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How Not to Waste Your Google Ads Budget – Common Missteps PPC Audits Can Teach You

Are you squandering your Google Ads budget, perhaps without realising it?  After all, some wastage may only be spotted once you’ve looked at and audited your PPC program. Not all issues are immediately obvious, or will benefit from ‘quick-fix’ solutions.

  • Conversion tracking

Make sure you’re doing this in the right way – not too little and not too much.

  • Are you over-emphasising the need to save money?

If so, this can cause problems of its own. If you want your paid search program to work well, it needs an appropriate budget. Clearly, that doesn’t mean just throwing money at search – you’ll still expect value and a decent return on investment.

  • What happens after someone has clicked?

Your customers’ post-click experience needs to be excellent – would you describe it as such at the moment? If it’s less than perfect, all the effort and expense you’ve put in will be wasted. Things which can create poor experiences include slow-loading landing pages, conflicting messaging or a ‘landing page’ that turns out to be the home page. All of these can have an adverse impact on your conversions.

  • Have the courage of your convictions

If someone like a manager or client insists you should use a particular keyword, or target a specific location or audience, don’t be afraid to question anything which goes against wider objectives. As ever, good communication is vital.

  • Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture

Sometimes it can be easy to not see the wood for the trees. If you’re spending all your time ‘tinkering’ and making minor adjustments, you could be missing wider PPC issues.

And now for the quicker-to-fix solutions …

Here are some tips which could be a little easier and speedier to implement:

  • Be sure you’re bidding on the right search terms for your particular organisation.
  • You don’t have to introduce all of Google’s recommendations slavishly – be sure they’re right for your strategy. This approach should level out your optimisation score at about 80%, which is fine.
  • Enhanced CPC – a kind of automated bidding – can eat into your budget. It may not be right for your campaign, so make sure it’s turned off.
  • All ad extensions are opportunities to reach audiences; make sure you’re using yours as effectively as possible.
  • Test all the new features and updates from Google Ads, including campaign and ad types, such as responsive search ads, so that you don’t miss out.
  • Revisit your chosen audience with each fresh campaign to be sure you’re targeting appropriately and not missing out on any opportunities.

Once you’re aware of the above potentially problematic areas, you’re far better placed to sort them out, so you should find you use your Google Ads budget more efficiently.

We can help – talk to us at Front Page Advantage about your Google Ads campaigns; we have a detailed understanding of this area, so we can help you use your budget efficiently.