19 Jun Free PPC Audit | Google Ads Audit Tips
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the world for many of us. The business world is no different. In order to survive, many businesses have been forced to pivot. New products, new directives, new methods of selling. It’s a learning curve for us all.
One industry that has seen rapid change is online retail. Where customers once visited a brick and mortar store, they are now shopping online. In fact, according to data from Signifyd, both buy online and click-to-collect purchases surged an incredible 248% at the end of May.
As more consumers are opting to shop online, businesses are building out their digital marketing strategies. One strategy that can work well for small businesses is Google Ads.
What is PPC?
Pay-Per-Click, or PPC, is an online advertising method. By putting your product in front of a consumer searching online, entirely new audiences open up.
A big advantage of PPC is that businesses will only pay for actual clicks on their ads. This gives them a lot more control as to when, where and how their brand advertises products.
For small business owners, pay-per-click can be a cost-effective marketing strategy. Google Ads offers easy to follow instructions for setting up campaigns. Advertisers are guided through setting up their goals, their ad copy, and landing pages. In A, they will set how much they are willing to pay for a click.
Once set up, the digital advertising campaigns can launch across the Google network. So far so good! Advertisers can then watch their campaigns get to work. Website traffic improves, clicks roll in, and hopefully, conversion volumes improve.
But what happens if the results are not what you were aiming for?
Free PPC Audit
There’s a reason that digital marketing agencies will have in-house paid search experts. Although the initial set up may be easy, understanding the data behind the campaigns can be more complex.
To help you make the most of your paid search advertising campaigns, we’ve put together a free PPC audit you can do yourself. Follow these simple steps to help boost your campaigns performance.
- Keyword Management
Your keywords are how you tell Google the search terms that you are interested in. Your ad will only show when users type in relevant terms. However, even ‘related’ terms can sometimes be irrelevant.
Keep an eye on how users are finding your ads with the search term report. If you find irrelevant search terms from this report, add them to your negative keyword list. This will help you reduce wasted spend on searches you don’t want to be showing for.
- Check Your Bids
With paid search, you only need to pay for clicks on your ad. How much you are willing to pay is up to you. Best practice dictates that you won’t pay more for a click than you would get back in revenue. Your cost per click (CPC) will ultimately determine how often your ad shows, and how much you will pay for it.
It can be tempted to set a blanket CPC across your account. After all, that can make it easier to manage, right? Wrong.
Make sure you set your maximum CPC bid to levels that are appropriate for the keyword. For example, if you have a keyword that has a great conversion rate and is very relevant to your business, you probably want to spend more on that keyword.
You’ll also want to make sure that your CPC bids are suitable to show your ads. For many keywords, there is a minimum CPC bid required to show your ad on the first page. Check your keywords and CPC bids, and make any edits as needed.
- Ad Quality Check
Think of your ad copy as your store front. You want an appealing store front that is going to encourage people to come inside. Similarly, your ad copy should compel users to click onto your ad.
You can see how often users are clicking on your ad with the click through rate metric (CTR). Your CTR is a good benchmark to help you identify ads and keywords that are performing, versus those that are not.
Ensure that your ads have good CTR. Don’t be afraid to test new messaging to drive up your CTR either!
Remember, it’s best practice to have a variety of ads in each campaign. Google will show the best performing ad automatically, so it’s a great way for you to test different messaging at once.
These three tips can help you boost the performance of your PPC campaigns. For a more in-depth Google Ads account audit, the paid search specialists at 1Stop Marketing Solutions are on hand to help. Click here to request your complimentary consultation today!