In the realm of digital marketing, efficient campaign optimization can significantly impact your bottom line.
A well-optimized Google search campaign, in particular, can boost your visibility and conversion rates, driving more potential customers your way.
This blog post explores the process of Google search campaign optimization and provides some practical steps to help you make the most of your marketing efforts.
The essence of Google search campaign optimization is simple yet impactful: it starts by examining which search terms get your ads in front of potential customers.
For instance, you probably wouldn't want your "story book" to appear in a Toy Story ad unless you're selling Toy Story-focused story books. If not, you're targeting the wrong audience with that search.
Incorrect search terms not only waste your budget but also negatively affect your remarketing campaigns. Hence, the first step in search campaign optimization involves analyzing which search terms connect you with potential customers.
Intent & Experience
Certain keywords can be more costly due to competition. It's crucial to identify keywords that might exceed your budget.
Not all campaigns are designed to bring conversions.
If a keyword is relevant to your brand, you might want to appear for that keyword despite the high costs. Therefore, gathering such words under a campaign umbrella, which you could call "Brand keywords," would be beneficial.
Moreover, tracking just clicks and conversions isn't enough; you should also examine the bounce rate. If potential customers coming from your search campaigns leave your site without performing any action, you need to pay attention to those keywords.
For instance, if a female user visiting your site from the search term "shoes" encounters men's shoes, she'll likely leave your site immediately, knowing there are better alternatives out there. In such a case, you need to either update your product listings or change your search terms.
For keywords that don't bring conversions but could:
Some keywords may show low conversions but feed into remarketing in attribution, resulting in assisted conversions. For campaigns involving keywords you consider related to your brand, despite low conversions, you could shift your success criteria from direct conversions to add-to-cart. This strategy will help smart algorithms perform better.
Additionally, you could launch campaigns containing these keywords as Max Click instead of Max Conversion. Once conversions start coming in, you can switch your success criteria to Max Conversion.
How do you eliminate unsuccessful campaigns?
Digital marketing, especially in the PPC world, operates on the principle of survival of the fittest. You should dedicate your optimization efforts to your best campaigns.
Google provides reports containing various metrics for campaigns, but striving to maximize all numbers could be detrimental.
For example, in a campaign with an impression share (IS) of 35%, you may not need to increase the impression share. Boosting profitability with a target ROAS bidding strategy would be a better optimization than trying to raise the impression share.
Everyone knows that the search intent of keywords must align with the experience your website provides. Google evaluates this alignment with what we can call a quality score. If your quality score is low, Google evaluates three other aspects:
- Ad relevance: Does your ad text match the keyword?
- Expected CTR: How high is the estimated click-through rate for your page?
- Landing page experience: Is your page a place where users can find what they're looking for, see products, spend time, or do they leave immediately because they can't find what they want?
By tweaking these factors, you can make your search campaigns more successful. You could strengthen your site's internal linking, increase the number of reviews on your products, and come up with solutions like showing the price on the SERP.
Dynamic search ads could be driving traffic to your blog page
A RoAS-focused campaign driving traffic to your blog page could hinder your goals. Because blog pages aren't typically conversion-focused like product pages; instead, they are designed to drive traffic to conversion-focused pages.
You might be driving traffic to your blog pages via dynamic search ads if the CPC is low. However, this could be counterproductive if your primary goal is to drive conversions rather than simply generate traffic. It's crucial to align your campaign strategies with your overall marketing objectives to achieve a high return on ad spend.
In the end, optimizing your search campaigns is an ongoing process of analysis, adjustment, and refinement. It's not just about getting your ads in front of viewers, but ensuring that they reach the right viewers at the right time and that once those viewers click through, they find what they were searching for.
With careful planning and strategic management, you can maximize the efficiency of your campaigns and achieve your marketing objectives.
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