Learning Google AdWords (PPC) Tips & The Difference between SEM and SEO: A basic tutorial for effective paid ads campaigns

If you want to generate more qualified leads to your particular website, the most suitable way to do just that is Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. With a well-implemented PPC campaign, you stand a high chance of increasing your conversions and revenue. As a result, your products or services will rank at the top of relevant SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) on Google or Bing. Since you pay for each click you receive from your ads, however, a poorly executed PPC campaign can be more expensive than you thought.

While your messaging and target audience will be distinct to your business, several basic techniques work consistently with PPC campaigns, irrespective of the industry. Below are some of the most vital, yet usually overlooked, aspects when optimizing PPC campaigns. Although some are more advanced compared to others, you should have a significant improvement if you implement these factors into your PPC campaigns, and eventually result in huge returns in your business.

1. A Relevant Landing Page

Apart from merely getting a click, the primary objective of PPC marketing is getting a sale. A successful PPC ad attracts qualified leads to a specific landing page. That landing page is then responsible for the conversions of prospect customers into paying customers. Your landing pages ought to be optimized for PPC conversions by aligning the ad’s message with the message of your landing page. By maintaining consistency between your landing pages, ad copy and keywords, you should be able to enhance your conversion and click-through rates while reducing your CPC (cost-per-click). That means you should be in a position to generate more cash while also securing your budget. The message of your ad should be repeated on your landing page. You can also boost conversions by repeating the same message and call to action on your landing page.

2. Use the Right Types of Keyword Matches and Change Them Over Time

PPC advertising can be termed as a direct attribution marketing channel, while Google AdWords depends on user intent via keywords. Each time someone uses Google to type in a certain search query, AdWords displays ads depending on the relevancy of the search term as considered by the auction system; it then shows an ad accordingly. With a PPC campaign, an essential element is the keywords you apply as well as the type of modifiers you use for those keywords. Keyword matches are of four types: broad match, broad match modifier, phrase match, and exact match. All match types are tradeoffs between relevancy and impressions from one another.

3. Optimize For Negative Keywords

Optimizing for negative words is a powerful tool remaining at your disposal to make sure that your AdWords campaign has some integrity. AdWords enables you to determine the exact words that aren’t suitable for your products or services. Once you inform Google what your specific product isn’t, you can avoid your ads displaying keyword searches that aren’t suitable for the intent of your customers. Paying more attention to the requirements of qualified customers assists you in saving lots of cash.

4. Fill Out Every Ad Content

By providing extra space for relevant content, Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) offer PPC managers an ideal way to narrate a story about a certain product or service. To make sure that your ads perform better, fill out all the informational fields which include:

  • Final URL – This should be a unique and very relevant landing page.
  • Headline 1 – Write the primary value proposition or the brand name in this section.
  • Headline 2 – In this field, fill in a supporting value proposition or use it to bring about the context for the description.
  • Path 1 – Try to include the location (state or city) or general classification of product or service.
  • Path 2 – Include more detailed information in this area to provide context.
  • Description – The money-maker field that connects your customers’ needs with the solution provided with your product or services. At the end of the description, be sure to include an active Call To Action to assist frame the ad and capture your reader.

5. Make Use of All Relevant Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are another vital component of the customer experience and can enable your ads to have a significant performance boost. They can assist in telling a better story of your brand while providing valuable information to your targeted customers. There are a few ad extensions you can choose from, but the essential ad extensions are review extensions, structured snippets, callout extensions, and sitelinks extensions.

6. Geotargeted Bids

Irrespective of your industry or market, you can profit by focusing your marketing investment on certain geographic locations. Even if you offer digital products or services, you can profit by reviewing the source of your engagement to prioritize media spent in those particular areas. Nevertheless, industries such as hotels, apartments, and lawyers usually qualify their customers by determining the closeness of their place of residence to their physical offices. If somehow your products or services don’t rely on the physical location of your customers, you can still be in a position to optimize your PPC campaigns with multiple geotargeted bids depending on user needs, weather, and seasonality. A majority of AdWords beginners forget to think about their customers’ needs and other qualifiers depending on their audience’s physical location. You can save on budget by blocking ads from displaying in some areas while increasing the chances of a conversion and enhanced bid adjustment in other specific geolocations.

7. Mobile-Optimized Campaigns

Your future customers will most likely use mobile devices. You should, therefore, have mobile-optimized campaigns. That means you’ll have the best chance of interacting with your customers in the correct format in their chosen device. Separating campaigns is a more straightforward way to generate more qualified clicks. Focus on conversions to find out if a campaign requires a mobile-only component. CPC for mobile ads can even be 25% lower than desktop-only campaigns. Also, mobile-online campaigns can prove  useful by focusing on CTC (click-to-call) extensions.

SEM vs SEO

What Is Search Engine Marketing?

SEM is responsible for increasing a particular website’s visibility in the SERPs via optimization and promotion. SEM includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO) together with other alternative marketing tactics such as advertisements and PPC (Pay Per Click) listings.

What Is SEO Marketing?

Search Engine Optimization refers to tactics used to optimize your website such that it appears higher on the SERPs. Even though SEO can be seen as a long-term strategy, it’s worthwhile to focus on it since you aren’t charged for each click. Although paid advertising can put you at the top of the SERPs instantly, it isn’t sustainable. That’s because you require to pay for every website’s click. The cost per click might soon surpass your budget and make it un-feasible to depend on advertising. For this reason, your website must also appear high on the SERPs without you having to pay. You can ensure your website appears high on relevant searches and receives organic traffic via SEO, which relies on optimizing your website depending on Google’s search algorithm.

A well-maintained PPC campaign can assist business owners in increasing their ROI. Since Google requests you to pay for every click on your ads, you are required to make sure to use all possible ways to optimize the whole experience and, in turn, drive conversions. Try out the above tips for your PPC campaigns, and you’ll be positioned to make more sales or book more services with your business due to the qualified traffic.

We hope this article helped clarify the difference between SEM, SEO and Google Adwords! If you’d like to learn more about Google SEO vs PPC, click here.