4 Ultimate Ways To Increase PPC Campaign Traffic
By James Warwick, 22 January 2021
By James Warwick, 22 January 2021
I’m going to share with you four of the most common methods I use when a campaign isn’t generating the traffic I’d expect. It’s important to remember each campaign is unique and will require different approaches to generate your desired outcome but we shall explore some of the most effective options you can act on today.
Did you know there are 5.6 billion searches a day on Google. So there is plenty of traffic for you to get your hands on, it’s just about how you can do this effectively.
What this means is your ad will show up higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) and therefore more eyes will be on your ad, increasing the potential clicks.
This does need to be done in conjunction with other Ad Rank factors such as your ad quality, expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. More on this later.
If you are already spending your full daily click budget then increase this and monitor its effect on traffic before making your bid adjustments. If you increase your bids without a larger click budget then you will just be raising the cost-per-click (CPC) of your current keywords which will in-turn reduce your overall clicks.
When writing ad copy it can be all too easy to get overly creative with flowery language. This is one of the biggest mistakes I see in campaigns. This does of course depend on the industry but more often than not it pays to be more direct with your copy.
Take a look at the keywords you are targeting. We’ll use shoes as an example. If you are selling running shoes then you might be using the following keywords, running trainers, women’s running trainers, running shoes for men, etc.
You might be tempted to write something like, High-Quality Sport Shoes | Designed For Running | Shop Now
This isn’t bad but check back to the keywords you’re targeting. You have shoes & running but you could be even more effective.
Instead, try, Running Shoes & Trainers | Men & Women Running Shoes | High-Quality Running Trainers.
This has incorporated all of the target keywords and therefore when people are searching those terms they will see an ad matching exactly what they are looking for.
Do this in the description of the ads too as Google will highlight the keywords bold bringing more attention to your ad.
Is the location area too specific? If the target location is too small then it’s likely there aren’t enough people searching for your keywords. Start analysing your locations and see if there are other towns, cities, or countries you could be including to increase potential PPC traffic.
Is there one area soaking up the majority of your budget/traffic? Sometimes a major city can drain your budget. There are two solutions to this, 1. If the traffic in the area isn’t generating any ROI then exclude it. 2. Create a new campaign and split the budget to give the one location a smaller percentage of the budget. This way you’ll know you’ll only ever spend X amount on this location.
The best way to do this is by using Google’s Keyword Planner. You can enter your relevant keywords and then organise the results by the average search volume. This will enable you to identify the keywords that will generate the highest volume of traffic. It’s essential you are still selecting the best keywords for your campaign.
Building on the above points you may want to adjust match types. Instead of an Exact match try Modified Broad Match expanding your audience. But be sure to check in the search terms report and watch for any irrelevant searches tickling in. Add these to your negative keyword list as you go along.
I hope the above gives you an insight into some of the processes you will want to look into for increasing traffic to your PPC campaigns or Google Ads.
If there’s anything I’ve missed or if you have any questions, please get in touch and I’ll be delighted to assist. I can be reached on my direct email at james@proven-concept.com.
James joined Proven Concept in 2019 following a successful period as a trained journalist with the BBC and a marketer with The Goodwood Festival. His previous experience has equipped him with industry-leading creative and copywriting skills which sets him apart in managing effective and profitable client accounts. A self-confessed weather geek, James also created and manages a social media brand @UKWeatherLive, actively updating and engaging 15k followers online.
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