To run ads on search engines like Google, you place bids for your ad to display in particular search queries. In other words, you compete with other advertisers for a keyword. But did you know that you can also compete against yourself without knowing it? It’s called keyword cannibalization.
Before your ad competes with others in an automated keyword auction, an internal auction between your own keywords/relevant keywords takes place within your Google ads account. Google search needs to know how your ads rank among each other before it can rank them among ads by other businesses targeting the same keyword.
Because we live in an age of infobesity, where everyone overloads the amount of information on the web in an attempt to rank on top, it’s easy to fall victim to keyword cannibalization without realizing it. To help you avoid it, this article will go over what exactly keyword cannibalization is in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, why it’s bad, its 3 different types, and steps you can take to avoid it.
In PPC advertising, keyword cannibalization refers to when you have two or more campaigns targeting the same search query in search results/pages ranking. In other words, you have multiple ads competing for the same keyword or two or more pages. It’s considered “cannibalization” because it’s as if you are taking a “bite” out of your own ad margins and results.
Search engines like Google search/ search engine results page automatically show the ad they deem most relevant based on its ad rank. Typically, ad rank is calculated by multiplying the maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid with the ad quality score (ad rank = max CPC bid x quality score). When you have two or more separate ads competing for the same keyword, it splits your results. Your click-through rates (CTRs), links, and content are split across multiple ads.
Of course, it’s only keyword cannibalization if the intent behind the multiple pages/multiple ads is the same—to direct leads to a particular landing page etc. If you run different ads that share a keyword but have different goals, this is not keyword cannibalization (though you might consider consolidating your ad campaign goals).
Keyword cannibalization is nearly always unintentional. Essentially, you’re asking the ad platform’s algorithms to rank your competing ads. Often, one ad has higher ranking signals than another and will win the ad space. However, if there is no clear winner, none of the ads will rank as well as they might have, ruining each other’s ability to perform.
Keyword cannibalization cripples your PPC campaign. As your ads compete for the same keyword, the flow of traffic generated by them is broken. An ad might match for a keyword one week and not another, and you may see dramatic fluctuations in traffic. More importantly, keyword cannibalization leads to rising CPC costs, decreasing conversions, and diminishing page authority. Basically, it causes you to serve worse ads at a higher cost.
There are 3 types of keyword cannibalization in PPC: keyword overlap, geographic overlap, and PPC-SEO overlap. We’ll explain all three in detail so you can understand what you’re up against.
So far, we’ve explained keyword cannibalization in terms of keyword overlap. Keyword overlap refers to when two or more of your ads target the same keyword. In many cases, you may have an ad group targeting multiple keywords/multiple pages, one of which unintentionally overlaps with a keyword in another ad group. Usually, one ad outranks the other and it may not even be the one you most want to show. So make sure you organize your ad groups carefully.
In PPC campaigns, you not only bid on keywords but on geographic areas. And unfortunately, overlapping geographic areas can also cause keyword cannibalization. For example, if one of your ads targets a city and another targets that city’s entire country without excluding the city, you end up with two ads that target keyword for the same city & multiple urls. Or perhaps you run PPC ads for two stores in the same area with overlapping radiuses. In both cases, you unnecessarily pump up the ad auction with your own ads. Plus again, the winning ad may not even be the one you most want to run.
Finally, your PPC traffic can overlap with organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to any visits to your website that you don’t pay for. So if a regular search on Google leads someone to your web page, it’s considered organic traffic. You can increase your organic traffic through search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. If you already rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs), spending on PPC ads will have diminishing returns and may even be a waste of money. You’re already ranking in the SERPs, so paying to appear in the promoted results section has diminishing returns. Plus, some users prefer clicking on organic results over sponsored results anyway.
Now that you know the different ways keyword cannibalization can harm your PPC campaign, let’s go over what you can do to avoid it happening to you.
First, you want to extract as much data from your PPC campaign as you can. Run a keyword report to uncover any of the overlaps already discussed. In Google Ads, you can do this by viewing the search terms report. Here, you can review your keywords closely and find out which keywords are driving your ad traffic.
Try targeting your ads only to exact-match keywords/same keywords. Cross-include any exact matches as negative keywords in unrelated ad groups first. And if exact-match keywords generate the traffic you want, leave out broad-match keywords altogether. In other words, make sure traffic generated by broad-match keywords is not already being served by exact-match keywords. Otherwise, you’re paying for two ads to do the job of one. The same goes for Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). Add targeted keywords as negatives in DSA campaigns and block any keywords that overlap.
As for PPC-SEO overlap, decide whether you want to rely on organic traffic or not. Experiment with switching off individual keywords. Wait and see how much organic traffic you get for the keyword and compare it to when you had paid traffic. Also check if competitors are targeting your keywords to gain insight on the level of competition in organic traffic, CTR, keywords, search volume, and so forth. This way, you’ll know what you’re up against if you decide to eliminate PPC-SEO overlap by dropping ad spend.
Examine how conversions change week to week and identify trends so you can adjust accordingly. PPC advertising is a matter of trial and error. The faster you learn what works best, the better.
After you’ve diagnosed keyword overlaps, do all that you can to avoid them in the future. Don’t target plurals for keywords and always check keyword spellings. Google will match close variants of keywords, so a plural or a misspelled keyword could easily lead to keyword overlaps. If you have a lot of keywords, try using a tool to identify close variants faster.
Avoid overlaps in geographic targeting by excluding cities from country targets if running ads in both. Check target radiuses as well to ensure there is no overlap. The last thing you want to do is pay twice for the same target area.
Avoid splitting PPC traffic across multiple web pages/multiple pages by maintaining a one-stop authoritative web page that links to other web pages that fall under the same keyword. Try using 301 redirects to link pages of lesser importance to a single definitive version & avoid wrong page also keyword stuffing.
Finally, avoid keyword overlap by concentrating your ad spend on one keyword instead of many. That way, you not only don’t spread your ads too thin but you ensure that they don’t work against each other.
With brands trying to dominate the SERPs, the risk of keyword cannibalization occurs has only increased. So it’s more important than ever to keep a close eye on your PPC campaigns. If you don’t, you could be wasting valuable ad spend and not even realize it. Fixing keyword cannibalization early on will not only lower CPC costs but increase your conversions and ROI.
If you need help auditing or managing your PPC strategy or fix keyword cannibalization, ppc.co can help. Our skilled experts will quickly identify where to optimize and make improvements, so you can start getting the most out of your PPC campaigns. Contact us today to get started managing your PPC campaigns.
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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.
