Underperforming PPC campaigns can eat up a monthly budget in a matter of a few days. Worse yet, many companies don’t realize just how much money they’re leaving on the table as they internally manage their own Google AdWords or Remarketing campaigns.
Instead of giving up entirely on paid ads or lowering your monthly spend, there are a few things that you can do right now to optimize your pay-per-click campaigns. We’re going to show you our five favorite tips that will put an end to the financial bleed and help turn around your underperforming PPC campaigns.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are one of the biggest causes of PPC overspend. They show your ads for keywords that aren’t relevant and drive traffic that won’t convert. This is one of the first places you should start looking if your PPC campaign isn’t working as intended.
A negative keyword is simply a keyword that prevents your ad from being shown whenever it’s typed into a Google search. For example, let’s pretend your company sells calculators. If someone types the query “calculator” into Google, there’s a good chance they’re looking for a calculator.
But what if they type the words “online calculator” into a search? They’re probably only looking for a calculator that is online. If your ad shows up when they type in “online calculator,” there’s a strong chance they’ll click it and won’t purchase a calculator. That click just cost you a few dollars and you got nothing out of it.
So, by adding “online calculator” to your negative keyword list, you’re preventing your ad from being shown and clicked, when someone types that keyword into Google. There are many free keyword tools out there that you can use to get started intelligently building your negative keyword list.
Optimized Landing Page
Google will lower your Quality Score if your landing page isn’t relevant. Their algorithms are smart enough to determine what is, and what isn’t a good landing page. If the landing page on your website gets a low-quality score, the cost per click will rise exponentially.
This is why it pays to spend some time optimizing your landing pages. First off, you’re going to want to keep the message consistent from ad to the landing page.
For example, if you’re selling blue widgets for $10 each, and the landing page doesn’t have “blue widgets” in the title tag, the content is sparse, and there’s no way to figure out how to purchase a blue $10 widget, you’re going to get a low-quality score.
If your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices, Google might exclude your ad from being shown in the mobile search results. This is why a responsive website design is a must, as it can help increase conversions and traffic when managing a PPC campaign.
Remarketing Ads
Are you taking advantage of remarketing?
If not, you’re missing out on a lot of potential sales. When you remarket to someone, Google will continue to show them your ad several times after they’ve visited your site sometime in the past.
For example, if someone searched for “green tennis shoes” and clicked your ad and landed on your website, but didn’t make a purchase, Google will take note. A few hours to a few days later, Google will show that same exact person your ad again.
At this point, the person is already somewhat familiar with your product or brand, and the chances of them converting into a sale are much higher than at the first touch point.
Competitor Analysis
Are you keeping tabs on your competitors?
If not, you should be. From monitoring their keywords to analyzing their landing pages, competitor analysis is a great way to discover new keywords and ideas that may help you improve your click through and conversion rates.
While you can perform the work manually, there are plenty of free and paid PPC Analysis tools on the market that will run an analysis in matter of a few minutes. They can help uncover hidden insights, which can help you optimize your campaigns.
Ad Extensions
In a sea of PPC competitors whose ads look similar to yours, ad extensions can help you stand out from the rest of the pack. An ad extension is a type of ad format that shows additional information about your business or products such as:
• What time you open or close
• Your address
• Your phone number
• Additional product information
There are two different types of ad extensions: manual and automatic. Manual ad extensions are customizable and require you to fill in the information by hand.
This can get tricky if you have hundreds or thousands of ads running. This is why Google created automatic ad extensions. They will automatically pull product or business information from your website and list it under your ads.
PPC Help in Seattle
Do you need a little help with your pay-per-click advertising? At Bizango, we specialize in helping our clients optimize their PPC campaigns and maximize their ad spend. If you would like an expert opinion or need help immediately, give us a call at (206) 462-4020 or contact us via our website to learn more about our services.