Feel like you’re pumping budget into your PPC campaigns and getting nothing back? PPC is a great way to get quality leads to your website but if set up incorrectly your PPC campaign can be wasting you a lot of money.

An effective PPC campaign will boost your traffic and sales, with the possibility of your ads sitting at position 1 above the organic search results – maximum exposure.

Every business and industry have a different target audience however these simple PPC tips work across the board, regardless of your industry. Keep reading to find out the easiest changes you can make to your PPC campaigns right now to save you money and improve the performance of your ads.

Create Specific Landing Pages

It doesn’t matter how great your ad copy is, if your landing page sucks then not only will the user leave your site but Google will rank your ad poorly, show it less often or not at all due to poor landing page experience. PPC is about making a sale, not just getting a click.

Your ad copy convinces the user to click through, then it is the job of your landing page to encourage users to convert, buy or enquire. The message of your landing pages should align with your ads and have clear call to actions of what you want the user to do on that page.

Improving your landing pages will improve the quality score and CTR of your ads whilst lowering your CPC spend. Find out how to create a landing page that coverts with our learn guide.

Utilise Negative Keywords

One of the most overlooked but most powerful tools available in Google Ads is negative keywords. Google allows you to define what keywords are not a good fit for your business so that you can prevent your ads from appearing on searches that they shouldn’t. For example a business that owns a luxury hotel would not want to appear for searches that include terms such as ‘cheap’ or ‘budget’; similarly a business that sells air sock ducting would not want to appear for ‘sports socks’ so you can add these as negative keywords.

Adding negative keywords have many benefits including:

  • Fewer clicks = lower costs
  • Higher CTR = Better quality score & position
  • Increased conversion rate = higher position and more revenue

Remember, it is just as important to tell Google what your business isn’t as it is telling them what you are.

Use The Right Keyword Match Types

Keywords are crucial to PPC advertising success as they drive the entire PPC machine. Keyword match types help control which searches trigger your ads and determine how broad or narrow you want a searcher’s search query to match the keyword in your Google Ads account.

There are 5 types of keyword match types available:

  • Broad match
  • Broad match modifier
  • Phrase match
  • Exact match
  • Negative match

In simplest terms, the broader the keyword match, the more searches your ad will appear on. The narrower the keyword, your ads will only show on directly relevant search queries.

Generally it is best to start your campaign with all keywords on broad match for 30 days to see what people are searching for, then gradually alter keyword match type over time to refine and add irrelevant search queries to your negative keyword list.

Make The Most Of Your Ads

With the launch of expanded text ads in July 2016, you now have more room than ever relevant content and call to actions in your ad text.

Your ad text should tell the user about your business, your product and what you have to offer (as well as any deals, promotions etc). There are 6 elements to a good text ad:

  • Final URL: The URL of your relevant landing page with UTM tracking parameters
  • Headline 1: A stand out headline to push the product/service
  • Headline 2: A supporting headline that can include offers etc
  • Path 1: URL categorisation
  • Path 2: Further URL categorisation
  • Description: Influential description that explains why the user needs your product/service, to include a strong call to action to engage the reader.

Utilise Ad Extensions

Your PPC ad is much more than the ad copy itself; utilising all available ad extensions can add further value to your ads – especially if your competitors aren’t using them. Ad extensions available in Google Ads:

  • Sitelinks
  • Callout
  • Structured snippet
  • Call
  • Message
  • Location
  • Affiliate location
  • Price
  • App
  • Review
  • Automated

We’ve previously written a guide on the top 5 extensions you should be using, you can read that guide here.

PPC is an investment and if done wrong can be catastrophic. Talk to the experts at In Front Digital about setting up a PPC campaign that really works.