The 15 Biggest PPC Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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Today’s Presenters

Helen EdwardsPPC Coordinator, WordStream

Rachael LawAccount Manager, Hanapin Marketing

@Law_Rachael

Headshot Headshot

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Text Ads

Text Ad Mistakes

1. Not Testing Ad Copy

2. Too Many or Too Few Ads per Ad Group

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#1 Not Testing Ad Copy

Testing can result in:

Incremental gains in CTR

Increase quality scores

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#2 Too Many Ads! (or too few..)

• It becomes increasingly difficult to determine which ad has winning ad copy the more ads you have.

• For accurate testing, you want to be able to isolate tests (i.e., testing different headlines or display URLs)

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The Fix: Run two ads per ad group.

Quality Score

Quality Score Mistakes

1. Ignoring Quality Score

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#3 Ignoring Quality Score

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#3 Ignoring Quality Score

Bottom Line: Focusing on quality score saves YOU money!

Ad Rank

Cost Per Click (CPC)

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

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The Fix

• Relevant Landing Pages

• Ad Copy Relevancy

• Ad Extensions

• Patience (Historical Account

Performance)

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Campaign Settings

Campaign Setting Mistakes

1. Targeting Irrelevant Geographies

2. Ignoring Day Parting

3. Incorrect Ad Rotation Settings

4. Forgetting About the Search Partner Network

5. Not Segmenting Search from Display

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#4 Targeting Irrelevant Geographies

The Fix: Check to see which locations are spending money without converting then set up Geographic Targeting.

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#5 Ignoring Dayparting

The Fix: Schedule your ads.

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#7 Forgetting about the Search Partner Network

The Fix: Exclude search partners if the CPL is too high.

Search Partner Network can Skew:

• Average Position

• Cost-per-lead (CPL)

• Cost-per-conversion (CPC)

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#8 Not Segmenting Search & Display

← BAD (Search & Display Combined)

← GOOD (Search Only)

← GOOD (Display Only)

The Fix: Segment search and display campaigns.

Get more control over KPI’s and budget.

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#9 Choosing the Wrong Delivery Method

Standard Delivery:

Ads are shown evenly

throughout the day

Accelerated Delivery: Ads

are shown every time a

search matches a keyword

until the budget is exhausted

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Display

Display Mistakes

1. Not Utilizing Display Exclusions

2. Not Utilizing Site Category Options

3. Not Excluding Mobile Aps

4. Not Using Text AND Image Ads

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#10 Not Utilizing Display Exclusions

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#11 Not Utilizing Site Category Options

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#12: Not Excluding Mobile Apps

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#13 Not Using Both Text AND Image Ads

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Ad Format Share of Impressions Average CTR Average CPC

Text Ads 67.40% 0.23% $2.31

Image Ads 32.60% 0.31% $0.48

Source: Mark Irvine, Data Scientist, WordStream, 2014

WordStream Agency Clients with at least 10 different GDN ad formats

#13 Not Using Both Text AND Image Ads

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Remarketing

1. Not Running Remarketing

2. Targeting the Wrong Audience

3. Using the Wrong Keywords for RLSA

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Remarketing Mistakes

#14 Not Running Remarketing

The Fix: Use remarketing! It’s great for capturing non-converting traffic from all sources.

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#15 Targeting the Wrong Audience

Not Excluding Converters

• This can be particularly important for lead gen (or any instance where a second conversion is not valuable)

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Mistake: Using an audience that’s too broad

• All Visitors is a popular audience to use for remarketing, but in many cases you’re better off using a more specific list

• This allows for more tailored ad copy and higher conversion rates

Audience Options

• Cart Abandoners

• Specific URL visitors

• Analytics Lists

#15 Targeting the Wrong Audience

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Most conversions are set at a 30 day conversion window, but for some accounts valuable conversions happen after 30 days.

#15 Targeting the Wrong Audience

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Bonus #16 Using the Wrong Keywords for RLSA

The Fix: Use broader keywords in RLSA campaigns, as you’re already advertising towards a qualified audience.

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Thanks!

Let’s stay in touch:

kgwozdz@wordstream.com

marketingteam@wordstream.com

@WordStream

Marketing@hanapingmarketing.com

@Hanapin

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Next Webinar:

5 Major Trends that Will Make You Rethink PPC in 2015

http://bit.ly/1szXEnH