How to Find the Best PPC Ads to Spy On
I just learned a really cool PPC (pay per click) tip from a newsletter I got from Perry Marshall that I thought was worth passing on. Speaking of which, if you haven’t signed up for Perry Marshall’s newsletter you should. Yes, he’ll pitch product to you from time to time, but he also pumps out a ton of great info.
How to Find the Best PPC Ads to Spy On
As you probably well know, one of the things about search engine marketing in general is that there is a lot of competition for good keyword phrases. And when it comes to PPC one of the tricks is knowing who to spy on.
So here’s the trick: if you go to Google and search for something you’ll get both types of results. Well, hit search a few times and you’ll notices that the list of Sponsored Links gets smaller. Do this a couple of times and you’ll be left with just a handful of ads.
Now why is this important? Because the ones that are left are the ones that make Google the most money! And if they make Google good money, it’s because they have a good click thru rate which would indicate they are making good money off of the ads as well.
Here’s a quote from the newsletter:
So if you want to know who the highest quality advertisers are - search a keyword, and then click “search” again and again and again. After awhile the list of advertisers on the right side will shrink.
After a whole bunch of searches there may only be 3-4 left.
THOSE are the highest quality advertisers. Those are the ones that make Google the most money per 1000 searches, which is the real name of the game.
Mimic the Highest Quality Advertisers
You see, if you’re going to pattern yourself after anybody, you should pattern yourself off the ads that are doing well of course. By doing this little trick you can eliminate the ads that don’t perform as well. Here’s another quote from the newsletter that explains why this is:
Let’s say someone’s shopping and researching hard. They search, click on an ad, look at a site, go back, search again, click on another ad, and so on.
The more ads Google shows them, the less money Google makes because the lower quality advertisers aren’t paying Google as much money.
*If Google shows fewer ads, they’ll make more money when people DO click.* So for people who search repeatedly, Google shows fewer ads.
Pretty cool trick huh? So the next time you plan on spying on some Google ads to get ideas for your next PPC campaign you can use this little trick to make sure you’re looking at the ads that you should actually be looking at, and not the lower converting ones.
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Just tried the technique you mentioned and sure enough Google narrowed the sites down to just 4 after a number of clicks. Interestingly they were the 4 biggest companies advertising for the keyword. Nice tip cheers.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Pretty cool huh? Now you know who you’re really going up against with your PPC ads.
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wow , very informative article. I am going to try this and post the results in my blog, “antharjalaya”. Will not forget to add a link back to this post where I found the method first.
Keep up the good work.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I appreciate it Eranda. I’m glad you found the tip helpful!
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This is the article I was looking from when. thanks a ton for the informative post friend…thanks a lot. I have got into PPC scams many times and i was really fed up. I will try this step.Thanks again for the post.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
No problem John, I really hope it helps you out. It’s cool because this way you can see just the higher quality ads rather than the non important ones.
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Of course I had to try this myself - great tip. I learned something new today. Thanks!
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
So did it work when you tried it?
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Thanks for the good tips. I’m just getting started with Adwords, so I need all the tips I can get.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Hey Carrie, glad to help! If you need help with AdWords, go to Google do a search for some tutorial videos. There is a lot of good info out there.
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Fantastic tip. I don’t know how I came across your site but I just subscribed. Thanks again
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Thanks for the subscription, and I hope I can bring you even more useful tips down the road
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What a great tip - it’s not something I’d heard before but I’ve just tried it and it does seem to work!
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I’ve tried it a few times and it always eliminates a lot of the ads, so there’s definitely something to it
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I am also a subscriber of Perry Marshall’s newsletter and I agree that most contents of his newsletter are worth reading as it contains a lot of informative materials and techniques just like what he wrote about finding the best PPC ads keywords.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
He really does put out some great stuff. It’s one of the few newsletters that I’m subscribed to that I actually try to read every single issue.
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Thanks for this great tip and the link Perry Marshall’s newsletter.
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
No problem! If you haven’t already I highly recommend you sign up and get tips like this one!
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This was a real good tip. I’ve made some money following this advice already - just by getting those really good ppc ads!
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Dan Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Awesome! I’m glad the tip helped that much that quickly!
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Just tried this - works like a charm. Actually my ad displayed in the final 5….I must be something right!
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
I would say that’s definitely a good sign! Nice work!
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I struggled to get this to work.
For all my searches, the number of PPC results never really changed. Maybe up or down one or two - but I didn’t see a “whittling down” to the top results.
Ian
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
It seems to work in most situations. I had one that I was doing that still had like 10-15 ads showing up after clicking several times. But that still whittled it down from what there was originally.`
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Ian Brodie Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Now I’m even more puzzled!
When I get the google SERP results, I get a maximum of 11 results. 3 at the top and 8 down the right hand side. That’s pretty standardard for google isn’t it? I can’t see how you get it “down” to 10-15 ads.
Ian
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Dan Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:41 am
what phrase are you searching?
Ian Brodie Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Dan - it doesn’t matter what phrase I search for - Internet Marketing, Business Consultants, Nintendo Wii, anything.
I get 0-3 ads at the top of the search plus up to 8 ads down the right hand side. I can’t see how you get 10-15 or the 50+ you mention later. I’m sure the 0-3 and up to 8 is standard google behaviour (at least for me). I’ve never seen any more.
Ian
Hey, that worked great! What a neat PPC trick-thanks for the advice!
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Pretty cool huh? But don’t thank me, thank Perry Marshall!
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Nice one - I tend more to the seo than the ppc, but it’s something I keep telling myself I need to learn
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
They both have their place. PPC is great for testing and getting quick targeted traffic. SEO is great because it can bring tons of traffic and it’s free. A full strategy should really incorporate both, even if you only do PPC at certain peak times of the year.
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Cool trick. Would never have thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. Now to go out and give this a try.
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Let me know how it works out for you!
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Great tip. I’d never noticed this before. I’m just getting into PPC for a few clients so this should prove mighty useful. Thanks for sharing
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
No problem. Remember that the power of this trick is to find out what the more effective ads are doing, to sort of spy on them in a way. Good luck!
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I tried it too and yeah, the ads on the side keep changing every time I clicked the search button. I think, I should sign up for Perry Marshall’s newsletter to learn more unusual techniques. Thanks
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
He puts out some really great stuff from time to time. Definitely a newsletter I recommend signing up for.
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Does the same thing apply to organic results? I guess they don’t change as much - so it doesn’t matter.
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I haven’t ever seen it work in the organic, and I can’t see why it would. Google wants to make money from the paid side, they don’t make anything from the organic side.
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Excellent tip. I will try this soon. Thanks for the tip.
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Dan Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
You’re welcome, I hope you put it to good use.
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its a good tip.i hope many will be benefited from it.as these ads irritate a lot while surfing
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Dan Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Well, the point here is not to just get rid of the ads while you’re surfing but to learn more about what the effective advertisers are doing so you can improve your own ads.
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It seems to work in most situations. I had one that I was doing that still had like 10-15 ads showing up after clicking several times.
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Dan Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:43 am
I’ve found that not all of the phrases that I do it with narrow down to less than 10 results. Some do like what you found is still have 10-15 there. But that’s still more informative than 50+!
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Great tip! I’ve used it a few times now and it works great! Thanks again!
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Dan Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Pretty cool huh! I hope you can use this to learn some good things from your competitions!
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Great stuff! I have tried it already.
Thanks,
Jozef
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Dan Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hey Jozef, glad you liked the tip!
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This tip is absolutely excellent. I don’t think I new of a way of identifying PPC ads that convert well previously, excepting common sense, keyword choice etc.
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Awesome tips on PPC. I will experiment this strategy to my sites..
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Great insights. You have nicely described about ppc. It’s really good tips to share with all.
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Excellent idea–Perry Marshall has a gold mine of information about PPC, especially AdWords. I’ve been a subscriber to his newsletter for about 2 years now, and you’re right–he may pitch you a product every now & then, but he does it in moderation, unlike most of the sleazy “internet marketers” out there right now. Overall he’s a class act.
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Great stuff! I have tried it already.
Thanks
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Good article
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great article…I have been seeing more information on spying on top competitors for PPC keywords…This must be a useful strategy…I will give it a try…thanks
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This makes a lot of sense. I used to wonder - while testing my ppc campaigns - why the results fluctuated after clicking search a few times. A few seconds my ad was there and all of a sudden its nowhere to be found. Now i see. Is it advisable to run your ppc campaign on google network sites as well? Cause i noticed some time ago that there are some sites that just exist to display google ads and these sites use all your clicks up in a short time
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Great tip, it’s interesting to try to find the similarities behind the best performing ads, sometimes there’s a lot of similar wording, and sometimes it’s completely different. Either way, this has been a big help to me.
Thanks,
Jeff
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This is a very helpful writeup and should definitely not be overlooked.
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Very nice trick to share!
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I never realized that Google thought this way about PPC displaying. It is interesting but I never expected anything less. I’m sure that in a year or two this will change.. they change a mile a minute it’s hard to keep up at times! Thanks
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This is the best PPC tips i got in months.. Keep up the good work
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Interesting. Must go and try it now, thanks!
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Thanks a bunch for Perry!
Never thought about this one. This is e veryyy cool tric.
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Thanks for the PPC subscription. Someone don’t mind about PPC advertising. They don’t know how to work PPC. Your article help to them. Thanks for sharing.
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Good tip. I’m still exploring the finer points of AdWords and this is a helpful piece of info I hadn’t seen before.
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Awesome! I’m glad the tip helped that much that quickly!
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I would also recommend using an economical service like Spyfu or SEMRush to get a rough idea of how many different adwords your competition uses, how often they run, and what kind of estimated CPC the competitors are paying. These companies buy ISP data to see which ads are running. The only drawback I’ve seen is that the results reported by Spyfu, for example, appear to be about 3 months old, so that if you are working in December, the most recent data is from August, with nothing showing after that even if the competitor is still advertising.
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I can’t understand it.
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Lovely blog …it is really helpful.
Awesome! I’m glad the tip helped that much that quickly! I would want to thank the author for writing this article.
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Hmm, I tried repeat-clicking on a few queries in Google, and the number of ads did not seem to decrease. Not sure if this technique only works for certain queries?
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Social Websites- are taking internet by storm. I am still exploring this type of marketing. Great tips- thank you.
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Excellent idea–Perry Marshall has a gold mine of information about PPC, especially AdWords. I’ve been a subscriber to his newsletter for about 2 years now, and you’re right–he may pitch you a product every now & then, but he does it in moderation, unlike most of the sleazy “internet marketers” out there right now. Overall he’s a class act.
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I have heard of this technique before but I’ve never got it to work. Anyone knows if it’s only working in some countries?
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Wow! What a great tool to pass along. I will do that shortly. Very curious. Thanks!
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I never realized Google thought this way about PPC sharing-just wanted to let you know it works so great; this is the coolest trick-thanks so much for sharing!
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I’ve tried this a few times and it works well so far with eliminating most of the ads; thanks for the tip!
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Good helping tips and ideas to share.
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I have launched my new website so please suggest i should go with PPC first or Basic SEO Tactics..
Thanks
Marc
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These are great PPC tips. I like the see the top positions for high traffic keywords and see what they are doing differently.
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You have wonderful guidelines here on how to pick good PPC ads. You can also go with a trusted marketing company to pick some good ones as well.
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nice and very useful one. will give it a try ..
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Nice. I try to mimic thier site design but thier ads. lol, might create a clone.
Very nice ppc tips.
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Ill give it a try. It seems that its great
Thanks for sharing! 
I would love to know more about this stuff. Thanks
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I am currently trying to start my own business and have started a blog as a beginning point. After reading this I know I am doing the right thing because life is too short to be stuck in a job you hate. Also I have read ‘Stop Making Excuses, Start Getting Results!’ and the points you make under ‘developing the passion’ is awesome. This is great advice for anyone to take on board.
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Really a educative and informative post, the post is good in all regards,I am glad to read this post
Resveratrol
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Thanks for the insightful article
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I am glad I found this article. Very nice trick.
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“So here’s the trick: if you go to Google and search for something you’ll get both types of results. Well, hit search a few times and you’ll notices that the list of Sponsored Links gets smaller. Do this a couple of times and you’ll be left with just a handful of ads.”
Thanks so much! It’s surely a very helpful tip! I will try to do the technique you mentioned and see how much of the very helpful results I’ll get. Coming from you, I know they’re going to be aplenty.
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These are some helpful tips in looking for good online ad benchmarks. Do you have any specific links that are the best benchmarks out there for the in demand industries?
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I love this approach. Thanks for sharing it!
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nice little CI method. I think I should be able to include this into my current process.
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“You see, if you’re going to pattern yourself after anybody, you should pattern yourself off the ads that are doing well of course.”
But is mimicry really effective? Why not strive for originality? Don’t you think original works are more appealing to customers?
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thanks for inspirational content for other which will help to other to do start earning
thanks
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Great analysis, I was not knowing this earlier.
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Good technique, learn something new everyday!
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Thank you for your post, this is a great tips.
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Thanks a lot for this information! it is very useful to everyone who are looking ofor PPC. I searched so many sites for this but now I got some information. Thanks
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This is a great tips to find best ppc ads for great performance.
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Its very good. I learned some new things about ppc ads.
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thanks for posting this great tips
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It is really nice article related to Find the Best PPC Ads info.
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I have never heard this trick before but it is excellent, so thankyou for sharing! PPC can be a tough beast to crack but I believe in the saying ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’
Cheers
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PPC is now consider the effective way to earn money online without any fake scams. I have tried many PPC campaign but unfortunately never survive. Will surely try your tips once and then let you know more. Keep it up. Thnks for sharing
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test Reply:
November 28th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Unfortunately, scams are reality in PPC too. Probably not in the top rates networks like AdWords or Yahoo publisher network. But if you use smaller PPC networks (which makes sense because there is possible to buy much cheaper targeted traffic time from time) you must be aware that some publishers try to make fake clicks. Then you need to use analytics and eliminate such websites from your future campaigns.
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it is really a great info of to Find the Best PPC Ads to Spy On in this article.
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Thanks for this article, best regards Dan.
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Fantastic tip. I don’t know how I came across your site but I just subscribed. Thanks yeahhh
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I would also like to say thank you to all your staff. It fits our needs perfectly. I love PPC Ads.
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Thanks for sharing.Nice to know who ppc works and some interesting things about ppc.
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I have never heard this trick before but it is excellent, so thankyou for sharing! PPC can be a tough beast to crack but I believe in the saying ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’
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I will definately sign up for the newsletter. I haven’t heard of him before. I have been lazy lately as I spend about $1500 a month on PPC but I havent done any super research to get my results better. Thanks for the encouragement!
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I am going to try this and post the results in my blog, “antharjalaya”. Will not forget to add a link back to this post where I found the method first. thanks…
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brilliant insights. I have been using the ppc for months but never knew this, you’ve nicely described the ppc. It’s a very useful tip.
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good thinks
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PPC Ads has really helped our business. I would also like to say thank you to all your staff. I highly endorse it.
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Thanks for the good tips. I’m just getting started with Adwords, so I need all the tips I can get.
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I am going to try this and post the results in my blog, “antharjalaya”. Will not forget to add a link back to this post where I found the method first. thanks…
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This tips are really nice. There are some high paying ppc adnetwork. You can check my blog for finding those.
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very informative article. I am going to try this and post the results in my blog, “antharjalaya”. Will not forget to add a link back to this post where I found the method first.
Keep up the good work.
Infant Baby Bedding
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I would use a site called http://www.sitesnatcher.com its really good with ppc keywords, and seo linkbuilding
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Great Article. I tried this, now PPC working to me. Thank you my friend.
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