Enhance PPC Success: 10 Strategies for Campaign Success
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is key to a strong digital marketing strategy, perfectly complementing SEO to enhance PPC success. The digital marketing landscape is evolving with new technologies and user behaviours. Nevertheless, PPC remains crucial for driving traffic and conversions.
The growing prominence of AI, including AI Overviews, is changing search dynamics. Consequently, some marketers are reconsidering PPC’s role in their strategies. Despite these shifts, PPC continues to offer significant value for many businesses, provided it is leveraged correctly. Below, we explore the current state of PPC and provide 10 strategies to optimise your campaigns in today’s competitive digital environment.
The Current Landscape of PPC Advertising
The Rise of AI in Search
The integration of AI into search engines is perhaps the most significant development influencing PPC strategies today. AI is transforming how users interact with search engines, and as a result, how businesses must approach their PPC campaigns. This shift presents both opportunities and challenges, as marketers must adapt to these changes while maintaining the effectiveness of their PPC efforts.
Challenges in the Search Environment
In addition to AI’s impact, other significant changes in the search landscape are affecting PPC strategies. During a recent discussion on the DMI podcast, several key challenges were highlighted, which we will explore in more detail below.
Increasing Competition
One of the most pressing challenges in the PPC space is the intensifying competition, impacting efforts to enhance PPC success. While the demand for online services and products surged during the pandemic, it has since stabilised. However, the competition for clicks remains fierce. PPC specialists are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their cost-per-click (CPC) rates under control amidst this competition.
For instance, Temu, an online retail giant, reportedly spent around $15 billion on PPC ads in 2023 alone. When brands of this magnitude enter the market with such substantial budgets, it naturally drives up competition, making it more challenging for smaller players to maintain low CPC rates.
Moving Beyond Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Many marketers feel constrained by traditional metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), hindering their ability to enhance PPC success. Focusing too narrowly on these metrics can sometimes prevent a broader, more strategic view of PPC campaigns. Metrics like ROAS may not always provide a complete picture, especially in times of significant market fluctuation, such as during the pandemic when online shopping saw an unprecedented rise.
Rising Costs
The rising costs associated with PPC are not solely due to competition. Google’s pricing model for clicks is based on complex and sometimes obscure criteria, making it difficult for PPC experts to manage costs effectively. Despite the rising expenses, Google search remains an integral part of the customer journey that marketers cannot afford to ignore.
The Need for Brand Growth
Marketers must look beyond the immediate costs of their PPC campaigns and consider their overall brand growth. While CPC rates may be rising, a well-executed PPC campaign can still drive new customers to a brand, contributing to long-term growth. It’s important to consider the broader impact of PPC on how consumers perceive your brand across various channels, not just within the confines of a single campaign.
The Shifting Role of Search in the Marketing Funnel
A notable shift in recent years is the movement of paid search further up the marketing funnel. Brands are increasingly targeting more informational keywords, reaching consumers who are in the early stages of the customer journey—such as during the Awareness and Consideration phases. Recognising this shift, Google has introduced new campaign types, such as Demand Gen, which allow marketers to target these early-stage consumers more effectively.
Strategies for Enhancing Your PPC Campaign
Given the evolving challenges in the PPC landscape, it’s crucial to adopt strategies that maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns. Below are 10 strategies to help you optimise your PPC efforts in this changing environment.
1. Leverage YouTube Ads for Wider Reach
When planning your PPC strategy, it’s essential to look beyond traditional search ads and consider other channels, such as video and display advertising. Incorporating platforms like YouTube into your PPC campaigns can help you reach a broader audience across the Google ecosystem, including the Google Display Network (GDN) and YouTube.
YouTube, in particular, offers a unique opportunity as it remains underutilised by many brands in their PPC efforts. YouTube, with millions of hours of user-generated content, is the top streaming service in the United States. Additionally, 8.6% of users watch content on their TVs. For now, YouTube remains a cost-effective advertising space, allowing smaller brands to gain visibility in prime viewing locations, such as living rooms during evening hours.
However, this advantage may not last indefinitely. As more large brands begin to recognise the value of YouTube advertising, costs are likely to rise, especially as traditional linear TV continues to decline in relevance. Therefore, now is the time for smaller brands to capitalise on YouTube’s relatively low advertising costs.
2. Explore Demand Gen Campaigns for Early-Stage Engagement
Google Ads offers a variety of campaign options, including Search, Video, and the increasingly popular Demand Gen campaigns. Demand Gen campaigns excel at generating leads and creating demand. Therefore, they are effective during the Awareness and Consideration phases of the funnel.
These campaigns allow brands to tap into the social media advertising space, with YouTube being one of the largest demand-generating platforms. Demand Gen campaigns help create demand before customers start searching. Consequently, this approach stimulates more searches for your products or services, contributing to overall PPC success.
When traditional search campaigns reach their limits, use Demand Gen campaigns to generate additional interest. Consequently, this drives more searches and higher conversions.
3. Optimise Your Landing Pages for Better Conversion Rates
A common oversight in PPC campaigns is neglecting what happens after a user clicks on an ad, which can hinder efforts to enhance PPC success. The landing page that users are directed to plays a crucial role in the overall success of your PPC efforts. Google evaluates landing pages to determine the quality of your ad campaign, which can impact your ad rankings and CPC rates.
When designing your landing page, consider the following questions:
- What questions are users asking Google? (Their search keywords)
- How are you responding to these queries? (Your PPC ads)
- Where are you directing users to complete their task? (Your landing page)
Your landing page is the one element of the PPC journey that you have complete control over. Instead of simply sending users to your website’s homepage, consider creating a bespoke landing page that aligns with their search intent and encourages the desired action. For instance, if a user is searching for a specific product, direct them to that product’s page rather than the homepage.
Pro Tip: Ensure that the product you’re promoting is in stock to avoid wasting money on clicks that don’t convert into sales.
4. Identify When Search Campaigns Aren’t Working
Not every product or service is well-suited to PPC search campaigns, which can affect efforts to enhance PPC success. If you’re targeting a niche market or using keywords that don’t generate significant traffic, it may be time to reassess your strategy.
In some cases, search might not be the best channel for driving traffic and conversions. For example, if your market is still developing and lacks sufficient search volume, a content marketing strategy might be more appropriate. Building demand for your brand through other channels, such as YouTube ads, can be a more effective approach when search volume is low.
Digital marketing offers numerous platforms for building brand awareness and driving interest. By focusing on creating demand for your brand, you can ensure that when consumers are ready to make a purchase, they will remember your brand and actively search for it.
5. Ensure Accurate Measurement and Reporting
Accurate measurement and reporting are essential for understanding the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns. This is particularly challenging with the introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which has a complex and evolving interface.
Supplement your GA4 data with additional sources for a fuller understanding of conversions. For example, use backend views from Shopify. Rather than relying solely on monthly reports, take a long-term view of campaign performance by analysing data over six months to a year. This approach allows you to focus on more meaningful metrics, such as the number of new customers acquired or your brand’s share of search.
6. Embrace Marketing Mix Modelling for a Holistic View
Marketing mix modelling is a valuable tool for gaining a holistic view of your PPC campaign’s performance and enhancing PPC success. This approach uses qualitative research and statistical analysis. Consequently, it determines which marketing investments have had the greatest impact on your outcomes.
By analysing the cost inputs across different channels and comparing them to your overall sales, you can identify which investments have been most effective. This process requires substantial data and can be time-consuming. Therefore, it’s best suited for larger campaigns with significant data sets.
7. Master Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a powerful tool, but its complexity and frequent updates can make it challenging to navigate. GA4 offers AI-driven features and recommendations that can help automate many aspects of your PPC campaigns.
While these AI-driven recommendations can be helpful, it’s important to critically evaluate whether they align with your specific goals and needs. GA4 often nudges users towards Google’s best practices. However, these may not always be the most effective strategies for your brand.
8. Adapt Your Bidding Strategy as Needed
Google Ads offers the option to automate bidding with Smart Bidding, but it’s worth experimenting with manual bidding to see which approach yields better results. A/B testing can help you determine whether Smart Bidding or manual bidding is more effective in achieving your campaign goals.
In some cases, you may find that manual bidding is more effective at the start of a campaign, while automated bidding becomes more efficient as the campaign progresses. A new search campaign may perform better with manual bidding during the first 90 days. As the strategy refines, consider switching to automated bidding. After the initial learning phase, transitioning to automated bidding may yield better results.
9. Explore Alternative Campaign Objectives
PPC campaigns offer a range of objectives beyond traditional search, providing opportunities to enhance PPC success. Consider expanding your efforts into areas such as Shopping, Display, Performance Max, and YouTube campaigns.
The emergence of Performance Max campaigns represents a significant shift towards cross-channel, full-funnel campaigns that aim to maximise conversion value. Performance Max campaigns are now the default option for shopping campaigns, but they can also be used for other campaign types.
10. Stay Up to Date with Google Ads Updates
The PPC landscape is constantly evolving, with new updates and features being introduced regularly. Staying informed about these changes is crucial for maintaining the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns.
Recently, Google Ads introduced updates to its user interface, including streamlined search options, new billing and payment tabs, and real-time recommendations. AI-driven bidding and audience targeting features highlight the need for staying current with PPC trends. Therefore, keep up with the latest tools.
Conclusion
In today’s dynamic digital marketing landscape, PPC remains a powerful tool to enhance PPC success by driving traffic and conversions. AI and other technological advancements are reshaping how consumers interact with search engines. Therefore, marketers must stay agile and adapt their strategies.
By leveraging the strategies outlined above, you can optimise your PPC campaigns to achieve greater success in an increasingly competitive environment. Explore new channels and refine your bidding strategy. Stay informed about updates to maximise the impact of your PPC efforts.
