PPC advertising (Pay-per-click) is able to help you earn top search result rankings for keywords that are relevant to your business. One of the greatest parts about utilizing this method in your campaign is the near-instant results that you will see. Once you have an ad that ranks the highest for a specific keyword, you will see your traffic rise exponentially.
It isn’t as simple as choosing to go the route of PPC; in fact, there is a lot of work you need to do. You must first optimize your ads for PPC; that is the only way you will be able to outrank your competitors while making users click your ad.
Throughout this article, our focus will be on PPC. Mainly 5 strategies that you are able to utilize to give your company a boost in conversions. First, let’s touch on what PPC optimization is and what it entails.
PPC Optimization
PPC optimization is all about analyzing and improving your campaign to an ad and campaign level. You do this by updating and altering your ad copy, landing pages, and keyword bids.
What it Entails
Though the idea of optimizing your PPC ads sounds intimidating, it really shouldn’t. It is simply the process of improving the elements of your ads so they can get the prime position on search results, earning you more clicks. There is a lot of elements that you have to optimize because there are a lot of things that an ad campaign involves.
If you aren’t designing your ads for search, they are useless. That is why it is so important to optimize your PPC campaign. Consider these different areas when you decide to optimize your ads for PPC:
- Landing Pages
- Targeting Keywords
- The Ads’ Text, Design, Photos, Colors, etc.
The three mentioned areas are vital to PPC optimization. Keep reading to learn about how they are involved in the process of optimization!
5 PPC Optimization Steps
Follow these 5 optimization steps for your PPC ads to succeed!
Research Keywords
Before you can actually launch your campaign, you should do some basic research on the keywords that are beneficial to your business. What we mean is the keywords that will bring valuable clicks to your ads.
You begin this by brainstorming generic/general keywords that are relevant to your basic services and/or products. Fair warning, these general keywords usually come with a fair amount of competition, so targeting these keywords may not be the best strategy.
While you are brainstorming, make sure you combine general keywords with adjectives that are relevant to what you are offering too. This will help improve the list of your keywords to target.
Next, you want to find the right tool for the job. Tools like searchvolume.io grant you insight into the volume of the search for the keyword, as well as the competition you will have with that keyword. You will find that the best keywords will offer lower competition with higher search volumes. You can use this step to find the most valuable keywords for your campaign.
List The Negative Keywords
While targeting the right keywords is key, knowing the negative keywords is equally important to your PPC optimization. Negative keywords may seem like they fit the product you are offering. However, they don’t. When you focus on negative keywords, the only thing you are accomplishing is allowing your valuable traffic to go to your competitors.
Utilize Demographic Targeting
PPC is super successful for the fact that you get to choose exactly who you are targeting with your ads. If you are using a platform like Google Ads, you will find that the targeting options have become very thorough, offering more options than they have in the past. Below, we will take a look at some of the ways you can target your valuable audience.
- Gender- If you make a product designed for a specific gender, this is the option to focus on.
- Age- This is ideal for selling to a specific age group.
- Income Level- If you have a low-cost product, then you want to target people who can afford it. The same goes in reverse for products that cost more. The income level that you are targeting makes a difference.
- Relationship Status- You are able to target single, married, or divorced couples as needed with this option.
- Geographic Location- This is one of the more popular ways to target an audience effectively. Ads based on country, city, state, or specific geographical locations make for great audience targeting if it is relevant.
- Education Level- Sometimes, your product is best for someone with a college education or for someone in college. Sometimes you are targeting those with only a high school degree. Either way, education level is an option that many platforms offer.
When you choose the right demographic to target, you are choosing to succeed with your campaign and PPC ads. So make sure you are studying your demographic and using the right options.
Test the Copy
Your ad determines whether or not you are going to get a click. Because of that, PPC optimization works best when you analyze and test your copy.
Testing your ad copy is simple. All you need to do is set up a test with multiple ads, then the one that brings in the most clicks is the one you want to go with.
The copy isn’t all you can test with the “A/B Test”; you also get valuable information on your colors, CTAs, and landing pages.
When you set up one of these A/B tests, Google will show them to random users. At the end of this test, you will have information on which ones brought in the most clicks. This will give you a good idea of which direction you want to go in when pushing your campaign further.
Create a Quality Landing Page
When someone clicks on your ad, it takes them to a specific location. This location is known as a landing page, and the quality of that page does, in fact, impact whether or not that click generates a purchase. So, when you are optimizing your PPC strategies, this is one of the most important steps to take.
While there are other factors that will lead a user away from the landing page of your product/service, that doesn’t mean you can relax on the design and copy. In fact, whether or not those same viewers come back depends on how your page is laid out, set up, functions, and responds.
Here is a mini-checklist of what should be featured on a landing page that is considered conversion-worthy:
- Images of the Product- If your landing page doesn’t have anything to do with the product or ad that people intended on purchasing or learning more about, then you just turned away valuable business from your company. That means the landing page for your ad should encompass the proposition of the ad itself.
- Product Price- When people are trying to decide whether or not to invest in a product or service, the price is a huge factor. You want to make sure that the price you are offering is well displayed and straightforward. This is how the user will determine whether or not the product will fit in their budget.
- Product Information- Basically, the landing page is the final destination of the process. If your product is on display, with the price, then they need the information too. In fact, research is part of the natural buying process. So, when you offer all of the important information, consumers are more inclined to make the right decision and purchase what you are selling. Shorting people on this information is a big red flag that you don’t want your company associated with.
- CTA- A landing page’s most critical aspect is its CTA. CTA stands for call-to-action, and it is what encourages users to make a purchase. It can be a button that simply states “Buy Now” or “Add to Cart.” It just depends on what you are selling and what you want, the next destination of the viewer to be.
