Wondering what’s a good PPC management strategy for your small or medium business? Ideally, it should look into several aspects including keyword research, target goals, campaign monitoring, split testing campaign measurement, analyzing competition and campaign optimization.

Here are some tips that a professional PPC management agency uses to draft ROI driven campaigns.

#1 Set Campaign Goals

Expert PPC managers know that effective management strategies are built on clear roadmaps. The first step is to identify key metrics and business goals so that you can engineer each campaign element campaigns to reach those goals.

For an e-commerce business, the goal may be to increase the number of sales in which case campaign focus would be to get website visitors and conversions. A B2B business may be more interested in generating qualified leads who can be nurtured into clients.

#2 Use Google’s Recommendations Where Appropriate

A professional PPC management agency understands that Google is a great source for valuable insights (such as in the area of keyword research) but Google’s recommendations should not be followed blindly – after all, Google’s suggestions are designed to generate them more revenue.

Taking control of the campaign and using Google’s suggestions only when they make sense in light of business goals is a smart move to generate positive ROI for your campaigns.

Also read: A Comparison of Google-Ads & DoubleClick

#3 Look Into Campaign Structure

It’s a good idea to create several campaigns targeting specific areas of your products or services – for example, a campaign for branded terms, generic terms, competitor terms or other product categories. Once the initial on-boarding is completed, it’s time to pause a campaign and check the campaign structure for maximum effectiveness.

#4 Optimize Ad Groups

PPC managers like to create granular ad groups to better match ads with keywords and search queries. Initially, you may want to create ad groups for different product categories and later you could create ad groups for each product. In the early days, cast a wide net with regard to keywords so you can collect data to see what’s working. Over time, you can review data and create separate ad groups to target high performing keywords.

#5 Create Compelling Ads

Ad copy is a key element of any PPC management strategy. Google Ads managers optimize ad copy by including the keyword in the headline and provide information such as product benefits and social proofs in the description field to attract consumers.

Landing pages are the vital links between click-through rates and conversions. These should be optimized by mirroring ad copy, addressing the specific needs of consumers and including a strong call to action.

Also read: Click through Rate (CTR): What Is Good CTR in Google Ads?

#6 Continuously Monitor and Measure Important Metrics

Every relevant element including keywords, ads, and landing pages must be measured so you know what’s working and what’s not. Over the first month, PPC management services providers pay particular attention to search query reports as this helps to identify top performing keywords, poor performing ones and new keyword ideas for targeting.

Top performing keywords can be optimized by providing them with their own ad groups and increasing budget whereas poor performing ones can be added to negative keywords list so they are excluded from campaigns.

#7 Focus on Gathering Data in Early Days

During the first thirty days, PPC managers recommend casting a wide net so that you have some data to work with for long-term PPC management strategy – this may require burning through your budget but the efforts are well worth it. Some PPC management services providers recommend assigning exact match or broad match modifier tags to keywords to get two different types of data.

#8 Test Important Elements

A good long-term PPC strategy depends on continuously measuring and optimizing campaigns. It’s important to split test existing assets such as ad headlines, ad copies and landing page elements like headlines and CTA to boost campaign performance.

Effective PPC management is not a matter of chance – it is a strategic initiative that requires a certain level of expertise. For assistance in end-to-end PPC campaign management, get in touch with an experienced PPC agency!