The #1 grievance ofdigital marketingadvertisers onGoogle Searchplatform is that they are paying too much per click. High pay-per-click (PPC) implies, lowclick-through-rate(CTR) and therefore higher cost per acquisition (irrespective of the goal being sales or leads). As an advertiser, wherein the competition is so steep to be on top of thesearch enginepage results, a lowerclick-through-rateimplies lesser traffic, leads or sales.
Ahigher CTRfor sure has its advantages: higher traffic (maybe,conversion ratetoo), betterquality scoreand lower cost-per-click (CPC)
So how do you improve your campaignsclick-through-rate, especially if you don’t have massive budgets on Google Ads (formerly known asGoogle AdWords)?
Here are our five practical tips and strategies to improve the Google AdsClick-through-rate(CTR) of yourGoogle Searchcampaigns:
1. Use Ad Extensions
Make full use of the ad real estate. Withad extensions, you can showcase additional information, features, services, contact details or specific links to specific pages in your website.
Ad extensionsare free to add.GoogleSearchnetworkoffers a number ofad extensionsranging from reviews, price extensions, contact details.
Thead extensionsmake thead copyappear bigger and therefore the ads stand out. The more information you can share in your ad, better the chances of the ad being more relevant to yourtarget audienceand therefore better the chances of increasing clicks.
Types ofad extensions, popularly used:
Structured snippet extensions
Structured snippet extensions show information below the ads. You can choose from a list of pre-defined headers.
Here's a list of available headers:
- Amenities
- Brands
- Courses
- Degree programmes
- Destinations
- Featured hotels
- Insurance coverage
- Models
- Neighbourhoods
- Service catalogue
- Shows
- Styles
- Types
Sitelinkad extensions
If you want to take people to specific pages on your website- then sitelinks are the answer.
Whether it’s the contact us page or specific products or services, sitelinkad extensionsfurther help in getting a potential customer take specific action.
Google ads allows up to 4sitelink extensionsto be shown in your ad, though you can create more and the algorithm chooses up to 4 to show.
Sitelink extensionscan be added at both campaign andad grouplevel.
Call extensions
According toGoogle Ads Support,“Call extensionslet you addphone numbersto your ads, which can significantlyincreaseclick-through rates. When yourcall extensionsshow, people can tap or click a button to call your business directly. That means more customer engagement with your ads, and more chances for you to get and track your conversions.”
So, if you are a business dependent on calls for leads- this is ideal for you. Restaurants, dentists, cosmetic services, gyms, and florists are some popular businesses that can benefit fromcall extensions.
The biggest advantage of this extension is that a customer can immediately make a phone call to your business, whether on their mobile or by using software such as skype.
Call extensionsencourage a customer to take action there and then, so if you don’t offer 24/7 call support, be sure to set business hours.
Otherad extensiontypes
Depending on your advertising objective, you can choose from location, messaging, price or product review extensions.
2. Addnegative keywords
While adding relevant keywords is important to increase yourAdWords CTR, adding a list ofnegative keywordsis equally significant.
So, what arenegative keywordsand how can adding them help?
Negative keywordshelp advertisers stop wasting ad spend on irrelevant keywords. As a result, you’ll be reaching the right, qualitytarget audienceand get a lot less random clicks on yourlanding pages.
Sincenegative keywordsexcludesearch termsnot relevant to your business, you are showcasingrelevantadsto a relevant audience.
Your CTR is the percentage of searchers who viewed your ad and then clicked on it, excludingsearch termsthat aren't relevant to your business will help you trim down on uninterested impressions, and thereforeincreaseclick-through-rateon yourPPCads.
3. Use Dynamic Keywords Insertion InAd Text& Keywords inDisplay URL
Using keywords in headlines, descriptions ordisplay URLis a sure-shot way to improveQuality Score. And a goodQuality Scoremeans more chances of the algorithm triggering your ads for relevant searches.
According toGoogle; " Keyword insertion can help improve your ads’ relevance to potential customers by automatically updating your ads with the keywords in yourad groupthat caused your ads to show."
Using keywords in thedisplay URL.
Most advertisers leave thedisplay URLempty; this is a lost opportunity. Putting a relevant keyword in thedisplay URLnot only helps increasesearch querybut alsoclick-through-rate.
See the example below when we searched for ‘beds near me’.
The ad with the keyword in the URL displayed first. Time and again, we’ve seen search results with keywords indisplay URLshave a betterclick-through-rate.
The second ad doesn’t display any keyword in the URL and looks more general.
4. Know Your Audience and Get Creative With YourAd Copy
This might seem like a no brainer and yet is most under-utilized. Do your research and check out what your competition is saying in their ads. Make sure your ads carry your brand’s tone of voice that’ll resonate with yourtarget audience.
Check out these ads for the search ‘Yoga classes Melbourne’
Which one stands out for you and why? While writingad copymake sure, you ask the question, ‘How can I focus on my audiences search intent?’ Focusing on your audiences will help you come up with ideas and write better, engaging, and creative ads. This will eventually help in improving the adsclick-through-rate.
5. Bid Higher
Maybe, you’ve tried all the techniques and hacks and still, your CTR is low. Check your Search Impression share, your ads page position. If you’re not showing in the top 3 results on page 1, you're pretty much losing to competition. Increasing your bids can help get your ads a better position, therefore better Impressions and Clicks. An improvedadpositionwill lead to an improved CTR. But this might also lead to an increase in cost.
The golden rule with paid traffic is to keep testing. Same goes for improving theclick-through-rateof your campaigns. Don’t be afraid to test copy, headlines, URL paths in your ads.
