There is a lot to consider when optimizing the PPC efforts.
Managing paid search can spoil marketers.
It’s deeply ingrained in data, and this data comes quickly after launching a new campaign.
Before starting to optimize campaigns, one should have a good understanding of what the number one goal of paid search campaigns is.
15 ways to optimize a paid search campaign:
1. Channel and campaign:
When someone is advertising on multiple channels or campaigns, it is important to see which channel is performing the best for the top KPI (key performance indicator) and also what could be playing a supporting role.
For example, paid search will always show a higher conversion compared to YouTube, but that doesn’t mean YouTube isn’t playing a role in the final sale that paid search is getting credit for.
Take the time to understand which channels and campaigns are performing the best, and budget accordingly.
2. Budget and impression share:
Another aspect to optimize is the budget and the percentage of search impressions.
This is largely based on the offerings on the terms of the brand itself.
Review the impression share for the areas where are defending the brand keywords as well as the terms that regularly convert.
If fall behind on actions due to a limited budget, re-examine how the budget was allocated.
3. Time of day and day of the week:
Offer adjustments can be made at several different levels.
Traditional manual bid management is done at the keyword level.
However, there are many different aspects of a paid search campaign where bid adjustments beyond that can and should be applied.
Adjusting bids by the time of day or day of the week is one of those options.
4. Offer adjustments by location:
Performance by location is extremely important and is often overlooked.
Some locations just work differently than others.
By continually reviewing and making adjustments toward goal number one, campaigns can be made more efficient.
If running across the country, it’s also important to look at how much budget big cities are using compared to how well they convert.
Access reports showing performance in Campaign> Locations> User Location Report or Geographic Report.
Similar to optimizing for an hour of the day, bid down on the lowest-performing locations or even consider excluding them entirely.
5. Analysis of search queries and negative keywords:
Looking at what users are actually searching for to match keywords sheds a lot of light on paid search match type logic jobs, but it also helps to identify queries or parts of queries that don’t want to show up.
This is where negative keywords come in and are crucial to avoiding wasted expenses.
6. Exclusion of search partners:
Unfortunately, Google Search Partners is one of the few elements of paid search that cannot apply bid adjustments; it is an all or nothing option.
Includes or excludes Google search partners.
Regardless, look at the performance between Google Search and Search Partners on a campaign-by-campaign basis.
7. Keyword:
Keyword bid adjustments were already mentioned, but the other aspect of keywords to review is simply performance relative to the target.
Certain keywords just don’t work despite reviewing search queries, making bid adjustments, testing landing pages, and testing different match types.
If so, these keywords may need to be removed from the campaign.
8. Landing pages:
Landing pages are often overlooked when it comes to performance because they are not part of the ad account directly, but they are crucial to the performance of an account.
Well, for one thing, landing pages can’t be adjusted as easily as the other elements.
Sometimes brands are unwilling or unable to invest in landing pages, but landing pages tend to be the most responsible for converting users.
Keywords and ads lead users to the website.
Landing pages close the deal.
9. Ad text:
Ad text is another aspect of paid search that needs to be tested and optimized.
- Which ads have the highest click-through rate?
- Which has the lowest cost per conversion?
Google has created new ad types like RSA and features like Experiment to help to test more easily, so take advantage of them!
10. Device:
Device performance is also an important aspect to review.
- Are the pages and landing pages even optimized for mobile devices?
- What is the performance of the campaigns on mobile devices, computers or tablets?
- Need to make adjustments to a particular device or even exclude it from a campaign?
11. Hearings:
Review the performance of the remarketing lists in search and make adjustments to them as well.
When using demographics for the search, what is a particular demographic (that is, an age range) performing compared to others?
Add as many audiences as to want at the watch level and see how each one compares to the reference users.
Then adjust bids based on relative performance.
12. Conversion count:
Being counted as a conversion plays a role in the performance of the bidding mechanism.
Google offers the option to monitor many different types of user actions, but there is a difference between having those actions considered in the bidding/conversion formulas and having them there only as supplemental information.
Be sure to review them periodically to make sure only the correct user actions are counted as a conversion.
13. Match type strategy:
Have multiple options on how the bidding keywords correspond to actual search queries.
Broad, phrase and exact match types can all play a role in the account, so take a look at what they are for when choosing the campaign structure.
- Does Exact work well in some terms, but is it just too expensive in others?
- Is Phrase Match doing something Modified Broad wouldn’t do for cheaper?
Examine how the different iterations of the same keyword work and make some decisions to maximize the cost versus conversion metrics in each instance.
14. Keyword matching:
Google is choosing to match keywords with bids.
This is not exactly a match type method, but it is a higher-level assessment.
- What ad groups do Google match search queries?
- Do they go where to want?
If Google matches a search term across the account, notice that some ad groups simply perform better for that term than others.
Make sure to add negative exact match versions as necessary to funnel those searches the way they search for them.
An easy way to export the search terms and create a pivot table that shows the ad group count where that search term appeared.
Quickly identify cases where it matches multiple points:
15. Use experiments:
- One great feature of Google Ads that is often overlooked is the Experiments feature.
- This tool allows to duplicate a configuration, change the areas want to test, and run it so that it runs alongside the original.
- Tell Google what percentage of searches to send putting control of how much traffic is affected by the test.
Areas must first optimize for best PPC results:
- It depends on the overall goal.
- It depends on the current situation of the campaigns and their performance.
- For example, are the campaigns getting a lot of clicks with a high click-through rate but few conversions?
- Look at the search queries to make sure they are relevant.
- Look at the landing pages to make sure they follow best practices.
- Recommend looking at performance by the device to see if there is a significant difference depending on the device a user is using.
- There are several different aspects of paid search that need to be reviewed, analyzed, and optimized on a regular basis.