Click Through Rates (CTRs) are one of the key components of the paid search algorithms. Fine tuning those will not only help you rise in the search engines, but they can even lower your costs per click.
Let’s look a little closer at some of the things you can do to improve those Click Through Rates (CTRs). There are several techniques and areas to look at but many of these require some continual effort on your part. If you are not up for it, think about hiring a PPC company to do the heavy lifting for you. A good PPC management company can double or triple or CTRs.
The Importance of Targeted, Relevant Keywords
Think about the user who is searching the phrase you are advertising on. The more you can focus your ad to them, the more you can drive up our CTRs. This may mean including the keyword phrase into your actual ad copy. So, if you have built yourself and account with a couple ad groups stuffed with keywords, you are in a bit of a bind. You want to reach the searcher and nothing does that more by being as relevant as you can with an ad that speaks to that individual keyword.
If your account is structured poorly with too many keywords into too few ad groups, then you should consider ditching it and starting over. Yeah, I know, that sounds extreme, but the results may be worthwhile in the long term. If it’s too much work for you to re-do, then definitely consider outsourcing.
Building Up Your Negative Keyword Lists
With the growing importance of CTRs, negative keywords (keywords you don’t want to appear on) also grow in importance. So, when you are doing your keyword research, pay particular attention to keywords you don’t want to appear on. By eliminating some of these, you will lower the numbers of “bad impressions” that your ads are appearing under. Lowering those will help pull up the CTRs.
Improving Your Ads
Probably the most labor-intensive, but important items that can make an impact on your CTRs is better ad copy. And while things like a call to action or a value statement of some kind are key…split testing is even more critical.
Running multiple ads for each keyword — split testing — may seem like a simple process, but there are a few things to take into consideration. You don’t want to end a test too soon or too late. You don’t want to test for a few weeks straight and then not test for a few months. You want a consistent, constant effort. Over time, this pays off very, very effectively. If you don’t make a commitment to it, you won’t see much of an impact.
There are a variety of tricks and secrets to optimizing your PPC accounts. Putting added focus on those Click Through Rates is a good place to start. If you are in an especially competitive business and keyword marketplace, consider outsourcing to a professional. If you can’t afford that added expense (although a good PPC expert will more than pay for himself), roll up the sleeves and get to work. Intelligent effort pays off.
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