You may have heard of the term PPC management, but you’re not exactly sure what it means or how it works. In truth, PPC management requires more than just setting up an account with Google AdWords and then forgetting about it until you’re ready to buy some clicks and traffic for your website. In order to manage your PPC account effectively, there are several key mistakes that you must avoid at all costs. If you want to ensure that your PPC management campaigns are running efficiently and effectively, pay close attention to these 10 common mistakes in PPC management and how to avoid them in the future.
1) Not Understanding How to Optimize Ad Rank
One of, if not THE most common mistake many companies make is using Ad Rank as their only optimization metric. What Ad Rank doesn’t take into account are things like landing page quality or relevance to your keywords. Just because a keyword has a high search volume, doesn’t mean it will convert well for you. You also have to factor in competition and quality score when determining what your bid should be for any given keyword and ad group. The best way to ensure you don’t fall into these common mistakes is to work with an experienced and professional PPC Company that understands how to manage accounts efficiently.
2) Focusing on CTR Only – PPC
The most common mistake made by advertisers is to focus on just one metric: Click-through rate (CTR). While it’s important to know what your CTR is, it’s even more important to take into account all of your other metrics. Using just one metric alone can be misleading, and focusing only on CTR might make you think you’re doing well when really you’re losing money. Other metrics include Cost per lead or cost per sale, conversion rates and average order value.
3) Ignoring Page/Domain Quality
The quality of your landing page and website overall will have a huge impact on your success with pay-per-click advertising. The problem is, many advertisers are guilty of ignoring what really matters. Many times, I’ve talked to other entrepreneurs who think all they need to do is create an ad and then let Google figure out what to show it to. They might test which colors convert best, or whether headlines should be long or short, but rarely do they look at things like page load speed and click-through rate (CTR). Unfortunately, if you don’t pay attention to these details and optimize accordingly, you’re wasting money.
4) Ignoring Device Type
It’s no secret that different devices respond differently to paid search ads. But even with all of our technology and knowledge, many marketers overlook or simply ignore device type when crafting their search campaigns. Don’t make that mistake! In fact, many studies have shown that mobile ads perform better than their desktop counterparts (by about 30 percent). If you don’t already have a mobile-optimized site, implementing a separate Google AdWords campaign might be your best bet. In any case, it is well worth getting your campaigns split by device type to optimize for maximum return on investment (ROI).
5) Neglecting Display Networks
Although you may think of Google AdWords as a place to buy ads for your search campaigns, AdWords actually has two distinct networks: Search and Display. With Display, you’re able to reach people across a range of websites that serve display ads (think banner ads). The number of impressions on these sites is massive and each time someone views an ad, it increases your chances of having that person see your ad when they search. If you neglect to tap into these new audiences with display ads, then you could be missing out on half (or more) of your potential leads. To make sure that doesn’t happen, here are 10 common mistakes marketers make with display advertising and how to avoid them.
6) Ignoring Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)
Remarketing lists for search ads, also known as remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA), allow you to build a list of people who have visited your website and then target those same users with Google AdWords. When it comes to improving performance of your campaigns, you’re leaving money on the table if you aren’t taking advantage of RLSA. This post will give you tips for implementing RLSA into your accounts.
7) Assuming Bidding is King
Bidding on keywords is an important part of any paid search campaign. Assuming bidding is king, however, can set you up for disaster. It’s just as important to track and report performance as it is to bid on specific keywords.
8) Thinking Google AdWords Bidding Algorithms Are Untouchable
Google regularly makes adjustments to its AdWords bidding algorithms, and it’s important that you stay up-to-date on these changes. By watching and learning from your campaign statistics, you can make better decisions about which keywords to bid on and at what cost. If you stick blindly to Google’s bidding guidelines, it’s likely you won’t be able to attain your target ROI.
9) Not Testing Keywords Beyond Location and Language
While most people think they should only be testing location and language, that’s really not enough. After all, you can only get a certain amount of traffic from those options. Additionally, consumers are accustomed to seeing ads for keywords beyond their search term. If your business targets a large city, for example, it makes sense to include some surrounding towns as well.
10) Being Scared of Excel
Excel is a powerful tool for any marketer. When managing a large number of keywords and ad groups, however, Excel can become cumbersome. Many business owners are afraid to use Excel to manage their account because they’re worried about making mistakes. But by using common sense, you can avoid many of these mistakes and make your life easier! Here are 10 common mistakes that marketers make with their account, and how to avoid them:…(an excerpt from our post on 10 ways you can automate your PPC management.)
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Mack Allen