Paid advertising is one of the most effective ways to drive growth, but without ongoing refinements, ad spend can quickly be wasted. With competition rising and platforms evolving, businesses must go beyond simply running ads by following a structured method that maximizes performance. Success depends on precise targeting, compelling creative, automation, and accurate tracking to ensure every dollar delivers measurable results.

This post covers the important types of paid advertising, including search, shopping, social, display, video, audio, referral, and affiliate marketing. By reviewing your current campaigns, identifying gaps, and making data-driven changes, you will strengthen your campaigns and achieve better results. Whether your goal is lead generation, ecommerce sales, or brand awareness, optimizing your advertising channels will help you make the most of your budget in 2025 and beyond.

Conversion Tracking

Without accurate conversion tracking, budgets can be wasted on underperforming campaigns and valuable opportunities are missed. Successful paid advertising starts with properly configured tracking, ensuring every lead and sale is attributed to its ad source for smarter, data-driven decisions. From setting up conversion actions in ad platforms to implementing tracking codes and integrating your CRM, precise execution is required to maximize campaign performance.

Confirm that your business captures every conversion correctly with these important questions:

1. Do all your paid ad campaigns include UTM tracking on destination URLs to ensure accurate attribution?
2. What conversion actions are currently available on your website and landing pages, such as forms, phone calls, chat, and online orders?
3. Have you documented all unique forms on your website and categorized them by purpose, such as contact requests, free trials, demos, or newsletter signups?
4. Have you selected and prioritized the specific forms you want to track for conversions, focusing on those that drive revenue?
5. Are your forms properly grouped and configured as conversion actions within each of your ad platform accounts?
6. Have you integrated the ad platform tracking code on each form to ensure conversions are correctly attributed?
7. Is click ID functionality enabled to append tracking IDs to destination URLs, and are you capturing and storing these IDs for each conversion in your CRM?
8. Have you set up enhanced conversion tracking on ad platforms that support this feature to improve measurement accuracy?
9. Are you using third-party call-tracking software to monitor all phone calls generated by your paid advertising campaigns?
10. Is your call-tracking software correctly configured on your website and have you tested it to confirm accurate functionality?
11. Have you ensured your call-tracking software sends phone conversion data to ad platforms in real-time while filtering out short, non-sales-related calls?
12. For ad platforms without integrated phone conversion tracking, how are you using call-tracking data for attribution and campaign optimization?
13. Is all form and phone conversion data being automatically captured and stored within your CRM?
14. Does your CRM include a lead status field to categorize marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and new customers for better sales tracking?
15. If your website supports ecommerce, is each ad platform and its tracking code properly set up to capture unique order numbers and transaction values?

Search Ads

Without a properly structured and managed search ad campaign, significant ad spend can be wasted, leading to poor results and rising costs. Strong campaigns rely on precise keyword targeting and match types to attract high-intent searches, strategic bidding to increase conversions efficiently, and thoughtfully designed landing pages that turn clicks into valuable leads and sales.

To audit your search ads and find opportunities for improvement, ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you running a branded campaign to dominate search results for your brand and safeguard it against competitor ads?
2. Have you properly structured your search campaigns by service/product category and/or geography to optimize budget control and bid strategy?
3. Have you organized your ad groups around keyword themes to improve quality scores and ad relevance?
4. Are you targeting high-intent commercial keywords and strategically using multiple match types to capture all relevant variations?
5. Do you have all relevant negative keywords in place with the correct match types, and are you actively monitoring your campaign daily to add new negatives and minimize wasted spend?
6. Does each ad group include a diverse set of headlines and descriptions to optimize performance, along with compelling offers to increase CTR?
7. Are you using additional ad assets in Google Ads, such as call, sitelink, callout, image, structured snippets, and location assets, to maximize SERP visibility and drive more clicks and conversions?
8. Have you implemented remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) in Google Ads to lower CPCs and increase conversion rates?
9. Are you using dayparting to pause campaign-level ad spend during less effective times, such as weekends, holidays, and night and early morning hours, to reduce wasted spend and lower overall cost per conversion?
10. Are you using automated smart bidding in each campaign to maximize conversions while minimizing costs?
11. Are you importing offline conversions into the ad platforms to optimize smart bidding based on MQLs and closed deals?
12. Do your landing pages follow modern design trends and responsive development to ensure an optimal user experience across all devices, while also allowing you to quickly create and test multiple versions for conversion optimization?
13. Do your landing pages maintain consistent messaging that matches your ads, feature a compelling offer, prominently display a conversion form and phone number, and include strong calls to action (CTAs) to drive conversions?
14. Are you continuously testing landing page changes to improve conversion rates with a clear testing plan, while analyzing key visitor behavior metrics, including time on page, bounce rates, and click/scroll heatmaps, to guide optimizations?
15. Do you have a clear understanding of the ROI for each campaign in each ad platform, and are you actively optimizing to maximize conversions at the lowest cost?

Shopping Ads

Shopping ads are a powerful way to boost ecommerce sales when properly improved. Success comes from reaching the right shoppers at the right time while standing out from competitors. High-quality images and an optimized product feed improve visibility, competitive pricing and promotions enhance appeal, and refined audience selection brings in high-intent traffic. When combined with smart automation and product landing pages designed to drive conversions, these strategies work together to increase sales and achieve the best return on ad spend.

Use these important questions to assess and enhance your shopping ad performance:

1. Do your product photos, both on your website and in your product feed, meet high-quality standards, and are they optimized to attract clicks and drive conversions, given they are the first thing users notice?
2. Have your product titles been optimized with relevant keywords and key details such as brand, product name, color, and size to improve visibility and conversions?
3. Can your product descriptions be improved by incorporating key features, benefits, and additional relevant keywords for better visibility and engagement?
4. Are you proactively working to increase the number of positive reviews for each of your products?
5. Do you actively monitor and resolve product feed errors in your Google and Microsoft Merchant Center accounts to prevent performance issues?
6. Are you using a product feed management tool to create and optimize segmented feeds while benefiting from AI-driven enhancements?
7. Are you taking advantage of the promotion features in your Google and Microsoft Merchant Center accounts to offer discounts, free shipping, and limited-time deals to increase clicks and conversions?
8. Have you upgraded from Google Ads standard Shopping campaigns to Performance Max campaigns to maximize ad reach, improve targeting, and leverage AI-driven automation for better performance?
9. If you are using Performance Max, have you implemented brand, placement, and audience exclusions, along with account-level negative keywords, to minimize wasted spend?
10. Are you supplying Customer Match (first-party data) and offline conversion data to Performance Max to refine AI-driven targeting, ensuring your ads reach the most relevant users at the right time and place?
11. Are you continually optimizing your product pages to enhance user engagement and increase conversion rates?

Social Ads

Social ads thrive on relevance, creativity, and audience selection. Choosing the right platforms, setting clear goals, and improving ad formats ensure campaigns support business objectives. Engaging visuals, persuasive copy, and smart retargeting help capture attention and increase conversions. Ongoing tracking and regular testing keep campaigns effective and cost-efficient.

Review your social ad campaigns with these important questions:

1. Have you chosen the right social ad platforms based on your goals, such as brand awareness, ecommerce sales, lead generation, or local business growth?
2. Does your campaign objective align with your desired outcome, whether it be traffic, conversions, lead generation, or video views?
3. Are you segmenting audiences effectively by testing custom and lookalike audiences, as well as behavioral and demographic targeting, to find the most responsive groups?
4. Have you tested different creatives, headlines, CTAs, and ad copy to determine what resonates best with your audience?
5. Do your ads feature a strong hook in the first few seconds, minimal text, clear messaging, and social proof like testimonials, reviews, or ratings?
6. Are your landing pages fast, mobile-friendly, and aligned with your ad messaging, featuring a clear CTA to drive conversions?
7. How well are you tracking key performance metrics like CTR, CPC, conversion rate, and ROAS and are you making data-driven adjustments to optimize budget and bidding strategies?
8. Have you implemented retargeting campaigns for high-intent users, such as website visitors, cart abandoners, and engaged social users, to maximize conversions?

Display Ads

A successful display ad campaign goes beyond generating impressions. It delivers engaging creative to the right audience, driving real interactions and conversions. Reaching high-value users requires careful audience selection, strategic placements, and smart automation. First-party data enhances audience selection, while optimized landing pages turn clicks into sales or leads. Ongoing testing and adjustments ensure display campaigns remain effective, balancing brand awareness with measurable results.

Use these questions to review and enhance your display ad performance:

1. Have you been actively testing various audience targeting features in each ad platform, such as custom intent audiences, in-market audiences, affinity audiences, demographic targeting, remarketing, and placement targeting in Google Ads, to maximize conversions at the lowest cost?
2. Are you providing Customer Match (first-party data) and offline conversion data in Google Ads to enhance AI-driven targeting and reach the most relevant users ready to buy?
3. Do you exclude low-quality placement categories such as mobile apps, games, parked domains, and clickbait sites while continuously adding blocked sites and negative keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks and wasted spend?
4. Is your Google Ads remarketing tag properly set up on your website to retarget visitors who have engaged with your site but haven’t yet converted?
5. For responsive display ads, are you providing your logo, a diverse set of headlines, and descriptions with compelling offers and clear CTAs, along with high-quality images to enable the ad platform’s AI to optimize for the best-performing combinations that drive conversions?
6. Have you been consistently creating and testing custom image ads against responsive display ads to determine which performs best in terms of CTR and conversion rate?
7. Are you implementing frequency capping to prevent ad fatigue and ensure a positive brand experience?
8. Do you utilize automated smart bidding in each campaign to maximize conversions while minimizing costs?
9. Are your landing pages optimized for modern design and responsiveness, maintaining ad-aligned messaging, strong CTAs, and key conversion elements, while being continuously tested and refined using visitor behavior metrics to maximize conversions?

Video Ads

Video ads capture attention, but using them to turn views into conversions requires the right strategy. Engaging storytelling, clear branding, and carefully selected audience targeting help drive impact. Testing different formats, adjusting video length, and using smart automation will boost results and minimize wasted spend. Every second of your ad should contribute to achieving real business goals.

Review these important questions to strengthen and improve your video ads:

1. Are you consistently creating and testing video ads across different ad platforms to identify what delivers the best performance at the lowest cost?
2. Are you experimenting with different ad formats on each platform to find the most cost-effective and high-performing options?
3. Are you utilizing various audience targeting features on each ad platform to enhance campaign performance and reach the most relevant users?
4. Are you using Customer Match (first-party data), lookalike audiences, and offline conversion data in Google Ads to enhance AI-driven targeting and optimize smart bidding to reach your ideal customers?
5. Are you creating video ad sequences to nurture audiences through different stages of the buying journey?
6. Are your videos hooking the viewer within the first five seconds, showcasing your product or proof quickly, incorporating strong branding and featuring a clear CTA?
7. Are you ensuring that your branding is introduced early in the video to reinforce brand recall, even if viewers don’t watch the full ad?
8. Are you optimizing video thumbnails and titles to increase CTR on video ad placements?
9. Are you using captions or text overlays to ensure your message is clear even when videos play without sound?
10. Are you testing different video lengths to determine which drives the highest engagement and conversions?
11. Are you tracking key engagement metrics beyond view rate, such as watch time, CTR, and post-view conversions?

Audio Ads

Audio ads offer a unique way to connect with audiences in a focused, distraction-free environment. The right mix of voice, tone, and sound design will make messages more memorable and engaging. Audience selection, personalized messaging, and testing different formats help improve results and increase impact. A clear message and strong CTA ensure listeners know exactly what to do next.

Use these important questions to enhance your audio ad campaign:

1. Have you tested audio ads on different platforms to achieve the best performance?
2. Are you experimenting with different audio ad formats on each platform to identify which delivers the best results?
3. Have you explored various audience targeting features in each audio ad platform to optimize campaign performance?
4. Are you using first-party data and retargeting strategies to reach engaged listeners who have interacted with your brand before?
5. Do your ads feature a well-chosen voice actor with the right tone, complemented by engaging music and sound effects to enhance listener engagement?
6. Is your audio ad creative capturing attention within the first 3-5 seconds by using bold statements, intriguing questions, and direct listener engagement or by immediately highlighting key benefits?
7. Are you keeping your audio ads concise and to the point, avoiding unnecessary filler while delivering a clear and engaging message?
8. Does your messaging include a compelling offer and a clear CTA that directs listeners on the next action to take?
9. Are you using a dynamic audio ad creative (personalization) to tailor messaging based on user location, weather, time of day, or demographics?
10. Have you tested different voice styles, messaging, and CTAs to determine what drives the highest conversion rates?

Email

Email provides direct access to engaged audiences, but success depends on reaching the right recipients with compelling content. Sponsored placements, co-branded promotions, and partnerships with influencers increase visibility, while customized messaging and automated scheduling enhance engagement. Strong CTAs and ongoing testing help improve open rates and conversions.

Review your email ad campaigns with these important questions:

1. Are you sponsoring email newsletters that reach your ideal customers through industry associations, trade groups, or media outlets by placing featured content or ads to increase brand exposure?
2. Do you run co-branded email campaigns or dedicated email blasts with trusted influencers or industry partners to expand your reach and engage your ideal audience?
3. Are you working with influencers, affiliates, or industry experts to promote your service/product through their email lists?
4. Have you explored sponsoring event and conference email campaigns or partnering with virtual summits and webinar hosts to reach and engage attendees before and after the event?
5. Is your email campaign design focused on clear, compelling CTAs that guide recipients toward a specific action, such as signing up, purchasing, or learning more?
6. Do you use reputable third-party email list providers, platforms like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or ZoomInfo, and intent-based tools to build high-quality email lists while leveraging automation to scale outreach with personalization and compliance?
7. Are you testing different send times, days, subject lines, and audience segments to determine the best combination to maximize open rates and conversions in your email campaigns?

Referral

Referral traffic is a valuable source of high-intent visitors, but only if placements are carefully chosen and improved. Sponsored listicles, editorial reviews, and premium directory listings increase visibility and credibility, while paid features on industry blogs and comparison sites help attract qualified leads. Monitoring results and adjusting your methods ensure referral efforts deliver meaningful outcomes.

Review your referral ad campaigns with these important questions:

1. Have you sponsored high-ranking listicles and comparison articles to drive targeted referral traffic to your website?
2. Are you investing in editorial reviews or featured articles on industry blogs and media outlets to build credibility and attract qualified leads?
3. Have you secured paid placements in resource hubs, industry guides, or recommended tools pages relevant to your audience?
4. Are you using paid sponsorships in high-traffic blog posts that generate consistent organic referral traffic?
5. Have you listed your business in premium directories like Clutch, G2, or Capterra to increase exposure and drive inbound leads?
6. Are you paying for enhanced visibility on review websites such as Trustpilot, Yelp, or TripAdvisor to boost trust and attract new customers?
7. Have you sponsored business leads through professional associations, membership organizations, and trade groups?
8. Are you utilizing paid placements on price comparison or lead generation websites like HomeAdvisor and Thumbtack to acquire qualified prospects?
9. Have you sponsored virtual summits, industry conferences, or online events to position your business in front of a high-intent audience?
10. Are you regularly analyzing referral traffic and conversion performance to refine your strategy and maximize ROI?

Affiliate

Affiliate marketing drives cost-effective growth, but success depends on forming the right partnerships and maintaining a well-managed campaign. A competitive commission model, strong affiliate relationships, and conversion-focused landing pages improve results, while reliable tracking ensures profitability. Providing affiliates with the right tools and clear guidelines helps increase conversions and protect brand integrity.

Ask yourself these questions to strengthen your affiliate marketing plan:

1. Have you selected the right affiliate model, whether pay-per-sale, pay-per-lead, or pay-per-click, to align with your business goals?
2. Is your commission structure competitive enough to attract and retain high-quality affiliates while maintaining profitability?
3. Are you partnering with top affiliate networks and reputable affiliates, including influencers, bloggers, and niche websites?
4. Have you optimized your affiliate-specific landing pages for speed, mobile usability, and high conversion rates?
5. Have you tested different creatives, offers, and CTAs to maximize conversion rates from affiliate traffic?
6. Are you maintaining consistent communication with affiliates and providing them with strong marketing assets like banners, product images, and promo codes?
7. Do you have clear terms and conditions outlining approved promotional methods, traffic sources, and brand guidelines?
8. Are you actively monitoring for affiliate fraud, such as fake leads, cookie stuffing, or unauthorized paid ads, while ensuring compliance with FTC disclosure requirements and GDPR?

Getting the most out of your paid advertising in 2025 requires daily monitoring and ongoing adjustments. Each channel holds unique potential, but true success comes from aligning them to enhance results and increase revenue. By fine-tuning audience targeting, testing creative assets, leveraging AI-driven automations, and closely monitoring performance, you will reduce wasted spend and drive sustained growth. The right strategy combined with detailed execution ensures your budget delivers impactful results and keeps your campaigns competitive into the future.

SEO and PPC are both excellent choices for Internet marketing, and they also work very well in tandem. Nevertheless, running both SEO and PPC campaigns isn’t always practical. In some cases, issues specific to your business make PPC a much better choice for lead generation and/or revenue generation. Here are seven telltale signs PPC is the right choice for you.

1. Your business is seasonal. SEO requires steady effort year after year, and your organic visibility can’t be turned on and off. With PPC, you can invest heavily in advertising during busy seasons, and scale back or shut down completely when business is slow.



2. Big companies dominate SEO. In some niches, a handful of mega-corporations with six- or even seven-figure SEO budgets price all the smaller companies out of the market. An SEO campaign to get you from page 10 to page 8 on Google probably won’t yield much, if any, ROI; whereas with PPC, you can appear prominently on Google right away.
3. Your business model will change. If your business is likely to change due to an aggressive acquisition strategy, product development or a similar reason, PPC enables you to adjust or overhaul ad content, offers and landing pages quickly. SEO, on the other hand, requires months of work to optimize for new keywords, and may not be fast enough to keep up with you.
4. Your specialized business has low keyword volume. Companies in highly specialized businesses get lazy sometimes because there is little competition for organic keywords, and they show up in organic results with minimal effort. However, if such a company ran a PPC campaign with knockout offers, it may catch the competition off guard and generate lots of leads and orders.
5. You have a knockout offer. If your business runs on terrific offers — lifetime guarantees, massive discounts/sales, etc. — PPC ads will convey your value proposition with far more impact than an SEO campaign that may or may not explain your offer in the organic link that displays on Google.
6. You want instant gratification. SEO takes time to bear fruit, and many organizations are hungry for immediate results. If you are looking for a fast (and perhaps more precisely measurable) return on investment, PPC is the way to go.
7. You have a local business serving a local market. Local SEO is a popular and effective approach, but it does require time, quite a bit of effort, and a great deal of expertise. Many, if not most, local businesses serving local markets have found PPC to be easier to implement and highly effective.

Needless to say, before diving into PPC, SEO or both, it makes sense to take a careful look at all the variables. If you’re not sure which option is best for you, please contact us. We analyze PPC versus SEO situations multiple times, every day.

There’s a good business case to be made for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. It’s quite popular (as we will see momentarily), and is effective for most businesses provided they implement a well-conceived and properly funded campaign.

1. PPC Gives You an Edge — Google

Google is one of the largest companies on the planet. Why? Because of advertising. In 2003, Google’s advertising revenue was $1.42 billion; in 2016 — $79.38 billion. Advertising revenue accounts for more than 90 percent of Google’s total revenue, which means Google treats its PPC advertisers well on its search engine. Over the years, Google has given more and more prime SERP (search engine results page) real estate to PPC ads, driving organic results farther down. More recently, Google has begun to make PPC ads look more like organic results, another way the company is setting the table for higher click-through rates. In short, when you invest in PPC, you have Google in your corner. As time goes on, it’s highly likely Google will continue to modify its search engine appearance and functionality to favor advertisers.

2. PPC Makes Your Marketing Nimble

Most forms of online and traditional marketing require long-term commitments and consistently big budgets. Branding campaigns, SEO, drip marketing campaigns and social media campaigns lose most of their effectiveness if they become on-again, off-again affairs. Not so with PPC — the PPC switch can be turned on or off at a moment’s notice. A company with little or no organic search engine presence will go to the top of the SERP immediately, as long as it has an adequate budget. And, if the campaign is not meeting expectations, it can be shut down immediately, enabling the company to divert funds to better-performing options, or simply pause the PPC campaign in order to devise more promising keyword and/or bidding strategies.

3. PPC Makes Your Other Marketing Better

PPC campaigns involve lots and lots of testing. Savvy campaigners continually change it to arrive at the best offers, landing page content, keywords and a host of other marketing variables. The data derived from these tests can be applied to other marketing campaigns to bring about substantial improvement. For instance, if an email campaign continually repeats Offer A, but a PPC test reveals Offer B produces twice the sales leads, the email campaign may well achieve the same results by switching. Multiply this example several times a month over the course of a year, and a company will make great strides in its overall lead generation that it never would have made without PPC in the mix.

Looking for help setting up or managing your PPC campaign? We can help! Please contact us now to discuss your objectives.

PPC is a terrific form of Internet marketing — but not for every business and not without a solid game plan. Before we take on a new PPC client, we conduct a thorough audit to gauge two critical things: whether the cost-benefit equation of a campaign makes sense, and whether a current campaign can be improved upon or needs to be completely replaced.

Here are the specific items we review in our PPC qualifying audit:

1. Exploratory Keyword Research

1. Conducting exploratory keyword research using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool helps us understand:
1. The potential size of the prospect’s market
2. Estimated monthly search volume
3. The most relevant keywords with the highest search volume
4. The competitiveness of the keyword market
2. We also look at the below projected monthly metrics for each keyword:
1. Clicks — The estimated number of times a user would click on an ad on the search results page
2. Impressions — The estimated number of times a user would view an ad on the search results page
3. Cost — The estimated cost of each keyword
4. CTR — The estimated click-through rate (clicks/impressions) of each keyword
5. Average CPC — The estimated cost-per-click from Google AdWords, which provides insight into the value and competition level of the keyword
6. Average Position — The estimated position for an ad on the search results page

2. Existing Account Audit (If applicable. We only do this if the client has an existing campaign it is currently running.)

We analyze the account to determine:

• If we can take over the existing campaign and just make some slight modifications and start managing the campaigns from there
• If we need to set up a new account and create all new campaigns from scratch

I. Account Level

1. Adequate initial spend
2. Proper campaign/ad group structure (for budget control purposes, based on services and/or website structure)
3. AdWords conversion tracking
4. Dynamic phone tracking
5. Google Analytics tagging

II. Campaign Level

1. Sitelink extensions
2. Location extensions
3. Callout extensions
4. Call extension
5. Review extension
6. Snippet extension
7. Customized ad schedule
8. Customized device targeting
9. Search and display separated into individual campaigns
10. Remarketing lists on search ads (RLSA)

III. Ad Level

1. Ads
1. Ad group level customization
2. Proper grammar
3. Call to action in ad text
4. Proper A/B ad split testing
2. Landing pages
1. Ad group level customization
2. Messaging consistent with keywords and ads
3. Offer/CTA
4. Prominent phone number placement
5. Prominent form placement
6. Responsive/mobile-friendly
7. Modern design

IV. Keyword Level

1. Adequate number of keywords
2. Active bid management
3. Average or above average quality score
4. Not using broad match (non-modified)
5. Utilizing multiple match types
6. Frequent negative keyword management

We look at all of these, but the main factors that usually determine whether we can take over a campaign or not are:

• Proper campaign/ad group structure
• Adequate number of keywords

If these two aren’t done correctly, fixing them is more time-consuming and the results are less effective than just starting over. The other audit items provide great insight about the inner workings of the existing campaign, which enable us to take advantage of or enhance the good campaign elements, and rework the less effective ones.

3. Media Budget Recommendations

After completing the exploratory keyword research and existing account audit (if applicable), we recommend a monthly media budget for the prospect. We provide the prospect with a minimum required monthly budget and a maximum potential monthly budget.

The minimum required monthly budget is the amount required to be competitive and gather enough data to properly optimize the campaign.

The maximum monthly budget takes into account the maximum projected number of clicks the prospect could receive with an unlimited budget.

The Two Big Benefits of a PPC Audit

This audit procedure has helped us in two very important ways:

First, even though we hate to turn down business, we do exactly that when the numbers don’t add up — there’s no sense getting started on a PPC campaign that’s doomed from the start; we’ll only end up getting fired. What’s more, prospects appreciate our frankness and this often leads them to explore other, better marketing options with us.

Second, when the audit proves favorable for PPC, which it does most of the time, we can hit the ground running with a solid strategy and tactical plan. This makes the ramp-up faster and far more efficient, so we can start delivering results more quickly while staying well within the budget.

If you’re not running a PPC audit along these lines now, give it some thought! It may help you land the right type of client and increase your odds of a highly successful outcome.

Google Shopping can be scary if you’ve spent most of your AdWords life in Search and Display campaigns. It’s easy to start a Shopping campaign with a huge product catalog at your disposal, not see results in the first month, and get scared off. If that’s the case, humor me and consider a few questions before you conclude Google Shopping just isn’t right for your online store.

Is ROAS (return on ad spend) the main issue? In other words, do you have substantial spend and conversion volume, but CPCs (cost-per-clicks) are just too expensive to rationalize continuing with the campaign?

I wanted to share an example of some basic segmentation that really paid off for a retail client. The Shopping campaign initially was paused due to poor ROAS. See initial stats over the first 10-month run:

Sales: 203

ROAS: 1.79 (goal is 3.00)

The Pitch: For Shopping, the volume was never an issue. If we could harness areas of the campaign that were working and exclude the others, there was really an opportunity here. We believe we’ve found the proper segmentation to exploit this opportunity. Additionally, our team is more experienced in Shopping segmentation at this point, so our management process for these campaigns has more concrete structure.

Strategy: Use granular segmentation to strategically increase revenue in the most effective pockets of the campaign, while decreasing costs in pockets of lower revenue.

Tactics

1. Segment products by brand, then by product type.
2. Starting at product-type level, note Conv/Click (average value per click) and determine new “Goal CPC,” which would allow for ROAS of 3.
3. Implement projected bid to best meet “Goal CPC,” and then monitor.
4. If Conv/Click is too low (say under 0.30) to realistically gain any impression share, EXCLUDE the product type to eliminate any wasted spend.
5. If there is minimal data at the product-type level, apply 1 to 4, but at the brand level.

Not only did this allow us to eliminate wasteful spending for ineffective products/brands, but also we increased and scaled in areas with an already high ROAS (likely less competitive brands).

Tip: Notice the “Click Share” and “Search Impr Share” columns, and the low numbers in areas of higher ROAS. This indicates we can raise bids in these areas to gain more traffic.

If a pocket already has an ROAS of 5+, we may wish to push up bids even further here, to increase volume and still stay within our target ROAS.

Today, I will run through some newer and lesser-utilized ad extensions that have potential to add big value to your PPC campaigns in both Google AdWords and Bing Ads.

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Adding the extensions below almost always result in, at the very least, a small improvement in CTR:

• Sitelink extensions
• Callout extensions
• Call extensions

You’re likely familiar with these. If you don’t use them in every single account, get them in there now. They’re easy to produce using content from a client’s site and can be easily added at the account level (although you will likely want to go more granular at some point).

Extension: Structured Snippet

Engine: Google and Bing

Who Should Use It: Everyone

Description: Similar in theory to callout extensions, these offer another layer of content and information underneath the main lines of your text ads. When creating, you are asked to choose a category relevant to your business. For example, an HVAC company may choose the category “Service Catalog” and add “Heating”, “AC” and “Plumbing” as the snippets. Snippets are not clickable, and serve to give advertisers another level of differentiation from competitors.

If you do not select snippets yourself, AdWords can also create dynamic snippets based on landing page content.

Extension: Price

Engine: Google

Who Should Use It: E-Commerce

Description: Price extensions allow advertisers to display relevant information about specific products underneath text ads. This allows users to more easily compare pricing between advertisers. It can be helpful in weeding out potentially high-cost clicks from users with no interest in a given price range. Furthermore, it can improve CTR in the most relevant potential customers. Interested users can click on a price extension and be directed to that specific product.

Extension: Review

Engine: Google and Bing

Who Should Use It: Everyone with relevant third-party reviews

Description: Review extensions display positive accolades, testimonials and third-party rankings with users. This can be anything from a quote to an award acknowledgement. It’s simple and criminally underutilized. In my experience, these tend to improve both CTR and conversion rate more than any other extension, especially if your client has relevant awards to display.

In general, I recommend at least testing most, if not all, available ad extensions. As Google continues to add these (and Bing continues to mimic Google), advertisers can further differentiate themselves from the field, and become more relevant to the right users.

Some ad extensions may work better than others, so test them like you would ad copy — adding new ones and pausing “losers” to ensure the user’s overall ad experience is always improving. Don’t settle for just the classics (sitelinks, callouts, call). Mix it up and get better!

Clients can be unreasonable. We all know that. But most issues usually stem from a lack of understanding, unclear goals or just unrealistic expectations that are never articulated. The PPC management team can avoid at least some of the above with candid, ongoing dialogue and transparent reporting with detailed explanations.

Cost per lead/cost per acquisition (CPA) is a common metric used when determining client goals and meeting these goals with ongoing improvements, so let’s focus on that as our main example.

First off, it’s important that you help the client understand CPA in a more detailed perspective. Most clients will inherently view CPA from the following simple formula:

CPA = Cost/Leads

How can we explain optimization using the equation above? Reduce costs and increase leads? Obviously, if everything works perfectly and the client’s market is relatively straightforward, this explanation can be satisfactory. But taking this a step further can pay dividends and help the client understand additional factors at play.

CPA = CPC/Conversion Rate

The change seems simple, but this version of the equation lends itself to more dialogue and a deeper understanding of the levers we can pull to see improvement.

Actions to Reduce Cost Per Click

• Keyword Bid Adjustments
• Device Bid Adjustments
• Landing Page Improvements focused on Quality Score
• A/B Ad split testing (CTR focus)
• Targeting adjustments
• Negative keyword additions to avoid erroneous traffic and wasted spend
• Ad Extension testing to improve Quality Score

Actions to Improve Conversion Rate

• Landing page design testing
• A/B Ad split testing (Conversion focus)
• CTA/Offer testing

Now the client immediately has a better understanding of what actually goes into decreasing the CPA over time.

Additionally, recognizing the latter version of the formula can also help shed some light on realistic expectations in the client’s eyes.

For example, let’s say the client has a monthly budget of $1,000 and a CPA goal of $20/lead. However, you note that CPCs (cost per clicks) are nearly $10/click and Conversion Rate averages 25 percent. You can easily explain to the client how this goal is not immediately feasible, as it assumes 50 percent Conversion Rate given our CPA equation. Subsequently, you can lay out a plan for Quality Score improvement to reduce CPCs, and a landing page testing plan to improve the Conversion Rate over the next several months.

Now the client has a better understanding of how all of those tactics it sees actually apply to its bottom line, and what to watch for in addition to straightforward CPA numbers month over month.

The big point here is that communication is key. If you believe in your plan (even if results aren’t as immediate as the client would like), explain the ins and outs, and don’t be afraid to take the discussion another step down the rabbit hole. In most instances, this will only benefit you and the client.

Let’s talk easy-win PPC initiatives for a minute. How often does a client expect PPC professionals to have that perfect gold-mine solution? You know, that secret button you can push in Google AdWords that immediately improves cost per acquisition/return on investment (CPA/ROI)? Well, that button might not exist, but remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) are the next best thing.

RLSA is a feature that lets you customize your search ads campaign for people who previously have visited your site, and tailor your bids and ads to these visitors when they’re searching on Google.

When people leave your site without converting, for example, RLSA helps you connect with these potential customers when they continue looking for what they need on Google Search (as opposed to just on the Google Display Network as with normal remarketing). You can set your bids, create ads or select keywords, keeping in mind that these customers previously have visited your website.

RLSAs are especially valuable for clients with longer sales cycles or a B2B focus. Think about one user doing his/her research looking for the best solution: The user clicks one ad after another, one organic link after another, and doesn’t end up actually contacting any advertiser. RLSA allows you — the advertiser — to ensure you stand out to this very valuable user the next time, when the user is a step further into the buying cycle. With RLSA, advertisers can offer unique incentives for returning users or ensure their ad is in top positioning for returning users.

Here are some of my favorite strategies for utilizing RLSA:

1. Bid on keywords that you don’t normally bid on just for people who recently have visited your site, or have converted on your site in the past. For example, you may wish to continue bidding on broad match keywords, but only targeting previous visitors, as they are more qualified.

2. Optimize bids for your existing keywords for visitors on your remarketing lists. For example, you can increase your bid by 25 percent for those who viewed your website in the last 30 days.

3. Duplicate all campaigns, excluding remarketing audiences from your original campaign and using the ‘Target and bid” option for new RLSA-focused campaigns. This allows for budget prioritization based on whether or not a user has visited your website.