What are the Key Factors for Google Ads Campaign Success?
I'm going to share with you some important factors for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Campaign Success.
"If you are a business owner in Toronto, chances are that you have invested a decent amount of time and resources in Google Ads, also know as Pay-Per-Click. Here I'm going to share with you some important factors to consider to successfully run your campaigns."
1. Campaign Objectives
Unless there are no strict limits to your budget, the main goal of a Google Ads campaign should be to generate sales or at least conversions (leads). There are some cases where well established businesses and brands allocate a portion of their budget for branding to protect their top of mind position in the market, but still the most important goal should be to generate Sales to keep the business operational.
2. Budget Seasonality
If you have been running your business for a few years you already know that your sales numbers change in every season of the year and sometimes from one month to another. Typically, if you let Google optimize your campaigns automatically, it will likely consume your budget quickly. It’s important to observe the fluctuations of high and low seasons and adjust your budget accordingly. IMPORTANT: Never stop your Google Ads campaigns as this will have a negative impact on performance and you will be losing potential costumers and sales to your competitors.
3. Meetings and Reports
If you already have a Google Ads Agency or a dedicated PPC Manager that works for your business, make sure to schedule meetings and delivery of reports during key moments of the year to take the pulse of your Digital Marketing performance. In this way, you will be able to see what are the campaigns or ads that are performing well and what are the ones that need adjustment or reevaluation. Sometimes it’s not the the campaign that is bad but the how the product is being presented or the marketing personas being targeted, and then it becomes a business decision about what to do next.
4. Keywords and Keyphrases
These are the words, phrases and expressions used on your ads. By using the keywords that your potential customers associate with purchase intent or the use of the product or service you are advertising, you increase your chances that when they look for those keywords on Google, your ads might appear on top positions, and that they make the choice to give your company or service a try.
5. Customized Landing Page
The most common mistake of business owners that take their PPC in their own hands, either for lack of time or knowledge, is to use their Home Page or ‘Contact Us’ page as a destination page for their Google Ads.
When potential customers click on your ads and are taken to a home page where they are forced to look for specific information, or a generic form to fill out their information without seeing any content related to their search, they get confused or annoyed and leave your website but you will still be charged for those clicks that didn’t convert.
By using the services of a Digital Marketing Consultant to create customized landing pages for your Google Ads, you are dramatically improving the customer “window-shopping” experience. A landing page is also a great opportunity, or your last chance, to tell the story of your business to those potential customers and convince them to complete a purchase or fill out a website form with their contact information.
6. Quality Score
This is an internal metric of the Google Ads platform that measures the alignment between the content of your Google Ads and the content of your Landing Page. A higher quality score allows savvy advertisers to pay less for keywords compared to advertisers with a low quality score. As the saying goes: “Content is King.”
"When potential customers click on your ads and are taken to a generic Home Page or 'Contact-Us' page, they get confused or annoyed and leave. You will still be charged for those clicks that didn't convert."
7. A/B (Split) Testing
As the name indicates, this is a test conducted by the PPC Campaign Manager to determine if there are variations in the content of the Landing Page that lead to an increase in lead generation. The best performing variations can become permanent. More tests can be conducted for continuous improvement, or as needed when the business owner sees fit.
8. Remarketing Campaign
This is one of the most useful features of the Google Ads platform, also available on Bing and other search platforms. It allows the creation of Remarketing Campaigns with ads that follow the visitors that abandoned your website, showing them ads to remember your product or service and enticing them to complete the purchase or fill out a lead form.
These are by no means the only factors to keep in consideration when running your Google Ads campaigns but they will help you to improve your understanding of the platform, your relationship with your agency or PPC Manager, and ultimately your business outcomes.
Thanks for reading this article. Click on the red button and let’s get in touch to discuss how I can help you optimize your Google Ads Campaign.
