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As the leading search engine for digital consumers, Google owns 92% of the global search market share. It’s where people turn to search for and purchase solutions to their problems. Businesses that want to keep pace with their competitors must implement an effective PPC campaign as part of their digital marketing strategy. 

To outperform your competitors, you must know the common PPC mistakes to avoid.

PPC ads can help increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your site, and generate revenue for your business. However, if you fall into the pitfalls of PPC ad mistakes, you could miss out on sales and growth opportunities. It’s imperative that you understand how to maximize PPC to funnel prospects through your sales funnel and make the most of your advertising dollars.

Learn about the five common PPC mistakes to avoid and make the most of your PPC ad campaign strategy. 

What Exactly is PPC?

PPC (pay-per-click) marketing is a form of paid online advertising in which companies post an ad that leads people to their website. Any time someone clicks on the ad or interacts with it in some way, the marketer pays a fee. PPC ads allow businesses to purchase site visits. It’s a highly affordable and scalable way to advertise since you can set your maximum spending budget, and Google will stop the campaign automatically once you’ve reached your financial limit. It also yields excellent ROI since you could potentially invest $1 and earn a $100 purchase on your website.

You can choose any of the following to set your advertising budget:

  • CPC (cost-per-click): What you pay every time a user clicks on your ad.
  • CPM (cost-per-mille): What you pay for every 1,000 impressions.
  • CPE (cost-per-engagement): What you pay any time someone interacts with your ad.

With PPC ads, businesses bid on specific keywords to earn superior placement for that particular search. If you make the highest bid, you win that keyword. To determine your ranking placement, Google takes your bid amount and the likelihood of conversion and gives you a Quality Score. Higher scores earn higher placements.

PPC ads are placed above organic search results. This is advantageous because those are the spots most likely to be seen by searchers. After all, 75% of online users don’t look beyond Google’s first page of search results. As such, you gain more visibility, a wider reach, and a better chance of people visiting your website.

5 Common PPC Mistakes to Avoid

PPC ads are affordable, targetable, and highly effective when you have a well-planned strategy and a deep understanding of how to maximize this digital marketing asset. 

1. Failure to Set Goals

Before you begin any marketing campaign, it’s critical that you set goals for your advertising efforts. Determine who your ideal customer is and what solutions they need. Think about what sort of ads would help you reach those people and earn their business. For best results, set SMART goals that are:

  • Specific: By focusing on the details of your goal, you can achieve a better direction for your ad campaign. 
  • Measurable: Gauge the impact of your efforts by tracking milestones.
  • Achievable: Realistic and attainable goals will help propel you toward success.  
  • Relevant: Make sure your short-term plans align with your long-term mission. 
  • Timely: Give yourself a deadline to serve as motivation. 

So often, businesses begin a PPC campaign without clearly understanding what they want to accomplish with their ads. Without goals, you don’t know what you’re working toward and have no way to track your progress. You also have no financial parameters to guide your efforts. As you set your goals, remember to include budgetary objectives like how much you want to spend and at what point you want to adjust your strategy if you aren’t seeing the desired results. Goals provide a roadmap for developing your PPC campaign. 

2. Don’t Track Performance

To understand how effective your PPC ads are, you must track metrics and measure data. This information isn’t difficult to obtain, and you’ll gain invaluable insight about your audience, like behavior, preferences, and what messages elicit responses. You’ll also be able to see what kind of content engages readers, which ad placements seem to earn the most clicks, and how your ad money is working for your campaign. Many businesses don’t take the time to track this information, and in doing so, they miss out on a huge opportunity for improving ad performance and maximizing their advertising dollars.

3. Use Poor Target Keywords

Keywords are a crucial element of PPC ad campaigns. One of the most common PPC mistakes is to use broad match terms that don’t give search engines enough specificity to hone in on your business. Broad terms mean more searches will trigger your ads without earning many conversions, which can wreak havoc on your advertising budget. Avoid this issue by using exact-match keywords to grant you more control and discretion about which searches your ads will appear in.

4. Don’t Bid On Brand

Don’t be mistaken by the thought that you’ll automatically appear at the top of organic search results for anyone who looks up your brand. The truth is your competitors can bid on your brand name to knock you out of those high SERPs and gain those clicks and impressions. If they win that bid, they could create an ad that appears above your organic listing, posing them as the first result in a search for your brand. Prevent this by bidding on your own brand terms. It could be advantageous to earn the top organic placement and the top paid ad placement for your company.

5. Set It and Forget It

PPC ads don’t simply run themselves. You need to constantly monitor your efforts and their progress to make adjustments that maximize your efforts. Review keywords to ensure your ads are still relevant. Test new ads to find a more effective way to reach your audience. Attempt various bid strategies to find ways to set yourself apart from the competition. Increase or reduce ad budget as needed based on current performance. 

Advertisers often start a PPC campaign and fail to look at it again, not realizing they aren’t driving traffic or earning sales. Be proactive. Your PPC campaign is a constant work in progress.

Take the Guesswork Out of PPC Campaigns With 120/80

Avoiding common PPC mistakes will determine the success of your campaign. But you don’t have to do it alone, our 120/80 team is here to support you. With us, you will amplify your visibility, engage your audience, and achieve digital success. 

Reach out to us today and let’s elevate your PPC strategy together!