What Makes A Good PPC Ad?

There are so many avenues of digital marketing to consider investing in that businesses sometimes have to choose 1 type over another or be very careful about splitting their marketing budgets over several. A company may start with social media, and as time goes on and revenue increases, explore more digital marketing categories like PPC.…

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No matter when a company chooses to invest in PPC (or any digital marketing techniques), the trick is knowing how to spend this money to get the best results, including where to place your ads.

So whether you are a startup or splitting your marketing budget across several other areas, you need to know what makes a PPC advert good to ensure you get an even better ROI.

This is everything you need to know about PPC and how to make a great one.

What Is PPC?

PPC is shorthand for Pay-Per-Click, a digital advertising model in which you pay anytime someone clicks your advert. They can be any size and format, from text and images to video. Some ads include a combination of these. It is brilliant for reaching and converting leads. Where you place your adverts is up to you. You could place them on:

Search engines
Websites
Social media sites

However, there is 1 place in particular that holds the most value: Google. After all, they do experience around 8.5 billion searches a day!

What Is Google Ads?

Google is by far the most popular search engine, which is why turning to Google Ads occurs in most campaign strategies. Google Ads, formally known as Google AdWords before 2018, was launched 2 years after the introduction of Google. Now, it has become a go-to paid advertising platform for many as it can drive the ideal traffic to your doorstep – traffic that will likely make a purchase.

With Google Ads, you can create and display your PPC adverts, reaching your target audience at just the right time, whether on mobile or desktop. Plus, you aren’t restricted to Google Search. You can also create YouTube, Google Display Network, and Blogger ads.

How Does It Work?

You will bid on keywords (search terms), and whoever wins that bid finds their ad placed in the pinnacle place: at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), unless, of course, you are putting your ad on YouTube, Google Play, or websites in the Google Display Network. The following factors will impact how successful your ads are:

AdRank/Quality Score (QS)
Your bid
Keywords
Location
Match types

How To Create A Google Ad

It is quite easy to get started on Google Ads. Sign up for an account, filling in details like your business name and website. You will then be prompted to select from 4 options – the advertising goal that is most appropriate for you. Once this is all completed, the fun can begin by creating your advert!

Research is imperative; you must see what appeals most to your audience and what keywords to include. Then, with your ad complete, you will need to set your budget and provide billing information – this is where the reality of it may sink in as you see the budget options.

The truth is this isn’t the final step. You must consider tracking, analyzing, integrating it with CRM, and more. So while the process can appear pretty straightforward initially, it all takes time. You may find investing in a Google Ads Service more beneficial and prefer that experts handle the process from start to finish.

If you are still undecided about which approach to take, our Co-Founder, Simon Brisk, could persuade you.

“The first time I tried to build a Google Ads account, I lost £3000 in 3 days! This showed me the importance of working with a specialist Google partner. Yes, it costs more money, but the knowledge and expertise with save you thousands of pounds per year!”

Don’t make the same mistake, and reach out to our PPC experts. Safe to say, they handle all our own PPC campaigns now and not Simon anymore!

What Are The Different Types?

As mentioned previously, Google Ads come in all sizes and formats. When it comes to creating your ad (whether you are doing it yourself or outsourcing it), there are 5 main types of Google Ad campaigns to choose between:

Search – This displays your advert on Google at the very top of the SERPs. It doesn’t look any different from the other results apart from the word “Ad” sitting before the URL.
Display – You can display your ad on a website that is part of the Google Display Network. You pay the advertiser any time someone clicks on your ad, and you get the traffic. Display ads are usually more image-based – the idea is to attract users’ attention.
Shopping – You will find Google Shopping Ads on the far right side containing images of products and their price. Using Google Merchant Center, provide details for Google to put together a shopping ad. This is perfect when you want to focus on just a few products rather than your entire brand.
Video – Google owns YouTube, one of the biggest video platforms to exist. However, many people forget that, technically, it is also a search engine in its own right. When you bid for the right keywords, your ad can play in front of a video your audience is interested in – and if it is done well, it could divert their attention to your website instead.
App – Mobile is more popular than ever, so it would be wise to consider making your own app. When it’s ready to be advertised, use Google Play to display your ad. Simply provide your information to Google and place a bid, and Google will create an ad for you.

The Latest Ad Updates To Know This 2023

Part of creating a good PPC ad and running a successful campaign means keeping up to date with the platform you are using. In this case, Google Ads has sent many updates our way. These are the latest ones you need to know when creating a campaign in 2023:

New Ad Types For Auto Category – Google has introduced Vehicle Listing Ads to highlight car dealerships’ new and used cars. They have also done this for Finance and Travel.
Competitor Advertising Insights – Google wanted to introduce more transparency for users who see ads. Now with The My Ad Center (released in October), they can see how businesses like yours reach them. Discover all the ads an advertiser has released in the past 30 days.
Business Name & Logo Ad Assets – This change in Search should help improve performance and reduce impersonation and fraud.
Cost Per Lead Increases – The increases range across the business categories, but the average increase is around 19%, with only 2 categories seeing decreases – in total, 91% will be affected by this update.
Expanded Text Ads Are No More – Responsive Search Ads (RSA) are now the default ad type rather than Expanded Text Ads. This can build an ad for you based on the text assets provided for Google.
Smart Shopping & Local Campaigns Stopped – Google has now stopped both campaign types, upgrading these ads to Performance Max instead. They will also be stopping Similar Audiences in May of this year.

What Makes A Good Ad: The Best Practices To Incorporate

If you want to attempt these yourself, know that experts will use the following Google Ads best practices, so you should do the same.

Get Yourself Organized

For effective Google ads, you need to first focus on your organization. Planning templates are ready to use that outline how your ads will appear, where, and all the details you need to keep on top of numerous campaigns over the weeks, months, and years.

Keep It Relevant

You need to know the search intent of your intended target audience. With this information, you can match your headline and ad copy to the keywords you want to bid on. You want to make it so that your ad is the solution to their problem.

As our top PPC expert, we asked Charlie about the importance of relevance and keywords.

“It’s important to ensure that the keywords you use are relevant to your ad and landing page. This will help ensure high-quality scores and better ad performance. So, when creating your ads, remember to focus on a smaller number of tightly related keywords that are relevant to both your ad and landing page.”

Work On Your QS

Your QS and the bid amount determine your AdRank. QS measures the quality of your ad using your past performance, the quality of your landing page, your click-through rate (CTR), and keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. relevancy. The higher your score, the higher you should rank. You can improve your QS by:

Making your ads more relevant to the keywords
Working on your CTR
Updating your landing page

Optimize, Optimize, Optimize

PPC Optimization is about more than the actual advert. Optimizing your landing page is critical and not just for your QS score if you want to maximize your ad’s performance. By updating your landing page and optimizing it for conversions, such as solving solutions for visitors, making it user-friendly, and improving the conversionA conversion is a desirable result on a website that leads to an action such as completing an order, filling out a form, or simply clicking on a link. process, you have a better chance of converting them into paying customers.

How can you write your landing page well, though? We sourced some advice on the matter.

“Write for people first and always leave readers wanting more. Your content should intrigue them enough to complete the action you want them to make – whether that’s calling your team for more information or booking an appointment.” Bex Gawne, Content Manager

Never Forget About Negative Keywords

Naturally, the focus will be on finding the right keywords but don’t dismiss the negative keywords too quickly. They can work in your favor. Google allows you to highlight which keywords do not work with your service, product, or brand. This means your ad won’t show up for keywords that aren’t relevant or useful for your customers. You don’t want to attract traffic to your landing page that doesn’t need your services or product, so tell Google as much as possible about what you don’t do as well as what you do.

Placement Of Keywords

You can place your keyword in several places, including:

URL Slug
Headline 1
Description 1

However, carefully think about the number of placements you do. If you have a tighter budget, don’t feel the need to spend this money on more keywords. Having an ad group that contains too many keywords could make it much harder to create an ad that is relevant which can negatively impact your QS.

Our PPC expert had this to say about placing keywords.

“Writing effective ads is a crucial part of any successful advertising campaign, but the most important factor to consider is the number of keywords to include in each ad group. While Google recommends 10-20 keywords per ad group, I believe that this can lead to unfocused ads that don’t perform as well. Instead, focusing on a smaller number of tightly related keywords is better.

When your keywords are closely related, it’s easier to incorporate them into your ad creative while still maintaining variation. For best results, aim to use each keyword 2-3 times in your ad.”

Include a Call To Action (CTA)A call to action, often abbreviated as a "CTA," is a step that you want your readers to take. It's your way of guiding their actions after they have read your content.

You want your searcher to click on your advert; you also want them to follow through on a purchase or sign-up. This is where a call to action (CTA) comes into play. With a CTA, you can get a targeted user to take your desired action, easily directing them to where they need to go. Some of the best-performing words to include are:

Free
Now
Online
Save
Best

You want a clear but powerful CTA that uses emotive wording. If you don’t know how to write a CTA or want to ensure it is perfect, experts can help you craft them.

Concise & Specific Is The Way Forward

Concise content is a winner. If you can clearly explain who you are, what you do, and how you can help in a straightforward way, you can attract their attention much faster. Make the URL clear, so they know where a click will take them. In terms of a PPC campaign, this approach applies to both the ads and the landing page copy you update.

“A landing page needs all the right information without being overwhelming, which is why concise landing pages work the best. This is the time to showcase who you are without making people scroll through pages of text.” Bex Gawne, Content Manager

The more specific you can be, the better, too. Your searcher likely wants a particular answer, so ensure you provide it. For your ads, highlight your unique qualities, prices, and promotions – do everything you can to make yourself competitive and specific to their search.

Use The Right Match Type

There are 4 main match types you can use: Broad, Broad Match Modified, Phrase Match, and Exact Match. Most experts will recommend you avoid broad keyword terms because Google could place your advert in front of the wrong audience – this would result in wasted money, with fewer clicks but a higher ad spend. Doing this yourself may take a while to get the right simply because you don’t know how your audience will react or which ones will bring the best results. Experts can more easily guide you in the right direction.

Sitelink Extensions

If you want an extra boost on your ad, then sitelink extensions can be just what you need. They provide you with extra linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. to other pages on your website and could be what persuades your target market to click.

Call & Location Extensions

Add your phone number to the ad to provide an alternative way for the searcher to contact you. This is ideal for businesses with customer service teams ready and waiting to help convert leads into customers.

To further boost this, include your location to make it easy for customers to find you on the map.

If you want a good PPC ad, you must do the above. If you are uncertain, reach out to an expert – our team carries out these best practices for every client that uses our services. Let yours be the next.