5 PPC Best Practices: How to Improve Your Campaign Performance

A well-executed pay-per-click campaign can help you achieve many of your business goals. It’s a low-cost, high-impact advertising channel that can drive traffic to your site, offer valuable insights, and grow your revenue.

However, if you’ve been running PPC campaigns for a while—and you still feel as though it’s not working as it’s supposed to—it may be time to reevaluate your paid efforts and adjust where necessary.

In this article, we will walk you through some strategies to boost your PPC performance and get the best ROI.

How to Improve Your PPC Campaign Performance

1. Optimize for long-tail keywords

Any digital marketing campaign starts with keyword research, and it’s no different with PPC. It can tell you what terms your target audience is searching for, measure the competition for these keywords, and guide your strategies to generate clicks and boost conversions to your site.

If your goal is to improve your ROAS (return on ad spend), you shouldn’t go too broad on your PPC keywords. Instead, balance broad-match terms with long-tail keywords that exactly match the search intent you are targeting.

For example, “coffee shop in Quezon City” is a long-tail keyword and has a clearer search intent vs. “coffee shop”. While it may have a lower search volume, it has a higher search intent, and bidding on it can help you attract higher quality leads, which can result in more sales and returning visitors. Some other benefits of targeting exact match long-tail PPC keywords are the following:

• Less competition
• Lower bids
• Higher search intent
• Highly targeted ad copies

2. Remove low-performing keywords

While you target high-performing, long-tail keywords, you should as well remove any underperforming keywords that are pulling down your paid search performance.

Look for keywords that don’t generate many impressions or those that have a good number of impressions but are getting few clicks. In these cases, it’s either your target users are not searching these keywords or your ad copy doesn’t align with the search intent of the user. You can try revising your ad copy to better match the search intent. However, if that too, doesn’t work, you’re better off removing these keywords from your campaign.

3. Add negative keywords

Adding negative keywords allows you to exclude search terms from your campaigns and prevent them from triggering your ads. It allows you to focus your ads—more importantly, your ad budget—on the most relevant searches.

Let’s say you’re advertising online baking classes and you’re bidding on the modified broad match keyword +baking +classes. If someone Googles “in-person baking classes” your ad will appear on the search results.

But, because your ad is irrelevant to the search, even with the help of geotargeting, two things are likely to happen: the user will ignore your ad, therefore diminishing its click-through rate (CTR) or they may click through but then realize that your service is irrelevant to them, thus costing you money.

4. Write a compelling ad copy and landing pages

The success of your PPC campaign is not a matter of how good you manage it but how engaging, informative, and compelling your ad copy is. Optimize your ad copy by doing the following tips:

• Include your target PPC keywords that match the search intent
• Highlight the benefits of your product/service and use power words like free, money-back guaranteed, etc. 
• Speak directly to your audience
• Evoke an emotional response
• Finish with a strong CTA

While at it, make sure to match your ad copy with your dedicated landing page. It’s where users will be redirected when they click on your ads and should provide what users are looking for. It’s the key to improving your overall PPC performance.

5. Optimize ads for specific devices, locations, and times

People these days access the Internet from different locations on different devices, and during different times of the day. You can further optimize your PPC campaigns by taking the following into consideration.

• Devices being used: Google PPC ads appear differently on different devices—mobile phones, tablets, computers, wearables, etc. So, make sure to leverage the many options to customize your ads according to where you want them to appear. Device targeting, for example, is a feature that lets you optimize your ads on specific device types, even specific systems, device models, and networks.
• Location: Geotargeting is the method of delivering personalized messaging to target users based on their geolocation. This is particularly helpful if you have a physical location or your target audience is in a particular area, and you want to optimize for local search.
• When your target audience is more active: Run your ads during times when your target market is more active. Consider scheduling your campaigns 24/7—while it will cost you more initially, it should help you determine your market’s most active periods. With that information, you can make some adjustments to allocate most of your ad budget during those times.

Conclusion 

PPC advertising is a great avenue to promote your brand, a new product line or service, or limited-time offers. It’s become a vital part of any digital marketing strategy with various benefits to offer—it is cost-effective, highly targeted, and provides valuable insights and trackable results. It gives you access to data that can help you fine-tune your efforts and generate more sales and revenues.

Ready to get started? Make the most out of your ad budget by letting the experts do the work. Get in touch with us at Createmoto and we would be happy to discuss how you can further improve your PPC campaigns.

A Brief Guide to Using Google Keyword Planner in 2022

People are constantly looking for new content on the Internet, and most of them are using Google to try and find it. They would use a set of keywords or phrases to search for that information.

As a business, you want to show up in relevant searches when users look for products or services —particularly in the top results of the first page of search engines because that’s where you’re most likely to get clicked. However, ranking on the prime real estate on the SERP has its own science. In today’s post, that’s what we will be focusing on: how to show up on the first page of SERPs by using the right keywords.

How to Use Google Keyword Planner for Your Keyword Research 

Keyword research is the basis of any digital marketing campaign. It helps you determine what your target audience is searching for and how to rank it. Google Keyword Planner (is a free resource tool that helps you do just that and more.

You can use Google Keyword Planner for your PPC and SEO marketing efforts. It allows you to discover new search keywords, valuable insights (e.g. search volume and cost for keywords), and performance forecasts that can help you with the following:

• identify the right keywords to target
• optimize your website for search engines
• target keywords for link building and pay-per-click campaigns; and
• determine the right content for your audience

Step-By-Step Guide to Using Keyword Planner

1. Access Keyword Planner

Using Keyword Planner is free, but it will prompt you to set up a free Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords) account. This shouldn’t be a big deal, especially if you’re planning on using the tool for long-term PPC campaigns. When you get access to the planner, you have two options to get started: discover new keywords or get search volume forecasts.

The first option is as easy as it sounds—enter your keyword ideas and discover a broad match of keywords or phrases you can use to reach people interested in your products/services. Meanwhile, you can use the other option to determine the historical trend, search volume, and forecast for specific keywords.

2. Discover New Keywords

Under Discover New Keywords, there will be two tabs: Start with Keywords and Start with a Website.

Start with Keywords – Here, you can enter a list of up to 10 keywords or phrases [separated by commas] relevant to your business. It can be anything that describes your business—the products or services you offer—or the keywords that users are most likely to Google when finding your company.

Start with a Website – Instead of entering keywords, this option allows you to use an entire website or a specific page as a source to bring up keyword ideas you can use. This is a great way to get insights into what your competitors are doing and what keywords they are optimizing and/or bidding for.

3. View Insights

After keying in the terms or the URL, click Get Results. Google Keyword Planner will return with a table of new keyword suggestions, each with the following insights.

Average Monthly Searches – The range of number of searches the keyword receives every month

Competition – A keyword’s competition is ranked low, medium, or high, depending on how many advertisers are bidding on it. The higher the competition is, the more difficult and costlier to target.

Top of Page Bid – This lists the range of price estimates (low range and high range) advertisers would pay for a top page bid.

You can further filter the results based on location, language, search network, and period. Just click the Add Filter tab above the results table. You can also filter out negative keywords with the Exclude keywords in my account option.

4. Get Search Volume and Forecasts

Remember the option for discovering keywords? Get search volume and forecasts. Google Keyword Planner will display forecasts you can expect within the next 30 days for the keywords you enter. These include the following.

• Total number of clicks
• Impressions—the number of times your ad would be displayed
• Overall cost
• Average position
• Cost-per-click

Keyword research underpins every SEO and PPC strategy, and Google Keyword Planner offers a lot of value—it’s entirely free to utilize and a good starting point to determine the right keywords you can use to reach out to people who are actively searching for your business. More importantly, it acts as the foundation of your digital marketing efforts to boost your search visibility, rankings, and traffic.

Ready to Get Started? 

You’ve got the basics down. Let us handle the intricacies of Google Keyword Planner and help you build your growth strategy around search terms that matter most to your business.

Get in touch with our digital marketing experts at Createmoto today! 

How to Structure a PPC Campaign That Works

Online shopping is more in-demand than ever, and it’s evident in the increasing number of marketers investing in PPC campaigns. In 2021, Google reported a $53.1 billion revenue which accounted for 81% of the overall sales of its parent company, Alphabet.

When done successfully, PPC—short for pay-per-click—can result in a better ad placement in the search engine result pages (SERPs), which in return can help you drive traffic to your site and generate leads. But, keep in mind that ad placement is only as good as the ad structure itself. When a campaign is not structured correctly, it may not produce the results you expect.

What is an Account Structure?

Account structure is essential to the success of your PPC efforts. But, what does it mean anyway and why does it matter? Put simply, your structure is the backbone of your account that supports many other parts of your PPC campaign, including its overall performance.

In its basic form, an account structure includes campaigns, ad groups, keywords—both targeted and negative keywords—and an ad copy. The number of campaigns you run can depend on several factors such as the following:

• The products and services you offer
• The network you use—search, display, maps, shopping, etc.
• Locations to target
• Your budget

Each campaign houses different ad groups, each of which targets a specific set of keywords that will trigger a set of ads. Each ad also includes a landing page where you want to direct users to after they click. All these components should be themed and relevant to ensure that the searches triggering your ads are useful to the users. With that said, a basic account structure should look like this:

How to Structure Your PPC Campaign in 2022

The success of your account structure largely depends on your understanding of each component involved. Let’s discuss them further.

1. Campaigns

Your campaign is the topmost category your ad groups will fall under. It may be defined by the types of product you offer, your location, or your target audience. For example, if you are a printing business, you can use your products and services as your campaigns and specify them further in the categories that follow.

2. Ad Groups

Under each campaign are your ad groups which are exactly just that: groups of ads that share similar targets. You can use them to organize your ads by a common theme—usually based on the types of products or services you want to advertise.

Advertisers usually base their ad groups on how they are categorized on their websites. Let’s say you offer corporate gifts and photo prints. You can use them as your ad groups, and each would contain a keyword list that focuses on the products you sell.

While there’s no limit to the number of ad groups to list under a campaign, PPC ad specialists advise against going overboard. It will not only stretch your ad budget but also suffer the results. The golden rule is to keep within the maximum limit of 7-10 ad groups per campaign.

3. Keywords

When a search query matches with a keyword that you target, it will trigger an ad that can potentially attract clicks to your site. It means that your keyword list must be composed of the words and phrases your target users are most likely to search for your product or business: thank-you kits, corporate shirts, custom notebooks, personalized stationery, etc. 

Several tools can help you build your keyword list such as Google’s Keyword Planner. It provides insights into search volume and trends, the historical data of keywords, and more importantly, how much it would cost you to bid on specific terms. This information can help you fine-tune and optimize your keyword strategy in the long run.

4. Negative Keywords

While there are target keywords, there are also negative keywords—terms and phrases you want to exclude from your campaigns. This is particularly useful if you’re bidding on broad match and/or modified broad match keywords where you’re more likely to attract some completely irrelevant search queries that match with your ads.

Keep building upon your negative keywords list to keep irrelevant searches from triggering your ad and save money in the process. It can also help increase your ROI by better targeting your ads towards interested users.

5. Ad Text

An ad text is a copy that will appear when a search query triggers your ad, and one of the secrets to writing one that actually gets clicked is by focusing on the end goal. What can users accomplish with your product/service?

As a printing business that offers corporate gifts, your target audience is more likely to search for phrases like “how to promote my business”. Your headline shouldn’t start with “promoting your business?”—besides being obsolete, you already know that they are. Instead, speak to their end goal by providing the solution to what they’re looking to achieve. Write your headline like this: Promotional Gifts for Your Business.

6. Landing Page

The destination URL is the page on your website where you want to direct your PPC traffic. It can be your home page, service page, or blog. However, because of the cost associated with each PPC visitor you attract, you would want to drive them to a dedicated landing page with a lead generation form on it.

Make sure that the landing page is relevant to the search query. As a user, you wouldn’t want to be served an ad about a publication house when you’re searching for a printing business, would you?

In conclusion, a simple account structure should look like this:

Why Campaign Structure Matters

PPC campaigns are designed for targeting users with already an intent to buy. With paid ads, you can target these users—but only if you target them with an ad copy that matches their intent.

Grouping your keywords into relevant themes allows you to write a better campaign. When all the above factors are tied together, you can help improve your quality score, a metric that can help you secure an ad placement in the SERPs and generate leads.

If you’re new to Google Ads, don’t worry! As a digital marketing agency in the Philippines, we know the strategies that can help you find success with your PPC campaigns.

Get in touch with us today!