How to Improve PPC Ad Campaigns?

Pay per click is a relatively safe and effective way of improving one’s visibility on search engine results pages and driving traffic to one’s site. However, the relative ease and the huge promise has had many small businesses making mistakes that end up getting in the way of the success of their campaigns. Many end up so blinded by the possibility of returns that they forget the basics and make silly errors. Here are some of the most common traps PPC customers fall into.

Broad match keywords

Do not play down the difference between specific keywords and those that match exactly. Broad match means the ad will appear for more keywords than the exact match, but this is not necessarily a good thing. Broad match means the ad appears for both specific and any related keyword searches. The traffic such a setting attracts is not necessarily helpful to the site, but will still cost money when someone clicks on the link. At the end of the day, it is better to go with phrase or exact matching keywords.

Search and content ad placement

Classified by the location, there are two different types of PPC ads. Search network placement appears alongside organic results, while content network placements are those that are displayed on websites. One of the mistakes one must avoid is grouping both under the same roof and using the same keywords. The questions that trigger search network placement are not necessarily the same as those that trigger content network placement. Using the same keywords for both costs money with little possibility of returns.

Negative keywords

Many avoid the use of negative keywords, which can be helpful in showing exactly where the keywords should not be used. They are especially useful for those who wish to widen their scope, but want to minimize irrelevant results.

Targeting

Precision targeting brings results, but this is something not many take advantage of when using PPC tools. There are numerous targeting possibilities with PPC marketing like;
Targeting several countries with different ad groups
Targeting different small geographical zones; states, provinces cities or towns.
Having ads run at the time of day with the most potential for being seen

The landing page

Sending a visitor to a landing page that is not relevant to their search can be a very frustrating experience for them, and might even result in lower quality scores for the ad. Such scores result in one paying more for much less exposure. Another mistake many make is sending the visitor to the home page, and having them do the work of searching for the specific item they wanted on their own.

Testing

Writing the right ad text can be tedious. Luckily for PPC users, there are ways to test whether the version of the ad to be published is the most effective. Do not run with an ad that has not been tested.

Author Bio

Stephanie Clarke is a seasoned writer, and Dental SEO expert. She runs a popular SEO blog and internet marketing company, and has managed successful internet marketing campaigns of the biggest industry players.