Ever notice the advertisements that appear in your search query on Google?
These are called PPC ads or Pay-Per-Click advertising that essentially puts your site and your page on top of the most relevant searches, for a price of course. For the sake of familiarity, let’s use Google Ads for example. Google Ads only charge the advertisers whenever a user clicks on their ad, hence the pay-per-click. This method eliminates the assumption that advertisers can simply pay more to ensure their ads appear more prominently than other ads.
Also, there is an entirely automated process that Google uses, called Ad Auction, to determine the relevance and validity of PPC ads that appear on their Search Engine Results Page or SERP. Google’s Ad Auction works as a bidding system where advertisers bid on the terms, called keywords, they want to display their ads. If you’re smart, bidding on the right keywords that are relevant to your business can help increase your return of investment or ROI from your ad spend in the long-run.
Because of PPC’s qualified traffic conversion success, it has become the most common form of advertising on the web today. Although this innovative method can increase the traffic of your page, it takes a lot of hard work, constant monitoring, and strategies that ensures your PPC campaigns do not underperform.
Why should you optimize your PPC campaigns?
Profits baby!
At the end of the day, it all comes down to getting the maximum ROI from your advertising efforts, unless you want to do charity. Otherwise, you are just wasting time and effort on advertising.
PPC optimization does not only improve your campaign ROI, but also reduce cost per click, get a higher click-through rate and get a better quality score. With optimization, you can help sustain or improve the performance of your ads and benefit your business.
If you are already using PPC and notice a high click–through rate with low conversion rates, something may have gone wrong in your strategy. So, prepare your notebook and jot down these strategies that may help you optimize your PPC campaigning.
Select the Right Keywords
It all starts with bidding on the right keywords and in order to choose, you must perform Keyword Research on the most relevant words around your brand/product. You can better understand your target audience and establish a persona that most likely clicks on your ads.
In researching the most beneficial keywords for your business, start with general keywords related to your basic product or services. Utilize keyword tools on the internet to track how many users search for that general keyword. From there, you can slowly trim the general keyword until you reach specific words that are most relevant to your product or business.
For example, if you plan to launch a Boracay Trip Promo for your travelling agency, start with “ Island vacation Philippines”. If these general keywords generate a lot of traffic, then you can proceed around those keywords and identify specific keywords for your promo.
Then, analyze specific keywords such as “Boracay island vacation” or “Best spots to see in Boracay Island, Philippines”. From here on, you must brainstorm general terms with adjectives that relate to your service. Ultimately, your goal is to find the best keywords that have high search volume and low competition.
Avoid / Replace Poor Performance Keywords
Apart from searching the right keywords, Keyword Research also gives you ideas on words not to target. Create a list of words to avoid because they might have dual meaning or may compromise the terms that confuse users on your advertised product.
If you are already struggling with low click-through rates, then you might want to take a look at your keywords and identify which words have poor performance. As Forbes Co-founder and CEO at Hawksem, Sam Yadegar, likes to say, “Keywords can make or break your PPC campaign”. That’s why reviewing your keywords and replacing those who aren’t performing well will improve your PPC ads. It may also slowly increase your ROI, with optimization of course.
Use Customer Reviews
It has just been fully realized that customer reviews and online forums contribute to a large part of optimization on your advertising. By leveraging these sources, you can put them into good use. It is done by utilizing keywords that you find relevant and beneficial to your product or service.
If you have already great online reviews about your product, you can also display ratings on your ad extension. This is to establish trust and boost your click-through rate.
Practice Demographic Targeting
Unless you are an established business with products that fit everyone and serve customers worldwide, chances are you don’t need to specify your demographic. In recent years, Google has updated their algorithm. They specify audience based on making targeting options more granular such as geographic location, gender and age. This makes PPC an efficient and successful marketing method. The advertiser can decide exactly who their PPC ads reach based on the tailored demographics.
Targeting your PPC campaigning on a demographic where your products or services are relevant will increase your click-through rate and conversion rate. Considering these demographics below will help you choose who you want to target with your keywords. They can also determine the success of your PPC campaign.
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- Age
- Geographic location
- Gender
- Income level
- Relationship status
- Education level
- Lifestyle
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Optimize Your Campaigns for Conversions, Not Clicks!
As a rule of thumb, the more traffic you generate through clicks from your PPC advertisements, the more you generate sales and revenue. By optimizing your landing page, you can increase the effectiveness of your website. You can even increase revenue with the same generation of traffic.
For instance, you generate a lot of clicks from your PPC campaign. But then you wonder why your conversions do not match the huge click-through rate. This is an anomaly and you must consider optimizing your landing page. Because of this, chances are, your users bailed or bounced after seeing your site.
In order to avoid this situation, take a look at your landing pages once in a while. Refresh by analyzing and optimizing your content according to your PPC campaign. By just optimizing your site, you can make your conversion funnel more effective. It can even increase conversion rate without even changing your advertising, brand or your product!
Because, an optimized, functional and well-designed landing page is the most important factor of your PPC campaign success.
Key Takeaway
There are countless ways to make your PPC ads effective. From selecting the right keywords to optimizing your landing page, there are a lot of elements to look at and manage. Especially if you want to have success in your PPC campaign.
Although the PPC campaign itself gives the advertiser an advantage in generating traffic against organic search, optimizing your PPC strategies is still important. Without proper augmentation for search, your ad will be essentially useless. Therefore, you are not only wasting your efforts but also your time.