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Posted on March 1, 2019

Everything Your PPC Campaign is Doing Wrong

Troy Stockinger
Troy Stockinger
Everything Your PPC Campaign is Doing Wrong
Troy Stockinger
Troy Stockinger
Posted on March 1, 2019

Digital marketing is a breathing thing – continuously evolving. So if you’re not evolving with it, you’re not getting the clients and recognition you could be.
Here you’ll find a list of PPC practices that went from best, to worst.

So many keywords, so little time

Keywords are important. That remains true. But, keywords that are managed incorrectly, isn’t a good look. If you’re going crazy with all the permutations, misspellings, and multi-versions of your keywords, you’re wasting valuable time, energy, and money. And you may actually be doing yourself an injustice by contributing to a poor Quality Score. Immaterial keywords may negatively impact any new keywords that would normally be of good quality and give you a higher score. In effect, immaterial keywords cancel these new words out, allowing it to be more difficult for you to obtain a good score in the future.

As a matter of fact, non-keyword strategies are making an important appearance, and could be the future of PPC. Using collected data, companies are spending their money on identity targeting. Meaning, ads are being targeted to very specific users through settings and filters. A company can easily find out demographics, geographics, and interests; create a smart ad; and get in front of people they know would appreciate it and likely click on it.

We’re not saying it’s the end of keywords, but make sure you’re up to date on how to spend your money on them.

DKI’ing it

Dynamic Keyword Insertion isn’t a horrible idea, as long as it’s just a placeholder for your real, more thought out ad text. DKI is great when you’re experiencing a time crunch and need to get something out ASAP, but don’t get too passive with your ad copy. Constantly using this tool could get you in trouble. Say you’re bidding on misspelled keywords, DKI could create a horrible looking ad and it just takes one bad ad, to turn a client off.

While you may experience some okay ROI on your DKI ads, they’ll never get you the turnaround you want. It may not be faster, but it’s way smarter to put some time in and create the ad groups with the keyword themes you know will pay off.

One strategy does not fit all

If your company is ready to hit the international market (good for you!), it’s vital that you understand the culture you’re going to be marketing to. There’s a good chance, it won’t be the same as the market you’re catering to now.

First, if there’s a new language involved, make sure your translator is on point. If not, you could be in for a rude awakening and a complete loss of a PPC campaign. Bid on words that have been vetted accordingly, do NOT just toss your current words into Google Translate and hope for the best.

In understanding the culture, you’ll want to determine what your new market is really looking for when it comes to your ads. Do they want the cheapest, the best, high-end, mid-range, local? Know your audience and create an ad that resonates. It may be completely different than who you’re currently marketing to.

This idea doesn’t only pertain to going international, it could be suburb v city, coastal v inland. Get a feel for your demographic and you’ll be able to create a PPC campaign that counts.

Google’s Search Network is the one and only

While this is where we suggest starting your PPC campaign, don’t make it all about Google for the long-haul. If you do, you’re missing out on so many other opportunities. You may be confused about where to move next and that’s understandable, so here are a few great options:

  • Bing Ads Search: Bing Ads has an easy format, much like AdWords, you can even import your AdWords account into Bing. While you won’t receive the high volume that Google provides, you’ll get cheaper cost-per-clicks.
  • Google Shopping: If you’re an e-commerce company, you should be on Google Shopping. It allows you to display images of your products on the search engine results pages, and we all love images.
  • Remarketing: A genius way to retarget those who have visited your site previously, and are likely to re-engage with you.
  • Paid social: Since most of us are on Twitter, Facebook, and/or LinkedIn, this is a great way to reach a huge audience, gaining brand awareness and advertising your site. It’s easy to get in front of your target client through filters and settings, too!

Quality Score Data is the end all

Okay, Quality Scores are super important, yes, so always know how your keywords are landing. However, don’t let this be the only thing that delineates your use of certain keywords. Look at all the metrics. How are your conversions? What’s your cost per action?

Your Quality Score is Google letting you know that certain words are working for your customer, or they aren’t. Like we discussed earlier, if you have a history of low scores, you’re going to start there, even if you add new keywords that would normally have a high score. Never look ONLY at your Quality Score, look at the whole picture to see how to best handle your keywords.

For advice on all things PPC, contact us and we’ll get your through it.