This is by no means an advanced PPC post, but sometimes the basic reminders are well worth a run through.
Clearly the end goal of any campaign is to boost sales and revenue. That’s where the buck stops, but there are benefits to working on secondary objectives to help forge your path to success.
I’m a big believer in compartmentalising your approach; breaking everything down into simple focus areas with micro objectives to try and hit. This makes bigger tasks seem less daunting and enables the brain to progress step by step.
Click through rate is a great example of this as making increases here means you’re a) getting in front of the right people and b) serving them the right message. Both of these things represent great steps forward in any campaign.
If you’re looking to work on your CTR – here’s a short list of easy things to take a look at and try to improve.
Switch your headlines
Probably the biggest area of impact on CTR is your headlines. With space for three headlines it’s important to remember that you’re not guaranteed to get your third headline shown in the search results.
As such, it pays to focus your efforts on headlines 1 & 2 as your first port of call. Sometimes just switching your headline 1&2 around can prove to be a quick win.
On other occasions you might want to try adding a different call to action in one of the headlines, or switching in a different USP or product benefit.
The main action here is to take a structured approach to coming up with a set of hypotheses for your headlines, and working through them to see what has a positive impact.
Try something totally different
Big uplifts require big changes.
As marketers it’s all too easy to fall into comfort zones and continue to run what works. That makes sense as once you’ve found success it’s hard to deviate.
However, it’s always a good idea to try something completely different in your headlines. Brainstorming language that you’ve never used before, new call to actions, new ways to reflect pricing – it’s a great exercise to see if you can find a new pocket of untapped performance.
Extensions
It goes without saying that the use of extensions should form a key part of your ad copy strategy.
The first step is to make sure you are using all the extensions you can. Not only will this help with click through rate, but your quality score will benefit and you will also be getting more valuable space on the page.
Within certain extensions there are a wealth of opportunities to mix things up a bit. Using call out extensions? Try showcasing a different set of benefits!
Think about the customer
Anyone who’s worked in PPC will know that it’s all too easy to get wrapped up in your keyword research and data, and somewhat forget that we’re placing our ads in front of human beings. We’ve all been there.
It definitely doesn’t do any harm from time to time to step away from the data and reconsider what the customer needs. Has it changed over time? Has the landscape changed?
If you can get your hands on some survey data or customer feedback then you’ll have a wealth of ideas for new ad copy and headlines.
Just repeating this exercise once a quarter can yield some excellent new ideas to keep things fresh and your CTR increasing.
Bids
It’s also not always about just your ad copy.
If the competition has changed then you may need to consider increasing bids to regain lost positions. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your competitive reports to make sure you’re not letting valuable positions slide. A simple exercise that really does pay dividends!
Do a search
This is such a simple and obvious tip but so often gets forgotten; don’t forget to step away from your ad account and actually take a look at the search results.
Doing this puts you in the customers shoes and provides real life context on how your ad copy will stack up against the competition.
Take a look at what they’re doing – what headlines are they running? What call to actions are they using to grab attention?
You can then start to make a judgement call on what it is that might resonate best, but more importantly get a view on what’s missing and how you can really stand out from the crowd.
Hopefully this has been a useful reminder and best of luck optimising your campaigns for increased click through rates!
