Pay-per-click advertising can deliver excellent returns, but it can also burn through your budget quickly if not managed properly. Here are seven common PPC mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Ignoring Negative Keywords
Failing to use negative keywords means your ads show for irrelevant searches, wasting money on clicks that will never convert. Regularly review search terms and add negatives to filter out poor-quality traffic.
2. Poor Landing Page Experience
Driving traffic to generic or poorly optimized landing pages kills conversion rates. Ensure your landing pages are relevant to the ad, load quickly, and have clear calls-to-action.
3. Not Testing Ad Variations
Running a single ad per ad group means you're missing optimization opportunities. Always test multiple ad variations to discover what messaging resonates best with your audience.
4. Broad Match Overreliance
While broad match can expand reach, overusing it leads to irrelevant clicks. Use a mix of match types and lean on phrase and exact match for better control over when your ads appear.
5. Ignoring Quality Score
Quality Score affects both your ad position and cost-per-click. Improve it by ensuring tight keyword-ad-landing page relevance, improving click-through rates, and optimizing landing page experience.
6. Set-and-Forget Mentality
PPC requires ongoing optimization. Regularly review performance, adjust bids, pause underperforming keywords, and test new approaches. The market and competition are always changing.
7. Not Tracking Conversions Properly
Without proper conversion tracking, you can't measure ROI or optimize effectively. Ensure your tracking is set up correctly for all valuable actions, whether purchases, leads, or calls.
PPC advertising rewards those who pay attention to details and continuously optimize. By avoiding these common mistakes, you'll get more value from every dollar spent and achieve better results for your business.