Everyone familiar with online marketing knows that PPC is an internet advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. One of the most popular forms of pay-per-click is search engine advertising, and Google AdWords is the most popular PPC advertising system. It allows advertisers to bid on keyword phrases that are relevant to their target market.
In a nutshell, advertisers use this model to buy visits to their websites, rather than earning them organically. If done correctly, PPC can get your business on the first page of SERPs for your targeted terms and in front of your desired audience. However, advertising annoys people, and some advertisers make critical mistakes that can practically kill their PPC campaign.
In our latest SEMrush Chat, we discussed different aspects that we all hate about PPC. Many experts, including PPC specialists, joined our discussion and shared their thoughts.
The first banner ads that appeared on the Web in the 90s saw extremely high click-through rates – between 50 and 90 percent, which now seems incredible! Today, banner ads are on the decline.
Let’s find out what types of ads encourage people to click on them.
First of all, an ad’s content should be very appealing to users. If it captures people’s attention by making an interesting offer, they simply can’t help but click on it.
A1: The ad has to be VERY specific to me. I want to be stopped in my tracks and distracted by what the ad is offering me. #semrushchat
— Sarah Wilkes (@TrafficJamSarah) June 22, 2016
ThinkSEM @ThinkSEM also describes ads that are worth clicking: “When I'm product shopping I'll click on ads that are relevant, eye-catching and promising.”
It’s very important for advertisers to focus on relevance when developing their PPC campaigns. Relevant ads tend to earn more clicks. Include your targeted keywords in your ad texts and make sure that your landing page features exactly what your ad offers.
A1: it's all about ad content, ease, and relevancy about the search need. #semrushchat https://t.co/Y9YOUXl9fN
— Jaiser (@JaiserAbbas) June 22, 2016
Besides relevance, James Yorke @BecomeKnown named another important element of successful ads. Users won’t click unless an ad inspires trust: “I click on ads that are the most relevant and that I feel like I can trust.” A dubious ad will not make people visit the website it’s linked to.
Typically, users tend to click on advertisements that belong to well-known, trusted companies, as Ryan Johnson points out:
a1) I only click search ads if they are a company I already know and trust. On FB, I'll click ads of items that look cool. #semrushchat
— Ryan Johnson (@rsj8000) June 22, 2016
Traffic Jam Media suggests that sitelinks are usually a huge help for users. Sitelinks are hyperlinks that lead to specific subpages of a website and appear under certain Google listings. They help searchers easily navigate a website. By including additional sitelinks below an ad text, you can help your potential customers find exactly what they’re looking for on your site.
A1: When shopping, sitelinks help a lot as I can quickly & easily navigate to the section I need! #semrushchat #ppcchat
— Traffic Jam Media (@trafficjammedia) June 22, 2016
Traffic Jam Media also adds that whether or not users will click on your ad also depends on what they need and want at the moment. If your ad answers their questions and corresponds to their needs, people are more likely to click on it: “I'll click on whichever ad answers my query or seems it will be the most likely to do so.”
And some of our chat participants mostly click on branded B2C ads:
@semrush A1 mostly branded B2C ads. I usually get to what I want really fast when consumer brands do PPC on their own names #semrushchat
— Steve Hill (ステブ ヒル) (@epiclysteve) June 22, 2016
InsideView collected several examples of successful B2C ad campaigns marketers can learn a lot from.
Now, let’s sum all the answers we received.
Make sure that your ad is eye-catching, relevant and promising. Otherwise, people will ignore it or even get annoyed with it.
There are some common mistakes that can prevent marketers from getting the most out of their pay-per-click campaigns. PPC specialists always struggle for users’ attention; and sometimes their ads can be really frustrating.
We asked our chat participants what things PPC specialists should definitely stop doing.
Sending traffic to generic pages
Users are searching for specific things. When developing a PPC campaign, you should focus on creating unique landing pages for your ads. If your potential customers land on a relevant page, they are more likely to stay on your website and browse through more content. Conversion rates for personalized landing pages are usually much higher than for generic pages.
A2: Stop sending traffic to generic pages. I searched for something specific. Send me to a LP only talking about what I need. #semrushchat
— Joe Martinez (@MilwaukeePPC) June 22, 2016
Retargeting users after they’ve made a purchase
If a person has already bought something they were looking for, they obviously don’t need to see an ad featuring the same product. As Medium Blue @MediumBlueSEM fairly suggests, retargeting without proper limits and parameters is a bad idea: “Frustration brews from perpetual retargeting after a purchase or action.”
A2) Pretending to be Organic SERPS and Remarketing campaigns shovelling up ads even after I’ve bought #semrushchat
— David Rosam (@writingforseo) June 22, 2016
Express Writers @ExpWriters also points out that it’s very irritating for users when they have to see the same add on every website they visit: “Seeing the same ad on site after site gets very annoying.”
Targeting competitors’ brands
Even though targeting competitors’ brands can provide a decent boost in traffic, this strategy has serious drawbacks. By bidding on your competitors, you’re stealing their traffic and practically starting a war.
What’s more, when people search for a brand online, they are obviously planning to buy from that very store. That’s why not very many searchers will click on an ad that doesn’t belong to the brand they’re searching for. This will cause your ad to have a low CTR.
A2. @semrush Stop stealing another brands traffic by targeting competitors brand. If I seach for BRAND, I want to see BRAND. #semrushchat
— Mark Preston (@MarkPreston1969) June 22, 2016
Using tracking cookies
Some advertisers use third-party cookies, also known as ‘tracking cookies,’ to track users’ visits to various websites on which they advertise. Many people consider these cookies an unconscionable invasion of their privacy.
A2: Tracking cookies. (Good reason to delete all cookies throughout the day). #semrushchat https://t.co/GlbHrilknF
— GhostBloggerForHire (@GhostBlogr4Hire) June 22, 2016
Sending mobile users to a desktop page
Having a mobile-friendly campaign is becoming increasingly important for successful online performance. To create a mobile-optimized campaign, website owners should make sure that their mobile ads lead to a responsive webpage, not a desktop page.
@semrush A2 Not adapting to the needs of the user (sending to a non-responsibe web page from a mobile ad) #semrushchat
— Bannersnack (@bannersnack) June 22, 2016
Check out a few other answers in the following recap.
If you, as a PPC specialist, want to maximize your campaigns’ success, you should avoid these common PPC mistakes.
Today, marketing is becoming more about tools and analytics. Let’s find out what our chat participants are most unhappy about when it comes to PPC tools and analytics.
First of all, many web analytic tools don’t deliver accurate data. There might be various reasons for this. For example, some visitors block cookies and JavaScript.
A3: Data discrepancies, different user access levels and linking of accounts within the Google system! #semrushchat #digitaldelivered
— Traffic Jam Media (@trafficjammedia) June 22, 2016
Several of our guests are not satisfied with some analytic tools that are known for estimating CPC incorrectly.
@semrush A3: How incorrect 3rd part tools are at estimating CPCs and even search metrics. #PPC #semrushchat
— Miles Technologies (@milestech) June 22, 2016
According to Steve Hill (ステブ ヒル), even though he hasn’t had a lot of trouble with analytic tools and thinks that PPC reporting is great, he still wants to see Google integrate AdWords change history into performance reporting better.
I'd like to see Google do a better job of integrating Adwords change history into performance reporting #semrushchat
— Steve Hill (ステブ ヒル) (@epiclysteve) June 22, 2016
By using attribution modelling in Google AdWords users can understand the role of various campaigns, ads and keywords that are leading to conversions.
Through attribution modelling you can discover whether or not people are visiting your page via PPC ads before converting. It seems that not every user is happy about how it works. Matt Lacuesta shares his thoughts about attribution modelling in Google Adwords:
Q3: When attribution models are adjusted to show that PPC was "real reason" someone converted #semrushchat https://t.co/zginShoVem
— Matt Lacuesta (@MattLacuesta) June 22, 2016
Since customers don’t always understand how to read results from analytics, PPC agencies often have to pay for a reporting service in order to help their clients grasp the results they gathered using analytic tools.
A3) Having to pay for a reporting service for clients to understand the results from GA #semrushchat
— David Rosam (@writingforseo) June 22, 2016
Nevertheless, analytic tools provide various options that that can make your work a lot easier and faster. “There are actually a lot of tools out there that make the job a lot easier,” according to Joe Martinez @MilwaukeePPC.
As we can see, many people are very unhappy about the inaccurate data that web analytic tools can deliver. So what bothers you about PPC analytics? Share your thought in the comments!
During our discussion about the things we all hate about PPC, we also asked our guests to name a paid media option they would totally get rid of.
AdWords
Obviously, not every user likes AdWords. One of the reasons is because they don’t always trust the ads that appear the very top spot on the Google results page.
a4) I really hate adwords. I don't trust any of the results and have to verify them through research or Yelp. #semrushchat
— Ryan Johnson (@rsj8000) June 22, 2016
By far, not all businesses make AdWords a part of their marketing campaign. While it can help some companies expand their business, AdWords won’t be very beneficial for others. John Rampton describes five reasons why businesses shouldn’t use AdWords in his article posted on Forbes.
Sponsored content
Sponsored content usually represents useful or entertaining information and focuses on increasing the value of a brand. As Joe Martinez says, a large amount of this type of content is low quality.
A4: Sponsored content. Most of it is complete garbage. Please don't confuse that with what actual #PPC marketers do. #semrushchat
— Joe Martinez (@MilwaukeePPC) June 22, 2016
Deceptive advertising
Deceptive advertising includes misleading statements. Some advertisers use various “black hat” techniques to misrepresent the products that they promote. As a result, both existing and new customers may feel betrayed.
A4: Anything deceptive. If it looks like editorial content, or is hidden, or makes the page move while it's loading, end it. #semrushchat
— Tommy Landry (@tommy_landry) June 22, 2016
Spammy banner ads
Banner ads can be really annoying. They often look unpleasing and contain text that demands something from users (e.g., “click,” “buy,” etc.). No wonder so many people can’t stand them.
A4) Spammy banner ads (so about 90% of banner ads!) and sponsored content, shudder!! #semrushchat
— Provoke Marketing (@ProvokeOnline) June 22, 2016
YouTube ads
Some of our chat participants would also get rid of YouTube ads, if they could. An increasing number of users are turning to AdBlock extension, which allow to prevent an advertisement from being displayed. Some of the AdBlock extensions also enable users to remove video ads from YouTube.
A4. @YouTube TrueView ads have pretty much forced me to use an ad blocker. #semrushchat https://t.co/lgoKGj147l
— Rohan Ayyar (@searchrook) June 22, 2016
Let’s see a few other answers from our guests.
So are there any paid media options that you would get rid of? Let us know in the comments!
Finally, we’ve come up to the PPC remarketing tips. Together with our chat participants we collected several important tactics for better remarketing.
Segment your audiences
It’s very important to define and segment your audience properly. Do thorough research to identify your remarketing audience that you could set up for PPC. Joe Martinez recommends remarketing to your specific audience and add Negative Audience to exclude people who has been already converted. In Google AdWords go to the Audience Negative tab and click +Add Negative Audience. Then select the audience that you want to block from seeing your ads.
A5 Remarket to deeper audiences (certain pages, site actions) instead of every person on your site. Allows for more focused ads #semrushchat
— Joe Martinez (@MilwaukeePPC) June 22, 2016
Set expiration dates for remarketing cookies
When setting up your remarketing campaign, don’t forget to set expiration dates for your remarketing cookies. In AdWords the expiration date represents how long you allow the cookie to exist. A cookie will exist only for the length of time that you’ve chosen. Once expired, a user will be removed from your remarketing list.
A5(a): Don't: blanket remarketing ads to every single site visitor ever; set ads to remarket with no expiration limits. #semrushchat
— Medium Blue (@MediumBlueSEM) June 22, 2016
A5 (b): Do: Have expiration dates for remarketing cookies; offer value; stop/modify remarketing after purchase/preferred POA. #semrushchat
— Medium Blue (@MediumBlueSEM) June 22, 2016
Refresh your content
Today people consume increasing amounts of information in the form of news stories, blog posts, Tweets, Facebook statuses, emails and other content. So it’s very difficult to captivate them. What appealed to your audience a month ago now may no longer be interesting to them. Refreshing your ads might be a way to draw your audience back in.
A5: Refresh content! It drives me mad when an ad is packaged differently but the link is still the same! #semrushchat
— Sarah Wilkes (@TrafficJamSarah) June 22, 2016
Be helpful, not intrusive
Finally, always think about your users and how you can help them. You definitely don’t want to bother them with intrusive ads. If you can answer their questions and provide them with solutions to their problems, they will be willing to visit your website.
A5: Be helpful not stalker. No-one likes creep that follows them everywhere. Everyone loves barista that remembers their order. #semrushchat
— Like Don Draper-ish (@DigiDonDraper) June 22, 2016
Remarketing, or ‘retargeting,’ can be a powerful branding and conversion-optimization tool. But it will be effective only as a part of a larger, well-planned digital strategy.
That was our final question!
This article wasn’t intended to claim that PPC is bad, but to provide some insights into the pay-per-click advertising model, which can sometimes be very difficult. We hope the tactics mentioned in this post will help PPC specialists get the most out of their campaigns.
Thanks to our chat participants for their expertise and invaluable tips!
Innovative SEO services
SEO is a patience game; no secret there. We`ll work with you to develop a Search strategy focused on producing increased traffic rankings in as early as 3-months.
A proven Allinclusive. SEO services for measuring, executing, and optimizing for Search Engine success. We say what we do and do what we say.
Our company as Semrush Agency Partner has designed a search engine optimization service that is both ethical and result-driven. We use the latest tools, strategies, and trends to help you move up in the search engines for the right keywords to get noticed by the right audience.
Today, you can schedule a Discovery call with us about your company needs.
Source:
