With a myriad of account and campaign parameters to bear in mind in 2020, it can be a minefield for PPC experts to decide which actions to choose to obtain the best results.
A PPC strategy that boosts ROI, saves time and reduces spend is the perfect formula for optimising performance – here are seven tips to help you achieve this.
- Adjust your account and campaign settings
To boost PPC performance, ensure you use location targeting to get your message to your audience in the areas in which they are searching.
Why? There will be particular geographic areas within countries that have a higher tendency to convert, so by showing your ads to people who have an interest in your business you are making the most of your budget.
You also need to select the devices that your target audience uses.
Why? Using the data within your search engine you can discover the devices that are driving the strongest KPI performance and then adjust bids accordingly.
Rotating ads is another way to increase PPC performance. Google can do this for you or you can do it yourself – either way, let the system optimise the ads based on the best click-through rate or conversion rate.
Why? Rotating ads is an effective way to test different messages.
- Use automated bid management
Using analytics, work out the number of searches people take to convert with you and then you can decide which bidding method works best for your ads, using bid management in Bing or Google Ads. If users are only making a small number of searches before converting, set up the automated bidding based on the last-click conversion model. However, if the conversion length is large, set it up based on a many-per-click conversion model in order to capture all the keywords required for someone to convert.
Automated bid management saves you valuable time and is useful is you’re new to PPC and are unsure what bids you should be putting in and how to manage them.
- Integrate your data
Linking your analytics data with your search data is important for marketers, as it enables you to see a number of interesting metrics, such as how long people are spending on your site from PPC, and see which keywords are working best for site engagement.
- Utilise your audience data
Ensure you are targeting people who are most likely to convert with you by using remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs), which show you where people are interacting with your site so you can figure out who is most likely to convert with you. With this information you can create audiences in Google Ads and Bing Ads and retarget them when they search for other relevant terms. The next step is to integrate CRM data with your search platforms to create customer match lists to target people similar to those who have already engaged with you.
- Use generic keywords wisely
Although conversion rates on generic terms tend to be lower than brand terms, using generics as a retargeting mechanism is very effective. This is because people who have already visited your site will already be familiar with your brand, so by keeping your brand in their sight through generic keywords you could get them to convert using different messaging in your ad copy or by increasing your bids on your audiences.
- Create an effective account structure
The structure of your account is important for ensuring you have accurate data and bid management capabilities. Here are some top tips:
– Ensure that your campaigns are split by products or categories into the keywords that they should be by a group.
– Create a separate campaign for your brand’s main keyword term.
– Keep top-performing keywords in their own ad groups (single keyword ad groups, SKAGs).
– Split campaigns by match types.
- Enable data-driven attribution
In Google Ads, this allows you to report on your campaign performance to discover when users are converting and to help inform your bidding rules.