10 Common PPC Mistakes

This list is compiled of the most common mistakes I encountered so far in my career as a PPC Specialist. I found this list to be more of a pet peeve of mine rather than the top 10 crucial. Let's begin!

1. Paying for Negative Keywords: Nothing is far worse than to pay for keywords that don’t even have any relevance to your goal. If you are having your keywords set at “broad” that can be the worse case scenario for this problem. Ensure that you also look into the search details of each keyword to either add or remove keywords to enhance your ROI.

  

2. Not Inputting Keywords in Ad: This is huge! Put keywords into your ads for which you are paying for! Not only will the ads be beneficial in quality score and click through rate, but even will show bold.

 

      3. Not Bidding on Your Name:  If your competition is purposely targeting you as a keyword you want to be able to rebuttle and bid against it. You may also take legal action if able. The way around it is to actually create a dynamic ad bidding on a broad keyword that can trigger your competitor’s. It’s not against Google’s policy so be assured that you can do this too.

      4. Not Using Extensions: Ok I seen this a lot with so many campaigns. Be sure to utelize as much as the extensions Google provides. It is even proven that the more you use the extensions the better quality score you will receive, even if you are just a lander use a phone extension. 

        5. Not Using Bid Adjustments: This is huge! For many campaigns some get a lower CPA on mobile then they do on desktop devices. If this were true, change your bid adjustment by certain percentage that makes sense. If you really want to go all out, then create a mobile campaign only. But not using this bid option is crucial.

6. Bidding for Position #1: This isn’t most of the time being the best strategy, especially if the CPC is way too high to afford. You want to be around position 3 average (top left side of Google). You may attract visitors more, sure.... But people will do research before they decide to make an action. Unless your giving something for free, I wouldn’t immediately decide to be position 1.

       7. Avoiding Help From Google: Not everyone likes to ask for directions, but let’s be honest you are going to need help from time to time. I mean it’s free information that a rep from Google can help you. Am I saying there the best? Are they the experts? Not really, but they sure can guide and help you in the right direction that best fits there needs. Let’s admit it, Google wants you… $$$

        8. Directing Page Only to Home: You never just want to designate all your traffic to your home page, unless it’s a lander with a form fill. You want to find a page that can convert better by being more relevant with unique products, services, or content. Try even changing your url to being more user friendly. Remember not everyone want’s to search all over the place. Make it quick and simple.

        9. Not Tracking Conversions: You would be amazed how many clients never had tracking installed. It’s like throwing money out the window! Wether you are tracking a conversion on a page (thank you) or a call, It’s wise to track efforts. With Google’s CPA bidding option now your able to let Google optimize your campaign to receive more conversions. Makes sense right? Even if you enable Enhanced CPC will also help as well.

Editor’s Note: (I don’t recommend CPA bidding unless you plan on not optimizing much.)

         10. Targeted Areas: Be sure to set your campaign to the designated areas that you want to advertise. It doesn’t make sense to show something you can’t sell too right? Be sure to geo target the areas that you want. If you are planning on optimizing by state, then it’s best to separate each ad group/campaign to the areas.

I hope this helps a bit for all you newbies in the PPC area. I plan on writing some more stuff for the advanced users. I hope this top 10 list has been helpful and look forward to your comments or questions.