8 Common PPC Strategies That May Not Work For Your Business

As a premier PPC management firm, we’ve seen countless articles proclaiming to itemize the “best practices” for PPC campaigns, PPC marketing novices usually fall into the trap of blindly applying these methods to their campaigns – unaware of the potentially counterproductive results. So, what 8 PPC strategies from supposed marketing gurus should you reconsider before applying to your campaigns?

 

Relying On Broad Match

Broad match is commended for supposedly offering a straightforward approach and expanded reach. In fact, both Microsoft & Google offer recommendations to add broad keywords to ad groups not using a specific match type.

However, common PPC platforms like Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads often match unrelated search terms under the broad match type. For example, if your keyword is “running shoes,” your PPC ad could appear for search queries for “basketball shoes for women” or “socks for running.”

Although both exact and phrase matches can still yield unrelated variants, they offer a higher level of control and more refined results than broad matches. So, combining broad match and RLSA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) targeting can be more effective.

 

Fully Automated Bidding

Automated bidding is designed to set bids that support your performance goals, taking the guesswork out of your strategies. However, these recommendations primarily rely on the conversion data fed back into the platform.

Since insufficient data could potentially skew the recommendations, opting for conversion-based bidding and Maximize Clicks could return more qualified traffic.

 

Auto-Accepting Recommendations

Auto-accepting Google’s recommendations hold the promise of smart and efficient strategies without the heavy lifting. However, auto-accepting recommendations could result in hundreds of unwanted keywords, expanded campaigns to unintended audiences, and more. As such, it’s best to thoroughly assess recommendations before implementing them and ensure they address your goals.

 

Specifying The Number Of Keywords Per Ad Group

There is no universally recommended number of keywords per ad group. Various factors determine how your keywords should be grouped, including intent, close variants, data significance, and more.

 

The Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG) Strategy

The ideology behind the SKAG approach is that having one keyword per ad group yields a higher quality score and allows maximum control of the keyword’s ad messaging.

However, SKAGs could return counterintuitive results since the data is distributed among several ad groups where users may have had the same intent with slightly different keywords.

 

Including Search Partners

Both Microsoft Advertising and Google Ads opt for campaigns to appear on the results of their respective search partners by default. Especially when you’re just starting out or have a limited budget, it’s best to exclude search partners since they can vary widely in performance, resulting in sporadic traffic spikes.

 

Combining Display And Search

Opting into Google’s display network may seem like an effortless way to acquire more reach with minimal effort, it often results in cannibalizing display placements on search.

 

Diversifying Into Every Channel

PPC advertising allows essentially any business to reach and attract qualified leads across various platforms, including social, search, and display networks.

While the allure of launching into a new channel and gaining a wider audience may seem like a window of opportunity, consider your “why” first. Is it an investment, or are you just decreasing the budget (by extension, potential qualified leads) from a well-performing channel?

For instance, it doesn’t make sense for an elderly group home to launch ads on Snapchat just as much as it isn’t practical for a sportswear brand to advertise on LinkedIn.

 

Renowned PPC Management Firm

The Ad Firm is an award-winning PPC management firm with 14 years of experience. We’re Google Ads certified and perform extensive keyword research & analysis and strategize accordingly to ensure the best results. Connect with one of our PPC experts and get your FREE competitor analysis today!

 

About the author:

The Ad Firm began with one mission in mind: HELP CLIENTS STAND OUT. We became the leading digital marketing firm through extensive research, proven techniques, data analysis, and more. With SEO best practices constantly evolving, we keep up to date with SEO’s latest advancements in tools, ideas, algorithm, and strategies. At The Ad Firm, we use a scientific approach to ensure our clients receive superior, quality service.