so that you can benefit from your competitors prior research.

Some of the keyword spying tools that are available include Spyfu, PPC Webspy, and Keyword Spy to name a few. There are many others. The key is that you invest time to actually learn how to use all of their features and then apply those to your business.

But even when spying on your competitors, it is always good to remember that just because they are doing something, doesn’t mean it works. Use your own judgement and intuition – or hire a professional Adwords management company who already has these tools and can use them in combination with their own experience to help you successfully manage your Google Adwords campaign and stand out from the crowd.