5 Mistakes You’re Making in Your Search Campaign
Properly executed pay-per-click (PPC) search campaigns can increase your exposure, financial success and brand recognition. But search campaigns can be tricky and frustrating! Companies start out with ambitious marketing strategies but see little return on investment (ROI).
Every marketer has been there — staring at low conversion rates, hoping for a miracle. But don’t give up hope yet!
Here are five mistakes you’re making before, during and after you’ve launched your campaign. You can understand your miscalculations, learn from them and do better — with a little help from The Deciding Factor.
- No Goal or Plan
Unfocused campaigns that lack a clear goal and nuance are a common mistake. “What kind of leads do you want?” asks Seth Drum, Digital Marketing Manager for The Deciding Factor. “Search campaigns aren’t as successful when they don’t have micro and macro conversion goals.”
Many search campaigns also lack a distinct focus. “It is possible to have too many goals — so you distract the algorithms from your purpose — or not enough goals, so you aren’t informing the platforms who you’re really looking for,” says Drum. You also don’t want to push too many products or services in one campaign.
It’s also important to be precise where you direct the customer and in your messaging. “It’s a big mistake to have your search ads link to just another website page or your home page,” says Drum. And an unclear ethos will bleed into the ad copy and SEO of a landing page. Many marketers will overuse keywords in copy. When you try to please everyone, you don’t please anyone.
- No ROI Model
Too many businesses will overspend on multiple search campaigns or on too many regions without deciding an acceptable budget for cost per click or cost per conversion. Often these decisions stem from not understanding industry standards for clickthrough rates and cost per click.
Many companies also lack adaptability in their marketing strategies. They don’t adjust budgets or pause campaigns when faced with new problems and opportunities.
It’s also a mistake to misjudge which customers should be prioritized. Weighing new customers over loyal long-term customers will hurt a company because they may miss repeat purchases.
- Misunderstanding or Not Optimizing Keywords
Relying on Google’s Keyword Planner tool for keywords has been the downfall of many a search campaign. According to Semrush, “Often, the default recommendations that Google suggests when setting up a campaign can prove to be a costly mistake and are the very ones you want to avoid. There is a conflict of interest here — your agenda is to generate sales. Google’s agenda is clicks.”
Following keyword planner recommendations will lead you to choosing keywords that don’t follow your website’s intent and stated goals. “If you’re marketing a client who sells sports facility management software, you might get a lot of hits from ‘field,’” says Drum. “But that’s such a broad term and can be applied across many industries.”
Ineffective campaigns also result when keywords aren’t monitored and profitability isn’t considered. “A keyword is $3 and you’re not making a profit,” says Drum. “Is it worth it?”
- Not Testing Ads
Many marketers fail to provide the necessary care and planning to prepare and execute proper A/B testing. “These campaigns are a great way to drive traffic and sales. But if you don’t test properly, you will have no way of knowing if your targeting and messaging are effective,” says Drum.
Marketing strategies that don’t involve monitoring what works and trying variations are not going to be successful. The biggest issues arise from targeting the wrong audiences, not clearly communicating offered products and services, and not highlighting your value to customers.
- Not Adding Ad Extensions
Many search ad campaigns stop with copy and links to landing pages and don’t take advantage of ad extensions. They don’t set up call extensions, promotion extensions, callout ad extensions or sitelink extensions. More importantly, they don’t take advantage of structured snippet ad extensions.
“Google likes snippets a lot,” says Drum. “You want to take the initiative. Or Google may automatically include dynamic structured snippets in an ad, and you might not like what they have to say.”
For More Information
Do you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your search campaigns? Contact our digital marketing agency today to benefit from our experience and skill with optimizing search campaigns.
