PPC advertisers must take a strategic and nuanced approach to campaign management to stay ahead of the competition.
At SMX Advanced, PPC experts Sarah Stemen and Christine Zirnheld, senior digital marketing manager at Cypress North, shared their top actionable recommendations to help you create better-targeted ads, manage ad spend effectively and run more successful ecommerce and B2B campaigns.
Here are 10 key takeaways from their session.
1. Keep broad match keywords in separate campaigns from phrase and exact match to allow for different bidding strategies and more aggressive targets for broad match
The primary benefit of this approach is the flexibility it offers in campaign management and bidding strategies.
Broad match keywords require smart bidding to be effective, while phrase and exact match keywords can utilize various bidding strategies.
By keeping them separate, advertisers can set more aggressive targets for broad match campaigns, which is crucial given their wider reach.
This separation also allows for easier performance management, as different match types typically yield different results.
Additionally, it helps with budget control, preventing broad match keywords from consuming the entire budget when mixed with other match types.
The strategy also simplifies negative keyword management, allowing advertisers to focus on phrase and exact match campaigns, as broad match search terms can be overwhelming and less actionable.
This approach aims to optimize campaign performance by enabling more tailored management of different keyword match types, leading to smarter spending and more efficient campaigns.
2. Use custom segments for competitor conquesting by targeting people who have visited competitor websites or used competitor apps
You can do this by adding your competitor’s name to your search term list.
You can also use the website option by entering your competitor’s website URL. Google Ads will find people who have visited that site or similar sites and target them again while they browse the GDN, YouTube or Discover.
It’s a great way to target your competitors’ current clients or similar people. You can also do the same with apps if your competitor has one.
3. Leverage Microsoft Advertising search term reports to find keywords to add or negate in Google Ads campaigns, as Microsoft often provides more detailed search term data
Use your Microsoft advertising search term report and apply what you have learned to your Google Ads campaigns.
Take this example: a Google Ads campaign had an exact counterpart on Microsoft Ads with the same keywords.
On Microsoft Ads, there were 10 conversions and 10 search terms related to those conversions. There were no converting terms listed under that other bucket.
On Google, there were 32 conversions, and only one of them had a search term in the search term report. The rest was under “others.”
So, use Microsoft Ads to find keywords, decide whether to add or negate them, and apply those insights to Google Ads as well.
4. Invest in video assets for campaigns, as Google is emphasizing video importance in newer campaign types like Performance Max and Demand Gen
For Performance Max, you need to provide a video. If you don’t, Google will create one for you, which may look unprofessional.
At the very least, upload an existing video from your YouTube channel. Then, invest in creating rich video assets for your campaigns.
Whether you work with a freelancer or hire a designer, you can streamline the process using templates. For ecommerce, you can show products on screen with their details; for lead generation, you can use testimonial videos.
In any case, video is crucial moving forward, so make sure to have quality video assets in your account.
5. Consider using more aggressive bidding strategies initially to expedite the learning phase, then switch to more efficient strategies like Target ROAS or Target CPA once spend ramps up
Some bidding strategies to consider include:
Max conversions.
Max conversion value.
A really low target ROAS,
Manual or enhanced CPC.
Max clicks.
Once your spend is up and you’re out of the learning phase, it’s important to switch from an aggressive bid strategy to a more efficient one, such as target ROAS or target CPA.
Dig deeper: How each Google Ads bid strategy influences campaign success
6. Utilize flexible budgeting to allocate spend based on demand fluctuations throughout the year rather than using a flat monthly budget
This means planning your budget for the whole year.
When demand is high, you can spend more, and when demand is low, you can spend less. If you stick to a fixed monthly budget, you won’t have this flexibility.
This is useful for ecommerce because consumer behavior can be hard to predict.
For example, if there are shipping delays and people start shopping earlier, like in November, you wouldn’t want to save all your budget for December and then find out that most people have already finished shopping.
Ultimately, you’re responding to the market and flexing your budget up and down based on performance and then capitalizing on that. This also works well for seasonal campaigns.
7. Break out campaigns by ad schedule, or when budget allows, to set more tailored performance targets and strategies especially for B2B campaigns
There are significant performance differences between weekday office hours and off-hours (weekends, mornings and nights) in B2B advertising.
To capitalize on this, create separate “off-hours” campaigns with more aggressive targeting, allowing for smarter spending and the ability to set time-specific goals.
This approach is particularly useful for B2B scenarios, such as optimizing for phone calls during weekdays but not on weekends when no one is available to answer.
In these cases, pivoting goals based on ad schedules is important.
8. For lead generation campaigns, optimize for qualified leads by integrating with your CRM to target lower-funnel lead stages
This is the best way to test broad match in your account.
You’re opening yourself up to any related search term, but if you’re optimizing for the bottom-of-funnel leads, you can find a way to make the broad match work for lead gen.
Also, it’s truly the only way to use Performance Max. Optimizing Performance Max for just form submissions and lead gen accounts leads to bot attacks, marking them all as good leads when they’re not.
Integrating with your CRM and ensuring it’s working properly is crucial. You need to check it daily or set up a script to monitor it, as any issues can directly impact the health of your account.
Google is making this easier by providing a data manager for all advertisers this year. This should simplify CRM integration with Google Ads and improve lead generation.
9. Use data exclusions to prevent bidding algorithms from being skewed by anomalies like site outages and use seasonal adjustments before sales periods to help algorithms anticipate increased conversion rates
Data exclusions are important. If conversions are down, report it to Google so you don’t overbid or mismanage your campaign.
Remember that as the paid search manager, you understand upcoming trends better than the algorithm.
Before a sales period, make adjustments by letting the platform know if you expect the conversion rate to double. This will help the system increase bids faster during that time.
Dig deeper: 5 hidden areas of Google Ads you probably didn’t know about
10. Don’t neglect SEO efforts, as they remain critical for PPC success by impacting quality scores and providing signals for Google’s AI-driven ad creation and targeting
Leverage your SEO team to ensure that metadata and your on-site copy match what you want to see in the ads platform.
This is a great way to get extra attention on your asset options that you might not have otherwise.
As for product data optimizations, sometimes you’ll hear this is the only thing we can control.
If a GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is optional, go ahead and put it in and have your SEO team come in and essentially optimize your feed with the keywords that you want to show up.
Watch: 30 ideas in 30 minutes: Advanced strategies for Google Ads
To get 20 more actionable tips, watch the full SMX Advanced session here.
