The ultimate goal of any PPC campaign is very clear and that’s to improve visibility to achieve conversions. One of the most frustrating things of running a PPC campaign is to follow all of the best practices from guides on the internet and trial-and-error, only for it to fail in the end.
With that said, is your campaign generating lots of impressions that aren’t turning into conversions? If so, then you have a very common problem. Achieving impressions is simple.
It’s literally as simple as using the keywords Google Ad say will lead to specific traffic volume. However, you can never anticipate conversions, which makes successful campaigns hard to achieve.
Nonetheless, there are several effective strategies for transforming watchful eyes into paying customers. This guide will delve into a bunch of different high-octane strategies that will help you receive more conversions from your campaign, optimize your ad spend, and improve your ROI.
Let’s get started.
The age old proverb says that no one should “judge a book by its cover”. However, this is misleading when it comes to digital marketing and paid search. As a matter of fact, many people actually choose books based on the title, which isn’t completely unreasonable.
In the same way, the headline or title of your ads will play an integral role in its success. Case in point — if you come across a digital ad with a boring or irrelevant headline, are you going to click?
Of course not, and that doesn’t even matter if the product or service is phenomenal. Likewise, if the headline is engaging, you’ll be more likely to click and convert. It’s essential to pour a lot of time and effort into making sure that your headlines are perfect, and here’s how:
Your headline is arguably the most important aspect of your ads, and it can make a great first impression for your campaign.
The most successful PPC campaigns are segmented into different types of prospects based on who they are and how far they’re in your sales funnel. In order words, use a different landing page for different types of customers.
For example, let’s say that you’re selling accounting software. Clearly, different kinds of people will respond to this ad, ranging from freelancers to large businesses. Freelancers may have different questions, pain points, and expectations of what your product will provide as compared to large businesses.
Therefore, create a different landing page for different parts of your target audience. This is true even for specific products, such as accounting software for small businesses.
For instance, you can produce a landing page to reach freelancers, restaurant owners, and entrepreneurs. By achieving this level of personalization, you can create highly-relevant copy for incoming leads and convert them more efficiently.
Here’s a scenario that may sound familiar. You’ve conducted A/B tests for your ads, tried different photos and headlines. You’ve even rewritten most of your ads all to no avail.
If you’ve done this much work to repair your ads, ad copy, chances are that your ads aren’t the problem. The problem is most likely your landing pages. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on Google ad/google ads conversion and how many high-performance keywords you’re bidding on, & Avoidind negative keywords.
If your landing pages aren’t correctly optimized, your ads will simply waste money. To avoid this possibility, make sure you employ these four strategies to properly fine tune your landing pages for success:
Single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) is a common paid search strategy that allows advertisers to create specific campaigns for single keywords. This results in highly-targeted and relevant campaigns.
You may be wondering, “how will SKAGs help my campaign”. Let’s say that you’re selling athletic equipment, which include:
When you use SKAGs, you can ensure that your ads for water bottles will only reach people who were searching for it. This way, you can avoid wasting money on ads that aren’t properly targeted to the right audience.
So, how will using SKAGs improve your conversion rates? The answer is that it will improve the quality score of your campaign. Thus, you can achieve a higher ROI. Basically, if I want to buy yoga pants, then I’m going to click on an ad that sells the product.
In the early 2000s, desktop computers ruled the world. Nowadays, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are in control. In fact, most people use mobile devices to surf the internet today.
This isn’t all too surprising since you can’t go a full day without seeing people use their phones to check their emails, use social media, call friends and family, find businesses, and shop for online products.
Now, why does all of this matter in regards to Google Ads management?
People use the internet with different goals in mind with mobile devices. For example, a person is more likely to research the best mattresses on the market on a desktop computer.
This way, they can sit in a comfortable chair and read all of the content they want. Think about it — there aren’t a lot of people who will read a 2000-word blog post on “how to select the right mattress” on a smartphone.
Instead, a person using a smartphone will most likely try to buy something almost immediately. Therefore, mobile users usually have a higher buyer’s intent. Thus, you should customize your ads accordingly.
By using mobile-only ads, you can reach an audience that is more likely to convert. This will produce more sales opportunities for your business. It’ll also give you a great advantage over competitors who haven’t made this adjustment.
Run mobile only ads and start creating content (ad copy) that will appeal to people using their smartphones over desktop computers to interact with you.
Not all sales funnels are created equal, and they certainly don’t always look the same. Many businesses stick with the standard sales funnel format: online ad → landing page → purchase.
If your campaigns don’t have much more imagination than this, then you could be wasting opportunities that will help your organization achieve higher sales or brand loyalty.
To put it simply, not everyone is willing to visit a landing page and make an immediate purchase. To open the door to more conversion opportunities, try targeting keywords with low buyer intent & remove negative keywords.
Next, drive traffic to landing pages that will offer valuable resources in exchange for their email address. This way, you can advertise to these leads any time you want and keep close tabs on them.
You can promote content such as:
144 million Americans listen to podcasts everyday. This is a great way to reach and educate people that aren’t ready to buy yet. If you’re running a SaaS company, you can promote eBooks to educate leads on how your service will benefit them.
Google Ads don’t always have to be one-dimension. When used correctly, they can also elevate your inbound marketing strategy.
Here’s another common scenario — your ads and landing pages are working well but your conversion tracking rate is still in the toilet. What’s the issue? The problem could be that your target audience just isn’t interested in the services and products you’re providing.
That’s a targeting issue.
For example, let’s use the previous example of selling accounting software. Let’s say that you’ve targeted freelancers and even created a separate landing page that addresses all the information they’ll need to know about your product.
The problem is that you aren’t getting as many conversions as you’d hope. Try refining your audiences to fix this problem. Not all freelancers are the same. Some may make more money than others, and it’s very easy to just call yourself a freelancer if you’re in between jobs.
For this reason, your targeting needs to be more specific. Instead of targeting freelancers, target entrepreneurs. Use Google’s custom affinity audiences feature to add interests and different behaviors.
For example, you could target entrepreneurs who are in the beginning stages of starting their business and pitch your product to them instead of casting a wide net to all types of freelancers.
Improving your conversion rates isn’t always about making a sale right now. Some people have a sudden impulse to buy and others do not. Your conversion rate will only soar when you can reach both types of consumers.
As a result, your goal should be to generate leads from your PPC campaign and begin the steps in nurturing them into sales. The most important aspect here is the lead magnets you’ll need to use.
Essentially, if you attract the wrong types of leads, you’ll only waste your time and money, while reducing your conversion rates even further. It was just mentioned that eBooks, podcasts, and whitepapers are great selling aids.
However, lead magnets like these have to be captivating to your target audience. No one is going to download a boring whitepaper. It has to catch their eye. With that said, visual content (ad copy) may be the key here.
After all, 80% of people are more likely to engage with content that includes vibrant visuals.
Whatever lead magnet you choose to use, make sure that it’s visually appealing. If you’re operating in a competitive industry, your lead magnets need to stand out.
One of the drawbacks about promoting products and services online is the lack of trust many people have with businesses they don’t know. For example, if you need marketing services for your company, it can be hard to take an agency’s word that they’ll provide you with the highest ROI for your budget.
Your hard-earned money is definitely on the line.
As such, you should include social proofs that showcase your credentials and qualifications in your expertise.
Displaying customer reviews have proven to increase conversions by as much as 270%.
The more willing you are to include testimonials, reviews, and logo images of the brand you have worked with, the more your audience will be capable of trusting you with their private information and money.
PPC campaigns are a wonderful way of attracting online leads to your website where they can convert. The problem is that you can still be wasting money while trying to repair your campaign on your own.
When you choose to work with us, you’ll receive help from an industry-leading PPC agency. We help with more than just PPC management, but also help with issues like recovering from a Google Ads suspension and tailoring Google PPC remarketing to tie in with your Facebook ads campaigns. Contact us today to receive a free proposal and start boosting your Google Ads conversion rate.
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Most marketers love Google Ads.
We're no exception.
But we totally understand that businesses in certain industries sometimes have a deep resentment of Google Ads and their restrictive policies.
Google's policies for advertising are generally intuitive and straightforward, but for certain regulated and sensitive categories, the standards are much higher and less clear. Pharmaceutical companies, gambling websites, political campaigns, and other industries often struggle to get their ads approved consistently.
In fact, if you don't know what you're getting into, trying to advertise as a business in one of these categories can be a recipe for disaster.
How are you supposed to use Google Ads effectively if you belong to one of these regulated or sensitive categories?
Sensitive and regulated categories in PPC advertising face a number of challenges, including:
· Stricter guidelines. Most PPC advertisers are familiar and comfortable with basic Google Ads guidelines. But if you belong to a regulated or sensitive category, you'll have far more guidelines and more nuanced guidelines to deal with.
· Higher scrutiny. Google pays much closer attention to ads in regulated and sensitive categories, meaning you face closer scrutiny when your ads start circulating. Reports will be investigated quicker and much more strictly, and even minor violations can work against you.
· More ad disapprovals. Similarly, ads are much more likely to get disapproved in these categories. You'll face an uphill battle as you try to get your ads circulating.
· The risk of suspensions. Businesses in these categories also face the risk of frequent, ongoing suspensions. This trend is also worsening; in fact, in 2023, Google Ads suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts – doubling their actions over the previous year.
This makes it much more difficult to advertise effectively and secure a positive return on investment (ROI). Additionally, failing to adhere to Google’s advertising policies can hurt your company's reputation and compromise your long-term potential for success.
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in a regulated or sensitive category is to plan for a sustainable, long-term strategy. Every year, thousands of business owners in these categories attempt to fool Google, find clever ways around its policies, and devise techniques that allow them to cheat the system.
These approaches can usually work temporarily. You can cheat your way into the listings and generate some traffic to your landing page.
But inevitably, these techniques fail, and they can ultimately get you blacklisted.
You're much better off taking the slow, steady approach, following the rules even if it means compromising your advertising effectiveness in the short term. Think about the long-term consequences and possibilities of each decision you make.
There is some good news here.
Google isn’t shy about publishing its advertising policies.
If you're willing to do the reading and research, you can thoroughly understand what Google expects from regulated and sensitive categories like yours – and you can easily adhere to the guidelines.
Well, maybe not “easily,” but reliably.
Generally, Google splits content into two types:
· Restricted content. Restricted content is sensitive content that is subject to more regulations. You must precisely comply with requirements for copy, images, website content, and more if you want to remain in circulation.
· Prohibited content. Prohibited content is totally disallowed. You cannot include it without facing significant consequences.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a big list of all the rules you need to follow, as the rules are different for various industries. Some of the most popular industries and categories that face steeper restrictions include:
· Pharmaceuticals and healthcare products
· Weapons and explosives
· Financial services (including cryptocurrencies)
· Gambling/games of chance
· Alcohol, tobacco, and similar products
· Political ads
· Adult content and services
While there are certainly commonalities between regulations across these categories, each category has its own unique blend of restrictions and rules to learn. For example, pharmaceutical businesses require formal certification from Google and are only allowed in some countries. In the financial services industry, you'll likely need a specific license, and you'll need to provide adequate disclosures for your products and services.
The more intimately you know these rules and regulations and how they apply to your industry, the more likely you'll be able to advertise successfully. Don't advertise until you're sure you understand all applicable Google Ads policies.
One other important note here: you need to stay updated.
Google isn't stagnant, and its advertising policies are constantly in flux. Accordingly, you need to stay abreast of recent changes and update your ad approaches in line with them.
The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to Google Ads policy updates, but you should also regularly engage in Google Ads forums. If you're lucky enough to have a representative, maintain open and transparent communication with them and stay in touch regularly; they can be a massive benefit for businesses in regulated and sensitive categories.
The more research you do, the better. You need to thoroughly understand your advertising landscape before you try to thread this needle.
· Google Ads policies. Obviously, read and understand Google Ads policies as they relate to your industry. We mostly covered this in the previous section, but it's part of the research you need to do.
· Licensing and certification requirements. Even if it's not specifically required by Google, it's a good idea to get any appropriate licenses or certifications. It's a mark of authority and trustworthiness that might save you if any of your ads are reviewed for potential policy violations.
· Laws and regulations. Similarly, violating any laws and regulations in the country where you're advertising could be grounds for ad removal or account suspension, even if those violations aren't specifically listed in Google Ads policies. Always ensure legal compliance before advertising with Google.
· Competitor advertising. It's also a good idea to research your competitors. It's very likely that businesses similar to yours, in the same category, are already advertising successfully. Look at what they're doing. How are they phrasing things? Which disclosures are they including? Do you notice anything missing? You can learn a lot simply by studying previously successful ads.
· Market research. The success of your Google Ads largely depends on your ability to successfully target and appeal to your demographics. If you're properly informative and persuasive, with relevant messaging to the people you're reaching, you're much less likely to face reports, removals, and suspensions. Accordingly, you need to do a deep dive into market research so you better understand your target demographics and can appeal to them with relevant content. If you don't have buyer personas, develop them. If you don't know what your target audience is struggling with or what they want to, pause your ads until you figure it out. There are no shortcuts here, so do a deep dive into your market research if you want a reasonable chance to succeed.
When creating and preparing new ads, make sure everything is compliant, including your copy, your images, and any of your website content.
Remember that the rules and restrictions vary by industry, but these are some general rules that can help you get started:
· Stick to the facts. Don't exaggerate. Don't embellish. Certainly don't lie. It's important to stick to the facts as closely as possible, even if it makes your ad a bit stoic or “boring.” Purely factual advertising rarely gets removed.
· Avoid prohibited or sensitive terms. Review prohibited and sensitive terms that apply to your industry, and avoid those terms like the plague. Consider creating a list of alternatives that you can rely on instead.
· Be transparent. Be absolutely transparent with your target audience, even if you're forced to reveal things that weaken the appeal of your products and services. Offer disclosures when required, and potentially when not required if they can boost your credibility.
· Adopt a serious, professional tone. Don't play with fire. Your best course of action is to adopt a serious, professional tone across your ads. It's much less likely to be reported, and it will seem more authoritative and trustworthy.
· Eliminate sensationalism. In line with this, eliminate all forms of sensationalism. Graphic or revealing content, exaggerated claims, and other techniques designed to evoke strong emotions are probably going to work against you.
· Focus on using images for context. If you're going to include images, make sure they provide meaningful context. Advertisers sometimes select images based on how easily they grab attention or how exciting they are, but this is a surefire way to fail if you belong to a sensitive or restricted category.
· Include warnings if necessary. If there are any warnings that are relevant to your products and services, include them. More information is typically better in matters like these.
· Leverage the power of AB testing. The more relevant and effective your ads are, the more likely they are to succeed. Leverage the power of AB testing to learn more about what your audience wants to see and how to give it to them.
Don't forget about your landing pages.
These are important to Google as well.
If your landing pages deviate from Google Ads guidelines, or if they contradict what's in your ads, it could work against you.
These are some tips to get you started:
· Keep it relevant. Always make sure your landing page is completely relevant and in line with whatever is included in your ad. If users click your ad and find something unexpected, unpleasant, or otherwise jarring, Google might take action.
· Issue disclaimers and warnings. This is an opportunity to double down on disclaimers, warnings, and important disclosures. Err on the side of caution and make these prominent to show that you're in full compliance with both Google Ads policies and laws in your area.
· Make your business information accessible. Make your business information transparent and accessible. Offer your brand name and business location information, and give visitors some way to contact you, preferably via phone and email. It's a sign of trustworthiness and it can proactively resolve potential disputes.
· Be straightforward and transparent. Everything on your landing page needs to be straightforward and transparent. Follow the same rules you did for your ads, and avoid exaggerations and sensationalism.
· Double check Google Ads requirements. Always double-check Google Ads requirements when constructing your landing page. You should fulfill or comply with each item on your landing page to be safe.
You've already done significant market research, so make sure you apply it correctly. Target your audience very specifically so that your messages are only shown to people for whom they are relevant. If someone outside the scope of your target demographics sees your ads, they'll be much more likely to issue reports – and your ads will be much more likely to be removed. It's especially important to target people in the right geographic area.
There are some Black Hat techniques designed to circumvent Google Ads rules and regulations, or otherwise give you an unfair advantage in a sensitive or restricted category. These techniques typically violate Google policies and are largely considered unethical by the advertising community.
One of the most prominent examples is cloaking. Using one of several techniques, cloaking can allow you to advertise to audiences with content different from what you showed Google for approval. It's obvious why this is potentially beneficial, but it's also obvious why this is unethical.
As you might imagine, these techniques can work temporarily. They can give you a significant short-term advantage, allowing you a better strategic position and potentially more ad opportunities. However, if you use them, you could get your account suspended, or even permanently blacklisted. Even if you evade that, you could ruin your company's reputation and jeopardize your long-term results.
Do not follow these strategies. If a PPC agency recommends any such strategies to you, fire them.
They simply aren't worth it.
Navigating the world of Google Ads isn't easy.
In fact, it's stressful and incredibly difficult if your business happens to belong to one of these sensitive or restricted categories.
The good news is it's much easier to be successful when you work with a PPC advertising agency that has experience creating and managing ads for a business like yours. We're deeply acquainted with all the rules and restrictions you need to worry about, and we know how to make target demographics like yours convert.
If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
When you want to use paid search marketing platforms, Google Ads often leads the list. Because of its versatility, simplicity, and popularity, it’s obvious why it’s a popular choice. But when you drop all of your PPC advertising money into one marketing strategy, you could lose some leads.
That’s why some businesses explore paid advertising marketing outside of Google, with many turning to Linkedin Ads.
Google Ads and Linkedin Ads are highly efficient ways to market your products and services to businesses and consumers. But each marketing channel has its advantages and disadvantages. Whatever you choose, make sure you discuss the matter with your web development company.
Below is a closer look at each option.
We think it’s reasonable to conclude that Google reaches a vast audience worldwide – its ad reach is a stunning 4 billion people. Google search handles about 70% of desktop searches, and many companies report that they get about 90% of their organic traffic from the search engines. Also, up to 95% of the mobile search market comes from Google.
People use Google’s search a lot, and having the ability to target search terms with specific search ads is a massive benefit of Adwords. People tend to search for very specific things in Google, so if you can customize your Google advertising for your targeted audience, you’ll receive plenty of leads.
So, we can assume that most people’s targeted audience uses Google to some degree. That’s a massive advantage for companies when they want to target an audience.
However, businesses that want to narrow down their search may have issues getting their Google ads settings right with both Google Ads. And if you blunder when segmenting your audiences, your digital ad campaign could suffer.
LinkedIn features a narrower audience – 500 million users – namely businesses and business professionals. But this more limited audience makes it the perfect place for effective B2B marketing. LinkedIn lets marketers serve online ads to decision-makers and vital audience members in several ways.
Summary: For B2B firms that want to reach decision-makers, Linkedin is a terrific advertising platforms. If your B2C company intends to increase its reach, Google Ads could be the best fit.
When you target your audience with Google Ads, you have a few options: location, affinity, technology, buyer behavior, demographics, and interactions with your app or website.
No matter how much you know about your buyer, you may struggle to avoid clicks from worthless leads that cost too much.
In some cases on Google, people may not even know what they’re looking for. You can try to advertise to your desired targeted audience on Google Ads, but it can be challenging to get to the precise people who will most likely buy what you sell.
When people sign up for LinkedIn, they usually provide many details, such as their occupation, title/job title, experience, industry, education, interests, and more. All of this information can be leveraged for great advantage when you start your marketing campaigns.
Also, LinkedIn users can join many groups, start conversations, and obtain followers. The data is priceless when you want to target a specific audience and market to them. LinkedIn also has a Matched Audience that helps advertisers match their email marketing lists and website visitors with users on LinkedIn.
Many marketing experts think that LinkedIn Ads offer more value. LinkedIn has refined targeting, and you can make your product known to them so that you can tell them about something they didn’t know existed.
Summary: For B2B and B2C companies looking for a broad audience, Google Ads has enough targeting features. But for B2B firms that want to target specific groups, LinkedIn Ads has about 100 segmentation methods for micro targeting.
When you want lead generation, Google Ads has a broader reach and is the most effective. First, you can bring in a lot of prospects to your site without breaking the bank. The audience you’re after on Google visits the search giant with the idea to find the best product or service. This makes generating leads easier.
Getting leads from LinkedIn can be more challenging. Users of the platform may sign in to read industry news or talk to group members. No matter how perfect your ad is, viewers may not be in the mood to buy anything.
That said, Linkedin has a way to target ad leads through in-site messaging, which can generate plenty of leads.
When it comes down to dollars and cents, LinkedIn Ads usually are more pricey than Google Ads. As in Google, you can select cost-per-click or cost-per-impression.
LinkedIn also features a cost-per-send for InMail advertising. Typically, you’ll pay about $5 for each click, $6 for 1,000 impressions, and .80 for each send.
With Google Ads, the average CPC is $1. But to leverage that low cost, you need to work on your audience segmentation. If you don’t your ROI may be below what you want.
Summary: Advertising budgets for each platform depends on several factors. On average, Google Ads cost less than LinkedIn Ads. If your B2B company has a tight budget, you may want to focus on a limited variety of LinkedIn ads instead of a broad range of Google Ads.
So should you advertise with Google Ads vs LinkedIn Ads? Yes!
What we mean is, it depends. The correct choice depends on your budget, product or service offered, marketing goals, and target audience. You should not assume that when you need a digital marketing campaign, Google Analytics Adwords is the only choice.
It’s critical to evaluate the market, understand who your buyer is, and make a data-driven decision about the best marketing platform to reach your well-defined goals. One type of company might do better with Google Ads, and another may find LinkedIn Ads preferable.
The great news is you don’t need to choose between the two platforms. Many businesses use both, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and others. If you have the budget, it may pay off to diversify your paid search advertising to get the best ROI.
