We often encounter many clients who have tried to do their own paid search. As they start sharing their strategy and wondering why it didn’t work, it usually has to do with one of these 10 common mistakes that most people make when it comes to PPC.
If you are not getting the results you were hoping for from your ads, then chances are you are making one of these mistakes. Start by fixing any of these mistakes that you may have, and see how your results improve!
Mistake #1: Not researching your competitors
Always stay ahead of the game. Your business is competing with theirs. Research and check which keywords they are trying to rank for, and see which ones work and which ones do not work for them. Be careful, they may even try bidding YOUR brand name to show up when people search for your business.
My recommendation is to keep an eye out for what your competitors are doing regularly. Check up on their website, blog, social media, and keywords to see any significant differences in traffic or content that they are publishing. Of course, this is not to copy them or imitate their practices, but you should be aware of what is going on in their marketing strategy because chances are, people looking for your business have also come in contact with them.
Mistake #2: No tracking set up/ No goal(s) selected
Without a conversion tracking system, you cannot see what is working and what is not working with your paid search. Not having a conversion tracking system set up is a huge mistake that many people make without realizing.
To set up a conversion tracking system properly, you have to select your goal. This can be someone filling out a contact form, transaction, or clicking the “call” button. Your goal is whatever step you want the user to take to consider them a conversion. Tracking everything that happens on your website is essential for both paid search optimization and website optimization. There is no real data or evidence showing you what works and what doesn’t work without a conversion tracking system.
Mistake #3: Not considering keyword matches
I know I know. This is a lot easier said than done. This step requires extensive keyword research to know which keywords you should choose. Google Ads has 3 categories: broad match, phrase match and exact match.
– Broad match: your ads show when users search for your keywords; no matter the order.
– Phrase match: your ads show when users search for your keywords; in that exact order.
– Exact match keyword: Your ads will show when people search for the exact keyword you chose.
A very common mistake is that people use the wrong keyword match type. You should always be testing which one works best, and use a balanced combination of the 3 matches for the best results. However, remember to have a good strategy with your bidding!
Mistake #4: Not using negative keywords
So many of our clients come to us with worries such as “Oh, my traffic is very good, but somehow all my emails seem to be about our job postings rather than for our services!”
The answer to this is negative keywords. If your products or services have keywords that relate to things completely irrelevant to your business, then you NEED to create a negative keyword list. This list excludes people searching for these specific keywords that you do NOT want to rank for and lose your money on low-quality clicks!
Adding this list will allow you to save money and focus more on the keywords that bring high-quality targetted traffic.
Mistake #5: Not bidding on your own brand terms
As mentioned before, your competitors may be bidding on your own brand name. This means that if a returning customer is Googling your business, they may end up in the hands of your very own competitor. This is a HUGE mistake.
The quality score for your own brand name is very high, and the cost is very low. This traffic is your best traffic! Don’t lose it to your competitors. You may think that because you rank #1 for your brand name on Google, this means that you won’t lose your customers, but check the ads that come up when you Google yourself.
Mistake #6: Not using ad extensions
Ad extensions give you the opportunity to increase your conversions. They serve as an add-on that helps attract users to the call to the action button. There are many ad extensions, they include call extension, price extension, sitelink extension, structured snippet, location and more!
Take advantage of these add-ons. With a great written copy and ad extension, you can increase your conversions greatly. They are interactive and more effective than simply using text. You should choose which ad extension you want to use based on your goal.
Mistake #7: Not adding/excluding search terms
Google Ads has an amazing feature called search terms that show you exactly what users typed into Google to see your ad. This allows you to exclude search phrases that you see may be irrelevant to your business, and replace them with more relevant search phrases that are working.
These insights help you better choose your negative keywords as well! You can identify whether you’re targetting the right keywords. The more insights you have, the better you can analyze your data to optimize your campaign for continuous improvement.
Mistake #8: Using your home page as the landing page
In order to have a smooth interaction between the ad, user and website, you need to have a landing page that is dedicated to your goal. A homepage tends to be much more general than your ad and focuses mainly on branding and business introduction.
A landing page is specifically designed and created to serve users that click on your ads. This page should be highly relevant to your ad and contain your offer and call-to-action clearly. Sending your PPC traffic to a landing page, instead of your homepage, has proven to be a lot more effective. Try it out!
Mistake #9: Not doing A/B testing
Relating to the last point, landing pages give you the amazing ability to test how everything works. If you want your conversions to keep increasing, then testing is essential. Your website is much harder to redesign in order to test. However, having different landing page variants gives you the chance to see which little change performs better.
You’d be surprised at how much the position, colour, or font affects your conversions! Create a landing page specifically designed for your ad, and create variants with small changes to test which one is the most effective.
Mistake #10: Not considering mobile users
Many people are still under the impression that desktop traffic is much more important than mobile traffic. WRONG! Mobile traffic is continuously increasing, and if you are not considering mobile users in your PPC strategy then you are missing out on a HUGE chunk of your audience.
In fact, studies have shown that mobile traffic is, in fact, more significant than desktop traffic for specific industries. Make sure you are setting up mobile preferred ads and not excluding all your mobile users. Believe me, it’ll make a huge difference.
There you have it!
Have you been making these mistakes? Are you still very confused? That’s okay! Stay updated for a full eBook explaining how to fix each and every one of these mistakes!
