When it comes to running a paid search campaign and monitoring the data it generates, there’s nothing more popular than Google Ads. However, like any system available for Pay Per Call marketing and other forms of advertisement, Google Ads isn’t just always the perfect tool, nor is it a set-it-and-forget-it option. Before launching your marketing campaign, make sure you avoid these common Google Ads mistakes.
Poorly Grouped Keywords
Google Ads allows you to setup campaigns into different ad groups so you can manage different types of campaigns, such as content campaigns or Pay Per Call. Within each group you have the option to breakdown your ads and keywords into groups, and if you fail to do so you’re missing out on the power of specialized keywords for different campaigns.
Not Checking on Accounts
As alluded to above, you can’t simply setup Google Ads for your Pay Per Call campaign and hope it will take care of itself. You need to be checking in on a regular basis, more than once a week is best, to make sure you are tweaking things enough to keep the campaigns effective and relevant.
Read More: Still Not Using Google’s Call-Only Ads?
4 Reasons You Should
Lacking a Dedicated Landing Page
Paid traffic such as you generate using Google Ads shouldn’t be directed to your homepage. Your business homepage is a means of introducing your brand to consumers and explaining what your company is about. Traffic driven by Ads should go to dedicated landing pages that have a specific campaign objective in mind, whether that’s to garner email newsletter signups or get people to click and call your number using Pay Per Call.
Clunky Landing Page Experience
Now that you’ve corrected the above Ads mistakes, you can focus on making sure your landing page provides a good experience for visitors. A major mistake many marketers make is ignoring the on-site experience of their landing page and the high-friction, frustrating nature of their shopping cart.
Not Including Ad Extensions
Ad extensions allow your brand to show additional information beneath your ad copy, which gives you the chance to showcase more about your brand and products to the consumer before they even click on your ad. These are also important because ad extensions help with ad rankings.
Failing to Track Conversions
This might be the most egregious of Ads mistakes. Google systems are designed to help you track and learn from data, so ignoring conversions is a major mistake that needs to be avoided. Implementing conversion tracking and activating Google Analytics helps you determine campaign performance and effectiveness.
Read More: Why Retargeting with Pay Per Call is Essential
Not Testing Copy Variations
Remember when we said Ads isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it tool? It is vital to test different types of ad copy in your Google Ads. Add and test multiple variations on your call to action, text boxes, and other content to see which formats work best and which ones underperform.