Just like SEO, PPC is not something you “set and forget.” You need to work on your PPC campaign till it reaches perfection and then keeps working on it, so it keeps holding on to that level of perfection. Starting a Pay-per-Click campaign is not difficult for most companies. You may already have one in motion right now. It takes considerable time and effort to keep one moving forward. You need expert advice and fast decision making to keep these campaigns profitable. In case, you are here looking for a way to manage your new PPC campaign; this will be a rewarding journey.
First, let us find out why it is important to improve your paid search workflow. To do this, we can break up any paid search into four different categories –
- Keyword research
- Keyword grouping
- Ad text
- Landing pages
Managing a PPC account requires you to prioritize your accounts. Which PPC account needs more attention? Which PPC account has a higher ROI? To do this, you need to recognize the areas your campaigns can improve.
Unless you are a part of a global conglomerate, you are looking at profits from a local market. Most of us target audiences based on geographic locations. You may be an SEO consultancy firm working out of Chicago or an organic vegan restaurant in the heart of New York. In either of the cases, you will be targeting a buyer group defined by geographic locations. This brings us to the point of local PPC.
We also know local PPC as geo-targeting. If you are familiar with the term, you may have already used Adwords. This is one feature that gives you the power to attract customers from only one particular area. You can think of it this way – you are taking all your resources and investing it in a specific geographical area that gives your company more proceeds.
Let us see a few ways to which you can add the element of geotagging in your PPC management.
Setting mobile preference –more searches are taking place on mobile devices than desktops. People find it easier to use cell phones on the go. When the go out to eat or shop for an engagement ring, they would like to know the best deals in their locality. To reach out to users like these, you need to optimize your website and online presence.
- Your website needs to be mobile responsive.
- You need to optimize your content so that search engines can find your pages.
- You need to optimize your ads for mobile devices. You can go for “mobile preferred” ads.
What is a mobile-preferred ad?
Mobile preferred ads have shorter headlines, and it caters to a mobile audience. Search engine spiders find it easier to crawl these ads. They always carry a local tag. Your current mobile compatible PPC ads should have a location tag option. This will include at least your city and your state.
Location extensions – This is true for franchises and retail outlets as well. Even when you are catering to millions across the country, you need to specify the locations of your stores, contact details and working hours so your users can reach out to you. Some of the more tech-savvy businesses also include a directions button on their website for showing directions. You can get all of this in one bundle by opting for a locations extension.
A location extension depends on your Google My Business profile. You can kickstart this by linking one of your business locations to your Google AdWords accounts.
Add call extensions – have you checked out the new Google Business listings? It has space for contact details in addition to your location details. You need to update your phone number to make your business look more reliable. This will add a CTA to your business profile, and it will encourage your potential customers to call your business.
To make it more convenient, you can link the call hours and work hours, so your business call feature is only active during the hours of operation. You should also use Google Forwarding number at least for a spell. This will give you an idea about the call analytics of your business.
Keep your Google My Business accounts updated. Verify your NAP before you start your PPC management.
Keywords and geo-location –geo targeting is the simplest way to help you out with localized PPP management. This is one of the best ways to target your business ads to a particular geographic location. Creating a non-targeted ad disperses the effect of PPC. The target is softer, and the returns are much lower.
This will also allow you to exclude areas from your ad campaign specifically. For example – you are a broadband service that does not cater Charleston. Therefore, you can make your ads visible to all other localities except Charleston. When people look for “cable companies in Charleston” automatically, your business name will NOT show up. This is very crucial for service-based companies. Most cable companies, broadband services, cellular services and even pest control services are mostly geo-specific.
While you can take on the task of optimizing your PPC for a location all by yourself. You may want expert advice in certain areas like keyword selection for location-based services and adding appropriate extensions for your company. An optimized PPC brings in a higher CTR and an overall higher click rate. To run a successful pay-per-click campaign, you will have to optimize your website content, and that will automatically boost your SRL rank.
To design a successful pay per click campaign remember to emphasize on the following –
- Budgeting: unless you keep your ad expenses in control you will find it tough to make a profit
- Targeting: this will increase your visibility to target customers with buying interest only
- Agility and speed: a short but impactful PPC campaign has a higher speed and better agility
At the end of it all, a good PPC plan with smart management will improve your visibility, sales, and ROI.
