Google is the biggest internet search provider in most online markets and responsible for generating over 80% of desktop search traffic.
Businesses vie for Google rankings by optimizing their website for organic search so they can rank higher in the search results. But not everyone has the time or resources to do that, as it can take months for a website to climb up the search results organically.
The only way to dominate search results from the get-go is by running a Google ad campaign that shows your site right at the very top of the search results. You can also choose to display your ads on other websites in the Display Network and the AdSense program.
However, to run an effective ad campaign, you have to be quick and definitive in the way you approach it. Simply creating an account, bidding on ads, and then letting the campaign run on autopilot doesn’t help. You have to be vigilant in tracking your campaign progress and adjust according to the changing trends.
It is best to be on top of all the trending searches and keywords to truly take advantage of this platform. According to reports, the advertising revenue of Google sites amounted to US$123.83 billion in 2020, which highlights its importance and impact on businesses.
We’ll explore all the reasons why it is a good idea to update your google ad campaigns. But here’s the deal: all these reasons are dependent on the way these campaigns work.
Google ads are essentially an auction system, where your ad campaign’s success depends on the quality of your ad and the amount you bid. And this happens every time a user searches for a keyword that you want your ad to be associated with.
The following factors affect the quality score of your ad:
You can see that your ad’s quality, relevance, and appropriateness play a significant role in getting it a high-quality score. It is essential to achieve this metric because Google or search engines often lowers the cost per click for ad campaigns with a higher quality score and gives them higher-than-usual exposure.
Before we delve into the factors that affect the frequency with which you should update your campaigns, let’s look at the reasons why you need to do so in the first place.
In the recent past, Google has made several new feature additions to AdWords and revised its ad platform. This includes new extensions addition or altering the ad format, which helps businesses with their marketing strategies.
Naturally, if you don’t use these while the rest take advantage of them, you are bound to fall behind.
You might get complacent about your campaign’s success and believe it’s alright to let it run on autopilot, but your competitors think differently. They are always trying out new features, testing their search ads, and expanding their campaign budget. This can give them an edge over you if your campaigns aren’t evolving right alongside theirs.
While previously, people used their laptops and desktops to search for something, they now use their smartphones or Google devices. As a result, their phrases and also the way they search continuously change. If you want to keep up with this progress, it’s essential to update your Google ad campaign regularly.
Make every click on your ad count towards your overall marketing and lead generation goals. Take a more informed approach to running a campaign so you know that only targeted audiences click on your ad.
It is essential to go over the search terms and find ones that have the potential to trigger the ads you post. Sometimes specific phrases provide barely any value addition to businesses. You can label these as negative so that they don’t appear in the future keywords list.
It might be hard to believe, but even huge businesses aren’t immune to such issues. Brands spend tons of money on online promotions, so prospects are informed about them. However, when prospects get the coupon, they find out it has been expired.
For instance, a potential customer could click on a sale ad for your brand but find out it has long ended once it opens up.
Clicks on ads don’t necessarily depict a campaign’s success until you get the visitors to take action. It is essential to test your ads to see if they are working effectively or not.
When you improve your google ads ctr (click-through rates), you get more leads and improve your ads’ Quality Score, lowering the cost you entail per click.
The frequency with which you update your Google Ad campaigns depends on your budget and the industry you are in. Depending on these factors and how long you run your ad campaign, you can update your ad campaign weekly or stretch it out over more time.
Here are a few factors that affect the frequency of your Google Ad campaign update.
The amount of money you can spend on your Google Ads determines your activity. You are likely to dedicate more time and effort to your ads if you spend $70,000 monthly rather than $700.
Like any project you start, you need to put in extra effort at the beginning of an ad campaign, as it takes more work to establish it and ensure its success.
You get to decide on the target keywords you want to use which have the highest potential to convert. Additionally, you make new ads and update the landing page they are posted on. But even before doing any of that, you need to choose a bidding option for your ads.
Although Google stresses using an automated system, you shouldn’t start out this way because you need data to work effectively. As a beginner, you should start with manual bidding and then move to the automated one.
The number of leads you get to your business is an indication of the success of your campaign. If you have many leads, your campaign is already a success, and you don’t have to be highly active.
Having said that, you cannot leave your account, no matter the success rate of your campaign, because more success gives you the opportunity to build on it.
However, if your ad campaign isn’t performing well, you have to get involved in it to work on the issues and bring it to a place where you envision it. Consequently, you need to test your Google ads and keyword choices thoroughly.
In fact, with Google Ads, you can check the optimization scores for your campaign, courtesy of Google. In case you get a low score, you’ll know you have to work on it.
One of the most significant factors in determining the frequency with which you update your campaign is the number of keywords you target.
When you target many keywords at one time, it generally means you have several ad group and a significant quantity of ads. Additionally, more keywords translate into having more data for review.
Here are a few things you need to do with your monthly ad campaign regularly:
Initially, if you decide on manual bidding, you should monitor the positions of your keywords. Google no longer shows the average keyword position but gives the top search. This shows the frequency with which Google ads appear in the top spots over organic listings.
It is essential to be a part of this top ad group, if not the top spot.
It is essential to keep an eye out for new keywords that you can test, which is convenient to do so through Google’s plus sign option, which displays a list where you can pick new phrases from.
However, be aware of the fact that using new keywords through this method will get you irrelevant clicks because of the broad match.
Your ultimate campaign goal is to either create more brand awareness or get new leads. If it is to get more leads, then ensure accurate tracking of conversions. You need exact numbers, whether it is in the case of tracking calls or goals.
It is vital to choose the correct conversion attributes to get the type of leads you are looking for. If you don’t get the results you are looking for, it’s time to alter your campaign.
No matter how amazing your Average click-through rate (CTR) may seem, it can always be improved. You can have an ad groups consisting of a responsive ad and three expanded text ones.
Every month introduce a new ad and pause the ones that perform the least, which will actually help you beat your best ad, instead of the paused one.
It is always best to pause an ad with at least a hundred impressions. With a high-budget campaign that gets thousands of impressions daily, you can introduce a new ad in every group every few weeks.
Google’s recommendation about your campaign and score provision is an essential feature that you can review. You shouldn’t accept all of them, but it is beneficial to consider any new keywords it gives or features you didn’t know of.
Review your search term report regularly to find any new phrases to use and eliminate one’s that don’t do well.
Add such words as negative keywords to prevent them from recurring. Review this several times a week initially; then, you can space it out over months once you get the wasted spend.
If you’ve been inactive for a while, Google can take action for you.
New Google ads are usually suggested under recommendations. Depending on your landing page settings, these can be automatically added to your ad campaign. It might seem like a helpful technique, but it is common for these Google ads to be terrible. These Google ads generally use the company name as the first title and don’t fill in the other ad elements.
You might not know this, but Google also tests other recommendations addition, and you can find keywords that you haven’t added to your account.
Even if you choose automated bidding, there’s still a lot that needs to get done. This includes monitoring your search terms, reviewing recommendations, and developing new ads.
Furthermore, it would be best if you kept an eye on your monthly budget and conversion costs. You should get improved results over time; otherwise, you should review your automated bidding settings.
To run an effective marketing campaign, you have to monitor, review, and alter accordingly continuously. This includes simple actions like site audits or bigger ones like ad alterations.
Google Ads is a robust platform that gives businesses a chance to generate more leads, track their ad performance, develop strategies to stand out from their competitors, and eventually boost sales.
However, as straightforward as this approach may seem, you have to be active in how you use it. It is essential to constantly keep an eye on new trends, keywords, and searches and tweak your ad campaigns accordingly, especially if they aren’t running successfully.
You can never be complacent with your advertising techniques, and Improve your Google Ads ctr is one of the best ways to stay above your competition.
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Launching an online course is easy once you’ve created your content. Filling your virtual classroom with motivated, paying learners is a little more challenging. Advertising strategies aren’t intuitive no matter how user-friendly a platform might be, and trying to guess at how to market your courses online can feel like you’re shouting into the void. But with a little knowledge and some expert PPC ad strategies, you can get your courses in front of people who are hungry to learn what you teach.
With precise targeting, a professional strategy, budget control, and regular tracking, a PPC ad campaign can transform your course into a thriving program. The key is knowing how to structure your ad campaigns for both clicks and hot leads that convert.
Unlike search engine optimization (SEO), which can take months to gain even a little traction, PPC provides you with immediate visibility right where your target users are hanging out. SEO is important but it’s a long-term game that should be executed alongside PPC ads for the best results. While you’re waiting, PPC generates immediate clicks and drives traffic to your website on the spot.
The best part is that when done right, PPC ads offer a high ROI compared to many other advertising methods. According to the data, businesses earn an average of $2 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads, making PPC a powerful resource for course providers. Here’s everything you need to know about mastering PPC to generate hot leads for your online courses.
1. Understand the learner’s journey
If you want your PPC ads to generate leads ready to buy and not just curious clicks, you need to align your ad strategy with how learners make decisions. Signing up for an online course is not an impulse purchase. It’s a journey that usually starts with curiosity and then moves to research and comparison. When successful, that journey ends with enrollment.
A one-size-fits-all ad won’t work because a student who is just browsing isn’t ready for the same pitch as someone about to hand over their credit card. Understanding the different parts of the funnel, and tailoring your ad campaigns to match each stage, is what will make your course successful. A typical buyer’s journey for learners involves the following stages:
At this stage, your potential students are still exploring broad ideas related to the courses you’re offering. They may not know exactly which course or platform is right for them, but they’re actively looking for options. You’ll need to use a certain type of keyword phrase to capture their attention.
Searches like “learn coding online,” “how to get TEFL certified,” and “language courses for beginners” will work well at this stage. PPC ads in this phase shouldn’t hard-sell enrollment, but rather, focus on positioning your course as credible and informative.
Think free guides, introductory webinars, and blog posts that answer frequently asked questions about your topic. By nurturing your leads’ interests and providing value right off the bat, you’ll have an easier time becoming a trusted brand that people keep in mind as they move deeper into the journey.
During the consideration state prospects know what they want but they’re comparing their options. They’ve narrowed down their choices and are considering factors like price, flexibility, depth, instructor quality, platform, and accreditation. Ideal search terms in this phase are related to specific things that your prospects value or want to achieve like “affordable Python bootcamp,” “online MBA with scholarships,” or “best UX design course with certification.”
Your PPC ads should also highlight unique selling points for your course like “self-paced learning,” “industry-recognized certificate,” or “job placement success.” It’s at this stage where comparison charts, testimonials, and detailed course previews are highly effective. The goal is to show your prospects why your program beats the competition.
At this point, hesitation is minimal. Prospects are ready to sign up but might need one last push. This is where urgency, social proof, and simplicity make all the difference. Ads should feature strong calls to action like “Enroll Today,” limited-time incentives like “Save 20% - Ends Sunday.” This is the perfect time to showcase real student success stories. Landing pages for ads in the decision stage should remove all friction. Avoid long forms and distracting links. Just provide a clear and simple path to enrollment.
Keep in mind that most of your ideal market will encounter your brand multiple times along their journey across different devices and platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Mapping your PPC ad campaigns to these three stages ensures you’re showing up with the right message at the right time. When done correctly, focusing on all three stages with separate messages will turn casual searchers into qualified leads ready to buy your course.
The backbone of every PPC campaign is your keyword selection. You can write the most convincing ad copy in the world, but if you’re bidding on the wrong phrases you’ll either waste your budget or attract people who have no intention of enrolling.
Your goal isn’t just to drive traffic to your site. You need to drive qualified traffic – people who are serious about learning what you teach and are ready to invest in themselves. This requires targeting a mix of high-intent keywords, longtail phrases, and negative keywords.
Broad keywords like “data science” and “coding” cast a net that’s too wide. You’ll get clicks but most will be from people who are just curious or looking for free resources. To reach people who are committed, you need to target high-intent keywords that show purchase intent. Phrases like “enroll in our data science course” and “online JavaScript certification with ongoing support” will attract users who are actively seeking instruction.
You’ll pay more for high-intent keywords but they deliver more value and higher conversion rates, and that will increase your ROI when you choose the right ones.
Longtail keywords are used to target a smaller pool of people and that’s a good thing. Since these keywords are more focused, the traffic they generate is more valuable. Instead of competing for saturated, general terms like “learn graphic design online,” you target specific phrases like “best graphic design program for working professionals with evening classes.” The people searching with this level of specificity already know what they want, which means they’re more likely to convert.
If you skip targeting longtail keywords you’re leaving money on the table. Data shows that 70% of all online searches involve longtail phrases – it’s just how people naturally search when they know what they want.
Your negative keyword list is how you’ll preserve your budget and prevent wasting money on irrelevant clicks. Without a list of words you don’t want your ads to show up for, you’ll end up paying for clicks that never convert.
Build a negative keyword list of words that indicate someone is looking for something free or irrelevant to your course. For example, words like “free,” “PDF,” “torrent,” and “Reddit” are usually used in searches when someone is looking for shortcuts and freebies. Adding these and similar words to your negative keyword list will filter out tire-kickers and boost ROI by preserving your ad budget for relevant prospects.
Once you have the right keywords that generate impressions, your ad copy has to do the work to get clicks. Your ads need to grab people right away to prevent them from scrolling and possibly clicking on another course provider’s ad. For e-learning, your ads need to inspire people. Instead of talking about your course you want to highlight what your course will do for the learner. This is accomplished with benefit-driven messaging, emotional triggers, and strong calls-to-action (CTAs).
· Benefit-driven messaging. Most course providers list features like “40 hours of video content” and “downloadable PDFs,” but these details aren’t going to capture attention at first glance. In fact, telling learners they’re going to need to sit through 40 hours of content right off the bat might be a deterrent.
Instead, your ads should highlight tangible outcomes like “land high-paying clients with our program,” or “start a new career as a web developer in just 12 weeks.” Benefits speak directly to a person’s goals and aspirations, which is far more compelling than a list of specs.
· Emotional triggers. Emotional triggers are the heart of every marketing strategy, including PPC ads. People make emotional buying decisions and buy courses because they’re chasing a dream, avoiding a fear, or seeking transformation.
Great ad copy taps into these emotions and creates a sense of urgency. For instance, “Don’t miss the enrollment deadline” plays into the fear of missing out, while “Join 10,000 successful graduates” leverages social proof. The right emotional triggers will give people a good reason to act now rather than bookmarking your page and forgetting about it.
· Clear CTAs. Irresistible ad copy includes a direct, compelling call-to-action that tells the prospect what to do next. Generic instructions don’t cut it. “Learn more,” “Click here,” and similar phrases don’t communicate urgency or value. Choose CTAs that direct prospects to sign up for your course. For example, “Start your free trial” and “Reserve your seat today” work well.
In a crowded marketplace where hundreds of course creators are competing for the same attention, clarity and emotion will generate better results. Lead with benefits and tap into people’s emotions and your ad copy will generate serious leads.
Generating clicks from your ads is only the first half of the equation. Once a prospect clicks your landing page needs to convert them to a paying customer or your ad spend goes to waste. Your landing page is like the final pitch where prospective students choose whether to enroll in your course or move on. If your landing pages create any confusion, friction, or distrust, your prospects will lean toward other course creators. On the other hand, an optimized landing page can become a conversion generating machine.
Your landing pages should be simple and clean without too much information. The page content should be specifically designed to direct people to sign up for your course. You want to eliminate navigation menus and sidebars to prevent people from clicking away from the page and getting distracted. Each landing page should have one end goal, either to get sign-ups/purchases or apply for acceptance if required. Too many options will create cognitive overload and reduce the chance of any action.
It’s crucial to include trust elements on your landing pages. When people are thinking about investing their time and money in an online course, they’re naturally going to be skeptical. This is where trust signals can help. Testimonials, instructor bios, refund guarantees, and case studies will help build your course credibility. The goal here is to reassure people that your program is legitimate and worth their investment.
Clicks are important but they’re somewhat of a vanity metric when measured on their own. The only time clicks matter is when you’re looking at your conversion rate. If you generate 100 clicks and get 40 people to enroll that’s much better than generating 1,000 clicks and only getting one person to enroll in your course.
The metrics that matter most are your conversion rate, your cost per lead (CPL), and lifetime customer value (LTV). For instance, you’ll want to track completed signups, demo requests, and enrollments rather than overall clicks.
Cost per lead is a simple measurement that can tell you how efficient your campaign is. For instance, if you’re paying $50 per lead but your average enrollment fee is $500, your margins are good. If your CPL is too close to your revenue then your course might be priced too low or you need to adjust your targeted keywords.
For e-learning, many students invest in more than one course or renew their subscription, which increases their lifetime value to your business. Tracking LTV will help you determine how much you can afford to spend acquiring each new student. For example, if your LTV average is $1,500, it makes sense to spend $200 to acquire each lead. This long-term view helps you maintain profitability and allows you to outbid your competitors who aren’t willing to spend much.
PPC ads require fine-tuning and you can’t just “set it and forget it.” What works today might underperform tomorrow or not perform at all on other platforms. Even small changes can make a huge difference in conversions and that’s why it’s important to test variations. For example, Dell is just one example of a company that saw a 300% increase in conversions from A/B testing.
By running experiments to test different elements you can identify what resonates most with your target audience and optimize your ads based on those results. The most important elements to test are your headlines, CTAs, and images.
· Testing headlines. Your ad headline is usually the first thing a prospect sees. Testing different headlines can help identify which promises resonate most. For example, “Land your dream job” might appeal to people looking for a new career, while “Get certified in 12 weeks” might hook people in a hurry. If you get more conversions from the former, your main audience is likely people looking for a new career, and you can tailor your ads to that group.
· Testing CTAs. A strong CTA can generate more clicks, but what works will depend on your audience. For example, “Get started today” might work for some courses while “Reserve your spot” works better for others. Avoid vague CTAs like “Learn more” that don’t instruct people to take action.
· Testing visuals. Images can put people off or draw them closer. Visuals are processed faster than text and are perceived in a split-second. A single image can make or break an ad. For instance, sometimes a photo of an instructor works well, but other times it’s better to use abstract graphics.
Split testing isn’t optional when you’re running PPC ads. It’s the only way to know which elements make your ads more effective.
At the end of the day, PPC is a great way to build a pipeline of motivated students who want to enroll in your courses. By aligning your campaign with the learner’s journey and optimizing your ads and landing pages for conversions, you can turn your PPC campaign into a reliable growth engine. As the e-learning market becomes more competitive, ads that hit hard are a must.
If you’re ready to stop wasting ad spend and start filling your online classrooms with qualified leads, it’s time to bring in PPC experts. At PPC.co, we specialize in turning clicks into enrollments through high-converting campaigns that deliver qualified leads for online course creators . Contact our team today and let’s build campaigns that fill your classroom.
Pay-per-click (PPC) remains one of the fastest paths to pipeline, but the economics vary widely by industry and are shifting as AI reshapes the SERP. CPCs are up versus prior years, conversion rates have improved in many categories, and lead quality is increasingly a function of how well advertisers feed first-party data into bidding models.
The table below summarizes 2025 search-PPC benchmarks by sector—CPC, conversion rate (CVR), and cost per lead (CPL)—so you can compare what “good” looks like in your niche and calibrate ROI assumptions.
Use these numbers as directional guardrails, then layer in your own close rates and LTV to get to the only metric that matters: profitable growth.
In short, AI is changing the way PPC campaign management is occurring, and it's happening FAST.
ROI ≈ (Close-Rate × Avg Customer LTV ÷ CPL) − 1
Example (legal): if close-rate 12% and LTV $6,000 on CPL $132 → ROI ≈ (0.12×6000 / 132) −1 ≈ 4.45x (345% net). Improve any one input (faster intake bumps close-rate; better routing lowers CPL) and ROI jumps. Benchmarks for CPL/CVR above provide solid starting points. LocaliQ
PPC will keep paying when two things are true:
(1) you can convert and qualify leads quickly, and
(2) your bidding models are trained on the outcomes that actually make you money.
As AI compresses differences in targeting, the edge shifts to first-party data, creative velocity, and value-based bidding.
Treat the benchmarks above as starting points, then rebuild your ROI math from the ground up: ROI ≈ (Close Rate × LTV ÷ CPL).
Contact us today for your customized PPC audit to see how we can improve your search engine marketing ad spend.
