Don’t Trust Google to Optimize Your Digital Ad Campaigns
Google search ads are like a best friend with a spending problem. Sure, they’ve got ‘helpful’ suggestions, but mostly they just want you to throw money at it. This blog is your intervention, revealing how to ditch the AI-driven budget-busters and actually get results. We can help you outsmart the algorithm, fix your conversion values (before they bankrupt you), and turn those ‘suggestions’ into ‘suggestions I politely feel confident ignoring while my conversions are back on track.’
Basically, stop letting Google be your best friend, and take the wheel yourself or let us.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) campaigns are a cornerstone strategy for businesses looking to drive qualified traffic, increase conversions, and achieve a high return on investment (ROI). And Google Ads is often the go-to PPC platform for small business owners and digital marketers. However, while Google provides a robust platform with powerful tools, it’s crucial to approach its PPC optimization strategy recommendations and account suggestions with caution.
This blog post will explore why you shouldn’t trust Google to optimize your digital ad campaigns and provide actionable tips to enhance your PPC ads’ performance.
The Problem with Google’s Automated Suggestions
Google Ads offers automated recommendations designed to optimize your campaigns and ad groups. These suggestions, often powered by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, can appear beneficial at first glance. However, they usually come with pitfalls leading to inflated ad spend and suboptimal campaign performance.
Why is that? Well, for starters…
Google’s Recommendations Often Increase Your Budget
One glaring issue with Google’s suggestions is that they frequently involve increasing your budget. For instance, Google might recommend raising your daily ad spend or bidding higher on new keywords to gain more impressions. While this may boost your brand awareness and traffic, it doesn’t guarantee more leads or a better return on investment (ROI).
Google’s AI Isn’t Perfect
Anyone who uses AI knows it’s not infallible, and Google’s is no exception. Its automation can misinterpret data, making ill-suited recommendations. Issues such as over-reliance on broad match keywords and automated bidding strategies like Maximize Conversion Value and Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) can lead to wasted budget and poor campaign performance if they aren’t set up correctly.
One of our clients made that mistake before we started working with them. Google Ads suggested changing their already working strategy, which created new account performance problems. Target ROAS can be a great automated bidding strategy if each of your conversions is marked with the proper value of each lead. In the case of our client, Urban Exhale Massage, it wasn’t a good decision to accept the recommended bidding strategy changes: the wrong conversion values were set, which led them to overpay for leads.
Gaming or deflating the value of your conversions won’t work either. Google’s algorithm uses those values to determine how aggressively to bid — so if you artificially lower them in an attempt to control spend, you may end up throttling high-value traffic that’s actually converting.
The other issue is that they had allowed Google to make all suggested settings changes in their settings, even if they ignored them. That can also get you in quite a bit of trouble.
Small Changes, Big Results: The Urban Exhale Case Study
Let’s take a closer look at how we worked with Urban Exhale Massage to reverse Google’s suggested changes and achieve remarkable performance improvements after only one month of professional optimization support.
The Challenge
Urban Exhale faced difficulty managing their Google Ads account, leading to a high cost per acquisition (CPA) and inefficient ad spend. They needed a strategic overhaul to optimize their campaigns for better performance.
Our Strategy Tactics Employed
In just one month, we conducted a full audit of the Google Ads account, identified ineffective keywords, and paused them. We also fixed the tag settings on conversions and changed the automated bidding strategy from the Google-suggested ROAS setting to the Target CPA option.
Tactics Employed Results
- Keyword Optimization: We cleaned up the keyword lists, removing ineffective keywords and keywords with too low search volume
- Conversion Value Adjustment: We adjusted the conversion value to reflect proper costs
- Bidding Strategy: We Manually switched to a more appropriate and successful bidding strategy
Results
The results were impressive:
- 63.16% Increase in Conversions
- 51.33% Reduction in CPAs
- 51.43% Increase in Conversion Rates
- $0.76 Decrease in Average Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
- 7.74% Increase in Clicks
- 4.40% Increase in Impressions
- 3.20% Increase in Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- 20.59% Decrease in Ad Spend
By focusing on effective keyword management, strategic bid adjustments, and conversion optimization, Urban Exhale achieved more leads for a lower cost, all while spending less budget.
Proven Strategies for Effective PPC Campaigns
Instead of relying solely on Google’s automated suggestions, here are some proven strategies to effectively optimize your PPC campaigns for lead generation and conversions.
1. Add New Search Ads and Refine Ad Copy
Regularly updating and A/B testing your ad copy can significantly impact your campaign’s CTR and conversion rate. Craft compelling, relevant ads that resonate with your target audience.
2. Conduct Thorough Keyword Research
Use search engine optimization (SEO) tactics to find high-performing keywords and add them to your campaigns. Simultaneously, monitor irrelevant or underperforming search queries and include them as negative keywords to prevent wasted ad spend. Keep in mind: while broad match keywords can capture a wide audience, exact match keywords ensure your display ads appear for highly relevant search queries, increasing your chances of conversion.
3. Optimize Your Landing Pages
Ensure your landing pages are optimized for conversions. A well-designed landing page with a clear call-to-action (CTA) can dramatically improve your conversion rate and lower your CPC. Design landing pages optimized for user experience and tailored to drive specific actions, such as filling out a form or making a purchase. Be sure to implement best practices for on-site SEO.
4. Prioritize Quality Score
A higher quality score can lead to lower CPC and better ad placements. Focus on relevant keywords and search terms, high-quality ad copy, and optimized landing pages to improve your quality score.
5. Focus on Conversion Metrics
Prioritize optimizing for conversions rather than clicks. Use bidding strategies like Target CPA or Maximize Conversions, and only use Target ROAS if you have e-commerce tracking or the absolute known value per lead. Utilize PPC tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Moz to gain deeper insights into your PPC performance and identify areas for improvement.
6. Implement Ad Extensions
Ad extensions, such as sitelink and call extensions, can enhance your ads’ visibility and provide additional opportunities for engagement, leading to higher CTR and better ad performance.
7. Set Up Conversion Tracking in GA4 with Google Tag Manager
Ideally, do this in Google Tag Manager before you run any campaigns, especially anything that is paid. It might be intimidating to do alone, but you can always hire a web developer to complete this for you. It’s worth it because without tracking your data correctly, it will be like throwing darts in a room with the lights out.
8. Monitor Campaign Performance Regularly
Regularly review your campaign metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), such as CTR, conversion rate, and CPA. Check to ensure you’re racing the appropriate demographics. Adjust your strategies based on performance data to continually optimize your campaigns.
9. Implement Remarketing
Remarketing allows you to target users who have previously interacted with your website but did not convert. This can significantly improve your conversion rate and lower your CPA.
Achieve Success with Optimized Google Ads Campaigns FAQs About PPC Optimization
While Google Ads provides a powerful platform for running PPC advertising campaigns, it’s crucial not to rely solely on its automated suggestions. By implementing proven optimization strategies, you can significantly improve your campaign performance, as demonstrated by the success of Urban Exhale Massage.
Remember, small changes can lead to big results. Focus on adding new ads, refining ad copy, conducting thorough keyword research, and optimizing for conversions to maximize your ROI.
Ready to take your PPC campaign optimization to the next level and find the right audience? Contact Cordelia Labs today to learn how we can help you achieve your digital marketing goals.
FAQs About PPC Optimization
What Is the Difference between PPC and SEO?
PPC and SEO are two distinct strategies for driving traffic to your website. PPC involves paying for ad placements in search engine results or other online platforms, allowing you to gain immediate visibility and traffic as long as you’re willing to invest. On the other hand, SEO focuses on optimizing your website and content to rank organically in search engine results, which can take longer to see results but provides long-term value without direct ad spend. While PPC offers instant results and SEO builds a sustainable presence, both can be complementary when used strategically.
How Do I Optimize PPC Advertising on Amazon?
Optimizing PPC advertising on Amazon requires a tailored approach to align with the platform’s unique ecosystem. Start by conducting comprehensive keyword research to include relevant, high-converting terms in your campaigns. Leverage Amazon’s automatic campaigns to discover new keywords, then refine with manual campaigns for more control. Optimize your product listings, including titles, descriptions, and images, to increase conversions. Regularly adjust your bids and budgets based on performance data, and consider using negative keywords to eliminate wasted ad spend. Monitoring metrics like ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) and TACoS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale) can help measure and maintain profitability.
What Are Some Effective Strategies for Optimizing PPC Campaigns?
Effective PPC campaign optimization revolves around strategic planning and ongoing adjustments. Start by identifying high-performing and underperforming keywords through detailed analysis, removing unnecessary terms, or adding negative keywords. Test and refine your ad copy to improve CTRs and conversion rates. Pair your campaigns with optimized landing pages to drive desired actions, such as purchases or inquiries. Implement ad extensions to enhance visibility and prioritize metrics like conversion rate and quality score over raw traffic. Regular performance reviews, including adjusting bidding methods and remarketing, can further ensure your campaigns remain cost-effective and impactful.