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Google says AdWords' real-time targeting and reporting are ideal for finding an efficient way to reach customers in the economic downturn. The company has detailed six tactics for maximizing your AdWords investment.

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

"Consumers care about prices more than ever, especially on day-to-day purchases," says Google. "When someone searches on a particular product, you know they're interested; by using your ad to tell them that you've got the highest quality and the best price, you're more likely to earn their click."

2. Use value-related keywords.

People are constantly looking for bargains. Google suggests using keywords that cater to this mentality. The company recommends using the AdWords Search-based keyword tool and Search Query Performance report to find higher-performing keywords that people are actually searching.

3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.

"Ads perform best when their ad text reflects the ad group's keywords; this makes ads more relevant to their intended audience," says Google. "Make sure that both the text and the keywords in each ad group focus on a specific topic or product."

4. Don't waste money on irrelevant clicks.

Google suggests using negative keywords to filter out traffic from people looking for things that you don't offer. They use an example that if you sell peanut butter, you might want to use "allergy" as a negative keyword.

5. Make it easy for customers to buy.

This tactic is all bout the landing page. Put some thought into your landing page, because people don't want to hunt around trying to find where they need to go to buy the item they clicked on the ad to buy in the first place. Why make it hard? It should be as easy a process as possible.

6. Focus your money on your high-performers.

Google has a free conversion tracking tool that will let you see what keywords and ads are performing best. It is wise to focus your time and resources on the ones you are getting the most value out of.

That's the six tactics Google provides for maximizing you AdWords investment. Performance is more important than ever when there is not as much money to play around with. If you're using PPC as an advertising method, focus on eliminating the waste of money by getting the most you can out of your campaigns. Google provides more resources for each of these tactics here.