Paid search is a type of online marketing which search engines like Google leverage to show ads on their SERPs.
Paid search ads work on a PPC (pay-per-click) model meaning that businesses don’t pay anything until someone clicks on their ad.
As the most widely used search engine, Google presents marketers with a unique opportunity to promote businesses to a relevant target audience that is engaged with your service or product.
Unlike banner ads or social media advertising that don’t target a specific audience which is actively searching for your item/service, paid search marketing has a unique edge in that users have typed in a search query related to your ad.
Users are actively researching your product or service or related areas before encountering your ad which gives them a high chance of strong CTRs and ultimately, conversions.
Most paid search campaigns begin in the same way. Follow these initial steps to begin your paid search campaign:
You can opt to show your ads in certain countries, cities, regions and postcodes.
Going for highly relevant keywords that your target audience is typing into search queries is the key to a successful paid search campaign.
A free Google SEO tool, Google Keyword Planner, is a great place to start for uncovering which words users are tapping into search engines to find products and services similar to yours.
Find out the search volume, how much competition there is and the likely cost-per-click.
When it comes to paid search keywords, there are four different match types:
Any words that are part of the keyword or phrase that don’t actively result in CTRs should be added to your negative keyword list to keep CPC rates lower and conversions higher.
Wincher is a user-friendly SEO software that tracks high-ranking keywords including those used by competitors. Its keyword research tool helps you identify valuable keywords that could improve your ranking position.
With Wincher you can track keywords based on search and traffic volume, cost-per-click, device type and location right down to cities. Details such as these make it easier to tailor your content to attract a specific audience.
It has an On-Page SEO checker which scans through your content to identify any key SEO factor which may be lacking.
Its Rank Tracker feature gives you daily updates on preferred keywords and page performance. It can track as many as 500 keywords and 5 competitor websites. This feature compares your site’s SEO performance against that of your competitor. It also displays the search volume for each of the keywords used on your site as well as the corresponding traffic volume generated.
This information is a great way to spot weak-performing keywords.
This is an AI-powered tool designed to help bloggers optimize their content. This software generates its data from RankBrain, Google’s ranking algorithm thus making it easy to craft relevant content with higher SERP ranking.
This software tracks high-graded topics and has a writing assistant to help you build more comprehensive blog posts. The best part is its keyword library which has a wide range of high-traffic keywords that are yet to be discovered by competitors.
With this information, you can create relevant blog posts which attract a higher PPC ad ranking.
HubSpot Marketing Hub is a digital automation marketing solution designed to help you attract the right leads and improve your campaign’s ROI. Its Ad Management feature, as the name implies, manages all marketing campaigns done either on a social media platform or Google.
It uses web analytics to scrutinize each campaign’s performance from impressions generated to clicks made and eventually sealed deals. This highly detailed kind of reporting is a great way to identify, and replicate, your most profitable promotions.
One of the many factors that affect your ad ranking on Google is the landing page experience. When a visitor clicks on an ad link, they do so with the expectation of getting a direct answer to their query.
However, that is not always the case as they are laden with unnecessary website information (pictures, header texts and links), all of which may be distracting. Unbounce solves this problem by crafting landing pages unique to your campaign.
It’s extremely user-friendly, no IT or coding skills required, just sheer creativity. Their platform accelerates the load times for each page thus further improving your Google Ad Rank. Although it is a paid service,
Leadpages is a website building provider that works with pre-set templates, making it easy for you to build fast-loading, professional-looking pages in the shortest amount of time, no coding or web designing skills necessary.
It has a built-in conversion optimization feature, Leadmeter, which analyses your page’s content, layout and readability as well as its ability to convert. The system then uses its analysis to predict your page’s performance before publishing, highlighting weak areas.
All checks are geared towards improving visitor’s experience, reducing bounce rate and ultimately increasing your PPC ad quality score.
Struggling to know where to begin with paid search? Get in touch and we’ll give you a free strategy session.
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