Paid search can be a gamble, and not just in the sense that you’re betting on keywords, but more so due to the fact that making minor mistakes can cost your company big time. PPC (Pay-per-click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are the two primary methods that determine which landing pages appear in your search engine results. While SEO is a great inexpensive way to accumulate conversions over time, which we’ve discussed in an earlier blog, some companies require much more immediate revenue.
Paid search campaigns, also commonly referred to as PPC ads, generate much quicker results. While it’s right there in the name, paid search does indeed cost significantly more than any organic search strategy. When a company runs their paid search correctly, their ROI (return on investment) could make the entire PPC campaign well worth it’s cost. Here are our top paid search tips to ensure your PPC campaign is running effectively.
Keyword Tactics
Any paid search campaign should start with extensive keyword research. Whether you’re selling a product or service, knowing how your customers are searching for you is the quintessential first step to PPC success.
There are multiple match types through Google Ads when choosing keywords, such as Broad, Exact, and Phrase Match. A Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) offers the ability to use multiple match types in one campaign. SKAG allows companies to create hyper-targeted ads which often leads to higher CTR (Click-Through Rate) and conversion rates.
If you have a specific audience, then long-tail keywords can really increase your campaign’s ROI (Return on Investment). These keywords are generally longer, being three or four words long, that hyper-focuses on your particular consumer base. While broad keywords can generate a lot of traffic, these users will typically be less likely to pay for your products or services. By bidding on long-tail keywords, and eliminating broad keywords, your PPC efforts are more likely to target the right audience.
Always Be Testing
If you’re using Google Ads, the Experiments feature is often overlooked and can be very helpful to your paid search efforts. To use this feature, simply select your campaign and click “Draft & Experiments” from the sidebar menu to begin launching ad variations and campaign experiments. By testing out multiple variations of ad copy, you can better learn which CTA (Call to Action) best motivates users to visit your website. Additionally, try inserting price points or discounts to determine what exactly incentivizes your audience.
Focus on Your Landing Page
Landing pages are often overlooked due to them not being directly related to paid search campaigns, although they’re definitely crucial to retaining your audience. While it may seem obvious, a good first step is to make sure that your PPC copy directly relates to what landing page you’re sending users to. If your ad copy discusses a certain sale on a product, and your ad links people to your homepage, this dissociation may sabotage an entire campaign.
Creating a landing page that’s compelling and simple can drastically affect your PPC efforts. In addition to this, hosting a website that’s fast across both desktop and mobile improves search engine’s organic ranking of your landing pages, it’s also just overall more pleasing to the user experience. Compare your website to competitors often and incorporate new ideas, this continuous effort will keep your online content fresh.
Explore Beyond Google
It’s common to only think of Google when determining paid search strategies, but if you don’t explore beyond that then you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. Choosing not to use Bing’s paid search features, for example, means that you’re passing on about 30% of the entire search traffic in the United States. On top of this, you’ll be faced with lower bids and lower CPC (Cost Per Click) when it comes to most keywords due to the less competitive Bing market.
Aside from search engines, deciding to invest in social media advertising is a great direction to explore as well. Be sure to research your audience and determine which social media platform is ideal to invest some of your ad budget into. When experimenting with different ad platforms, it’s advised to start with a small budget and increase from there depending on how successful the campaign performs. In addition to Google, here are some platforms that can improve your marketing efforts:
- Bing Ads
- LinkedIn Ads
Determining Your Budget
The budget you set for your campaign can dramatically determine its success. Before setting a high budget, it’s important to only include your highest performing keywords. Stay on top of the data and set specific revenue goals to measure the success of your paid search campaigns. Tracking PPC data can help you identify creative strategies across other avenues of your company as well. Tracking, reporting, and optimizing is a critical key process in determining ad budget and understanding how customers interact with your business.
