Google Ads are among the most popular forms of digital advertising.
They can appear in different sizes and places on Google’s results pages, allowing for flexibility as well as visibility. Google Ads blend in seamlessly with organic results, generating higher levels of clicks than traditional banner ads or pop-ups.
Like SEO or SEM, Google Ads can be optimized and improved. We’ve asked eight experts to share their tips for improving Google Ads performance.
Integrate SEO & SEM
SEO and SEM are sometimes looked at as mutually exclusive marketing methods. The truth is, they’re much better when they work together.
If you’re looking to improve PPC performance, take a look at organic search results. Chances are, there are insights to be gained about organic click through rates (CTRs) and PPC ad copy, as well as organic conversions and PPC quality scores.
For example, if a PPC ad for a particular keyword is generating a high CTR, then that could signify an opportunity to update the meta description of a blog post targeting the same keyword. The crossover of the efforts is immense. Take the necessary steps to integrate PPC and SEO.
Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
Target Specific Locations
Lawyer keywords can reach cost per click levels of $150-$200 per click. To avoid paying those high amounts, advertisers need to be hyperspecific with the locations they target. Get granular with Maps in Google Ads. Select the exact areas nearest to your service areas to see an increase in conversions and to help your ad budget go farther.
Court Will, Will & Will
Use Negative Keywords
Negative keywords enable advertisers to exclude specific search terms from advertising campaigns to focus on only the search terms that matter to your business. By monitoring campaign activity and adding in negative keywords, campaigns can achieve better targeting with an increase in your return on investment.
For example, there are 125 Cruise America rental centers in the United States, Canada, and Alaska from which you can depart. But, Hawaii is not one of those locations. By adding “Hawaii” as a negative keyword, we can make sure our ads stay relevant to the locations we service.
Randall Smalley, Cruise America
Focus on Some KPIs Over Others
If I had to summarize a strategy for Google Ads, it would be to focus on the attributed revenue and CAC (customer acquisition cost) rather than CTRs (click-through rates), CPCs (cost per clicks), CPAs (cost per acquisition) and other funnel metrics.
The point of pay-per-click, simply put, is to invest dollars and receive a return on investment. Many marketers get caught up in optimizing top of funnel metrics, but if good CTRs don't actually attribute to revenue, then is that metric really worth it?
Janelle Amos, Head of Demand Gen
