Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising isn’t something you “set and forget” — it requires monitoring, testing, and optimizing to improve your ROI. By following these settings and
PPC strategy tips, you'll be able to fine-tune your Google Ads to generate better results and help grow your business.
1. Verify Proper Conversion Tracking
When conversions aren’t being tracked properly, you’ll be left in the dark on the true effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign. Verify that the code is implemented correctly and that your conversion tracking is running as it should.
2. Review Campaign Settings
Targeting is one of the most powerful features of Google Ads, but it can often fly under the radar when optimizing a campaign. Review your campaign’s settings to see if they see still make sense for your business and adjust accordingly:
- Budget
- Bid strategy
- Keywords
- Dynamic ad targets
- Ad network and placement
- Audience
- Scheduling
- Devices
- Bid adjustments
3. Assess Ad Group Size
More isn’t always better, especially when it comes to ad groups. A general rule of thumb to follow is having 15-20 keywords in an ad group to ensure relevancy so you can write more targeted ad copy. If you have a bloated ad group, see how you can group similar keywords and split them up into a new ad group.
4. Add and Review Negative Keywords
Negative keywords prevent your ads from receiving impressions and clicks from unqualified searchers. First, find out what terms are triggering your ads. If you see any that you don’t want ads to show up, set them as a negative keyword.
Already have negative keywords? Review them to make sure that they’re appropriate so you don’t inadvertently block your target audience. Also, check your negative keywords’ match type. For example, an ‘exact’ match type can be too specific and not do anything for the ad group or campaign.
5. Have Enough Ads Per Group
Similar to keyword quantity, it’s important that you don’t have too few or too many enabled ads in an ad group. Only having one enabled ad won’t be enough for testing ad variations, which hinders
optimization. Yet, having many enabled ads per ad group will dilute testing results. Three ad variations per ad group provide enough to run testing without watering down the results.
6. Check Ad Extensions for Accuracy
Ad extensions are essential for making your ad more compelling and increasing click-through rates (CTR). Confirm that your ad extensions (e.g. sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets) are accurate and provide a positive user experience. For example, if you use a call extension, check that it goes to the appropriate number and you have the staff to handle the call volume.
Get More Out of Your PPC Advertising
Whether you want to properly set up a new campaign or increase your current campaign's conversions, these best practices will help you achieve a higher return from Google Ads. If you're not seeing the results you want, reach out to an experienced
digital marketing agency to get your growth strategy on track.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in January 2020 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.