How Do I Improve PPC Conversions?
Thinking of running PPC ad campaigns? Read this Q&A from The Brand Auditors to find out how to improve PPC conversions.
January 30, 2023
Introduction
I recently completed a project with a client in the health care industry. In our initial meeting, the company's marketing manager expressed disappointment with their current pay-per-click (PPC) ads campaign. They also asked several questions specifically related to Google ads, such as:
Our conversation got me thinking. It's easy to get caught up in the technical aspects of digital advertising, such as negative keywords, PPC quality scores, and conversion metrics.
But while these and other concepts are important, one piece of the puzzle matters more: the target audience.
My goal in this post is to answer one question: How do you increase PPC conversions?
The Key to Increasing PPC Conversion Rate
PPC ads are a powerful way to connect with potential customers. But in many of our brand audits, we discover that the client is wasting a lot of money on ads. The issue often stems from a conflict of interest between the client and search engines.
The conflict is tied to goals.
Clients and search engines both have ROI goals for paid advertising.
But positive ROI is not generated the same way for both.
For businesses, positive ROI (hopefully) results from a sale. But for search engines, positive ROI results from a click.
The search engine makes money with ad clicks. The business only makes money by converting prospects into paying customers.
So, how do we bridge the gap between the two?
To improve advertising conversions, focus on a highly targeted audience.
Simply put, specific niched audience segments are easier to target. Ads will be more effective because it is easier to write ad and landing page copy for a specific group of people. It is also easier to create a call to action for a unique need or desire that will get more ad clicks.
The Customer Journey
PPC conversion optimization starts with developing the customer journey. You can improve ad campaigns when you understand how potential customers discover your brand and what they want when they find it.
The customer journey conceptualizes the buying process. It begins when a prospect in the target audience develops an awareness of their problem or need. Then, they look for potential solutions and evaluate each. Once they are satisfied, they purchase the brand they like most.
The traditional sales funnel is often used by marketers to illustrate the customer's buying journey:
Brands with an in-depth understanding of the customer journey are better equipped to create keyword groups for each journey stage. So, a company must have the ability to interpret the consumer's search intent.
As a simple example, customers in the awareness stage that are suffering from joint pain might search for "what causes joint pain?"
Regarding this search phrase, a brand selling joint pain supplements might use the following keywords for an awareness advertising campaign:
Awareness Keyword List Example
- Muscle and joint pain causes
- Joint pain in fingers
- Joint pain in elbow
- Knee pain common causes
- Bone and joint pain causes
- Knee pain causes without injury
- Joint pain and chronic fatigue
- Joint pain in hands
- Joint pain causes in adults
I'm using a small list of keywords here. An actual campaign might contain dozens of keywords.
But here is an important point: the deeper into the customer journey you go, the more complex (and expensive) keyword selection is for paid ads.
Looking again at the list of keywords above, we know that the user is investigating potential causes of joint pain. But there are several potential solutions for joint pain. Some are medical, others are homeopathic, and still more consist of home remedies.
At this stage, a joint pain supplement brand has many competitors within its own sector, as well as many more outside of its industry (i.e., alternatives and substitutes).
So, while the supplement brand may find value in running paid awareness campaigns, it might be better to focus on potential buyers who have joint pain and have already decided they want a supplement solution.
The brand could target those customers by choosing keywords like:
Consideration Keyword List Example
- Joint pain supplement
- Natural joint pain supplement
- Joint pain relief pills
- Supplement for joint pain
- Muscle and joint pain supplement
- What supplements help joint pain
- Knee joint pain supplement
This list of keywords would help the supplement brand connect to potential buyers who are looking for a joint pain supplement. However, it is almost guaranteed that these keywords will increase advertising cost because they are more competitive.
To narrow the field even more, our supplement brand could run paid ad campaigns that target people who are looking to buy a joint pain supplement with specific ingredients.
Here are some examples of keywords that could be used:
Conversion Keyword List Example
- Best glucosamine chondroitin supplement on the market
- Best glucosamine chondroitin supplement 2023
- Best glucosamine and chondroitin supplement
- Chondroitin joint supplement
- Most effective glucosamine chondroitin
- Glucosamine chondroitin dietary supplement
- Glucosamine chondroitin 500mg
This sample group of keywords is much more specific than those in the Awareness and Consideration groups above. It is likely that only potential customers who are serious about buying a joint pain supplement would use the terms in the Conversion Keyword List example.
In our experience, we have found that many brands do not go deep enough to uncover customer pain points, words the audience uses to describe problems and solutions, or the user's search intent. As a result, they choose sub-par keywords for ad campaign that yield below-average PPC conversion rates.
For example, brands often use keywords for conversion-stage ads that are better suited for the consideration stage. Others use keywords that are too expensive for the profit potential they offer.
Creating keyword lists based on your brand's customer journey is one of the most critical steps in pay-per-click advertising. Spend time reviewing your ad keyword lists and assess them for user intent, competitiveness, and profitability.
You can use the Google AdWords platform or seek expert assistance.
Get in touch with us if you need help with keyword selection.
Internet Traffic Statistics Tell a Story
Internet traffic analysis will help your company evaluate and improve audience quality. By looking at the trends in online activity, demographics, and user behavior, companies can learn more about who their customers are and what they might be interested in most.
For example, website traffic data (i.e., Google Analytics) will show brands which age, gender, and location audience groups have the highest response rates for ads. This information helps companies develop personalized marketing campaigns that target these specific audiences. Some businesses have seen conversions increase by 50 percent or more when using customized ads.
Web traffic data also reveals search queries used by the audience to find your products and services. This information helps you create a better keyword strategy for Google ads campaigns (see The Customer Journey, above.)
Now, let's look at how increasing conversions for organic traffic can help you reduce paid advertising costs.
Organic vs. Paid Search Traffic
For those who don't know, organic traffic is usually acquired via an SEO strategy. The goal is to achieve a high search ranking for organic keywords.
Organic traffic is sometimes referred to as "free" traffic, but this is a misnomer. "Earned" traffic is a more accurate description.
Organic traffic is not free because it requires an investment of time, money, or both. Blog posts, for example, are the most common source of organic traffic. But someone had to write the post, and that person got paid. If you are a business owner and wrote a post for your company, you may not have paid anyone, but your time has value. That is still an investment.
For this reason, ROI is just as important for an SEO strategy as it is for PPC campaigns.
An organic traffic strategy offers several advantages. For example, it is easy for competitors to outbid you for the top ad spots. But it is difficult to overtake your brand if it holds the top ranking for an organic keyword. And once content starts getting traffic, it will probably continue to do so. This means that a one-time investment can generate an infinite return.
Using a real-life example, one blog post I wrote for my company's website in 2019 still draws over 500 monthly visitors. This trend has been consistent despite the fact that I have only made a few slight edits to that post since it was written.
Rising ad spend is another reason to leverage an SEO strategy. As time progresses, it will cost brands even more to advertise online. An organic traffic strategy is an effective way to offset a higher ad spend.
Businesses invest thousands of dollars in an SEO strategy to grow organic traffic. But to do the job right, it isn't enough to simply "get traffic."
Like paid advertising, for an SEO strategy to yield a positive return on investment, it must attract qualified traffic. Qualified traffic separates good SEO strategies from the average.
Companies often focus on traffic without thinking about its quality. But this is where audience targeting again becomes crucial.
It is best to start qualifying the traffic you want now. I would rather get 100 qualified website visitors each month than 1,000 who are just curious about what I do.
To get qualified traffic, you must clearly define your ideal customers. Think of them every time you create a piece of content. Every time you create an offer for your product or service, make it for your ideal customer. In time, you will rank for the right keywords that will bring potential buyers to your website.
How Does an SEO Strategy Help Improve PPC Ads?
While SEO and PPC are separate tactics, they should be part of an integrated marketing strategy.
SEO does not directly increase your PPC conversion rate. But an SEO strategy can increase the success of all your digital marketing.
Here are a few reasons why:
Tips to Increase PPC Conversion Rate
PPC ads are a powerful way to connect with potential customers. But in many of our brand audits, we discover that the client is wasting a lot of money on ads. The issue often stems from a conflict of interest between the client and search engines.
The conflict is tied to goals.
Clients and search engines both have ROI goals paid advertising. But positive ROI is not generated the same way for both.
For businesses, positive ROI (hopefully) results from a sale. But for search engines, positive ROI results from a click.
The search engine makes money with ad clicks. The business only makes money by converting prospects into paying customers.
So, how do we bridge the gap between the two?
To improve your PPC campaigns, focus on a highly targeted audience.
Many companies are afraid of getting too specific with audience segmentation. They believe specificity will result in a small market that is unable to support sales goals.
But the marketplace is saturated. There are too many distractions to filter through. Your customers are no exception. Brands can increase the average conversion rate across all channels with targeted messaging.
Target customer segments can be organized into ad groups. These groups contain keywords that can be used in ad copy to attract potential buyers who will click on the ad.
Simply put, niched audience segments are easier to target. Ads will be more effective because it's easier to write ad and landing page copy for a specific group. It's also easier to create a call to action that will get more ad clicks.
Ad Quality Score
Another critical component of digital advertising is ad quality score. Quality score is an indicator of how relevant an ad is for a particular keyword. So, in theory, ads with higher scores should also have higher click-through rates.
One way to increase quality score is to focus on creating well-crafted, targeted ads that are relevant to their intended audience. Ads should be clear, concise, and include a call-to-action customized to the viewer's desire (i.e., "get joint pain relief now").
Additionally, make sure all the components of the ad — such as copy, visuals and headline — align with the overall message and tone of the ad. Finally, test different versions of each ad and track results to identify which ones get the highest response.
Optimize Landing Pages
Optimized landing pages generate more leads and sales. The process for optimization includes several critical page components, such as:
Clarity
Each page should have a primary focus and prompt users to take action. More than one focus topic per page can confuse site visitors.
Headline
A page's headline directly impacts whether visitors will stay on the page. The more interesting a headline is, the more likely someone is to read it. Be sure that the headline matches the expectation you set with your ad.
For example, if your ad's call to action is, "Get joint pain relief now," the headline of the landing page should be related. A headline like, "You've just discovered the best joint pain supplement money can buy," might be a good way to capture the visitor's attention.
Images
People assess the quality of a web page within 15 seconds. The images you use set the tone for the quality of your landing page. Be sure to use professional (and if possible, original) images that align with the topic.
Social Proof
Testimonials and customer reviews displayed on landing pages also increase Google ads conversions.
Calls-to-Action
Calls-to-Action in the form of buttons or links should be obvious on each landing page and contain words that encourage users to click. For example, "Click here to get a free trial" is an example of a common call-to-action.
Signals of Authority and Expertise
Certification badges and logos from prominent organizations are examples of trust-builders that can be displayed on a landing page. These provide credibility and reassure the visitor that your brand is stable.
Load Speed
Each landing page should load in under 2.5 seconds and each element of a page should be optimized for SEO. You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your landing pages.
Conclusion
Ad campaigns won't work if the foundation isn't solid. So, focus on using the right keywords, developing the customer journey, and targeting the most qualified ad groups.
Do you have questions about conversion rate optimization or ways to improve paid ads? If so, reach out to me personally at [email protected].
Until next time,
Chris
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