5 Ways to Get the Best From Your PPC Campaigns

9th October 2020

If you are already running PPC campaigns for your product or service, it is vital that you are getting the most from them. 

If they are not correctly optimised, you will be losing out on conversions and wasting your hard earned money. 

Below you will find our lesser known tips for getting the best results from your existing paid ads, created by Luke, our in house expert. 

If you are yet to set up Google Ads and need a hand, feel free to give him a call on 01603 859007 for advice on getting started.  

1. Capture those who are ready to buy

In-Market Audiences are audiences in Google Ads that Google has determined are at the stage in the buying process where they are ready to actually make a purchase. For example, someone looking to buy a new computer doesn’t buy the first one they see, they look around, do a bit of research and find out what they want. When Google thinks they’re done researching and ready to buy, the user will be placed into the In-Market Audience for “Computers”. This is a useful strategy as it allows you to bid more for those who are on the cusp of buying, allowing you to save money on clicks for people who are not ready to buy.

2. Look to the skies 

This may seem like a bizarre suggestion, but did you know that when it’s sunny outside, the number of holidays being booked online drops significantly? It makes sense, and there’s gains to be made by bidding on the weather. A package holiday company for example, could save money by reducing bids on sunny bank holiday weekends. On the other hand, fashion brands that sell stylish raincoats can notice big gains by bidding high during wet periods and dialing it down when it’s hot outside.

3. Take the time to learn all about Google Ads Editor

If PPC only makes up a small part of your day, there’s a chance that you’ve never heard of Google Ads Editor. An alternative to the standard web based Google Ads interface, Google Ads Editor allows you to make more complex and powerful changes much more easily. Think of it like a better version of Excel for Google Ads. It’s most useful in the initial stages of setting up a PPC account or for making big structural changes to an account. It’s also helpful for expanding an account with new campaigns, as it makes it easy to transplant and modify multiple ads, keywords and other various settings between campaigns.

4. Analyse your data 

Whilst Auction Insights are becoming more popular, they’re still overlooked by most account managers. When anyone makes a search, Google Ads in essence,  becomes a huge auction. Where your ad ends up and how much it costs depends on a variety of factors. Auction Insights allows you to see exactly how you’re faring in these auctions, giving you a rundown of the competitors that you’re being placed into auctions with and the results of these auctions. This can be a useful tool in influencing your bidding strategy moving forward. For example if you’re after increasing brand awareness but you’re only showing at the very top of the ads 10% of the time, you might consider switching to Impression Share Ads Top.

5. See the whole picture 

Google often, by default, gives the credit for a conversion to the last keyword or ad that was clicked before the conversion happened. While this is a logical process, it often doesn’t give you the whole story. It’s important to remember that sales online don’t happen after just one search and just one click; buyers do their research and do different searches. By only using Last-Click attribution, you may miss the keywords and ads that the user clicked beforehand, this can be detrimental as they were a key element in the user making the purchase with you. Different attribution methods spread this conversion credit out between the keywords and ads that were used and clicked, allowing you to see if there are any keywords or ads which are key to conversions but aren’t getting credit for it.

If any of the above has left you a little confused or maybe even intrigued about PPC, then give us a shout. Our in house expert Luke is happy to help, just pop him an email luke@nuimage.co.uk.