Last year we wrote a post called PPC Spring Cleaning, which was a step-by-step tutorial on how to optimize your PPC account. It was shared quite a bit and actually ended up being one of our most popular blog posts for 2014. Instead of just re-posting it, we’re going to cover those topics once again with updated information. Happy cleaning!
Pausing keywords that aren’t meeting goal is really important because these keywords can waste ad spend dollars, bog down your account and suck up your time. This means turning off any keywords with a negative ROI, really low Click-Through-Rate (CTR) or total lack of search volume. The keywords that you’ll be left with are the best performing and most profitable keywords in each ad group. If you find that your ad groups are still quite large, you can break them apart into smaller ad groups to ensure that they are tightly focused to allow for optimal targeting.
2. Uncover Search Queries
Sorting through your account’s search queries can uncover lot of really valuable information, like:
• Whether your keywords are too broad or too narrowly focused
• Where there are opportunities to create new campaigns and ad groups
• Additional ways to market your products
• Negative keyword needs to better target your ads
There are even more ways to use search query data too – these are just the most popular! Needless to say, your PPC account can benefit from a routine look at search queries to make data-driven account decisions.
3. Polish & Shine Ads
You should always have multiple ads running in each ad group to test headlines, value propositions, positioning, calls-to-action and landing pages. Going through them to pause underperforming ads will allow your best performers to show more frequently. You can also turn on the ad rotation setting “Optimize for Conversions” to help you out with this effort. Once you know what is performing best, you can look for similarities to identify trends that point to future ad success and achieve optimal performance.
4. Freshen Up Ad Extensions
Using ad extensions is a great way to make your ads stand out amongst the noise. Depending on when you last updated your account, new ad extensions (like Callout Extensions) may have been rolled out. It’s worth it to test Call Extensions, Sitelink Extensions and Callout Extensions to try to increase overall performance. The results may surprise you!
If you don’t have the time to do your PPC yourself or you aren’t getting the results you were hoping for, we can help! As an AdWords-certified digital marketing company, we will provide you with a free AdWords audit and discuss what we can do to improve your account. Reach out to us today!
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web Consulting for small businesses, Copywriting and Local Online Marketing. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and enjoys cooking, watching sports and spending time outdoors. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about marketing theory and SEM trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!