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Let’s face it, if you came across this blog post, your Google Ads probably aren’t doing as well as you would like. If you set up your AdWords campaign incorrectly then you won’t see a return, making it easy to just remove the platform from your marketing efforts altogether, thinking it’s a waste of your time and money.
However, the answer is not to stop, it just means you probably made a “rookie mistake,” which can easily be fixed! Don’t worry, in this article, we will share five of the most common Google Ads mistakes, along with how you can avoid them.
So, let’s get started and transform you into a Google AdWords expert!
1. Not Sending Your Traffic to a Dedicated Landing Page
If your Google Ad leads to your homepage, then you are making your customer do extra work!
Most people are already crunched for time, so a dedicated landing page is a great way to focus your messaging and reduce the hoops your customer has to jump through to get the information they need.
The easier it is for your customer to complete your call to action, the more conversions you will get! If landing pages just aren’t your thing, give us a quick call, and we can help you through it.
A landing page is much more direct than the homepage of your website; this encourages customers to fill out the call to action, which gets YOU more leads.
2. Minimal Use of AdWords Extensions
We all want to give our customers the best information we can, but sometimes you run into character limits. So how do you fix that problem? Ad extensions.
According to Google, we have found that there is a 10-15% CTR uplift from implementing a new ad extension. (10-15% now that’s a notable change!)
Ad extensions are basically features that allow extra company information to be shown with your ad and make certain actions easier to complete. The extensions could be a phone number, case studies, pricing, store rating, or even more website links.
Don’t get carried away though, providing too many irrelevant extensions can clutter your ad and actually reduce your CTR (Click-Through-Rate). For example, look how nice this ad looks below.
Having the right combination of relevant ad extensions can enhance CTR, lower average CPC, and improve your ad positioning.
3. You’re Targeting the Wrong Keywords
A wise man once said, your ad is only as effective as your keywords. You shouldn’t be targeting every semi-relevant keyword under the sun.
So then, how do you narrow down your keywords that will result in the most conversions? Think like a customer. What would YOU type in Google if you were looking for your product or service?
Pick a couple of essential keywords to your ad, then start researching those, don’t forget the competitor research t00! Try and find the perfect combination of keyword relevance with a low bidding price.
You’ll also want to make sure your keywords are in exact match, phrase match, or broad match modified. The more specific you can get with your targeted keywords, the cheaper your CPC will be (due to increased relevance across ads and keywords), the higher your CTR will be, and ultimately the higher your conversion rate will be.
If you need a quick free consultation, we can help! With some research and customization, you are sure to increase your conversion rate!
4. Not Taking Advantage of the Search Terms Dashboard
After all of the time and effort, you have put into researching and discovering the keywords you wish to target, your keyword list is final, right? Nope!
This is where the Google Ads Search Terms report comes into play.
This important report provides insight into the actual search queries that are triggering your ads, based on the keywords you’re bidding on. This allows you to see what users are actually searching and can provide a visual into any gaps between your keywords and actual search terms.
Using the Google Ads Search Term report will allow you to get more granular and increase your relevancy for certain searches. (Higher relevance = cheaper CPC)
5. Your Website is Not Mobile Friendly & Has a Long Load Time
You may assume that most of your website traffic is coming from desktops and laptop computers; your assumption would be wrong. According to a study by SEMrush, 66% of all site visits come from mobile devices.
So it would make sense to optimize your website for mobile users, right? Make sure your website is easy to read, navigable, and functional, then watch your Ad conversions go up.
Also, there are few things more frustrating than a website page that takes FOREVER to load. So frustrating that 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.
On top of that, a 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. 7% reduction, we know what you are thinking, that is such a small amount. Well, let us put that into perspective for you – if an e-commerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1-second page delay could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year.
All of these mistakes are easy to make, yet all of them are easy to learn from and fix! Use the above tips to improve your ad performance and be proactive in avoiding these errors.
The world of PPC and specifically Google Ads is an ever-changing industry. It can be challenging. If you need additional help, we have experts ready to walk you through the process of optimizing your PPC campaign for the best ROI results. Feel free to reach out to our team and schedule a free consultation today!
