PPC Advertising Mistakes To Avoid

Managing a profitable Google Ads campaign is far more challenging than it appears. With so much to monitor, it is no wonder that PPC marketers sometimes make mistakes. A minor oversight, such as failing to use ad extensions or neglecting to geo-target ads, can have a devastating effect on the success of your advertising campaign. If you are new to PPC campaigns or have recently taken over a client’s account, here are some of the most common blunders you should avoid.

We have a blog dedicated to teaching people how to track PPC campaign performance if that is something you are interested in, be sure to check it out.

Not Employing Negative Key Phrases

If you are going to pay for each click on your advertisement, it makes sense to receive only the highest-quality visits. Google has modified its numerous match types to trigger more keywords than ever before over the years. Several of these are irrelevant and ought to be avoided.

Unless you specify otherwise, Google will display advertisements for phrases such as “free” and “cheap” by default. This implies that if you employ the phrase match keyword type for your campaigns, accessible and inexpensive phrases could trigger your exact match keywords PPC ads. By utilising Google’s list of negative keywords, you can eliminate as many time wasters as feasible and increase your ROI.

Having No Idea How Much A Single Customer Is Worth

Metrics play a crucial role in any PPC campaign’s success. Lack of awareness of customer lifetime value is another major flaw among paid search marketers. Monitoring your metrics and stats to produce a profitable and effective campaign is essential.

How can you determine the appropriate cost per acquisition without first determining the typical lifetime worth of a customer? How much money should you spend on each click without first understanding your cost per acquisition?

There is a risk of financial loss if you misjudge the numbers and spend more than you should. Conversely, if you skimp on your advertising budget, you may miss the full benefits of paid promotions. The cornerstone of any effective campaign is having all the relevant data at your fingertips well in advance.

Absence of Ad Extensions

It is possible for even seasoned PPC pros to forget to include ad copy extensions when creating a campaign. Google’s advertisements could be more specific and exciting for your target audience. Many newcomers need to assume that two headlines and two descriptions are sufficient.

So many ad extensions are available now that even seasoned PPC pros can easily overlook including them in their campaigns. A handful of primary Google ad extensions should be included, depending on the nature of the business and the ad being run. This includes:

• Location extension
• Sitelink extension
• Callout extension
• Price extension

These ad add-ons not only make your ad groups more prominent, but they also take up additional real estate on the screen. However, they also significantly boost user interest and interaction. Since they cost nothing to include in an ad, not employing them is a vast PPC faux pas.

Using Smart Search Campaigns

Avoid using smart search and display campaigns at any ad spend. The “smart campaign” is one of several new sorts of campaigns launched by Google. There are now three different forms of smart campaigns: smart search, smart display, and smart shopping.

Smart shopping campaigns perform better than smart search and display campaigns, although you should avoid the latter. Smart search campaigns are an approach to paid search advertising that aims to simplify campaign management.

They can manage things like bids, keywords, and ad scheduling using AI and machine learning. The results of these “all-in-one” automated packages are typically subpar, despite the salespeople’s best efforts. They were so disheartening that a novice PPC user could outperform an intelligent search campaign. If you are planning to run a smart search campaign, stop immediately and start looking for an ad manager.

The Art Of Campaign Setting And Ignorance

Many inexperienced online marketers make the fatal error of launching an advertising campaign and then neglecting it. They believe their work is done after establishing the advertising and keywords. There is no such thing as “set it and forget it” in PPC marketing for a successful campaign.

Many successful campaigns do not see results until after weeks or months of constant tweaking. One of the routine aspects of PPC management is monitoring key performance indicators. If the numbers are incorrect, it is time to do some fine-tuning.

This can include changing bids, expanding or contracting your keyword list, or adjusting your negative keyword list. At the same time, it is time to scale if the campaign appears prospective and yields fantastic results. Spending more on ads with the expectation of more sales is what this entails.

Neglecting To Employ Dedicated Landing Pages

Landing pages are the first thing users encounter, significantly impacting an ad’s quality score and relevance. Many inexperienced (or careless) PPC marketers need to correct the error of directing all their advertising to their home page rather than developing a dedicated set of landing sites.

 A high-quality score and landing pages tailored to each ad campaign can save you money in the long term. To maximise the effectiveness of your advertising dollars, you must create various targeted landing pages.

You will want to save time and resources by optimising landing pages for every possible keyword combination and avoid losing sales and revenue. Creating targeted landing pages is not as difficult as it may seem, and there are so many advantages you would be insane not to!

A Sluggish Website

You have invested much time in keyword research, ad copywriting, and ad extension implementation, only to discover that users are still leaving your site in droves. Who is to blame? A sluggish website that is driving away potential clients is a classic PPC mistake.

You should have decent web hosting if you spend hundreds, if not thousands, on Google AdWords monthly. A speedy website is essential to maximise the return on investment from your PPC efforts. Google may reimburse you for visitors who abandon the page before it loads, but what about the visitors who give up waiting too long to submit a form?

Every marketer must check how quickly their website loads on mobile and desktop devices. It can improve the ROI of your pay-per-click advertising campaigns and provide a positive experience for site visitors.

Failure to Optimize Introductory Pages

The landing page is crucial to any pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategy. It is the driving force behind your conversions and significantly affects a campaign’s quality score and relevance. You can direct visitors to any page on your site, but it is another ballgame to get them to buy something. Neglecting the landing page in favour of the campaign and advertising is a common pitfall of pay-per-click marketing.

Every advertisement you place should ideally lead customers to a different and engaging landing page. Advertised discounts should mirror those featured on the landing page. If it is not present and the user expects it, the likelihood of a bounce increases.

Constant A/B testing is a great way to maximise landing pages. This necessitates comparing the efficiency of two variants by having them run in parallel. Changing the button’s colour or headline can significantly impact your conversion rate.

Avoiding Location-Based Services

Determining whom you are trying to reach is a crucial first step in creating a profitable pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign. Running advertising in various states and cities may seem like a brilliant idea to expand brand awareness, but you will lose money.

Narrow the geographic scope of your Google Ads campaigns by adjusting the location targeting options. It may surprise you, but many paid search marketers must configure this properly.  This causes adverts to appear in areas that the company does not serve.

Location targeting allows you to incorporate the user’s location into the ad to increase the likelihood that your advertising will reach the intended audience. User engagement can rise significantly with this degree of location customisation.

Lack Of Scripts Utilizing Google Ads

Since you have limited time, automating as many simple processes as possible is wise. Spending all your effort on the menial details of paid search management wastes your precious time. PPC managers sometimes need help getting meaningful work done due to the many tiny, routine chores that need to be completed daily.

Fortunately, you can automate many tedious tasks by writing your own Google Ads scripts and using Google’s excellent scripts feature. Because of your time’s value, it is in your best interest to have as many simple chores as possible handled by an automated system.

These scripts can monitor advertising spending and even analyse Google display placements. These scripts are readily available online for no cost and may be modified to use certain APIs and run continuously throughout the day. Here are some sample advertisement scripts to get you started:

• Scripts for bid administration
• Search term scripts
• Scripts for ad management

Ignoring Ad Run Times

Ads from Google campaigns display continuously, which is only sometimes the best option. There are always peak moments for conversions, regardless of the type of campaign you are managing or operating. This might occur at 9 a.m. or between 6 and 9 p.m. If you do the math, you will see a sweet spot in every campaign when searches are at their highest.

One of the most common PPC blunders is to spread your advertising money too thin rather than taking advantage of the peak traffic times. Ads from Google campaigns display continuously, which is only sometimes the best option.

Increase your bids and spending if you notice that high-quality leads only come in during a specific time of day. Google Ads’ ad scheduling feature is handy here since it enables advertisers to set custom times for bidding up or down. Ads can be turned off totally at specified times for even more efficiency.

This means you can direct more of your daily spending into those peak hours of productivity rather than spread it thinly across the day. The 80/20 rule applies here; you’ll receive 80% of your conversions 20% of the time.

Constantly Striving For The Top Spot

Everyone who works with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns, whether for themselves or their clients, strives for the top spot. Despite how alluring it may be, aiming for the coveted first position is a common PPC blunder.

 It is a great measure to brag about your client and to feel good about yourself. However, getting to the top can take time, energy, and resources that could be better invested elsewhere. For highly competitive phrases, the top slot can cost more than $10, which is excessive for some companies.

Instead of trying to win the race to the top, it is usually wiser to concentrate on increasing your return on investment. Even if you are not in the top spot, you can still get a lot of traffic and save money by being anywhere in the middle.

Failure To Secure Your Trademark

Marketers enjoy conducting keyword research to locate low-competition chances when creating a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. However, some essential search terms are hiding in plain sight! Many advertisers use the brand names of their rivals as a bidding strategy. The thinking goes that copying a competitor’s offering is a surefire approach to “steal” their customers. Marketers frequently overlook their brand name in favour of more lucrative terms.

If your competitors use your brand name in their advertising, you must take action. Running advertising on your brand name will save you money and lower the likelihood that consumers will visit a competitor.

Those who own the trademark for their company’s name can use a different Google method to eliminate advertising that mimics their brand. While this will not prevent them from advertising your brand, it will prevent them from mentioning it in their headlines.

Insufficient PPC Advertising Knowledge

Paid search marketing (PPC) can be hard to grasp because of its granularity and complexity. There is a good reason why it is some people’s primary source of income and requires their full-time attention.

Before diving in, ensure you have done your homework on the various PPC platforms and their best practices, tips, and pitfalls to avoid. Consider working with a PPC agency if learning the ropes yourself seems too complicated or time-consuming.

Mistakes In Budgeting

The money you set aside for pay-per-click advertising is crucial. Spending too little could mean missing promising prospects. Spending beyond your means is wasteful. Planning which keywords you will use and how much you will spend on each is crucial since keywords help you target potential clients.

You can allocate your advertising money and increase your chances of success using tools like Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner. You can alter the budget for your paid search campaign by keeping an eye on conversion rates, ranking, and ad spending history.

Neglecting Video Advertising

Sales, website traffic, and brand recognition can all benefit from video initiatives. Google Ads support paid video campaigns on YouTube and other Google video partner sites and applications. Facebook and Twitter are two of the many social media sites that offer video ad possibilities.

If you need more convincing that video advertising belongs in your PPC strategy, think about this. Nearly $9 billion has been invested in digital video advertising since 2017, and 84% of consumers say they have been persuaded to purchase a product or service after watching a video ad.

Ignoring Location-Based Targeting

Using geographic targeting (or “geo-targeting”), you can zero in on a specific region. This is especially useful for local firms with a limited consumer base and can only afford to serve those living within a certain distance. It is also helpful for multinational firms that want to concentrate their resources in one nation.

Ignoring geo-targeting can result in significant financial losses and a drop in quality scores from exposure to searchers in other parts of the world. Some keywords are expensive because high demand can lead to accidental price increases. In the end, you could cause problems for yourself and other companies.

You can immediately begin narrowing your ad’s geographic focus using the default settings in Google Ads. You can save money on clicks and avoid driving up the cost of advertising for local businesses by restricting their display to a specific region. Additionally, when targeting a more localised audience, you are likelier to have people interested in what you are selling click on your ad.

Not Taking Precautions Against Click Fraud

The last common PPC blunder has nothing to do with campaign administration: it needs to use more keywords. Instead, an obstacle has plagued pay-per-click advertising since its infancy. Ads and campaigns in every sector are vulnerable to click fraud.

Every advertisement loses money to click fraud, whether it is the work of dishonest competitors or angry former consumers. One in every five pay-per-click (PPC) clicks is fraudulent, and ad networks often do not even recognise it. Hundreds of dollars are wasted on phoney and dishonest clicks in the average paid search campaign every year.

Summary

Using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Bing Ads can skyrocket your company’s success. However, the problem is that most people entirely ruin their PPC accounts and marketing campaigns due to avoidable errors.

When this happens, money is wasted, no results are produced, and people start to think of pay-per-click ads as a lousy way to expand a business’ clientele. It also has no positive effect on your quality rating. Your campaign’s success is virtually inevitable if you master ad targeting, bidding, copywriting, and split testing.