Google’s search engine results page might be the most popular place to display Google Ads  — but you can broaden your reach beyond Google with Google Search Partners.

This network of third-party websites, search directories, and Google-owned properties like YouTube can boost visibility and clicks. But it can also come with trade-offs, like lower-quality traffic.

In this article, we’ll break down who Google’s Search Partners are, how to decide if it’s the right choice for your campaigns, and if so, how to maximize its performance.

What are Google Search Partners?

Google Search Partners are websites that partner with Google Ads to display promotions on their sites and search results pages.

They’re part of the Google Search Network and help to extend the reach of ads to hundreds of sites across the internet.

Essentially, Google Search Partners puts your ad across websites beyond Google and YouTube, with the goal of increasing your ad’s overall reach.

List of Google Search Partner sites

Google doesn’t share a complete list of its Search Partners. However, the following are confirmed partner sites:

Google sites:

• Google’s search engine
• Google Images
• Google Maps
• Google Play
• Google Shopping
• YouTube

Non-Google sites:

• 247 Sports
• Amazon
• Ask.com
• BizRate.com
• Dogpile.com
• Excite.com
• Lycos.com
• Target
• The New York Times
• W3Schools
• Walmart

A telltale sign that a website is sharing Google text ads? Hover over the ad link. Notice how this sponsored ad on Dogpile directs to a Google.com domain:

Take a look at what these ads can look like on partner sites. For example, here are Google ads on Ask.com:

BizRate.com:

YouTube:

And finally, Dogpile.com:

Websites that have opted into the Google Search Partner network receive a small cut of the ad revenue in exchange for hosting the ads.

While some smaller search engines partner with Google, Bing doesn’t, and it actually offers its own Search Partners network for its advertisers.

Is Google Search Partners worth it? Pros and cons

“Some advertisers find that Google Search Partners can bring additional traffic and conversions,” says Vaibhav Kakkar of Digital Web Solutions. “While others might see lower conversion rates or higher costs-per-click.”

Ultimately, the best way to determine if GSP is right for you is to segment and test your campaigns and review performance.

Generally speaking, however, there are some common pros and cons.

Pros:

• Greater reach
• Higher conversion rates due to a larger audience
• Lower costs per click (CPC)

Cons:

• Sometimes lower quality results
• Higher bounce rates if ads appear on sites that aren’t relevant to your target audience
• Lack of control with ad placement

“Google Search Partners is a viable avenue to attract more potential customers,” says HawkSEM CEO and co-founder Sam Yadegar.

“Not only do we use this to grow conversions, but we track and analyze the data in a granular fashion to increase conversion rates and to lower cost per acquisition as well.”

In fact, HawkSEM was able to help Peer Software increase conversions by 128% by integrating Search Partner campaigns into their overall strategy.

Similarly, Magee Clegg of Cleartail Marketing helped a brand generate a 14,000% increase in website traffic with Google Search Partners.

Audrey Bakhach of Custom Digital Solutions helped another brand reduce cost per lead by 20% and increase conversions by 30%.

“This showcases how leveraging Google Search Partners can lead to enhanced targeting and cost savings,” says Bakhach, “ultimately boosting campaign performance and delivering tangible results.”

Best campaign types to use for Google Search Partners

If you’re new to GSP and want to test out a sure-fire (or as close to it as you can get) campaign, here are two campaign types to try first.

Brand campaigns

A brand campaign focuses on using branded keywords, or keywords that include your brand name in them.

For example, client management platform HoneyBook created a brand campaign so its ad shows up at the top of its brand name search:

Using Google Search Partners for branded campaigns can help spread the word about your brand while also ensuring your competitors aren’t bidding on your name and stealing traffic.

RLSA campaigns

RLSA campaigns, or remarketing lists for search ads, target people who have already been to your website.

Using this type of ad for a Google Search Partners campaign can improve conversions and overall performance because your ads appear for people who are already acquainted with your site.

Further reading: What is Google RLSA? + How to Use It Right (7 Expert Tips)

How to turn off Google Search Partners

If Google Search Partners doesn’t seem like the right fit for your campaigns, you can turn off this setting inside your Google Ads account:

1. Click Campaigns
2. Hover over the campaign you want to exclude from the Google Search Partners setting
3. Click the gear icon next to the campaign name
4. Click the drop-down menu for Networks
   1. Uncheck the box for “Include Google Search Partners” (To only show your ads on Google Search, the Google Search Network checkbox should be the only box selected)
5. Click Save

How to turn on Google Search Partners

The default campaign settings automatically include GSP. But to manually turn this setting back on:

1. Log into your Google Ads dashboard
2. Click the campaign you want to leverage Search Partners
3. Click the Settings tab
4. Click on the Networks drop-down menu
5. Make sure the box that says “Include Google Search Partners” is checked
6. Click Save

How to improve your Google Search Partner performance

If you decide to give this network a try, here are seven strategies to get the most out of your Search Partner ads.

1. Research where your audience spends time
2. Create separate Search Partner campaigns
3. Use specific Search Partner keywords
4. Test new features and offers with Search Partners
5. Experiment with your ads
6. Turn off Search Partners for low-performing campaigns
7. Monitor your ad performance

1. Research where your audience spends time

If you know your audience only (or mostly) uses Google and its proprietary websites, turning on Google Search Partners likely won’t benefit your text or display ads performance.

On the flip side, if you run an ecommerce store and know your audience also shops on sites like Amazon and Walmart, reaching them through the Partner network can be a great tactic.

Pay attention to where your audience spends their time online and use that to inform your ad strategy.

Conducting market research, researching user demographics, and putting together a user persona can help you discover this information.

Further reading: How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile (+ Template)

2. Create separate Search Partner campaigns

While you can’t create a campaign only for Search Partners, you can create two campaigns with this option toggled on for one and off for another.

“Segment your campaigns to allocate budgets and set bid adjustments specifically for partner traffic,” explains Bakhach.

“This level of control can make a significant difference. Keep a watchful eye on the performance of partner websites and apps within your campaigns, allowing you to identify top-performing placements and exclude underperforming ones.”

This ensures your ads consistently surface on relevant and high-quality partner sites, increasing the likelihood of engagement.

Creating multiple campaigns gives you more granular control, ensuring you hit your goals.

3. Use specific Search Partner keywords

Paying attention to past Search Partner data can improve your ads for the future. Look at your Search Query reports from existing Search Partner ads to pinpoint high-performing keywords.

Then create Search Partner campaigns specifically for those keywords.

“By routinely evaluating your campaign’s performance data and making the necessary adjustments, you’ll be well on your way to leveraging Google Search Partners effectively and boosting engagement while keeping a cost-effective strategy in play,” advises Bakhach.

Further reading: How to Build a Keyword Strategy: 6 Easy Steps (+ Expert Tips) 

4. Test new features and offers with Search Partners

Just because Search Partners didn’t work for a previous campaign doesn’t mean it’s never going to work. When you launch new features, products, or service offerings, test GSP again.

“The best advertisers, in my experience, are those who remain personally invested in their efforts and are open to change,” says Draven McConville, founder at Klipboard.

“They don’t hesitate to attempt new things and experiment.”

5. Experiment with your ads

Speaking of experimenting, test different formats, sizes, and creative assets within your ads, as well as different features and offerings.

“For advertisers looking to leverage Google Search Partners effectively, I recommend utilizing the extensive targeting options, unique ad formats, and flexible bidding strategies offered by Google,” Clegg recommends.

In other words, you have options — use them.

Bakhach agrees, stating that to adapt to the varied layouts and screen sizes of partner websites and apps, leverage responsive ad formats. They’re like chameleons for your ads, ensuring they look good and perform well across different platforms.

“Explore different targeting options, including keyword targeting, demographic targeting, and device targeting, to [home] in on the most relevant audiences in the partner network,” continues Bakhach.

“Lastly, don’t be afraid to experiment with various bidding strategies, such as target impression share or maximize conversions, to find the approach that best aligns with your campaign objectives.”

6. Turn off Search Partners for low-performing campaigns

Google Search Partners isn’t going to work for every campaign. Sometimes, no matter how you adjust your keywords, bid strategy, or what have you, it simply won’t perform the way you want it to.

And that’s okay — just turn off Search Partners in those instances and focus solely on Google sites.

To monitor the effectiveness of your GSP campaigns, check in frequently.

You may increase the performance of any advertisements by changing your bids or targeting if you notice that they aren’t receiving many clicks or conversions.

“Concentrating your investment on the sites that are giving you the best results, will help to increase the overall performance of your ads,” says Michael Wall, founder at Codefixer.

7. Monitor your ad performance

Finally, keep an eye on your ads to ensure they’re working hard for your business.

“The key to effectively using Google Search Partners is to monitor its performance closely,” says Kakkar. “Separate the data for Google and its partners to analyze which channels are driving the best results.”

“Adjust bids, ad copy, and targeting settings accordingly,” continues Kakkar. “It’s essential to regularly review and refine your campaign to ensure that you’re getting a positive return on investment from Search Partners.”

For some businesses, it can be a valuable addition to their advertising strategy, while others may find that focusing solely on Google Search yields better results.

FAQs about Google Search Partners

Here are some of the top questions advertisers have when it comes to the Google Search Partner network.

Can I choose where my ads appear?

You cannot choose specific sites to show your ads.

“Your ads will show up on the types of partner sites as users who like specific things or work in certain fields, based on your targeting parameters,” Bakhach explains.

“The only other thing you can tweak is putting in ‘negative’ sites. So, if you have users coming that are producing more spam you can block ads on that site.”

Can I turn Google Search Partners on for select ad groups but not others?

Google Search Partners is a campaign-level change, so you can’t switch this option on for different ad groups.

However, you can duplicate a campaign and have one campaign using Search Partners and another campaign solely living on Google sites.

Can I create a campaign only for Google Search Partners?

No, you can’t. You can create a campaign just for Google sites, but you can’t do the inverse and create a campaign just for Search Partners.

You can set your Google search ads to appear in Google’s search engine results pages (SERP) and Partner sites.

How to tell when traffic comes from Google Search Partners

Inside your search terms report, you can use the “Network (With Search Partners) option to segment your traffic by the Google Search Network and Google Search Partners.

Indicators of traffic from Search Partner sites may include: a very low cost per click (CPC) or lower than expected conversion rates.

Will a lower clickthrough rate (CTR) impact my Quality Score?

No. While ads on Search Partner sites can impact other important metrics positively or negatively, they won’t impact Quality Score.

5 myths about Google Search Partners

Not every brand or campaign sees success from Google Search Partners. Of course, this can be the case for many new strategies. However, there are a few misconceptions.

1. All partners are smaller search engines

While many are, like Dogpile and Ask.com, there are other sites too. Your ads can appear in search engine results, on directory pages, or even in search results on ecommerce sites like Amazon or Target.

2. If Google Search Partners doesn’t work for one campaign, it won’t work for any campaign

Google Search Partners can work on a campaign-by-campaign basis, fully dependent on the ads, ad types, and targeted keywords.

Google Ads itself is always changing, updating functionality, offering new features — so experiment with your ads, but always check back in to see if Google has introduced new options that can give your Search Partner ads another chance.

3. Search Partners is for traditional search campaigns only

Search Partner ads don’t only show up as traditional search campaigns. You can also use it in the display network and for shopping ads.

Again, test different ad types and creative to see what works best for your brand.

4. You can’t get more granular than segmenting by Search Partner network at the campaign level

One big frustration advertisers have is that you can’t see a comprehensive list of all Search Partners and how each one is performing.

However, there are other ways to take a look at your ad performance. For example:

• Look at how your keywords are performing, and select specific keywords for your Search Partner ads.
• Review your match types to see how they perform across networks. In many cases, broad match keywords don’t always perform well on the Partner network.
• Consider device usage, as Partner ads don’t always convert as well on mobile devices.

5. If the CPA is higher in Search Partners, you can’t do anything about it

Search Partners offers less control than traditional search ads. However, if you head back to our seven tactics for optimizing and improving your Search Partner ads, you’ll discover ways you can minimize the CPA (cost-per-action) for your ads.

The takeaway

The more reach your ads have, the higher the traffic you receive — and Google Search Partners can help you achieve this. But if you’re not getting the right traffic to your site, you’re wasting ad spend on irrelevant clicks.

To improve your performance and optimize your ad campaigns, reach out to HawkSEM to get help from our seasoned experts. We’d love to improve your PPC campaigns and boost your return on investment (ROI).

This article has been updated and was originally published in February 2024.

The post What Are Google Search Partners? + 7 Pro Tips appeared first on HawkSEM.

The best Google ad headlines compel people to click on them through the right mix of attention-grabbing, information-giving, and a dash of “need to know more” magic.

One way to achieve this is by using strong headlines.

But there’s no sure-fire way to create Google ad headlines that pique curiosity and get people to act. Why?

For one, you have limited character limits. So, there’s only so much you can write. And two, you’ve got to include keywords in your headline, which takes away more of the allotted space.

Fortunately, there are best practices you can follow to create good headlines for Google Ads.

Why do Google ad headlines matter?

Google ad headlines determine the success of your campaigns.

Here are some of the key reasons to prioritize a good ad headline:

• Grabs attention: It’s the first thing people see. A well-crafted headline grabs attention and makes users want to learn more.
• Direct impact on click-through rates (CTRs): A good headline can make more people click on your ad. More clicks usually mean better results for your Google Ads campaign.
• Matches with searches: Including the right keywords means your ad appears for the right people. This helps you reach prospects looking to buy what you offer.
• Sets expectations: It sets the tone for what the user can expect upon clicking, contributing to a coherent and satisfying user journey.

How to write the best Google search ad headlines

Follow these tips to create Google ad headlines that get more clicks:

1. Highlight your USP
2. Incorporate consumer pain points
3. Use action-oriented verbs
4. Create a sense of urgency
5. Pose questions to spark curiosity
6. Use descriptive adjectives for vividness
7. Incorporate trending topics or keywords
8. Balance creativity with clarity
9. Tailor for localized, geo-targeted impact
10. Align with landing page content
11. Regularly conduct A/B testing
12. Test different lengths
13. Keep it up-to-date

1. Highlight your USP

Your unique selling proposition (USP) sets your product or service apart from the competition.

Make sure your headline showcases this unique feature or benefit. Ask yourself, “What can my customers get from me that they can’t get anywhere else?”

Maybe it’s free same-day delivery, personalized service, or an unbeatable money-back guarantee.

For example, if you offer rapid delivery, a compelling headline like “Instant Delivery – Buy Now” gets straight to the point. It concisely tells potential customers what makes your offer unique.

2. Incorporate consumer pain points

Understanding and addressing your potential customers’ problems or challenges can make your headline more compelling.

So identify the most common pain points your product or service solves. Then, use your headline to show how you can improve their lives.

For instance, if a common problem is high costs, headlines like “Quality at Low Prices” or “Save More” can be effective. It’s to the point and communicates how you solve a common concern.

3. Use action-oriented verbs

A headline with action-oriented verbs can make it more dynamic and persuasive. This is copywriting 101.

These verbs create a sense of urgency and encourage the user to act.

For example, for a fitness app, instead of a generic “Fitness App,” a more action-driven headline like “Get Fit Today” or “Start Your Fitness Journey” is more engaging.

It’s brief, powerful, and guides the customer towards taking the desired action.

So when selecting your verb, consider the action you want the customer to take and how you can phrase ad text in a way that feels exciting.

4. Create a sense of urgency

Urgency in headlines can lead to faster decision-making from potential customers. It creates a feeling that they’ll miss out if they don’t act now.

Use time-sensitive power words or phrases to compel immediate action. A headline like “Sale Ends Tonight!” or “Last Chance for 50% Off” can create a fear of missing out (FOMO).

It tells customers they need to act quickly to take advantage of the offer, which boosts the likelihood of immediate engagement.

But ensure your offer genuinely is time-limited to maintain trust and authenticity in your brand.

Additional reading: Marketing Psychology: 5 Tips to Win Hearts (+ Examples)

5. Pose questions to spark curiosity

Questions in headlines can pique interest and make potential customers stop and think.

A well-phrased question is eye-catching and invites them to learn more.

For instance, a headline like “Ready for a Financial Makeover?” or “Dreaming of Acne-Free Skin?” directly addresses the customer and personalizes their experience.

Such questions invite users into a conversation, increasing the chances they’ll click through to find the answer.

6. Use descriptive adjectives for vividness

Descriptive adjectives add color and emotion to your headlines. When part of your ad copy, they help create a vivid image in the customer’s mind, enhancing the appeal of your offer.

For example, a headline for a luxury resort can read “Explore Serene, Sunlit Beaches.”

The adjectives “Serene” and “Sunlit” evoke specific feelings and imagery. This makes the headline more evocative and appealing than a straightforward, nondescriptive headline.

7. Incorporate trending topics or keywords

Including trending topics or currently popular keywords can make your headline more relevant and timely.

This can attract customers looking for the latest information or products related to current events or popular culture.

You can do keyword research using tools like Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and Semrush.

For instance, a tech company may use a headline like “Get the Latest 5G Phones” during the launch period of a new technology.

However, it’s important to ensure the trending topic or keyword is relevant to your product or service to maintain credibility.

8. Balance creativity with clarity

While creativity makes your headline stand out, clarity ensures it’s understood. A headline should strike a balance, being imaginative yet straightforward to convey the message instantly.

For example, a creative headline for a home cleaning service like “Sparkle Your Space” is intriguing but also clear in its offering.

Remember, creativity in your headline shouldn’t overshadow the core message but rather enhance it, ensuring the ad remains effective and easy to understand.

9. Tailor for localized, geo-targeted impact

Localizing your headlines can increase their relevance and appeal to audiences in specific areas.

Use location-specific keywords or phrases to catch the attention of local customers.

For instance, a headline like “NYC’s Best Pizza Delivered” directly appeals to New York City residents looking for local cuisine.

In case you have more than one address, use a multi-location PPC strategy that focuses on creating separate ads (within the same ad group) for the individual locations.

This approach makes your ad more personal and relevant to the audience in that area, which increases the likelihood of engagement and conversions.

10. Align with landing page content

Your headline should be a clear precursor to the content of your dynamic landing pages for PPC. This alignment reassures users that they’ve come to the right place.

For instance, if your headline promotes “Eco-Friendly Office Supplies,” ensure your landing page prominently features these products.

To achieve this, regularly review your landing page content and ad headlines. Ensure they match and convey a cohesive message.

This consistency improves user experience and can lead to Google Ads conversions because it builds trust and meets user expectations.

11. Regularly conduct A/B testing

A/B testing compares two versions (“version A” and “version B”) of your ad headlines to see which performs better.

For example, you may test a headline with a question (“Need Faster Internet?”) against one with a direct benefit (“Experience Lightning-Fast Internet”).

You can understand what interests your audience by analyzing which headline gets more clicks or drives a higher conversion rate.

Regular A/B testing allows for continuous improvement of your headlines and campaign in general; much like how it helps in SEO.

“We use ConversionIQ to track our campaigns, which helps us understand how well our Google ad copy and headlines are performing,” says Sam Yadegar, CEO and co-founder of HawkSEM.

“It’s our proprietary marketing technology that provides us with granular insights from ad campaigns. It enables us with real-time data that aids A/B testing, optimization, and better conversions.”

ConversionIQ seamlessly integrates with Google Ads and comes with rich features that help in budgeting, tracking, forecasting, experimenting, reporting, and other functions.

Want to learn more about ConversionIQ? Get in touch with us.

12. Test different lengths

The length of your headline can impact its effectiveness. So, experiment with different ad lengths to evaluate what works best for your audience and message.

For instance, try a shorter headline like “Beat the Heat: AC Sale!” against a longer one like “Stay Cool This Summer with Our Affordable AC Units.”

Tracking performance metrics like click-through rates for each version will guide you in determining the ideal length that captures attention and conveys your message effectively.

13. Keep it up-to-date

Regularly update your headlines to reflect current trends, seasons, or promotions. This keeps your ads fresh and relevant.

For example, a headline like “Get Ready for Spring: Gardening Essentials on Sale!” should be updated when the season changes.

Staying up-to-date with your headlines shows your brand is active and in tune with customer needs and current events, making your ads more appealing.

8 elements of a good Google ad headline

Here are key traits of the best Google ad headlines:

1. Relevance to the audience
2. Inclusion of target keywords
3. Use of numbers or statistics
4. Social proof
5. Call to action (CTA)
6. Benefit-driven language
7. Emotional trigger or appeal
8. Clarity and conciseness

Note: One ad won’t have all of these elements. Which ones are included depends on their product and target audience. Use these listed traits to create your own ad templates that are unique and personalized to your campaigns.

1. Relevance to the audience

Effective headlines reflect a deep understanding of the target audience’s needs, interests, or problems.

They’re created to resonate with the specific group you’re targeting.

For instance, a fitness app targeting busy individuals may use a headline like “15-min Workout for Busy Professionals.”

It directly addresses the audience’s core needs, making the ad more relatable and appealing.

Also, higher relevance to the audience increases your Google Ad Rank, a value Google uses to determine an ad’s position on the search result page.

2. Inclusion of target keywords

The right keywords can make your headline more visible in Google searches.

The best Google Ads headlines include words or phrases potential customers use when looking for products like the advertiser offers.

A headline like “Boston’s Best Organic Bakery” uses specific keywords to ensure it reaches people searching for organic bread or pastry delivery services in that area.

It aligns your headline with the common search terms to increase the ad’s relevance and visibility.

3. Use of numbers or statistics

Numbers or statistics in your headline can provide clarity and authenticity. They make your offer more tangible.

For instance, a headline like “Trusted by 20,000+ Customers” gives a sense of the scale and success of your product or service.

The best headlines for Google ads use real data to build credibility and show the value of what you’re offering.

4. Social proof

Including social proof or endorsements in your headline can boost credibility. This can be ratings, testimonials, user counts, or endorsements from well-known figures.

For instance, a headline like “Rated 5 Stars by 10,000+ Users” leverages social proof to assure potential customers of the product’s high quality and popularity.

It shows that others have had positive experiences, which can help alleviate skepticism and build trust.

Social proof acts as a powerful persuasion tool that hooks people who often look at others’ actions and experiences to guide their own decision-making.

5. Call to action (CTA)

A strong call to action in your headline can motivate the reader to take a specific step. It’s like a friendly nudge toward the action you want them to take.

A headline for an online course may include a CTA like “Start Learning Today for Free!”

It’s clear and direct, and provides a sense of immediacy, prompting the user to act now rather than later.

6. Benefit-driven language

Benefit-driven headlines focus on the positive outcomes or advantages that the customer will experience.

This digital approach directly answers the user’s implicit question, “What’s in it for me?”

For example, a headline for a skincare product may read, “Get Acne-Free Skin in 2 Weeks.” Instead of just stating the product’s features, it clearly outlines the benefit, making the ad more impactful.

The key is articulating how your product or service can improve a user’s life or solve a specific problem.

7. Emotional trigger or appeal

A powerful headline often taps into the reader’s emotions. It can spark curiosity or excitement.

For example, a headline for a charity event may read “Join the Fight: Help Save a Child’s Life Today.”

It appeals to the reader’s compassion and desire to make a difference, making the ad more compelling and memorable.

8. Clarity and conciseness

A good headline conveys the message quickly and without unnecessary complexity.

Remember, the space for your headline is limited. You get three headlines, each up to 30 characters.

So, it’s crucial to use this space wisely. It should be easily understandable at a glance. For example, a headline for a tax filing service may read “Easy Online Tax Filing.”

This is straightforward and immediately tells the reader what the service offers, ensuring the message is clear and concise.

“Everything starts with understanding your target audience. You want your messaging — wherever and whatever it is — to resonate with your audience,” says Yadegar.

“The art form in headlines is to create value through a short message to show the target audience found what they’re looking for. Our team spends a lot of time and has fun creating effective headlines that make all the difference in CTR.”

5 Google ad headline examples

Let’s look at some effective Google ads headlines and descriptions examples — and why they work:

1. “Car leasing deals”

What works:

• The headline employs an urgent call to action that encourages instant engagement
• It directly addresses the searcher’s intent by offering “Lease Offers,” which is likely what the searcher is interested in when querying for car leasing deals
• It includes the appeal of leasing a “small car,” which may resonate with individuals looking for affordability or convenience

2. “Fitness program online”

What works:

• The headline “No Equipment Required” addresses a typical concern for those looking to start fitness programs, removing a potential barrier to entry
• The mention of “60 Days Free” distinguishes this offer from typical 30-day trials, adding significant value to the proposition and making it stand out
• It provides a clear and compelling benefit by promoting “Try Today With 60 Days Free”
• The description teases “1,000+ On-Demand Classes,” which hints at a wide range of options available to the user

3. “Meal kit delivery services”

What works:

• The headline places the generous offer of free meals at the forefront, immediately grabbing attention with the significant value proposition
• Mentioning “16 Free Meals” quantifies what new subscribers stand to gain, making the offer concrete
• It creates a sense of urgency by stating “Ends Soon,” suggesting that the reader must act quickly to take advantage of the offer
• The inclusion of “Save Time & Money” in the description speaks directly to two key benefits that are highly valued by meal kit service customers

4. “Remote tech support”

What works:

• The headline succinctly targets small businesses seeking IT services
• It integrates the keywords to improve the ad’s search ranking and visibility to the target audience
• Mentioning specific industries in the description (like legal and healthcare) clearly defines the target audience

5. “Best accountant software”

What works:

• The headline mirrors common search terms, enhancing the ad’s relevance and likely its search ranking
• It clearly defines the intended users — small and medium businesses in the UK, which ensures the ad hooks the appropriate audience
• Including “Start Your Free Trial” directly in the description acts as an incentive, encouraging potential customers to engage with the product immediately

Further reading: 8 Google Ads Examples: Proven Campaigns + Why They Work

Get help from ad specialists at HawkSEM

HawkSEM is one of the fastest-growing digital marketing agencies, working with brands such as Microsoft, Honda, Nike, and Verizon.

With a large and multidisciplinary team of ad specialists, we offer end-to-end pay-per-click marketing services that cover everything from lead-generating LinkedIn text ads to sales-focused Google Maps ads.

We’ve helped clients achieve exponential growth through creative, data-driven campaigns.

NurseRegistry, a leading staffing agency for nurses, doubled the number of qualified leads and cut cost-per-lead by 46% in six months with our PPC efforts.

You can learn more about our PPC management services here.

The takeaway

Your search ad headline is one of the main factors that determine your campaign’s success.

It must grab users’ attention, compel them to read the descriptions, and click through to your landing page.

If you need help creating better ad copy and planning effective campaigns, connect with our ad specialists. Book a free consultation with us today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in June 2024.

The post How to Write Google Ads Headlines That Click (+ Examples) appeared first on HawkSEM.

Online marketing can be tough for small businesses. How can you cut through the noise when so many organizations are trying to rank at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) and boost brand awareness?

Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC, can get you ahead. It puts your message in front of users looking for products and services like yours
faster.

Let’s look at our top tips to maximize PPC success for small businesses.

What is PPC for small business?

PPC for small businesses is a form of online advertising that places ads on search engine platforms, like Google, Bing, and even Facebook, to drive traffic to business websites.

With the PPC model, small business owners only pay for ads when users click on them.

When someone searches for a product or service, they’ll see local results first on their search engine results page, based on their IP address.

Here’s how one looks:

(Image: Google)

The rate for each click ranges from a few cents to a few hundred dollars, depending on your target audience and targeted keywords. The goal is to select the right keywords that attract conversions (not just clicks).

12 PPC tips for small businesses

Thinking about implementing PPC marketing as part of your strategy? Consider this advice to help you get the best possible results.

1. Create audience personas
2. Conduct competitor research
3. Start with a small(er) budget
4. Use targeted keywords
5. Create dedicated landing pages
6. Use clear language in your ad copy
7. Include a call to action (CTA)
8. Add your location
9. Focus on mobile
10. Review results
11. Use retargeting
12. Focus on search engine optimization (SEO)

1. Create audience personas

Also called an ideal buyer persona (ICP), audience personas are fictional models that portray your ideal customers’ demographics, pain points, occupations, demographics, geographic information, and behaviors.

For example, a company offering healthy meal delivery services to busy professionals in California may create this audience persona:

Age: 25-35 years old
Location: Los Angeles
Income level: Upper-middle-class
Dietary preferences: Prefers organic and locally sourced ingredients
Interests: Passionate about exercise and healthy living

To start building your audience personas:

1. Review who your existing customers are
2. Examine their purchase history
3. Monitor your website audience to track their buying behaviors
4. Send out surveys through email or pop-ups to learn more about your audience

Further reading: How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile (+ Template)

2. Conduct competitor research

A competitor analysis assesses the ad campaigns and performance of your direct competitors. This provides valuable insight to improve your PPC efforts.

Look at their keywords, ad copy, and offers to understand the competitive landscape and identify opportunities. For example, what keywords are they ranking for, and what kind of services do they offer?

“Conduct a thorough analysis of your competitor’s PPC campaign and identify the strategies they are not using,” says Farhan Siraj, co-founder and CEO of OSHA Outreach Courses. “If your competitor is not using ad extensions to provide additional information, you should try this strategy.”

(Image: Google)

This ad extension for a booking site offers additional information about deals and nearby hotels to encourage users to click.

Further reading: How to Do a PPC Competitor Analysis: 7 Tools (+ Checklist)

3. Start with a small(er) budget

Every business is different, so it may take a bit of experimentation to figure out which budget will be best for you.

Set aside a budget you’re comfortable with spending and try out different ads to start gathering data on what works. Over time, your campaign will get better at targeting the right audience and you can scale up.

Further reading: How to Calculate PPC Budget

4. Use targeted keywords

Once you have details about your target audience and what your competitors are doing, begin keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of identifying which search queries your target audience uses to find your product, service, or business online.

The involves using a keyword research tool to:

• Determine the keywords you already rank for
• Compile topics and keywords relevant to your brand
• Find related search terms that could boost your rankings
• See what keywords your competitors rank for
• Assess keyword volume and cost per click (CPC)

“It’s essential to focus on highly targeted keywords that are not only relevant to your niche but also not overly competitive, which can drive up costs,” explains Chris Cho, Founder of DroneSourced.

“For instance, we target specific drone-related keywords that have a clear intent but lower competition, ensuring a better ROI.”

(Image: Google)

Further reading: How to Do Keyword Research: Tools to Use + Proven Tips

5. Create dedicated landing pages

Make a landing page for each service or audience you target with your ads.

Your copy should relate to your visitors and elaborate on information that was offered in your ad — all with a sleek landing page design that captures attention.

To do this effectively:

• Start with an eye-catching hero image
• Write a compelling headline
• Craft concise supporting copy
• Add a lead form
• Create one strong call to action

Further reading: How to Create Landing Pages that Convert: Examples + Pro Tips

6. Use clear language in your ad copy

Craft your ad copy with language that your audience will quickly and easily understand. Clear is better than clever in ads. For example, this QuickBooks ad tells users exactly what they can expect from the software.

(Image: Google)

7. Include a call to action (CTA)

You have a limited number of characters in a PPC ad, make each count by guiding users toward what you want them to do.

For instance, a law firm may include information about what they specialize in followed by a “Call us” CTA.

(Image: Google)

Further reading: 57 CTA Examples to Inspire Higher Performing Campaigns

8. Add your location

Use location-based keywords if your business serves specific areas.

Geographic segmentation will help you reach more people in your target market. You may choose to target a wider range, like a region, or include keywords for a specific neighborhood.

(Image: Google)

9. Focus on mobile

The number of users accessing the internet via mobile devices is growing across the globe. In the last quarter of 2024, mobile devices accounted for 62% of global website traffic.

To get the best results, optimize your campaigns for users by making sure the landing page your PPC ad leads to is mobile-friendly.

To optimize for mobile:

• Use responsive design
• Look at page-loading time
• Ensure forms are easy to fill

Further reading: How to Build a Mobile-Friendly Site: Best Practices + Examples

10. Review results

Regularly check on the performance of your campaigns. Look at click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost per conversion (CPC) to make informed decisions about any adjustments you may need to make to your PPC ads or landing pages.

“We increased our advertising spend by $10,000, targeting colder climates,” says Sophia Tang, Founder of Zeralabs. “This has led to a 40% increase in sales of our moisturizing products during this period.”

She adds that continuous monitoring and reallocation of funds based on activity performance is key to maximizing the company’s return on investment.

11. Use retargeting

People buy from businesses they know, like, and trust. When you get in front of people more frequently, you increase the chances that they’ll convert.

For example, if someone clicks on your PPC and views a product, you may advertise that product to them again on social media. Make retargeting part of your PPC strategy to reach users who have already interacted with your brand.

12. Focus on search engine optimization (SEO)

PPC works better with SEO.

A solid search engine optimization (SEO) and PPC strategy increases your business’s visibility on search engines and garners more clicks and brand awareness.

For instance, if a customer sees your sponsored PPC ads and your organic links in search results, the odds of them visiting your site increase.

Common PPC terms

New to PPC? Here are some phrases you should know before creating PPC ads for your small business:

• Cost per click (CPC): The amount of money a business pays each time a user clicks an ad. For example, if you spend $50 on an ad and get 500 clicks, your cost is 10 cents per click.
• Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): The amount advertisers pay for every 1,000 impressions an ad gets. If your ad campaign costs $1,000 for 200,000 impressions, your CPM would be $5.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of people who click on an ad after they view it. High click-through rates mean that your ads are relevant to your audience.
• Conversion rate: The percentage of ad clicks that result in a new lead or a sale.
• Quality Score: A metric from Google Ads that assesses the relevance of ads and keywords. This impacts your cost per click and ad ranking.
• Ad rank: Where your ad appears on the search results page.
• Retargeting or remarketing: A method that shows your ads to users who have previously visited your site to capture their attention again.
• Negative keywords: Keywords that prevent ads from showing up in search results for certain terms or phrases.
• Ad extensions (now assets): Additional information (contact details, links to specific pages, or product information) you can include in PPC ads.
• Landing page: The page users see after clicking on an ad.
• Impressions: The number of times an ad is displayed.
• Display network: A network of websites where ads can appear.

5 benefits of PPC for small business

Making PPC part of your small business marketing strategy comes with several benefits. Here’s a closer look at what you can expect.

1. Better targeting
2. Instant visibility
3. Cost control
4. Measurable outcomes
5. Consistent strategy

1. Better targeting

Relevant ads perform better. PPC gives you targeting options like demographic, geographic, and behavioral targeting. For example:

Demographic:

• Age group
• Gender
• Income
• Job title
• Interests or hobbies

Geographic:

• Country
• Region or state
• City

Behavioral:

• Browsing history
• Purchase history
• Search history
• Retargeting

Using these different targeting options ensures your PPC campaigns get in front of the right audience, at the right time.

2. Instant visibility

Once you launch your PPC campaigns, your ads appear at the top of search results immediately. This can give you a leg up over your competitors that only rely on organic search optimization.

It can take a long time for organic content to rank. Plus, there are several factors that determine whether or not people see that content. PPC puts you on the fast track to visibility.

3. Cost control

PPC ads are cost-effective. With the ability to set your budget, PPC allows you to meet the financial needs of your business so you never spend more than you can afford.

As time goes on and you accumulate more data, you can scale your spending up to see a larger return on ad spend (ROAS).

4. Measurable outcomes

Your campaign becomes visible right away, so it’s easier to track your results in real-time.

You can look at metrics like click-through rate, conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI) to get a sense of how your ads are performing. Then, adjust the copy or design as needed to improve your results.

5. Consistent strategy

Google uses over 200 ranking factors and makes changes to its search algorithms and systems several times per year. Those changes have a big impact on SEO.

However, those changes aren’t a concern for the performance of your PPC ads. This means you can be more confident that tried and true best practices will help you get results.

Common small business PPC mistakes ( + how to avoid them)

The effectiveness of PPC ads depends on the quality of your campaign. If you’re planning to add PPC to your advertising strategy, side step these mistakes.

Setting and forgetting

Managing PPC campaigns is not one-and-done. What resonates with your audience this month may fall flat next month.

Use Google Analytics to spot low-performing ads that aren’t getting clicks or driving conversions.

Run A/B tests to figure out how to boost those metrics. A/B testing is a method of comparing two different elements of an ad to see which version performs better.

ConversionIQ, HawkSEM’s proprietary software, reveals who’s clicking your ads (and converting), so you can personalize your marketing campaign and messaging for better results.

Further reading: What is A/B Testing? How To Use It + Expert Advice

Overlooking negative keywords

Small businesses have limited advertising budgets. When your ad doesn’t reach your target audience in a search query, you may see “wasted” clicks and a lower conversion rate. Using negative keywords can prevent your ads from showing up in irrelevant searches.

For example, a law firm may add “pro bono” to a list of negative keywords in a PPC advertising campaign. If it includes that negative keyword, the ad won’t show up when people are looking for free legal services.

Further reading: What are Negative Keywords? How to Use Them + Free Starter List

Poor location targeting

Users see ads based on their IP address, so if you only offer products and services locally, you should use location-based keywords.

Failing to do this may put your ad in front of people too far away to do business with you.

Ignoring landing page quality

When potential customers decide to click, the first impression they get of your landing page matters. If it’s not relevant to them, they’ll navigate away.

Google also considers the landing page experience when calculating your ad quality score. Your landing page has a direct impact on the success your business will see, so ensure your PPC ad copy and landing page design are hitting the mark.

Not knowing platform specifics

Every display network is different. You need to understand exactly how each one works and what they allow to get the most out of your PPC campaign. You may find differences in these elements across platforms.

• Targeting and audience selection
• Formats and content
• Bidding strategies
• Policies and compliance requirements

Top PPC platforms for small business

There are many different PPC platforms to choose from. Among the most popular include:

• Microsoft Ads
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Google Ads
• LinkedIn Ads
• Amazon
• Pinterest
• Reddit
• X (formerly Twitter)
• TikTok

But how do you choose the right one for your business?

Pay attention to where your audience is. Google sites rank first among the most visited multi-platform web properties, so there’s a good chance your audience is already using them.

Do research to find the other channels where your audience is likely to spend time. For example, Meta ads are ideal for businesses that want to reach users on Facebook and Instagram.

Further reading: 13 PPC Platforms to Drive Conversions

Small business PPC services

What should you look for when evaluating a small business PPC agency? The range of small business PPC services generally includes:

• PPC audit: reviewing current campaigns and performance
• Competitive analysis: reviewing the current competitor landscape
• PPC strategy: a tailor-made strategy built just for your unique business
• Market and keyword research: looking at industry trends to find keywords worth targeting
• Ad copy: creating compelling and effective ad messaging
• Bid management: ensuring you get the most out of your budget and campaigns
• Conversion tracking: monitoring progress and A/B testing ad copy
• Landing page design: Crafting effective landing pages to boost conversion rates
• Ongoing campaign optimization: analyzing performance and optimizing when necessary

At HawkSEM, PPC management is our core competency. PPC services are specifically designed to meet the unique needs of small businesses. Our approach ensures your PPC campaigns are strategically aligned with your goals, delivering maximum returns.

Our digital marketing agency works closely with you to develop a custom PPC strategy that aligns with your needs. We take time to learn the ins and outs of your business. From there we create custom PPC campaigns, monitor their performance, and optimize.

Take HawkSEM client, Grayson Living, for example: HawkSEM was able to almost double its return on ad spend, grow ecommerce sales nearly three-fold, and increase conversion rates by more than 100% in the first year alone. It also saw an 11% bump in its average order value.

Read the full Grayson Living case study here.

What’s the cost of PPC?

The cost of PPC advertising and small business PPC management varies, but based on our experience, you can expect to spend around $3,000-$10,000 per month.

These are some of the factors that can influence your total spend.

Bidding strategy

PPC costs depend on the bidding strategy you choose for your campaign. If you’re looking to drive sales or specific actions, cost-per-click is your best bet. If driving awareness and gaining exposure is your goal, focus on cost per impression.

Keywords

Going after competitive keywords can drive up your costs. If you’re in a highly competitive industry where many other businesses are targeting the same keyword, ranking for that term will cost more.

Lower-volume and long-tail keywords may give you a bigger return on your investment.

Quality Score

Google uses Quality Score to assess the relevance of ads and keywords — and a good score can help you maximize your budget. A higher Quality Score will give you a better ad rank and lower your costs in the ad auction.

Do your best to boost your score by publishing engaging ads and offering a good user experience

Further reading: Quality Score Explained (+ 14 Easy Ways to Improve Yours)

Ad scheduling

Running ads during peak business times or specific days can influence costs. For example, if there’s an event or conference in your industry, you may find that running PPC ads is more expensive during that time.

Seasonal trends

Certain terms can be more expensive and competitive during specific times of the year. For example, some fitness and health-related keywords may have a spike in the first quarter of the year when people focus on their wellness goals.

PPC ad campaign checklist

Grab this checklist to craft PPC campaigns for your small business today:

• Research: Do market and keyword research to understand the makings of an effective PPC ad in your industry.
• Header section: Craft a bold, attention-grabbing statement that clearly communicates the main benefit or offer.
• Body copy: Speak to the features and benefits of your product or service in the body of your PPC ad.
• Assets: Insert additional information like product pages or sales to encourage more clicks.
• Call to action (CTA): Determine the main action you want visitors to take and give them a reason to click.
• Landing page: Make sure users are directed to a landing page that represents your business and offer well.
• Monitor: Analyze data and track your results to find opportunities for improvement.

The takeaway

Small business teams have a lot on their plate. Paid search is an investment that offers a quick return and lower customer acquisition costs when you implement the right strategies.

Use this post as a guide for your next campaign to set yourself up for success.

Want to put together a PPC advertising campaign that converts? We’d love to help. Get in touch with our experts.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January 2024.

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The post PPC for Small Business: 12 Tips to Drive More Revenue (+ Checklist) appeared first on HawkSEM.

Picture this: You launch a killer Google Ads campaign but your impressions and clicks are nowhere to be found. In fact, your ad’s gone completely M.I.A.

What gives?

The reality is that Google Ads not showing up happens more often than you might think.

But with expert guidance from our Senior SEM Manager Ian Dawson, we’ll help you find the solution and bring your ads back into focus.

If your ad isn’t showing up in search results, it could be due to a lower quality ad and user experience or a limited budget. (Image: Adobe)

14 potential reasons for Google Ads not showing up

According to Dawson, Google Ads performance issues often come down to two things: budgeting or quality.

“If your ad isn’t showing up in search results, it could be due to a lower quality ad and user experience or a limited budget,” he says.

“A higher quality ad can often cost less while a larger budget can sometimes allow for a lower-quality ad to show up.”

The good news: Google Ads often drops clues as to why your ads aren’t showing up.

Leveraging Dawson’s expertise in Google Ads optimization, this list serves as a roadmap to help you identify and rectify specific issues with your campaigns and their correlating solutions.

1. You haven’t run your diagnostics

One of the best things about the Google Ads platform is its built-in diagnostic process designed to help you resolve issues, called the Ad Preview tool and Diagnosis tool. If your Google Ads fail to appear, this is an ideal place to start.

Solution: Navigate to the main menu on the left side, with Ad Preview and diagnosis under Tools > Troubleshooting > Ad preview and diagnosis. Here, you’ll see your Campaigns with Keywords, Ad Groups, and possible reasons your ad isn’t showing.

Pro tip: Use this tool regularly to ensure your ads are displaying as intended and get ahead of any issues promptly.

Now, if the Diagnosis Tool isn’t shedding light on the issue, it’s time for more hands-on troubleshooting on your end.

The next potential problem to investigate is the status of your Google Ads account itself.

2. Your Google Ads account is under review

If Google detects unusual activity or billing issues, it may initiate an account review.

Due to security concerns, your campaigns are inactive while your account is under review. This results in a temporary pause of your ads across platforms.

Solution: Unfortunately, all you can do in this situation is be patient and allow the review process to run its course. Once it’s complete, your campaigns will automatically resume and become active.

3. There’s a payment issue

Google Ads not showing up can happen because of something as trivial as a payment mishap.

Most advertisers set up automatic payments for their Google Ads accounts. Google pulls the payment either when you hit your pre-established payment threshold or at the end of your billing cycle.

Expired billing information or invalid credit card details could deactivate your account until you resolve the issue.

Solution: Regularly check your billing information within your Google Ads account. Verify that your credit card details are accurate and up-to-date, and ensure that your payment settings are configured correctly.

This will help you avoid disruptions in your ad visibility so your campaigns continue to reach your target audience.

4. You’ve maxed out your daily budget

As you probably know, Google Ads operates on a daily budget allocation system, where you set the maximum amount you’re willing to spend daily on campaigns.

One possible reason for your ads not showing is that your daily budget has simply run out.

Imagine you’ve set a daily budget of $50 for your campaign. If your ads receive enough clicks and interactions to consume that budget early in the day, your ads may stop displaying until the next day — when your budget resets.

You’ll be alerted to this with a “Limited by Budget” ad status, meaning your ad’s visibility hinges on how your keyword cost per click (CPC) matches your campaign budget.

If your CPC surpasses your budget, your ads won’t show. This is because Google Ads evenly distributes your budget daily for improved performance.

Solution: If possible, increase your budget so your ads show for the entire day. If expanding your budget isn’t an option, then maximize what you’ve got. Instead, try enabling the Ad Rotation feature so your ads appear when your target audience is most active.

If the daily budget doesn’t seem to be the problem, perhaps it stems from bidding issues instead.

5. Your bids are too high or too low

You’re also probably familiar with Google Ads’ bidding system, which lets advertisers bid on keywords for ad placements.

“As a competitor bids on similar terms that you might bid on, they can outbid or have a higher quality ad, which can lower the visibility of your ad,” Dawson explains.

“Highly competitive terms will often have multiple advertisers bidding, which limits the number of slots that your ad can appear in.”

The catch?

If your bids are significantly higher than the competition, your ads might be displayed too often to the same users, resulting in ad fatigue and lower click-through rates.

Moreover, your budget might be depleted early in the day, causing your ads to stop showing for the rest of the day.

Alternatively, if your bids are too low compared to the competition, your ads may struggle to win the auctions for those keywords. This results in lower ad visibility and fewer impressions.

Solution: Evaluate your bidding strategies consistently. Review your keyword performance, assess the competition, and make bid adjustments as needed. Fortunately, Google’s Bid Simulator tool makes this easy.

Bid Simulator helps you understand the potential impact of bid adjustments on your campaign’s performance. It offers valuable insights into how changes in bid amounts can affect your ad’s visibility, clicks, and overall success.

Taking advantage of the Bid Simulator helps you strike the right balance between bid amounts and campaign objectives, all while keeping your budget in check.

Mastering this balance helps your ads receive favorable placements and reach a broader, more relevant audience — therefore increasing the chances of driving meaningful results for your campaign.

Keep in mind that your keywords can impact your ad visibility in a few different ways.

6. Negative keywords are canceling out active keywords

Negative keywords have a major role in refining the targeting of your Google Ads campaigns. They prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant search terms.

However, if you’ve set negative keywords too broadly or inadvertently included terms that closely relate to your active keywords, it can lead to your ads getting suppressed when they shouldn’t be.

Let’s say you sell high-end smartphones and make “affordable” a negative keyword. That might prevent your ad from showing to users doing a Google search for premium devices within their price range.

As a result, your negative keywords unintentionally counteract your active keywords, causing your ads to miss out on impressions and clicks.

Solution: To rectify this, you need to review and adjust your list of negative keywords. Make sure they align with your campaign objectives and don’t interfere with your active keyword targeting.

This fine-tuning guarantees that your ads are visible to the right audience and that negative keywords enhance — not hinder — your campaign’s effectiveness.

Dawson suggests a thorough review of the search term report can uncover wasted ad spend on searches that don’t align with your company’s offerings.

“By removing future searches of these invalid terms using negative keywords, over time you can use more budget on desirable searches,” he says.

“Additionally, as you remove irrelevant search terms, you can also improve your click-through rate and overall user experience.”

7. Your keyword search volume is too low

As Search Engine Land reports, search volume is the foundation of almost every successful Google search ad campaign.

And low search volume is one of the most common reasons for Google Ads not performing well.

Low search volume means that your targeted keywords aren’t being actively searched by enough people. This happens when you’ve chosen keywords that are too niche, specific, or long-tail, causing Google Ads to deactivate your ad temporarily.

Like your bidding strategy, it comes down to balancing exact match, broad match, and related keywords to ensure your ads have the chance to display to a suitable audience.

Solution: Visit the Keyword section of your account and peep the Status column. Focus on any keywords with a status of “low search volume.” Click on the status next to each term, and you’ll have the option to keep it as is, pause it, or modify it to improve its relevance or search volume.

At HawkSEM, our routine campaign analyses are comprehensive and include keyword status checks. Addressing concerns like low search volume issues is an integral part of optimizing your Google Ads campaigns for better visibility and performance.

Creating audiences to reach specific groups of customers and leads is a super effective approach. However, you risk limiting your audience if you’re not careful. (Image: Adobe Stock)

8. The ad group isn’t focused enough

Google Ad groups are a combination of ads and keywords tied together. When someone’s search query aligns with your chosen keywords, you enter into the ad auction. Google will then display one of the ads tied to that keyword.

The more relevant your ad is, the higher the ranking and your chances of winning the ad auction.

Solution: Create ad groups with keywords that are closely related. When your keywords are similar, your ad will match better with user search queries — no matter which keyword triggers it.

Check for unrelated keywords and separate them into their own ad groups or remove them altogether.

And what about targeting? Well, it’s a double-sided coin.

9. Your targeting settings are off

Creating audiences to reach specific groups of customers and leads is a super effective approach. However, you risk limiting your audience if you’re not careful.

Before your ads go live, your audience must meet a minimum size requirement. For Google Display Network ads, that’s at least 100 active users in the last 30 days, while Google Search ads require a minimum of 1,000 active users.

If your audience hasn’t had enough growth time to meet these thresholds, it might be too small to display ads.

How do you know if your targeting is too narrow? There are a couple of ways:

• Check the Display Network tab within the ad group you want. Under the Interests & Remarketing tab, you can see if that specific audience is “too small to target for the Display Network.”
• Check the Observation setting to experiment with certain segments and how they respond to your ads. While targeting restricts your reach to a particular audience, observing broadens your scope to a wider audience while still monitoring ad performance within a more defined segment. This approach gives you useful insights without the limitations of too-narrow targeting.

Solution: As for the fix, you have two options. You can either wait for the list to grow to the required size naturally or manually upload more email addresses to meet the necessary threshold.

10. The Quality Score isn’t high enough

Quality Score is a dynamic metric used by Google to measure the quality and relevance of your ads, keywords, and landing pages with their triggered search queries.

A higher Quality Score generally leads to better ad placement and lower costs.

“Quality Score plays an important role in determining ad placements as it’s key to the user’s search experience,” says Dawson.

“Quality Scores combine historical click-through rates, ad and keyword relevance, and landing page experience to determine the best possible experience for a searcher.”

Dawson adds that a low Quality Score will reduce the number of impressions your keywords are eligible for while potentially increasing your click costs.

“A high Quality Score will do the opposite: your keyword will have more visibility and potentially a lower click cost,” he says.

You’ll know this is the problem when you see “Rarely shown due to low Quality Score” statuses next to your keywords.

Solution: Assess the interplay between your keywords, ads, and landing page. Think about how you can fine-tune them to relate better and provide a smoother user experience. Doing this will help boost your ad visibility and draw more eyes to your content.

11. The ad schedule is too restricted

Google ad schedules let you display ads or change bids during specific times of the day or days of the week. If your target audience searches for your keywords outside this window, your ads won’t be visible.

“The basic function of the ad auction is to allow advertisers to pay for an ad to be visible and clickable,” Dawson says.

“Other factors like relevance, expected CTR, and historical performance help determine ad placement. The advertiser with the highest bid often snags the top ad slot, but with ad quality factoring in, a user with a better quality ad can sometimes enjoy a top slot with a lower bid.”

Ad scheduling, on the other hand? Dawson explains that this is “an additional parameter to allow an advertiser to only participate in ad auctions at certain times or on certain days.“

There are two ways your ad schedule could dampen ad performance: either it’s too limited (e.g., displaying ads for only an hour a day) or poorly executed (e.g., displaying ads when your target audience is least active).

Solution: Review your current ad schedule within your campaign settings. Research to see when your audience is most active, and adjust your ad schedule to match those days and times for better results.

But remember, ensuring relevance is just as crucial for maintaining ad visibility.

12. The landing page isn’t relevant

Optimized ad copy and SEO are definitely important, but Google’s looking at more than that — like the relevance of your landing page.

If the page your ad directs audiences to doesn’t align with the keywords or content of the ad itself, it sends a confusing signal to both audiences and Google.

This mismatch can result in lower ad rankings and poor user experience, hence fewer clicks and higher CPC.

Solution: Make sure your landing page is relevant to your ad. The content, message, and keywords should seamlessly connect with your ad’s intent. If your ad promotes something specific, ensure it’s prominently featured on the landing page.

A clear, consistent path from ad to landing page boosts ad visibility and user experience, leading to better conversions.

13. Your click-through rate (CTR) is too low

CTR measures the percentage of people who click your ad after seeing it.

A high CTR means your messaging is on point, so Google rewards you by amplifying your ad’s visibility.

However, if your CTR is consistently low, it signals to Google that your ad isn’t relevant or appealing to users. As a result, Google’s algorithms could lower the Quality Score of your ad, negatively impacting your Ad Rank.

In fact, Dawson warns that Google’s algorithms continuously refine and encourage quality.

“One recent change relates to advertisers needing to be verified with Google,” says Dawson. “This process helps reduce spam, scam, and illegitimate businesses in Google Ads search results.”

As a consequence, your ad won’t appear as frequently or at all in search results, as Google prioritizes more relevant, engaging, verified ads with higher Ad Ranks.

Your ads should always be relevant, but sometimes they can miss the mark.

This is why we’re so hyped about ConversionIQ. With its advanced capabilities like predictive software and automation, it empowers us to proactively tackle potential obstacles, transforming your Google Ads campaigns into high-performing, visible assets that reach the right audience.

So, how do you get ahead of a low CTR?

Solution: According to Dawson, your ad’s historical performance is one of the biggest factors in Quality Score and, therefore, ad visibility.

“If your ads have a high expected CTR, which is determined by their historical CTR, you’ll have a higher Quality Score and better visibility,” he explains.

The most direct path? Create compelling, relevant ad copy that resonates with your target audience. And if you’re struggling, recruit the help of a trusted PPC agency.

Leveling up your ads signals to Google that you deliver a positive user experience. As a thank you, you’ll be rewarded with increased visibility, improved Ad Rank, and a higher CTR.

14. Your ads aren’t actually running

After exploring the common reasons for Google Ads not showing up, you might still find yourself perplexed. If you’ve checked all the suggestions above and are still confused, it is time to ensure that your Google Ads are running in the first place.

It might sound overly simple: the reason you’re not seeing your ads is because they’re not running. But you might be surprised by how often that is actually the answer.

Luckily, it’s easy to check whether your Google Ads are running. And if you find out they aren’t, turning them on is even simpler.

Bonus: A step-by-step guide to determine if your Google Ads are running

How do you know if your Google Ads are running? You will want to check that their status is enabled to confirm. However, after submitting your ad, give Google time to process, typically 15 minutes to 48 hours.

Once 48 hours have passed, here’s how to check that your ads are running:

1. Access the Google Ads dashboard

To begin, access your Google Ads dashboard:

• Log into your Google Ads account: Log in to your Google Ads account using your credentials.
• Verify your ads are enabled: Check the status of your campaigns. Make sure they are marked as “Enabled” (there should be a little green dot next to your ad). If any campaigns are paused, investigate the reasons and reactivate them for better ad visibility.
• Check the “Status” column to ensure your ad is marked as “Approved.” Approved ads comply with all policies and can be shown to all audiences. Ads marked as “Eligible” are still under review but can appear on Google search pages. If your ad is “Under review” or “Disapproved,” it may need further attention or policy clarification from Google AdWords.

2. Check Campaigns and Ad Groups

To verify that your campaigns and ad groups are active:

• Confirm “Enabled” status: Ensure that all your campaigns and ad groups are marked as “Enabled.” If any of them are paused or removed, take the necessary steps to reactivate them. This is crucial for maintaining a consistent ad presence.
• Investigate ad group status: If you come across any ad groups that are paused or removed, investigate why this has occurred. Reactivate them to improve the overall visibility of your ads.

3. Use Google’s Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool

Google provides the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool, a handy resource to check the status of your ad without affecting your ad statistics.

Here’s how to use it:

• Enter your keyword(s) and let Google process the results. You can also specify geography and devices to replicate your ad’s targeting settings.
• The tool provides helpful search term suggestions as you type. These suggestions are drawn from keywords within your account that have garnered impressions and are organized by their search volume.
• This tool is invaluable for verifying whether your ad assets are displaying alongside specific keywords. If any of your assets are not appearing, the tool will offer insights into the potential reasons for their absence.
• Additionally, you can take advantage of the ‘Share this search’ feature to bookmark specific searches or share the search results URL with colleagues or clients. It’s worth noting that the results generated by this tool may evolve over time. For instance, a preview of your ad may no longer be visible within the tool if your campaign exhausts its average daily budget.

4. Add the keyword status column

Another way to get out in front of any issues is to add the keyword status column to your keyword view. This will allow you to review for any potential issues on a regular basis without doing extensive checks with the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool.

• Add the columns by clicking the columns icon and clicking modify columns. Add keyword status and click save.
• Regularly review this column for the status “An ad isn’t showing right now.” Usually, it will show the potential issue as one of the several possible issues including “ad not approved,” “low Quality Score,” and “ad is not approved.”
• Note that the keyword status column could show as “We don’t know why your ads aren’t showing right now.” That shouldn’t discourage you. Instead, you should be aware and routinely make optimizations based on best practices.

What not to do when checking if your Google Ads are running

The #1 mistake? Searching for your own ads on Google Search. This can lead to extra ad impressions that may negatively impact your ad’s statistics and click-through rate.

If you really want to search for your own ads, however, at least make sure that you avoid these common mistakes:

• Using ad blockers: Make sure to disable ad blocker software on your browser to ensure accurate results.
• Broad geographic searching: Be mindful of geography; avoid searching broadly if your ad targets a specific location.
• Only checking the first page of the SERP: Look beyond the first page. A low ad rank and Quality Score can push your ad down to subsequent pages.
• Using VPNs: If you’re using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), be aware that it might affect how Google locates your location, potentially leading to ad visibility issues.

Pro tip: Check the timezone upon setup. Google Ads defaults to Pacific time, so it’s important to make sure you’ve set up the time zone correctly. Otherwise, your ads won’t serve on the correct schedule.

The takeaway

From keyword conundrums to ad group alignments and everything in between, there are myriad potential reasons for Google Ads not showing up.

However, knowing the most common reasons will help you find a solution quicker and more efficiently.

With this comprehensive guide, you can bid farewell to panic and restore your ad campaigns’ visibility with newfound ease. Whatever the issue, there’s almost always a fix, especially with the right PPC team in your corner.

If you’re close to throwing in the towel or want to talk through your options, get in touch with the digital marketing experts. We’re more than happy to hop in and resurrect your ads to hero status.

This article has been updated and was originally posted in October 2023.

The post Google Ads Not Showing Up? 14 Reasons Why + How to Fix It appeared first on HawkSEM.

This year, cybercrime costs are estimated to hit $10.5 trillion globally. As cybercrime continues to rise, so does the need for cybersecurity services.

With pay-per-click advertising, cybersecurity businesses can connect with those who need them the most on platforms like Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Let’s explore how you can use PPC to grow your cybersecurity firm, with expert insights from HawkSEM CEO and Co-founder Sam Yadegar.

What is PPC for cybersecurity?

PPC for cybersecurity is a targeted advertising strategy specifically for cybersecurity firms that involves placing ads on digital platforms like search engines.

This ad model helps cybersecurity businesses boost their online visibility and attract potential clients — and the advertiser only pays a fee when someone clicks their ad.

Here’s an example of a paid search ad on Google:

Here’s another example on Facebook:

The primary goal of PPC ads is to generate more marketing-qualified leads (MQL) by reaching the right audience at the right time.

When someone searches for cybersecurity services, your PPC ads appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) or on relevant social media platforms.

This strategic placement ensures your services gain maximum exposure to those who need them the most.

What’s the cost of PPC for cybersecurity?

The cost of PPC advertising for cybersecurity can vary widely, depending on factors like the platform, geographic segmentation (target location), keyword competitiveness, and ad quality.

For instance, the average cost per click (CPC) for the keyword “cybersecurity” on Google can be as high as $10.61, while more specific (and commercial) terms like “cybersecurity service” might see a CPC of $18.24.

It’s important to note that a higher bid doesn’t guarantee your ad will be displayed.

Platforms like Google Ads also consider the relevance and quality of the ad and its landing page.

Therefore, while budgeting for PPC campaigns, cybersecurity companies must consider the potential cost and focus on creating high-quality, relevant ads that are meaningful to their target audience.

They should have a clear understanding of what factors influence an ad’s cost and how to lower CPC.

Further reading: Google Ads Campaign Cost: What Should You Expect?

Why use PPC ads to promote your cybersecurity service?

Here are some of the benefits of PPC marketing for cybersecurity business owners:

Instant visibility

For cybersecurity, where timely solutions are crucial, PPC ensures your service appears promptly in front of potential clients.

It bypasses the slow climb of organic search rankings, pushing your offering to the forefront when businesses search for immediate cybersecurity solutions or browse related content online.

Trackable investment returns

PPC ads provide tangible metrics to gauge your return on investment (ROI).

You can measure success through detailed PPC analytics reports showing how many viewers become leads.

This data-driven digital marketing approach means you can swiftly spot which ads connect with your audience, allowing adjustments to maximize campaign performance.

Precise targeting

With PPC, cybersecurity firms can target audiences by demographics, online behavior, and even company size or industry. This ensures your message reaches the decision-makers who need it most.

For example, a firm can target ads to IT directors in the finance industry just as they’re researching compliance solutions after a regulatory update.

Controlled spending

You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, which can lower customer acquisition costs.

This is critical for cybersecurity startups where advertising budgets must be justified with direct lead generation.

You ensure you only spend your B2B marketing budget on people interested in your services (vs. casual browsers) by paying only for clicks.

Here’s an example of how you can set your per-day budget on Google Ads:

Builds brand awareness

PPC ads can build brand familiarity in a crowded market.

When potential clients frequently see your cybersecurity ads, they begin to recognize your brand as a trusted solution.

Even if they don’t click right away, your brand’s visibility ensures your name is already familiar when they need cybersecurity services.

An edge over competitors

PPC ads put your cybersecurity service in the spotlight ahead of competitors.

When businesses urgently search for cybersecurity support, a well-placed ad ensures they see your solution first.

This prime positioning can be the decisive factor that steers potential clients towards your services over others, directly impacting your client acquisition rates.

10 cybersecurity PPC advertising tips

Here are common tips to follow when planning and implementing PPC cybersecurity ad campaigns:

1. 1. Refine your keyword strategy for targeted reach
   2. Use negative keywords to improve campaign relevance
   3. Leverage ad assets for enhanced visibility
   4. Align ad content with landing pages
   5. Tap into the power of videos
   6. Implement advanced retargeting strategies
   7. Employ A/B testing to refine ad elements
   8. Integrate interactive elements in ads for higher engagement
   9. Rely on a good PPC tool for rich data
   10. Focus on social media too

1. Refine your keyword strategy for targeted reach

Like SEO, the success of your PPC campaign hinges on the keywords you target. Research your audience’s search habits and the specific language they use when looking for cybersecurity solutions.

Use PPC keyword research tools like Semrush to identify long-tail keywords that capture highly targeted traffic.

For instance, instead of targeting “cybersecurity,” you could target “enterprise-grade cybersecurity solutions in Atlanta” to attract a more defined, local audience likely to convert.

Include these keywords in your PPC ad copy to improve relevance and Quality Score, which can lower your cost per click.

2. Use negative keywords to improve campaign relevance

Negative keywords are a powerful way to refine your ad targeting. Identify terms commonly associated with your chosen keywords but not relevant to the services you offer.

You can add these negative keywords to ensure your ad isn’t shown to people searching for unrelated or low-value content, saving your budget for serious prospects.

For example, if you offer high-end cybersecurity consultancy, you might add “free IT security assessment” as a negative keyword to avoid attracting users who aren’t your target clientele.

3. Leverage ad assets for enhanced visibility

Ad assets expand your advertisement, giving potential clients additional information and more reasons to choose your service.

Use sitelink extensions to direct users to specific pages on your site, like ‘Case Studies’ or ‘Free Security Assessment.’

Callout extensions can highlight unique selling points like “24/7 Monitoring” or “Compliance Expertise.”

These assets make your ad more prominent and provide valuable information that can compel a prospect to click.

Further reading: 11 Google Assets: How to Set Them Up (+Examples and Tips)

4. Align ad content with landing pages

The message on your ads should seamlessly transition to your landing pages. This consistency reassures users that they’ve come to the right place.

For a cybersecurity PPC ad promoting a “Network Security Check,” ensure the landing page explains this offer in detail, including what it entails and how visitors can sign up.

A coherent message from the ad to the landing page improves user experience and increases the likelihood of conversion.

Further reading: 21 Landing Page Examples You’ll Wish You’d Thought Of

5. Tap into the power of videos

Incorporate video ads into your PPC strategy, especially on platforms like YouTube and Facebook, where visual content is highly engaging.

Create concise, informative videos that explain your cybersecurity services, showcase client testimonials, or provide quick tips on cyber safety.

Videos can capture attention more effectively than text-based ads, offering a dynamic way to convey the value of your cybersecurity solutions.

For instance, a short explainer video illustrating how your service protects businesses from cyber threats is more impactful than a traditional text ad. It makes complex cybersecurity concepts accessible and engaging for a wider audience.

Further reading: Google Ads Video Campaigns: What They Are + How to Get Started

6. Implement advanced retargeting strategies

Retargeting ads are shown to people who have previously interacted with your website or brand. But retargeting can also be used as a strategy to provide additional value or context.

If someone visited a particular service page on your site but hasn’t converted, retarget them with a case study or a testimonial ad directly related to that service.

This approach transforms a simple reminder into an opportunity to build credibility and showcase your cybersecurity firm’s success stories and client satisfaction. This, subsequently, increases the likelihood of conversion.

Further reading: How to Use Retargeting Ads to Boost Conversions

7. Employ A/B testing to refine ad elements

A/B testing compares two marketing elements to see drives better results. Test different headlines, descriptions, and display URLs to find the most effective combination.

In cybersecurity, A/B testing can reveal the nuances that make your offer stand out.

A headline like “Advanced Cybersecurity Solutions” may perform better than “Top Cybersecurity Services,” and A/B testing can provide the data to make informed decisions.

At HawkSEM, we’ve proven the effectiveness of A/B testing through our PPC strategies. For our client AppDynamics, a San Francisco-based tech company, we created 200 direct landing pages, which increased the conversion rate by 20%.

Further reading: What is A/B Testing? How To Use It + Expert Advice

8. Integrate interactive elements in ads for higher engagement

Interactive ads can significantly increase engagement, especially on social media platforms.

Consider using formats like polls, quizzes, or interactive infographics in your ads to engage users.

For cybersecurity, an interactive quiz assessing a company’s cybersecurity readiness engages the user and provides immediate value — all the while positioning your firm as a knowledgeable authority in the field.

9. Rely on a good PPC tool for rich data

The key to a successful PPC campaign is constant testing and optimization based on data.

You can use third-party PPC optimization and automation tools to improve your campaign based on data.

Further reading: 17 PPC Tools for Productivity, Research & More (+ Cost & Pro Tips)

At HawkSEM, we use ConversionIQ, our proprietary marketing technology. We built this tool to drive actionable insights from ad campaigns to maximize conversions for our clients.

ConversionIQ integrates with Google Ads, Microsoft Ads (Bing ads), social media platforms, and beyond. It comes with powerful features that aid in forecasting growth, allocating budget intelligently, understanding performance trends, and more.

All active HawkSEM clients get access to these insights.

“ConversionIQ has helped us 2X our clients’ lead acquisition, lower cost per acquisition by 40%, and improve lead quality by 60%,” says Yadegar.

“Our team takes data very seriously. It defines our strategy and tactics. This is why we’ve built a dedicated tool altogether. So that we get deep insights from every campaign, with the right metrics, and at the right time.”

Want to learn more about ConversionIQ? Get in touch with us.

10. Focus on social media, too

PPC isn’t just search ads. Many social media platforms have the pay-per-click ad model. So, expand your PPC marketing strategy beyond search engines to include social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook.

When advertising on social platforms, dive deeper into user demographics and interests.

For instance, on LinkedIn, target profiles related to cybersecurity (e.g., IT professionals or security analysts) or industries prone to cyber risks (e.g., finance or healthcare).

Tailor your paid social content to address the specific challenges and needs of these segments.

For example, use case-specific content for healthcare cybersecurity, highlighting your expertise in HIPAA compliance and data protection. This would make your ads highly relevant to your target audience.

How to set up a PPC campaign for cybersecurity firms

While you can run PPC ad campaigns across search engines and social media platforms, let’s look at how to create a PPC ad campaign for Google Ads specifically:

First, go to your Google Ads account and create a new campaign. Then, select an objective that aligns with your business goals. For cybersecurity businesses, “Leads” is often a suitable choice.

Choose “Search” as your campaign type to target users actively searching for cybersecurity solutions.

Next, select options for how you would like to reach your goal. (Let’s go with “Website visits,” which is typical for Google search ad campaigns). Next, enter your URL.

Name your campaign and click “Continue.”

The next step involves configuring your campaign.

This includes:

1. 1. • Setting your bid (the maximum amount you’ll pay per ad click)
      • Choosing your target audience (defining who sees your ads by demographics and interests)
      • Adding target keywords (specific terms related to your cybersecurity services)
      • Setting your budget (your total spend limit)

After finalizing everything, review your campaign and take it live.

Further reading: How to Set Up a PPC Campaign: Step-by-Step Tips

How to find a cybersecurity PPC agency

Running a PPC campaign on search or social is tricky. Ineffective audience targeting and bid management can result in low conversion rates and even cost you much more per conversion. So, it’s usually recommended to get help from experts.

If you want to hire an agency to promote your cybersecurity services, look at various factors to find the right partner.

Here are several to consider when finding a cybersecurity PPC agency:

Relevant industry experience

Yes, they may have worked with the biggest SaaS brands. But that’s not “relevant” experience.

An experienced cybersecurity marketing agency should have a proven track record of working with other companies (startup and enterprise) in your industry.

Check for case studies and examples that show familiarity with your category’s unique language, goals, and challenges.

Without direct experience, it may struggle to connect with your audience.

Expertise and a qualified team

Ensure the agency has a team of experts skilled in PPC strategy, keyword research, ad creation, and analytics. Look for titles in the team like PPC managers, copywriters, graphic designers, data analysts, ABM specialists, and CRO specialists.

The team should also be up-to-date with the latest PPC trends and changes, especially those relevant to cybersecurity marketing.

Track record of success

Look beyond claims of expertise to evaluate past client results. Testimonials can be hand-picked.

Ask for examples of goal-meeting and goal-exceeding campaigns.

How an agency has tangibly impacted ROI for other clients says more than standard claims.

Transparency and communication

Day-to-day work on PPC marketing campaigns can’t be a black box. Ensure your expectations around updates match the agency’s process for showing impact and sharing insights.

Ideally, you want to choose an agency that values transparency and open communication.

Regular updates, clear reporting of results, and responsiveness to your queries are key for a successful partnership.

Understanding of your target audience

Your products and messaging should echo the motivations of potential customers.

Ask how the agency will research and incorporate insights around your audience’s pain points and decision-making psychology.

Remember, gaps in understanding the target group can lead to wasted money.

Budget and ROI focus

Discuss your budget and expected ROI with the agency.

A good ad agency will be able to work within your budget constraints and aim to maximize your ROI through efficient PPC management.

Further reading: How to Choose the Right PPC Agency: 13 Steps

PPC for cybersecurity: Helpful terms

Just getting started with PPC for cybersecurity? Here are the most common terms you should know:

1. 1. • CPC (Cost Per Click): The amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad
      • Bidding: Process of setting a price you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad
      • Quality Score: A metric search engines use to determine your ad’s relevance and quality to the selected keywords
      • Impressions: Number of times your ad is displayed on a search results page or social media platform
      • Target audience: Specific group of people you want to reach with your ads. For cybersecurity companies, this could include IT managers and CTOs.
      • Retargeting: Technique that allows you to show ads to users who have previously visited your website
      • Geotargeting: Practice of delivering ads to users based on their geographic location
      • CTR (Click-Through Rate): Rate (%) of people who click on your ad after seeing it
      • Conversion rate: The rate (%) of users who take a desired action (like filling out a form) after clicking your ad

The takeaway

PPC for cybersecurity is time-consuming — from keyword research and buildout to ongoing maintenance and optimizations.

If PPC isn’t a feasible in-house task, reach out to HawkSEM’s dedicated team of PPC experts.

“Our framework for cybersecurity firms is hands-on and personalized, which includes manually creating each PPC campaign and closely monitoring it to ensure positive ROAS. We never leave ads on autopilot,” says Yadegar.

“Each campaign is spearheaded by a senior strategist, ensuring that there’s always expert human intelligence guiding our efforts.”

This approach has helped increase conversions by up to 128% and decrease cost per conversion by 46% for our B2B clients.

Book a free consultation with us today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January 2024.

The post PPC for Cybersecurity: Benefits, Cost + How to Do It Right appeared first on HawkSEM.

Many industries have experienced their fair share of shakeups in recent years when it comes to the job market.

As a result, finding the right people for the right roles can be as difficult as it is important.

Luckily, there’s no one better suited to that task than a recruitment company.

There’s just one small problem: The recruitment industry is highly competitive.

Not only that, but it’s becoming harder for recruitment firms to attract clients amongst the massive pool of competition these days.

That’s why we tapped one of HawkSEM’s team lead strategists, Matt Monroe, to offer his knowledge and expert insights into how recruitment companies can set themselves apart from the crowd and land the perfect clients through strategic paid search campaigns.

The days of physical job boards are over: it’s time to invest in targeted pay-per-click (aka PPC) ads.

 When you’re looking to land new clients for your recruitment firm, a paid search agency can do wonders to help you create a targeted PPC campaign. (Image: Rawpixel)

What is PPC for recruiters?

PPC for recruiters is a digital advertising method that recruitment companies and individuals can leverage through strategic ad copy and value propositions to connect with their target audience and grow their business.

How can PPC ads benefit recruitment companies?

Before we dive right into PPC strategies, let’s discuss the reasons why PPC ads are a good investment for recruitment companies.

Based on our experienced assessment, here’s how recruitment companies benefit:

• You can target the right audience. With PPC advertising, you only target enterprises (within your niche) that are genuinely looking for a recruitment company. Advertisers can conduct keyword research to help focus campaigns on relevant long-tail keywords and input negative keywords. This helps recruitment companies capture high-quality leads faster and avoid wasting ad spend on companies that aren’t a good fit.
• You’ll see a high return on ad spend (ROAS). A smart PPC campaign will pay for itself. When you only target prospects who are looking for a recruitment company, you only pay for the warm leads who will click on your ads.
• Your agency will be at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). When you run paid search ads on any search engine, your posts will appear on the first page of the SERPs above the organic search listings. Stats show that PPC traffic converts 50% better than organic site visitors.
• You cast a wider net with PPC ads. With PPC, you’re not limited by location. You can target clients across the globe who are actively looking for help from a recruitment agency. Stats show that 65% of high-intent searches, no matter where they come from, will result in a click.

“Staying on top of the negative keywords is crucial in these campaigns,” says Monroe. “You can’t really ‘set it and forget it’ like some other industries.”

He adds that, since these candidates are constantly searching different queries, remarketing campaigns can perform rather well.

It’s key to keep in mind that someone looking for work is most likely ready to sign up immediately, sometimes on the first click or after looking around for a few days.

However, the “sales cycle” is much shorter than a company looking to invest $10,000 or more a year for a SaaS product, for example.

PPC ad strategies to help recruitment agencies attract new clients

Most recruitment companies have two audiences: new clients and job seekers.

Most likely, the strategies you use to attract new clients for your recruitment firm and to find new talent for your clients won’t be the same.

As a recruitment professional, you already know the best strategies for finding the right talent for your clients.

But when you’re looking to land new clients for your recruitment firm, a paid search agency can do wonders to help you create a targeted PPC campaign.

Here are some high-level PPC strategies for recruitment firms that will help you capture more clients and boost your ROAS.

1. Identify your target personas

The first thing to do to create a winning PPC campaign is to define your target persona.

Without knowing exactly who your target client is, you risk advertising to the wrong crowd and wasting your ad budget.

To create the perfect persona for your target client, ask yourself and/or your team the following questions:

• What is the type of organization (e.g., small to mid-sized businesses or enterprise employer brands) you are suited to serve?
• Which industries do your ideal clients typically belong to?
• What are your clients’ major pain points when it comes to hiring talent?
• Which candidate types do they typically look for?
• What are their hiring policies?
• How familiar is your audience with recruiting firms?
• What kinds of things is your audience searching for when they need to hire talent?
• What are their current practices?
• How much money are they spending on recruiting?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you’ll have the information you need to create a nuanced campaign that targets only the right audience.

You can then use your target client persona to write excellent ad copy, segment your audience properly, bid on the right keywords (and exclude the wrong keywords), and ultimately create a converting PPC campaign.

Creating a strong persona will make a difference in how much you spend on lead generation and how you maximize your ROAS.

Categorize your audience’s pain points into distinct problem areas. (Image: Unsplash)

2. Use industry pain points to inform ad copy

What good is a PPC ad offer if it completely misses the point of what your prospects want?

Creating PPC ads around misdiagnosed client pain points — or leaving the pain point out altogether — is one of the most common PPC mistakes and a surefire way to waste your budget.

It’s essential to have a constant pulse on industry pain points to create an effective ad. Here are some ways to find this information:

• Spend time in online communities
• Send out surveys to past and current clients
• Sit in on pitch meetings and interviews
• Check out the pain points your competitors are targeting
• Have informal conversations with your prospects
• Scour the social media sites where your audience hangs out (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc.)

Once you’ve identified the pain points (e.g., trimming recruitment costs, reducing the lead time on positions being filled, etc.), you can use them to write strong ad copy.

Recruitment company search ad examples

I googled the highly competitive keyword “recruitment firm in Philadelphia.”

Below is a look at a couple of the top PPC ad listings as an example to see how they do or don’t target potential pain points.

“Avoiding generic search terms like ‘recruitment agency’ or ‘freelance employer’ will help to remain efficient,” says Monroe. “However, having those as a low budget or top-of-funnel type approach could be beneficial.”

Another PPC ad under this keyword addresses pain points with copy that highlights getting it right “the first time.”

Cheatsheet: Categorize your audience’s pain points into distinct problem areas. Then, write an ad that targets each of those pain points accordingly. Here are some common examples you can use as a starting point:

• Financial: How much will your prospects save by hiring your firm?
• Productivity: Why would it be efficient to hire you?
• Support: What kind of support would you be able to provide their company?
• Process: What processes do you have in place that help speed up the process and save money?

3. Highlight the value your recruitment company brings

Once you nail down target personas and understand audience pain points, create an offer in your paid search ad that’s impossible to refuse.

We talked about how you can speak to pain points, but there’s much more that goes into creating an offer that incentivizes clicks.

Here are some additional golden nuggets you can include in your ad copy:

• Focus on what the clients would get out of the deal. Would they save costs by hiring you? Would you cut down the time it takes to hire talent? Do you have access to the right candidates?
• Add in stats and numbers. You can include quantifiable numbers that motivate clients to go with your firm. For example, you can save 3-4 weeks in finding the right candidate.
• Add social proof. Highlight client testimonials or list the names of your popular clients on your landing pages.
• Use high-converting words. Some words are more powerful than others. When running a recruitment marketing strategy, you can target keywords like save, outperform, win, top, and best.
• Write your unique selling proposition (USP). You can write about your fast hiring process, how many years of industry experience you have, whether you have access to a large pool of talent, and how you have a better understanding of the market. Here’s a good example of an ad that shows unique benefits, from healthcare staffing firm CareRev.

• Double down on keywords. If you’re targeting location as a keyword, then you can use the keyword in the title and the text to readdress how you can help hire talent from those areas.

4. Make sure your landing page matches your persona and ad copy

Booya, your target prospect has clicked on your ad and you’re on your way to capturing a new lead.

The next step in creating a killer PPC campaign for your recruitment company is to knock the landing page out of the park.

First, make sure that landing pages have the same offers as your ad copy and as the keyword you bid on.

If you said you were a “clerical recruiting agency” in your ad, then your landing page should be built around your clerical recruiting services. It may sound simple, but we’ve seen too many businesses that serve up an inconsistent ad-to-LP experience.

Additional strategies to create eye-grabbing landing pages for your PPC campaign:

• Highlight your value. Include social proof, metrics, and your unique selling proposition (USP) in your landing page. CareRev does a good job of this too. When you click through to their ad, you’ll not only be able to schedule a meeting with a recruiter, but you can also read how CareRev saves health organizations millions.
• Add in a micro case study. If you can show how you helped another company find the talent they needed within a certain amount of time, then do it. Including case studies and data on your landing pages is a great way to lend credibility to your services.
• Don’t be afraid to get granular. “Avoid being too all-encompassing with your campaigns and ad groups,” Monroe suggests. “Getting more granular will allow you to spend your budget, time, and energy where it makes the most sense and impact.”
• Include strong visuals. The design and images in your landing page matter. Your design should complement the CTA. Both the CareRev and Blackcrow AI landing pages above do a good job with the design.
• Nail the headline. The headline can make or break your chances of capturing a lead. According to CopyBlogger, only 20% of people read your whole landing page, while 80% of people read your headline. Let that sink in.
• Reduce site loading time. If the website load time is too long, your prospects will bounce out of the page. Then, you’re paying for the click but not getting a lead.
• Write one clear call to action (CTA). Personalize your CTA. HubSpot analyzed 330,000 CTAs to find out personalized CTAs convert 202% more. Forgo generic copy like “click here” and replace it with more personalized CTAs or even “smart” CTAs that serve up unique phrases based on who is viewing the page.

5. Geo-target your ads

When targeting, think outside of the job description and job title.

Geo-targeting is one of the best-kept secrets in paid search advertising. Okay, it might not be a secret — but it can be highly strategic if you do it right.

With a little bit of extra research on where many corporations in your niche are located, you can geo-target your ads to areas where many corporations need recruiting help. This strategy will reduce your ad spending.

For example, if you are a recruiting company that works for big technology firms, then it makes sense to create geo-targeted ads for locations like Silicon Valley, Austin, and Lehi, Utah.

There are hundreds of huge tech companies in these locations, and they are always looking for new talent. And anyone in these areas who needs help with recruiting will start their search with a term like “recruitment company in Austin.”

Overall, geo-targeting ads provide the following benefits:

• Capture more relevant leads faster
• Improve click-through-rates
• Save your budget by targeting the most relevant audience

Don’t forget that you also need to create separate landing pages for different niches and different geo-locations.

The last thing you want to do is create an ad for “recruitment agencies in Austin,” and have your ad link to a landing page that’s all about recruiting for companies in Silicon Valley. It’s happened before. Don’t let it happen to you.

Test, analyze, and optimize

Creating a high-performing PPC ad isn’t a one-and-done process. To get the most out of your PPC ad spend, you also need to get your hands dirty. In other words, you must test your ads, analyze the results of different ads, and optimize ad campaigns for improved performance.

6. A/B test your ads

It’s easy to write one version of your ad copy, create one landing page, and then leave it at that.

But, truth be told, you don’t know how an ad will resonate with your target audience. Taking an entirely different approach may end up bringing in better leads.

As such, it’s essential to test everything on your ads to find out what works best. Consider A/B testing the following:

• Form placement
• Headline
• Keywords
• Design
• Layout
• CTA buttons
• Ad copy
• User experience (UX)

As you continue testing different versions of your PPC ads, you won’t be guessing what you think will perform.

Instead, you’ll be able to make data-driven decisions about how to make your ads convert at higher rates.

7. Analyze your results

This stat may shock you: nearly three-fourths of companies don’t look at ad campaigns in a month’s time. (Be honest. Are you one of these companies?)

If most companies aren’t looking at their ad campaigns, it also means they’re not looking at how their ads perform. While this is a terrible marketing strategy, it does represent an excellent opportunity for your recruitment company.

If you keep a close eye on the results you get/don’t get from your campaigns, you can make tweaks to your campaigns as you go that will help you beat out your competitors.

Here are some tools you can use to track your campaigns:

• Heatmapping: Heat maps show you where visitors are spending the majority of their time on your landing page. This shows you the “hot areas,” or areas of your website that consumers enjoy. You can use these heat maps for conversion rate optimization.
• Google Analytics: Dive into Google Analytics, specifically keyword conversion rates with keyword traffic rates, to get a better understanding of what keyword changes you need to make.
• Quality Score: Quality Score will give you insight into your expected CTR, how visitors like the landing page experience, and how relevant your keyword is to its ad group. Evaluate this metric to determine how you need to improve your campaign.

8. Optimize your ad campaigns

Once you get into the habit of A/B testing your recruitment company ads and reviewing your results, you can implement a strategy to optimize your campaigns for improved results.

When optimizing:

• Update your keyword list on Google Ads, Bing, and any other platforms you use
• Re-write ad copy to perform better
• Include social proof from existing customers higher up on the page
• Replicate results from A/B tests that have worked well
• Create localized landing pages for anything that’s too generic
• Improve site loading speed

The takeaway

While the strategies above will help you make an effective PPC marketing campaign for your recruitment company, the truth is that creating a truly terrific PPC campaign goes far beyond a checklist.

What’s more, with everything you have on your plate, it’s easy to let monitoring your PPC recruitment campaigns fall by the wayside.

We’re here for you – no, really. All of our paid search and SEO digital marketing pros are senior-level experts.

Because of that, you can feel confident having our expert marketing team take the lead and help you manage your paid search campaigns so you can get the results you deserve and spend more time on all your other tasks at hand.

This article has been updated and was originally published in November 2022.

The post PPC for Recruiters: Expert Advice + How to Get it Right appeared first on HawkSEM.

Whether you manage a small business or run large-scale campaigns, maximizing your ad spend to drive the most value is a top priority.

Target CPA (cost per acquisition) is a powerful bidding strategy in Google Ads that can help advertisers reach that goal.

As an automated bidding strategy, tCPA allows you to tell Google Ads how much you’re willing to pay for a conversion action. Google uses machine learning to automatically adjust bids accordingly.

Below, HawkSEM Senior SEM Manager Ian Dawson walks us through how to set the right CPA for your business and optimize your ongoing strategy so you can hit your conversion goals.

What is target CPA?

Target CPA is a smart bidding strategy that aims to get as many conversions as possible at an average set cost.

Also known as “target cost per action” or “target cost per acquisition,” target CPA allows the advertiser to set a maximum amount they are willing to pay for a conversion action (like a sign-up, sale, or download).

The campaign automatically adjusts bids for each ad auction to best achieve that goal while remaining within the set bid limits.

While each conversion action may cost more or less than the set goal, it works to ensure the average cost hits your target.

The trick is to calculate a target cost that delivers a high enough conversion volume at a profitable cost. (Image:Unsplash)

How does target CPA work?

After launching your new campaign with smart bidding, it will enter the learning phase.

This is where Google gathers historical data while experimenting with running your ads in different contexts (such as different times of day, locations, and audiences based on browsing history).

These test runs help the campaign gain further insights on how to reach your target CPA goals.

For the machine learning to work, you must have proper conversion tracking set up, as well as data from previous manual CPC bidding campaigns to provide a starting point.

The learning phase lasts for one week to one month, during which results will fluctuate.

Eventually, the campaign will learn how to make the best bid adjustments based on real-time signals — bidding higher when it believes an audience is more likely to convert and lower when they are less likely.

If you set an aggressive conversion target (lots of conversions for a lower cost), you’ll yield fewer conversions. But if your set target CPA is higher, Google will be more successful in finding those conversions.

In other words, the trick is to calculate a target cost that delivers a high enough conversion volume at a profitable cost.

What should my target CPA be?

To calculate the best target CPA for your business, you’ll need to understand your campaign objectives and the value of every conversion.

Here are things to consider to calculate the right tCPA:

1. Determine the true value of a conversion

Your target cost should closely match the true value of a conversion to your overall business. Consider the lifetime value of a customer and the potential impact of a conversion on your bottom line.

2. Start with a manual cost-per-click (CPC) campaign

Let your campaign learn from a manual campaign before moving to a maximize conversions strategy. Your manual campaign data will inform the target CPA you should set for your smart bidding campaign.

“In my experience, a target CPA would be set and calculated once a campaign has evolved through a few bidding strategies,” says Dawson.

3. Review historical data

From there, “review the CPA for each strategy’s time period to help choose your tCPA,” Dawson explains. “It’s also important to know your account’s cost per acquisition versus the return on that cost, as that will play a role in determining your tCPA.”

Alternatively, you can review your average CPA over the last month and set your target CPA slightly higher so the algorithm has some wiggle room to learn before lowering your target cost.

4. Stick to your budget

While your target CPA should be set slightly higher than your true conversion value to start, make sure it remains within your daily budget and overall marketing goals.

5. Use tools to gain further insights

Tools within Google Ads can help you understand your conversion rates, customer lifetime value, and the competitiveness of your industry.

At HawkSEM, we don’t only make use of search engine data. We enhance our campaign strategies with ConversionIQ, our proprietary tech that helps us understand and optimize our target CPA campaigns for conversions.

How to set up target CPA

Setting up your target CPA bidding strategy is straightforward.

Here’s a quick guide:

1. Log in and select your campaign: Log into your Google Ads account and choose the campaign or ad group where you want to implement target CPA
2. Navigate to campaign settings: Within the selected campaign, go to the “Settings” tab
3. Access bidding options: In the “bidding” section, click on “change bid strategy”
4. Choose target CPA: From the available bidding strategies, select “target CPA”
5. Set your target CPA: Enter your desired cost per acquisition, aligning it with your campaign goals
6. Consider enhanced CPC: Optionally, enable “Enhanced CPC” to allow Google ads to adjust your manual bidding dynamically
7. Save changes: once configured, save your changes

When to use target CPA

“While Google recommends a maximize conversions strategy without a target CPA, you might be ready to add a target to a particular campaign if you have a variable conversion value,” says Dawson.

“Adding the target CPA to the bidding strategy can ensure that the overall average cost per acquisition is within the average values of each lead or conversion.”

Consider the following scenarios to determine if they align with your campaign objectives:

Stable conversion history

If your campaign boasts a stable and consistent conversion history, target CPA can be highly effective. This bidding strategy relies on historical data to make accurate predictions, so having reliable historic conversions can improve your results.

Clear conversion values

If your business has a clear understanding of the value of each conversion and historical conversion tracking, you may be well-suited for target CPA.

This is easier for some businesses to calculate than others. For example, a business that sells luxury wedding dresses, will typically only sell a customer one product over their lifetime. This means it’s easier to calculate the average profit made from a conversion.

However, for a coffee shop with regular customers and spur-of-the-moment customers, it’s more complex to understand the value of a conversion.

When you know the true value of a lead or sale, it allows for more precise bidding.

Well-defined marketing goals

When your marketing goals are well-defined and revolve around specific conversion objectives, target CPA shines as a bidding strategy.

Whether you’re aiming for lead generation, product sales, or another conversion metric, this bidding strategy allows you to tailor your efforts to achieve those specific goals.

Efficiency and cost control

For businesses looking to maximize efficiency but maintain control over advertising costs, target CPA is a strategic choice.

Because tCPA automates bid adjustments to achieve the most conversions at or below the specified cost, it provides a level of control that allows you to implement and change strategies while saving time.

Competitive industries

In highly competitive industries where securing conversions is challenging, target CPA can be a competitive advantage.

Its real-time bidding adjustments allow you to keep your bidding agile in response to market changes. This can enhance the likelihood of outperforming competitors.

Ensure your ad creatives, landing pages, and targeting align seamlessly to improve relevance. (Image: Adobe)

Why is my target CPA so high?

The average CPA across all industries is $48.96 for search and $75.51 for the display network.

That might seem high for some and low for others because CPA also changes dramatically across industries.

However, if your target CPA is much higher than you want it to be, there could be a few reasons.

1. High competition

In highly competitive industries, the cost of acquiring customers in any digital marketing channel can skyrocket.

If you’re operating in a crowded space where multiple advertisers are fighting for the same audience, this can drive up the cost per click (CPC) and, consequently, your target CPA.

2. Ad quality and relevance

Google Ads prioritizes ads that provide the most value to users. If your ad relevance and Quality Score are low, Google can penalize your campaign by charging a higher CPC. This, in turn, contributes to a higher tCPA.

Ensure your ad creatives, landing pages, and targeting align seamlessly to improve relevance.

3. Seasonal fluctuations

Industries often experience seasonal variations in demand, affecting advertising costs.

If you’re running ads during peak seasons, expect higher competition and increased costs.

4. Ad placement and network selection

Premium placements or networks may command higher costs but might not always translate to better performance.

Review your placement and network choices and look at what optimizations you can make to find the right balance between visibility and budget.

Expert strategies to master target CPA

For marketers well-acquainted with target CPA, you may want to further optimize your strategy.

Here are some advanced tactics that go beyond the basics to help you get a better return on ad spend (ROAS) from your tCPA campaigns.

1. Segment for precision

Segment your audience based on factors such as demographics, device usage, or geographic location.

When you tailor your target CPA to specific segments, you can optimize bids with greater precision. This ensures that your ads resonate more with defined target audience groups.

2. Use target impression share

Complement target CPA with target impression share to control the visibility of your ads.

This strategy allows you to prioritize ad placement on the search results page, ensuring they are prominently displayed when it matters most.

3. Leverage smart bidding signals

Integrate signals like user location, device type, and time of day to enhance bidding decisions.

By leveraging a broader spectrum of data, you give the algorithm more information to make and adapt bid adjustments.

4. Experiment with seasonal adjustments

For businesses affected by seasonal fluctuations, experiment with seasonal adjustments in your target CPA strategy.

Anticipate demand shifts during peak seasons and proactively adjust your tCPA to maximize clicks and conversions at lower competition moments.

5. Implement target ROAS in tandem

Consider incorporating target ROAS alongside target CPA for a more well-rounded approach.

While tCPA focuses on acquisition cost, target ROAS emphasizes revenue.

When you use both strategies, you create a symbiotic relationship that optimizes both cost efficiency and revenue generation.

6. Dynamic Search Ads integration

Another integration to consider is with Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).

DSAs automatically generate ad headlines and landing pages based on the content of your website.

This approach can enhance your reach and allow your ads to adapt to a wider range of search queries.

7. Monitor cross-device performance

In today’s world, where many people have a phone, tablet, and desktop or laptop, it’s a good idea to closely monitor the performance of your target CPA across various devices.

Analyze conversion rates, user behavior, and the impact of device-specific bid adjustments. Adjust bids accordingly to maximize performance on each device.

You may find that while customers do the research phase on their desktops, the majority of your purchases come from mobile.

The takeaway

“The tCPA bidding strategy is a great way to help optimize your bids to get the most conversions while limiting their cost and avoiding a negative ROI,” explains Dawson.

Once you have your target CPA chosen, it’s not a “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy. You will want to regularly review your campaign performance, keep an eye on conversion data, and adjust your target CPA accordingly.

Additionally, you can consider segmenting your audience and adjusting bids based on specific criteria. You can look at segments such as demographics or device usage.

When you tailor your approach, you can maximize the impact of target CPA on different audience segments.

Don’t have the bandwidth? We got you. Reach out today for your free, custom marketing plan.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January 2024.

The post What is Target CPA? How to Use it to Increase ROI appeared first on HawkSEM.

What is your pay-per-click advertising really worth to your business? Calculating PPC ROI reveals the true profit of your efforts so you can make data-driven decisions about your marketing and business goals.

Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know calculating, tracking, and improving PPC ROI with expert insights from a panel of experts — including HawkSEM Director of Account Performance Jessica Weber.

What is PPC ROI?

PPC ROI is a metric that compares the profit from an ad campaign to its total costs. It measures how much your ads earn after all related expenses, like ad spend, production, and labor costs.

Beyond this, PPC ROI contextualizes your marketing efforts within larger business and revenue goals.

How to calculate PPC ROI

A PPC ROI formula reveals how much you’re actually earning from PPC ads:

ROI = ((Total Advertising Revenue – Total Advertising Costs) / Total Advertising Costs) x 100%

For example: (($500,000 – $100,000) / $100,000) x 100% = 400%

PPC ROI vs. ROAS

PPC ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS) are both metrics that help you understand how ad campaigns perform and the value they create. But there’s a key difference between the two:

• ROI gives you insight into the full value of your PPC marketing strategy. It factors in ad spend, campaign revenue, and the margin on the product or service.
• ROAS gives you insight into the success of a campaign. It factors in campaign cost and total revenue but not the margin on the product or service.

To calculate ROAS, you only your gross income by the money spent on your efforts:

ROAS = (Total Advertising Revenue / Total Advertising Costs) x 100%

For example: ($500,000 / $100,000) x 100% = 500%

How to track PPC ROI

To measure a campaign’s success and fix broken PPC strategies, you need a reliable workflow. Follow these steps to create a PPC ROI tracking system:

1. Establish goals
2. Define KPIs
3. Set up conversion tracking
4. Build visual reports
5. Monitor user journeys
6. Build landing pages for PPC ads
7. Track UTM codes

1. Establish goals

Start with the main objective. What do you want to achieve with PPC as a business owner or for your clients?

This is your conversion goal. It depends on your business model and sales funnel.

Typical conversion goals include:

• Phone calls for businesses that book appointments
• Lead generation forms for businesses that collect contact information
• Ecommerce sales for businesses that sell products online

2. Define KPIs

Take your conversion goal a step further. How many conversions do you need to secure in a set time period?

This is your key performance indicator (KPI). It helps you stay on track to meet the campaign goal.

Based on the conversion goals above, your KPI could look like:

• 50 phone calls per week
• 200 lead generation forms per week
• 100 ecommerce sales per week

3. Set up conversion tracking

Keep count of your KPIs and conversion actions by configuring conversion tracking in your advertising platform. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other PPC platforms offer native conversion tracking.

This guide walks you through how to set up conversion tracking in Google Ads — from Google Tag Manager to Google Analytics.

Here’s a quick overview of how to set up your Google Tag (a snippet of code that alerts the platform when someone completes a conversion after clicking your ad):

• Log into your Google Ads account
• Navigate to “Goals”
• Expand “Conversions” and click “Summary”
• Click the blue “New conversion action” button
• Use your goal to determine the type of conversion you want to track. Then assign a value and set the conversion window and attribution model:

Further reading: Review our conversion tracking guide for a complete tracking setup.

4. Build visual reports

By default, most PPC platforms provide analytics in a table format. This format has the data you need, but it’s challenging to interpret that data quickly or spot trends.

Instead, create dashboards or visual reports that make it easier to monitor ROI and other important metrics.

To create a custom dashboard in Google Ads, open the “Reports and Insights” panel and add scorecards for all the important metrics you want to track, like cost, conversions, and conversion value.

(We’ll soon talk about other PPC metrics that are essential to measure ROI.)

5. Monitor user journeys

Keeping track of your visitors’ behavior provides better data on which campaigns bring in the most revenue.

Monitoring your user journey to find helpful clues about:

• The number of clicks most prospects complete before converting
• The path potential customers take on the way to a conversion
• Which marketing channels offer the most valuable touchpoints
• Where prospects tend to drop off without converting

With HawkSEM’s ConversionIQ (CIQ) technology, we track the entire user journey from first click to conversion.

This platform reveals every step so you can see which campaigns, ads, and landing pages provide value — and which don’t.

Then you can focus your marketing efforts on the channels that drive the best results. This may include PPC, paid social media, search engine optimization (SEO), or a combination of all three.

6. Build landing pages for PPC ads

Dedicated landing pages for your PPC campaigns provide two benefits:

1. Ensure people who convert on that page came from your ad
2. Improve the landing page experience for your visitors with consistent messaging and targeted content

When building a dedicated landing page, use copy and creatives designed to appeal to that target audience and repeat the language, offer, and CTA from the PPC ad.

These steps can improve the landing page experience, one of the three factors of Google Ads’ Quality Score.

To make these destinations even more relevant to the ad copy and the audience, use a landing page builder with dynamic content.

Platforms like Unbounce and Landingi can add the keyword that triggered the ad to the landing page copy automatically.

7. Track UTM codes

UTM codes or UTM parameters are tags you can add to the end of a URL that include marketing or special offers, like landing pages.

UTM tags offer insights into what led a person to a certain URL (such as campaign medium and campaign source) along with what else they interacted with on your site.

This guide explains how to add UTM parameters. But the easiest way to add these codes is from campaign settings in Google Ads.

View “Additional Settings” and open the “Campaign URL Options” panel:

Then create a tracking template. Essentially, you can include a final URL suffix that automatically adds the campaign name, keyword, and any other pertinent information.

Best tools for tracking PPC ROI

Don’t rely on Google Ads data alone. Use these tools to track and report on PPC ROI:

• ConversionIQ provides full-funnel attribution and conversion data designed to optimize ROI.
• Google Analytics tracks activity and conversions on your website after potential customers click through from an ad.
• Looker Studio is a Google product that lets you build custom PPC ROI dashboards to share with colleagues or clients.
• Dedicated PPC reporting tools like Dataslayer or Supermetrics automatically pull data from multiple platforms to manage PPC analysis from a single dashboard.
• Ecommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce provide data on the ecommerce customer journey.
• CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce provide data on leads, especially for longer B2B sales cycles.

How to tie PPC ROI to your business goals

“There’s an additional set of KPIs that aren’t available within platforms that require business input and help align PPC success with your business goals,” says Weber.

These include:

• Revenue
• CaC – Customer acquisition cost
• nCaC – New customer acquisition cost
• MER – Marketing efficiency ratio
• nMER – New customer marketing efficiency ratio
• LTV – Customer lifetime value
• GP – Gross profit
• PM – Profit margin
• Customer retention rate

“I recommend third-party tracking that can take care of tracking a good portion of these KPIs and also give a more accurate picture of attribution,” Weber explains.

Why use third party if you already use tracking inside your PPC platform?

“The reality is all platform data is essentially inaccurate these days due to tracking nuances and multi-touchpoint journeys,” she adds.

In conjunction with your current tracking setup, Weber recommends using:

• Wicked Reports
• Triple Whale
• Marketing mix modeling solution

Expert tips to improve PPC ROI

Is your PPC ROI average at best? Use these tips to create an ROI-driven campaign and generate more value from your advertising strategy:

Use exact match keywords

Choosing a keyword match type is a balancing act. Broad match gives your ads the most opportunities to display on search engine results pages (SERPs). But there’s a chance they’ll appear on searches less relevant to your keyword — which can decrease your ROI.

To increase ROI, consider changing any broad match or phrase match keywords to exact match. This gives you the most control over when your ads show and attract a more specific audience — which prompts more qualified leads.

To use exact match, add brackets around any search keyword during ad setup:

Alternatively, you can change match types for any active keywords.

Include negative keywords

Use negative keywords if irrelevant search queries continue to trigger your search ads. Instead of triggering ads, negative keywords prevent your ads from showing based on specific words or phrases.

Similar to standard keywords, negative keywords also have match types. You can input broad, phrase, or exact match keywords to exclude as narrow or as wide a range of queries as possible.

In your Google Ads account, navigate to the “Search Keywords” tab.

Then open the “Negative Search Keywords” panel and add a list. Select the campaign or ad group to which the list applies.

Like keyword types, negative keywords require balance. Add too many, and you’ll prevent ads from appearing when they can attract high-quality leads.

Add ad extensions (now called assets)

Technically, Google assets (FKA ad extensions) are an optional feature for search ads. However, they’re essential components when using PPC advertising for ROI.

Assets are extra details that may appear when your search ads are triggered. They can include:

• Call extensions that let prospects tap to call your phone number
• Structured snippets that highlight certain elements of your products and services
• Callout extensions that show unique selling points
• Image extensions that display one or more images on SERPs

You can add extensions at the ad level. You may need to open the “More Asset Types” dropdown to see all the available options.

Time your ad campaigns based on data

By default, PPC ad campaigns run around the clock. But that may mean your ads show at the wrong time for your audience.

This can result in poor quality leads, wasted spend, and low ROI.

Check when and where your ads showed to find the ideal times for your audience. You’ll see an hour-by-hour breakdown, complete with performance metrics.

Find the hours with the worst performance and exclude them from your ad schedule. Keep monitoring this data to ensure your ads show at the most valuable times for your audience (and don’t display when they’re unlikely to get results).

Other helpful formulas measure success

While calculating ROI and ROAS offers a large picture of your overall campaign and business success, these formulas provide additional context to make data-driven decisions:

1. Cost per conversion
2. Profit per impression or click
3. Break-even cost per conversion for forms
4. Break-even cost per conversion for complex sales cycles
5. Break-even ROAS

1. Cost per conversion

Track cost per conversion to determine how much you spend for lead generation. Many marketers use this metric to measure form fills.

Cost per Conversion = Total Campaign Cost / Number of Conversions

For example: $100,000 / 1,000 = $100

2. Profit per impression or click

Monitor profit per impression (PPI) to place a value on brand awareness. This metric tracks what you earn from every impression of your ad.

Profit per Impression = Total Campaign Revenue / Total Campaign Impressions

For example: $500,000 / 5,000,000 = $.10

To calculate how much you earn from the website traffic your ads generate, measure net profit per click.

Profit per Click = Total Campaign Revenue / Total Campaign Clicks

For example: $500,000 / 500,000 = $1

3. Break-even cost per conversion for forms

Define your break-even cost per conversion to find out how much to bid on advertising. This metric ensures you earn (rather than lose) money on lead generation.

Break-Even Cost Per Conversion = Conversion Rate x Total Campaign Revenue

For example: 10% x $500,000 = $50,000

4. Break-even cost per conversion for complex sales cycles

If you manage advertising for a B2B company with long, complex sales cycles, you need to know your break-even cost per conversion. By measuring this metric, you can ensure your efforts pay off over multiple touchpoints.

You can calculate break-even cost per conversion for various actions throughout the sales cycle. For example, you can track actions like lead magnet downloads or booked meetings.

Break-Even Cost Per Conversion = (Action Conversion Rate / Sales Conversion Rate) x Average Profit Per Sale

For example: (30% / 10%) x $1,000 = $3,000

5. Break-even ROAS

Determine your break-even ROAS to ensure your ad campaigns are generating a profit. This metric factors in the profit margin for each conversion.

Break-Even Return on Ad Spend = (1 / Profit Margin) x 100%

For example: 1 / 80% = 125%

Other important metrics to track

Want more insight into your ROI? These PPC metrics contribute to your overall ROI success — and tracking them can help to improve your ongoing strategy:

• Cost per click (CPC)
• Clicks
• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Conversion rate
• Quality Score
• Cost per conversion
• Impression share
• Total conversion value

Cost per click (CPC)

CPC reflects how much you spend every time a prospect clicks to open your landing page. If costs are too high, review your keywords, match types, and bids to ensure they fit the goals you want to achieve.

Clicks

Clicks reveal the traffic volume your ads generate. If clicks are low, review your impressions and PPC bids to ensure you’re bidding enough to compete in the ad auction.

Click-through rate (CTR)

CTR indicates how often prospects click your ad versus how often it displays. If CTR is low, review your ads to ensure they align with search intent and include compelling offers.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate shows how often prospects complete the desired action versus how often they click on your ad. If your conversion rate is low, check your landing page to ensure it successfully guides prospects toward a conversion.

Quality Score

Quality Score is a comparative Google Ads metric that measures ad quality, relevance, and keywords (and shows how your ad quality measures up against other advertisers).

If your Quality Score is low, improve ad relevance, landing page experience, and expected click-through rate.

Cost per conversion

Cost per conversion shows how much you spend for every conversion. If your cost per conversion is high, review your landing page to ensure it aligns with the ad and keyword that triggers it.

Impression share

Impression share reflects how often your ads appear compared to the total impressions they’re eligible to have. If your impression share is low, consider increasing your keyword bid or your campaign budget.

Total conversion value

Total conversion value reveals the revenue for an ad, ad group, or campaign. If your conversion value is lower than expected, review your ROI metrics to ensure you generate a profit rather than a loss.

Challenges advertisers face with PPC ROI tracking

Even marketers experienced with PPC management run into ROI challenges. Watch for these common issues and be prepared to take action to optimize your PPC strategy:

• Finding the source of ROI problems
• Attributing ROI across multiple touchpoints
• Accessing accurate ROI reporting
• Parsing multiple data sources
• Tracking PPC ROI in a cookieless world

Finding the source of ROI problems

Pinpointing the root cause of low ROI can be challenging for PPC professionals. When in doubt, audit your ads.

“When you find yourself in a situation with low ROI, the first step is always to reassess the campaign’s target keywords and ad copy,” explains Mateusz Calik, CEO of Delante.

“Usually, the problem comes from a mismatch between what the audience is searching for and what the campaign offers. Tune your targeting criteria in these situations and optimize ad copy to align with user expectations.”

Attributing ROI across multiple touchpoints

When your sales cycle becomes more complex, your user journey often has multiple touchpoints. Measuring ROI across them can be tricky — but not impossible.

“The biggest ROI tracking challenge? Attribution complexity,” says growth marketing expert Abhi Bavishi. “Multiple touchpoints complicate the ROI narrative. To address this, we refine our attribution models. We aim for a more nuanced view of the customer journey.”

Accessing accurate ROI reporting

If you rely on Google Ads data alone, you’ll be operating on a delay. To monitor and optimize ROI effectively, you need accurate data.

For Stefan Valentin, ads specialist at Irresistible Me, the biggest challenge is platforms not accurately reporting ROI with the current budget spend. “We try to look at multiple reporting sources before making a decision on the ads,” he says. “We use our integrated tracking from Shopify and a few other sources.”

Parsing multiple data sources

Many PPC professionals use more than one tool to monitor ROI. But data doesn’t always align across tools.

“The biggest challenge with ROI tracking is bringing together sources of data effectively,” suggests Derrick Kwa, performance marketing head for Pink Orange Media.

“For example, purchase data on ad platforms may differ from actual purchase data from your store (because of cookie tracking, etc). Make sure you’ve defined what you’re using as your single source of truth for your metrics, and combine that with the ad platform data.”

Tracking PPC ROI in a cookieless world

Many reporting systems rely on cookies, which Google and Apple intend to deprecate in the near future. As a result, advertisers need an alternative solution for tracking ROI.

“A cookieless future is allegedly coming,” shares Calik. “I’m shifting focus toward first-party data and contextual targeting to maintain accurate tracking and personalization. It’s good to leverage CRM data in this process.”

“As Apple and Google go cookieless, the best solution is to lean on first-party data to track ROI,” advises Kwa. “Make sure the ad data is passed to your site via UTM parameters (or the equivalent), and store that directly.”

The takeaway

By tracking ROI, you can understand the true value of your PPC strategy. When you monitor metrics throughout the user journey, you can improve campaign performance, optimize ROI, and increase overall profit.

Need help with conversion tracking or PPC management? We’re here to help. Contact HawkSEM for a free consultation to optimize your PPC campaigns.

This post was originally published in August 2014 and was updated in November 2020.

The post PPC ROI: How to Calculate Success + Grow Revenue appeared first on HawkSEM.

When you create a new campaign in Google Ads, you’ll have two options: Smart Mode or Expert Mode.

These two versions of Google Ads offer different experiences to manage and optimize your PPC campaigns.

While Smart Mode is for beginners, Expert Mode offers advanced features, including manual bidding strategies, targeting, and customizable ad extensions (now assets).

Here, we’ll walk you through these key features and how to make the switch inside your Google Ads account — with expert insights from HawkSEM VP of Growth and Strategy Steven Dang.

Expert Mode allows advertisers to tailor every aspect of their campaigns to their business goals, making optimizations even more effective. (Image: Unsplash)

What is Google Ads Smart Mode?

Google Ads Expert Mode is a campaign setting inside the platform that offers the full range of advanced features available.

While it gives advertisers more control over bidding strategies, it also requires more complex management. Because of this, Google recommends it for more advanced advertisers.

How to switch to Expert Mode

Looking to make the switch to expert mode? Here’s the easy step-by-step guide:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account
2. Click the wrench icon in the top right corner
3. Under the Settings menu, click “Switch to Expert Mode”
4. Confirm the switch

When you navigate back to your account dashboard, you’ll be in Expert Mode.

While Smart Mode does track conversions, they are automatically managed — meaning you have no control over what is tracked. (Image: Rawpixel)

When should I switch to Expert Mode?

Ideally, right away.

“You should switch to Expert Mode if you want any semblance of control over your account,” says Dang.

“Whether it’s setting your own bids, writing your ads, selecting your own targets or keywords, or choosing your own settings.”

For some small businesses, Smart Mode might be all you need. But if you want to grow and scale, you’ll find yourself limited by the Smart Mode features.

Features of Expert Mode

Expert Mode allows advertisers to tailor every aspect of their campaigns to their business goals, making optimizations even more effective.

These features include:

1. Customizable goals

In Smart Mode, you’re limited to just one goal per campaign, and they must be one of Google Ad’s predefined goals. When you switch to Expert Mode, you can customize your goals.

What kinds of goals? If it can be tracked with the Google Ads tag or Google Analytics, you can add it as a goal. Some possibilities are:

• Abandoned carts
• Product views
• Completed forms
• Page views
• Button clicks

This level of customization assists you in creating campaigns for every stage of your funnel.

2. Bidding strategies that allow for more control

Expert Mode unlocks options for different types of bidding strategies that offer more control, including:

• Manual CPC
• Manual CPM
• Maximize clicks
• Enhanced CPC
• Target impression share
• Automated CPM
• Maximize conversions
• Maximize conversion value
• Target CPA
• Target ROAS
• Portfolio bid strategies
• Shared budgets

You can learn more about all these bidding strategies here.

3. Custom conversion tracking

Expert Mode you can set up conversion tracking and define which ones you want to monitor in your campaigns.

While Smart Mode does track conversions, they are automatically managed — meaning you have no control over what is tracked.

4. Keyword match types

Keyword match types are a powerful way to control search queries your ads appear on.

There are three match types:

• Broad match
• Exact match
• Phrase match

These differ from Smart Mode’s keyword themes in two ways. First, it’s a keyword you’d like your ads to be matched with rather than an idea (these are what make your ad groups).

Second, you can do more than guess which keywords will be ideal to use. Instead, you can use the Keyword Planner to do extensive keyword research.

It reveals keyword volumes, projected keyword bids, level of competition, as well as forecasted data. You can make educated decisions and plan out thematically-based campaigns to structure your account for success.

5. Negative keywords

Negative keywords prevent your ads from being shown on specific words or phrases. If your keyword was “storage container,” and you added a negative keyword, “careers,” then your ad wouldn’t show for the query storage container careers.

As you can see, negative keywords are vital to ensuring your ads appear for the correct audience. The control this gives you is yet another reason you’ll benefit from using Expert Mode.

6. Advanced targeting options

You won’t be limited to keyword themes. With Expert Mode, there are several types of audiences you can use:

• In-market
• Affinity
• Detailed demographics
• Life events
• Your data segments
• Similar segments

In-market audiences contain people who are actively researching and thinking about buying a product or service like yours.

Google uses up-to-date buying intent data to reach users in the audience you select.

Affinity audiences are users with an “affinity” for particular hobbies and interests.

Not only can you use audiences to create highly targeted campaigns with contextual targeting, but you can also utilize demographics.

Adjustments and exclusions can be made to age, gender, parental status, and income bracket. There are also select detailed demographics like homeowner status, education, and marital status.

Life events, on the other hand, are milestones like people who are making a big move or planning a wedding.

By contrast, your data segments are the data you collect on your website or landing page. These data segments can be anything you can track (for example, people who viewed a product on your website).

Last but not least are similar segments. These similar segments are created within the Google Ads system when it identifies an eligible data segment. There are some standard eligibility requirements.

You need to own the seed list, and there must be at least 100 users in the list. The recency of membership and the types of sites the users visited.

7. Assets (formerly ad extensions)

These are a variety of informational add-ons that can be shown with your ads when you’re eligible. The Assets you can use to enhance your ads are:

Callouts: Non-clickable assets that allow you to highlight your business and what it has to offer.

Structured snippets: A section that appears below a text ad as a header and list of values, for example: “Services” with a list of services the business offers beneath.

Price extensions: Price extensions allow you to show prices for your products and services directly within your ads. Up to eight prices can show at one time.

Call: Call extensions showcase your phone number with an easy click-to-call button.

Sitelinks: Sitelinks are quick links to other pages on your site below the main URL. You can create sitelinks for your “About” page, services, contact, or any pages you’d like to showcase.

Lead forms: These assets allow users to fill out a form without leaving the platform to submit their information.

App: App extensions let you link your tablet or mobile app to your ads. This is helpful if your goal is app installs, but only select accounts are eligible.

Promotion: Promotion assets allow you to show special promotions alongside your ads. You can list dates and promo codes and send potential customers to special landing pages.

Image: Image assets are only available to accounts that are at least 90 days old. According to Google, this extension increases the click-through rate by 10% (on average) when they are shown on mobile search ads.

Location: Location assets use your Google Business Profile to show your key business details in your ad.

8. A diverse set of campaign types

With Expert Mode, you can reach potential customers through Google Search and visual ads on the Google Display Network, partners’ sites, Gmail, and YouTube.

Here’s an overview of the campaign types available:

• Search campaigns – Reach users when they type queries into the Google search engine.
• Display – Users will see your ads on YouTube, Google Play, Google Finance, and Gmail, as well as Partner sites (which can vary).
• Video – These appear within streaming videos, over videos, and before or after videos.
• Performance Max – The most dynamic campaign type allows your ads on all of Google’s channels.
• Shopping – Created for ecommerce, these ads appear on Google Display, YouTube, the Shopping Tab, Search Partner sites, and Shopping Services and Apps.
• Demand Gen – Formerly Discovery ads, these are displayed on Gmail Promotions and Social tabs, YouTube Home, Watch Next feeds, and Discover.
• App – Ads that help increase downloads of your brand’s app.

Further reading: Learn more about Google Ads campaign types here.

Smart Mode makes it easier for digital marketers without extensive Google Ads experience by creating “smart campaigns.” (Image: Rawpixel)

9. Retargeting capabilities

Remarketing (also known as retargeting) allows you to show ads to people who’ve already visited your site or completed a specific goal.

The goal is to turn warm prospects into conversions. If they expressed interest in your product or service, then it’s worth trying to get them back to the site.

Some popular remarketing audiences are:

• Cart abandoners
• Product viewers
• Visitors to specific pages (like a service page)
• All site visitors

What is Google Ads Smart Mode?

According to Google, “Smart Mode is the simplified version of Google Ads,” with a limited amount of control over bids, targeting, goals, and even where your ads show.

In this mode, you can quickly set up a Google Ads campaign by inputting your goals and basic info, then letting AI do the heavy lifting.

These limited goals include:

Receive more calls: Google uses machine learning and your settings to drive more calls to your business. Your ads will have a call button that users can click and be connected to your business.

Attract more visits to your physical location: The advertising platform will optimize your campaign to drive more store visits. You’ll see how many people interacted with your business profile on Google Maps.

Increase sales or website sign-ups: If you own a service-based business, you’ll use this goal to generate more leads, newsletter signups, or similar actions via your website. Or, if you sell products, you can create a Google Ads campaign with the objective of selling your products.

Get more brand awareness with video views: A video views campaign can be helpful for creators and influencers who need to increase brand awareness through more views and website traffic.

What are the benefits of Smart Mode?

Smart Mode makes it easier for digital marketers without extensive Google Ads experience by creating “smart campaigns.”

New Google Ads users usually benefit most from Smart Mode since it provides a guided, easy-to-manage interface. (Image: Unsplash)

You’ll be provided with limited data — because in the eyes of Google, less data means fewer levers to pull and, therefore, better performance for beginners.

The data you do have access to includes:

• Map actions (local actions) – These are interactions with your Google Business Profile listing (formerly Google My Business), like getting directions, viewing a menu, clicking to call, and sharing locations.
• Reported calls – The number of phone calls your campaigns generated.
• Clicks and impressions – The number of times your ad was seen and clicked.
• Google Analytics data – You can also connect your Google Analytics to see more data, including actions on your website.

Should I use Smart Mode?

New Google Ads users usually benefit most from this mode since it provides a guided, easy-to-manage interface.

“…Smart Mode was designed by Google as [an] autonomic on-ramp to Google Ads,” says Dang. “In an ideal world, no one should be using [it].”

But for companies in a hurry to get campaigns up and running, with zero marketing support or resources, or unbounded by traditional metrics of success like return on investment (ROI) or return on ad spend (ROAS) — Smart Mode might be an option.

But, ideally? Everyone should use Expert Mode.

The takeaway

Expert Mode is a bit of a misnomer because it has one believing that only “experts” should be using Expert Mode.

In reality, “Expert Mode” should probably be styled as “Normal Mode,” because so many of the features and capabilities should come standard, or be implemented by your average, run-of-the-mill account. Do you need help with your Google Ads or digital marketing strategy? You’re in the right place.

This post has been updated and was originally published in November 2022.

The post What is Google Ads Expert Mode? (+ Why You Should Use It) appeared first on HawkSEM.

There are more than 19,000 retirement communities and over 30,000 assisted living facilities in the U.S. today.

That means the competition in the senior living industry is fierce.

This is true across all major sectors within assisted living centers, retirement communities, memory care facilities, and rehabilitation centers.

If you run a senior living center and are looking for more residents, the game plan is simple: Get in front of more people.

This is where digital marketing experts swoop in, offering expert pay-per-click (PPC) services tailored for senior living communities.

At HawkSEM, we leverage data-driven strategies and our proprietary technology to help our clients like Legend Senior Living double their conversion rates.

Read on for pro tips and expert insights from HawkSEM President and Co-founder Rambod Yadegar.

What is PPC for senior living?

PPC for senior living is a form of online advertising where senior living communities pay for their ads to appear across the web (most notably the search engine results page, or SERP).

This enables these facilities to attract potential residents searching for senior housing options.

Tons of platforms offer PPC advertising, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Bing Ads — Google Ads being the most popular. You’ve undoubtedly come across a PPC ad or two when searching on Google.

Here’s an example of what that looks like on a typical Google result page:

(Image: Google search ad example)

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll focus primarily on Google search ads. Here’s how it works:

• Select keywords relevant to your business
• Bid (offer a certain price you’re willing to pay per click) on these keywords to have your ads appear in the search results when someone searches for them

The goal? Capture leads, increase occupancy, and boost sales.

Advertisers can also target specific audience groups with their PPC ads based on parameters like demographics and locations.

This level of targeting ensures ads appear to relevant audiences, raising the likelihood of clicks by potential customers.

Google Ads offers detailed targeting options:

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

For senior living centers, Google ads can directly target individuals interested in senior care services (whether for themselves or loved ones) by placing ads on search engine result pages (SERPs).

As an example, if someone in Tampa searches for “senior living near me,” an ad for a senior living center targeting people in Tampa could appear in their search results:

(Image: Google ads screenshot)

This targeted approach advertises directly to highly interested folks, again leading to higher clicks and conversions.

What are the benefits of PPC for senior living facilities?

PPC puts your facility in front of motivated seniors (and their family members) at the critical moment when they’re searching for housing options.

Here are some of the broader benefits of running senior living PPC campaigns:

Advanced targeting

PPC allows you to define the exact audience you want to reach, like adults over 75 in Austin looking for assisted living.

You can target by location, age, search terms, browsing history, and more.

This level of precision gets your messaging in front of those most likely to be searching for senior housing.

Audience targeting increases relevancy and eliminates wasted spend showing ads to those not in the target group.

Faster results

While search engine optimization (SEO) is a marathon, PPC is a sprint.

SEO can take as long as six months or more to influence rankings. With PPC, your ads appear at the top of SERPs immediately after setting up and funding your campaign.

These faster results are especially helpful when you need to fill empty rooms quickly in your assisted living communities. (After all, potential residents and their families are searching now, not six months from now.)

Flexibility in budget

With PPC campaigns, you can start with a modest daily budget and change bids in real time based on performance.

You can scale up on keywords generating calls. And pull back on those not delivering results. This level of flexibility allows you to optimize return on your advertising dollars as you go.

Only pay when users click

Of course, one major advantage of PPC is you only pay when someone clicks your ad, not for impressions.

This way, you’re only spending marketing dollars when people engage.

If your ad appears 1000 times for the “senior living center in Houston” query but only receives five clicks, you only pay for those five clicks that drove interested prospects to your site.

Measurable ROI

PPC campaigns offer in-depth performance tracking.

You can see which keywords, ads, and landing pages result in calls, emails, form fills, tours scheduled, and more.

Plus, you can use data on Google Analytics or other analytics tools to double down on what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

This enables continuous optimization and improvement of your advertising strategy.

Case study: Along with PPC, we’ve seen how beneficial SEO marketing can be for senior living centers. In fact, we helped Caring Places Management increase organic traffic by 85% and improve keyword ranking in the top 3 positions by 215%. Here’s how we did it.

How to set up a PPC campaign for senior living communities

The process of setting up your senior living PPC campaign varies based on the advertising platform.

For this guide, we’ll focus on creating a search ad campaign using Google Ads.

1. Go to your Google Ads account and create a new campaign.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

2. Select your campaign’s objective.

Let’s choose “Leads,” for example.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

3. Then, select your campaign type.

Let’s choose “Search.”

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

4. Next, select the ways you would like to reach your goal. You can choose multiple options.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

For senior living PPC campaigns, “Phone calls” and “Lead from submissions” are ideal.

• When you choose “Phone calls,” you’ll have to add a phone number
• When you choose “Lead form submissions,” you’ll have to add the lead form in the next step

5. Give your campaign a name and click Continue”

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

6. Next comes the bidding settings. Choose what metric you’d like to focus on for your campaign.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

Select “Conversions” and click “Next.”

You can also set a target cost per action, which will cap how much you’ll pay per action. This helps you get as many conversions at or below the defined target CPA. This is optional, so you can leave it blank for now.

In the next step, you’ll see your campaign settings.

Here, you can set who you want to target with your ads (based on parameters like location and demographics), your campaign’s start and end date, and more.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

Configure the settings based on your campaign’s needs and who you’re targeting. Once done, click “Next.”

7. Set up ad groups

Finally, set up your ad group, which will organize your ads around specific themes. This is also where you’ll add your target keywords for the campaign.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

In the same step, you’ll create your ad, which includes adding URL, headline variations, descriptions, and other assets.

(Image: Google Ads screenshot)

8. Set an average daily budget

After setting up your ad, select your average daily budget for the campaign.

Lastly, review your campaign as a final step before making it live.

We have a more comprehensive guide on setting up a Google Ads campaign. Please check out: How to Set Up a Google Ads Campaign: The Ultimate Guide

10 senior living PPC advertising tips

Now that you know how to set up and run PPC ad campaigns on Google Ads, let’s look at key tips to boost your ROI.

1. Zero in on senior-centric keywords
2. Highlight safety and community in ads
3. Tailor ads to the senior demographic
4. Target local searches for senior living
5. Broaden awareness with display ads
6. Optimize landing pages for senior engagement
7. Provide valuable resources
8. Re-engage with retargeting ads
9. Test and refine your approach
10. Avoid common mistakes

1. Zero in on senior-centric keywords

When developing your PPC keyword strategy, put yourself in the shoes of your target audience. Brainstorm all the search queries seniors and their families may use when looking for senior living facilities.

Look at the specific care services and amenities your facility offers. And work those into keyword variations, like “assisted living with memory care in Washington” or “senior apartments with activities in Detroit.”

Use keyword research tools (like Keyword Planner and Semrush) to discover long-tail keywords that show high intent.

(Image: keyword planner example)

These are the terms that indicate a user is further along in the decision-making process and closer to taking action.

2. Highlight safety and community in ads

Your ad copy should align with the core needs and preferences of the potential residents and their family members. It should set you apart from other centers.

So, focus on the emotional motivators that matter most to prospects, like safety, security, social connections, purpose, and engagement.

Use warm, human language that paints a picture of the nurturing, inclusive environment you provide. Share real stories that bring to life the sense of community at your facility.

And don’t forget to add clear calls to action, like scheduling a tour that makes it easy for prospects to take the next step.

3. Tailor ads to the senior demographic

One-size-fits-all ads don’t work. You need to personalize messaging based on your audience.

Use advanced targeting tools to target audiences based on specifics like age, location, and interests.

For example, target adults 55+ who searched for topics like Medicare, retirement living, or caregiving.

This ensures your ads reach those needing senior services now or in the near future.

And like any digital marketing strategy, refine and optimize your PPC strategy over time based on the customer data you capture.

4. Target local searches for senior living

Geography is a significant factor in senior living selection. Many residents look for senior living communities in their own town.

So, use location-targeting options ad platforms offer to ensure your ads appear to users in the specific cities or zip codes where your center is located.

This local focus attracts prospects looking for senior living options in your area.

You can even exclude other locations outside your target service area to avoid wasted spend.

Hyperlocal targeting allows you to connect with prospects looking for solutions in your backyard and wanting to learn more about their options.

5. Broaden awareness with display ads

Google Ads offers display advertising, which shows your ads across its network of over two million websites and apps.

Here’s an example of a display ad:

(Image: Healthline)

These highly visual ads appear on sites your audience visits, allowing you to tell your community’s story even when readers aren’t in an “information-seeking” mode. These ads build brand awareness and keep you top of mind.

Display ads enable you to reach a wider pool of prospects, but you can also strategically target people based on demographic data like age and location.

6. Optimize landing pages for senior engagement

When potential residents click your ad, ensure they land on a page designed to connect with them, not deter them.

Address their specific concerns early on to immediately capture their attention, such as safety, healthcare access, or community activities. You can even showcase your USP, like specialized care programs or luxurious amenities.

Use large, easy-to-read fonts, clear navigation, and obvious calls to action.

Prominently highlight your phone number and have readily accessible contact forms.

Show real stories and photos of happy residents that speak to the experiences in your community.

Remove unnecessary clutter that could distract visitors, like overly complex menus, irrelevant images, excessive text, or intrusive pop-ups.

In short, build accessible and easy-to-use landing pages that focus on user experience and expectations.

Recommended read: 21 Landing Page Examples That Convert

7. Provide valuable resources

Today’s seniors often conduct substantial online research before making major decisions like choosing a senior living facility.

Develop free, downloadable resources that provide genuine value, such as:

• Guidebooks for selecting long-term care options
• Moving checklists
• A brochure detailing your amenities and services

Gate access to resources by collecting contact info like email and phone number.

This gives you their permission to follow up and nurture the relationship.

Position your community as an informative partner, not just a sales source. In fact, this should be your broader approach to lead generation, and digital marketing campaigns in general.

8. Re-engage with retargeting ads

Retargeting ads target your site’s visitors who haven’t converted. These ads “retarget” them to bring them back to complete a form or other conversion action.

(Image: HawkSEM)

Customize ads to remind these prospects about your facility’s benefits to prompt return visits.

This sustains your brand in their minds as they move through the extended consideration and decision process, which is common in senior living.

Retargeting allows you to nurture relationships with promising leads who interacted with your content earlier but still nudge to commit.

9. Test and refine your approach

Regularly A/B test elements like ad creatives, keywords, landing page layouts, and calls-to-action.

Analyze the data to double down on what performs and eliminate what doesn’t.

Ideally, you should assign someone to be responsible for aggressive ad optimization — because search algorithms and audience interests shift over time. What connected with seniors last year may fall flat today.

Agile PPC management based on real-world data is key for sustained success.

10. Avoid common mistakes

Here are the common mistakes to avoid in planning and executing senior living PPC campaigns:

• Neglecting negative keywords: Adding negative keywords prevents wasting your ads and budget on irrelevant searches. For example, if you don’t offer short-term stays, make “short-term stay” a negative keyword. Save your spending for prospects looking for what you provide.
• Overlooking match types: Using only broad match (matches to any related keyword) casts too wide a net, driving irrelevant traffic. But phrase match (matches exact phrases) and exact match (matches only that specific term) can limit you too much. Employ a smart mix of match types to attract qualified prospects without missing out on potential leads.
• Ignoring mobile optimization: More seniors and their families use phones and tablets in their housing search, so mobile-friendly ads and landing pages are a must. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, you’ll miss out on conversions.
• Underestimating the sales cycle: Seniors and families can take months to decide on assisted living. Make sure your strategy accounts for extended consideration with thoughtful lead nurturing and remarketing.
• Setting and forgetting: Don’t just launch a PPC campaign and run it indefinitely without optimizing. Check every week to tweak keywords, ad copy, and landing pages based on the collected data.

“Senior living PPC advertising stands apart due to its deeply personal and sensitive nature,” says Yadegar.

“It demands a thorough understanding of the unique emotional and practical needs of seniors and their families.”

This niche demands a blend of empathy, clarity, and precision in messaging that doesn’t sound transactional, he adds. The key is to connect genuinely while providing clear, helpful information.

What’s the cost of PPC for senior living centers?

The cost of PPC for senior living centers can vary widely, driven by elements like the competitiveness of the targeted keywords.

Our senior living clients spend between $5,000 and $20,000 monthly on PPC. And multi-location senior living centers could spend more than $30,000 a month.

The average per-click cost of Google search ads is between $2 and $4. However, senior living keywords often have a higher CPC.

Remember, the actual amount you pay per click can be less than your maximum bid, depending on factors like your ad’s quality score and the competition for the keywords.

To manage costs effectively, focus on creating high-quality ads and landing pages to improve their quality scores, leading to lower CPCs.

“If your Google Ads Quality Score is less, you could pay less per click than your competitor bidding on the same keyword but has a lower score,” says Yadegar.

“This is one of the ways we consistently manage to cut our clients’ cost per conversion by as much as 50%. We look at campaigns holistically, focusing not just on maximizing conversions but also minimizing costs.”

Set clear budget limits and regularly review campaign performance to ensure the PPC efforts align with the center’s marketing goals and budget constraints.

How to choose a senior living PPC agency

Keeping the PPC cost low and driving better results is challenging, so working with a PPC agency can be a huge help.

Of course, hiring an outside company is a big decision. After all, your success depends on the PPC agency you team up with.

So, take your time and consider the following when choosing a senior living PPC agency:

• Proven performance: Ask for case studies, testimonials, and data showing they’ve successfully generated conversions for facilities like yours. You want to see a solid track record.
• Relevant experience: Have they worked with other senior care providers to drive leads and fill rooms? An agency well-versed in this niche will understand the unique challenges.
• Communication practices: The agency should provide regular, transparent reporting and keep you in the loop. Make sure collaboration will be ongoing.
• Comprehensive services: Look for full-service support from research to analytics, not just ad creation. Campaign management and optimization should be robust.
• Budget management: Enquire about their strategies to maximize ROI and spend your pay-per-click advertising dollars wisely to get results. Are they efficient?
• Responsiveness: Do they monitor campaigns frequently and pivot quickly based on performance data and market changes? Senior living PPC requires agility.

While you’re here, we’ll put our hat in the ring

HawkSEM is one of the fastest-growing SEM agencies that works with brands like Legend Senior Living, one of the best-rated senior living communities in the US.

(Image: HawkSEM)

We offer end-to-end PPC services with an experienced team of specialists committed to delivering clients the highest ROI and the best experience.

We rely on proven and cutting-edge practices that enable us to achieve better results faster.

Our tech stack includes ConversionIQ, a proprietary marketing tool that equips our team with rich, real-time, actionable insights to create and execute high-impact PPC ad campaigns.

The tool helps us manage clients’ ad budgets optimally, avoid wasted ad spend, forecast results, and capture highly qualified leads — improving our campaign’s ROI by up to 109%.

The takeaway

Hundreds (or even thousands) of people in your city are looking for a senior living facility like yours.

Reach out to these potential residents and their family members with the right message at the right time.

Leverage the power of PPC marketing to capture highly qualified leads.

Ready to plan your next ad campaign? Talk to a PPC expert today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in December 2023.

The post PPC for Senior Living: Benefits, Costs + Strategies to Get More Leads appeared first on HawkSEM.