Top 5 Tips for Improving Your PPC Campaigns

In the world of digital marketing, optimising your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns is essential to maximise your return on investment. With the right strategies, you can drive more traffic, generate leads, and boost sales effectively. By adopting the right strategy PPC and SEO can be used together to increase web site traffic and conversions.

Here are the top 5 tips to improve your PPC campaigns, complete with insights and actionable steps.

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is the backbone of any successful PPC campaign. How do you know if the campaign is performing well if you cannot measure its success?

By tracking conversions, you can understand which ads are driving valuable actions on your website, such as purchases, sign-ups, or downloads. Without tracking conversions, you’re flying blind, and unable to measure the true ROI of your efforts.

Google Analytics (GA4) allows you to import conversions into Google Ads for reporting. This also has the added benefit of providing Google Ads machine learning with valuable data into which ads are converting well based on the bid strategy.

How to Set Up Conversion Tracking

• Choose Your Platform: Importing conversion data from Google Analytics is the most straightforward method. If you are already tracking conversions from Organic Search, Social and Emails it Is likely that the conversion actions are going to be the same. You may need to set up events within Google Tag Manager prior to creating the Key Events in GA4.
• Install Tracking Code: If you already have Google Tag Manager/GA4 .gtag tracking implemented on your web site then this step is straightforward and can be done via import from GA4. The alternative is to create conversions natively within Google Ads and install the tracking code directly onto the web pages where the conversion will occur.
• Define Conversions: Clearly define what actions you want to track, such as form submissions, purchases, or phone calls.
• Review Performance Data: Regularly check your conversion data to see which ads and keywords are driving the most conversions. Use this information to adjust your strategy and allocate your budget more effectively. Please bear in mind that it can take up to 2 weeks from launching a campaign to have enough data to make informed decisions on what is working and what is not. If your ad campaigns are focused on target ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend), regularly review how the ads are performing and adjust the target ROAS accordingly.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of a successful PPC campaign. It helps you identify the terms and phrases your target audience is searching for, ensuring your ads appear in front of the right people at the right time. Put yourself in the shoes of your target customer and list out keywords and phrases they are likely to search for within the target stage of the buying journey. If you are service business what are the likely issues facing a customer that they are likely to search for to gain assistance. For example, if a customer’s boiler is not working, they are likely to search for “Boiler Repair near me”.

How to Conduct Keyword Research

• Use Keyword Tools: Utilise tools such Google Keyword Planner (accessible from the Google Ads dashboard), SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find relevant keywords. It is also good to review Google Search Console to identify keywords that you may not rank high enough in Organic Search that you would like to appear for.
• Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are more specific and often indicate a higher intent to purchase. They can also be less competitive, providing a better return on investment. Using Exact and Phrase Match key words also allows you to target more effectively keywords that Broad Match.
• Analyse Competitors: Review the keywords your competitors are targeting. This can reveal opportunities and gaps in your own strategy. A simple Google Search of your chosen keywords will display competitor ads that are will also be competing in the same auction.
• Refine and Expand: Continuously refine your keyword list based on performance data and expand it by finding new relevant terms.
• Negative Keywords: Compile a list of key words that you would not like your ads to be shown for. Example you are a building company that specialises in Home Extensions, but you would not want your ads showing for Hair Extensions. Adding [Hair Extensions] as a negative keyword would help minimise the ad being shown to irrelevant audiences and reduce wasted ad spend.

Optimise Ad Copy

Effective ad copy is crucial for capturing attention and driving clicks. Similar to SEO, Paid Ads require an attention grabbing title and a description with a clear call to action. Tailoring your ad copy to match user intent and search queries can significantly improve your click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. Google will also provide an ad strength rating based on the ad copy and inclusion of relevant keywords. Responsive Search Ads are a great way of testing different Titles and Descriptions with Google’s Machine Learning to discover which ad content combinations are more relevant to your target audience. This is measured by the click through rate. The more relevant the ad copy to the searchers intent the higher the likely click through rate.

How to Create Compelling Ad Copy

• Use Keywords in Ad Copy: Incorporate your main keywords in the headline and description to make your ad more relevant to search queries.
  Highlight Unique Selling Points (USPs): Clearly state what makes your product or service unique. Focus on the benefits and features that set you apart from competitors.
• Ask Questions: If you are targeting users with a specific issue, ask the question in your ad copy. For example, you provide replacement conservatory roofs and insulation. A common issue with conservatories in winter is that if they are not insulated correctly, they can be cold and costly to heat. By asking the question, “Is Your Conservatory Too Cold?”, you are showing the customer that you understand their problem and have a solution.
• Include a Strong CTA: Use a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA) to tell users exactly what you want them to do (e.g., “Buy Now,” “Sign Up Today”).
  Test Different Variations: Create multiple versions of your ad copy and test them against each other to see which performs best.

Landing Pages with Clear Calls To Actions

Your landing page is where conversions happen. A well-designed landing page with a clear Call to Action can significantly increase your conversion rate.
If you are a service provider and are running a campaign targeting repairs, having your phone number shown prominently throughout the landing page is great for user experience as a customer who ahs a water leak is more likely to want to pick up the phone and speak to someone than complete a contact form and wait patiently for a reply.

How to Optimise Landing Pages

Match Ad Copy to the Landing Page: Ensure the message and offer in your ad copy align with what users see on the landing page. Consistency is key to maintaining user trust.
Simplify the Design: Keep your landing page clean and focused. Remove any unnecessary elements or large sections of content that could distract users from the main CTA.
Use Clear CTAs: Make your CTA stand out with contrasting colours and compelling text. Place it above the fold and repeat it throughout the page if necessary.
Optimise for Mobile: Ensure your landing page is mobile-friendly, as many users will be accessing it from their phones.
Trust signals: People buy from people, include images and/or video of similar projects you have created for other customers. If you have great reviews and testimonials from happy customers as well as 3rd party review sites such as Trustpilot and Checkatrade including these within your landing page content can increase conversion rates.

Reviewing Performance, Split Testing, and Negative Keyword Optimisation

Regularly reviewing your PPC ad campaign performance and adjusting is essential for continuous improvement. Split testing and negative keyword optimisation are key tactics for refining your campaigns and maximising your budget.

How to Review and Optimise Performance

• Review Performance Metrics: Monitor key metrics such as CTR, conversion rate, cost per conversion, and return on ad spend (ROAS). Comparing performance to previous month or year or year data for seasonality trends.
• Conduct Split Testing (A/B Testing): Test different versions of your ads, landing pages, and CTAs to see which performs better. Make data-driven decisions based on the results. Only implement small changes during each test as implementing lots of changes at one time will make it impossible to establish which change has the biggest impact.
• Optimise Negative Keywords: Regularly update your negative keyword list to exclude irrelevant searches that are costing you money without generating conversions. Use search term reports to identify these keywords.
• Adjust Bids and Budgets: Based on performance data, adjust your bids and allocate your budget to the best-performing keywords and ads. It is also wise to consider seasonality within your campaigns, certain services/products will have peak periods so it would be advisable to increase budgets around these periods. For example, if you are an ecommerce retailer, sales will peak around Black Friday and the run up to Christmas so it’s important that you have a large enough budget to keep your ads running during this time to maximise sales potential.

Conclusion

By focusing on these top 5 tips—conversion tracking, keyword research, tailoring ad copy, optimising landing pages with clear CTAs, and reviewing performance with split testing and negative keyword optimisation—you can significantly enhance your PPC campaigns. Implement these strategies to drive more traffic, increase conversions, and achieve a higher ROI from your PPC efforts.

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