PPC pitfalls: 7 costly mistakes and how to avoid them

Pay-per-click advertising (or ‘PPC’ to the seasoned digital marketers out there) is one of the fastest ways to drive traffic to your website, generate hot leads and boost product sales - but only if it's done right 🚀

PPC advertising allows businesses to place ads on search engines like Google, YouTube and other platforms, and you’ll only pay when potential customers actually click on them. 

Sounds simple, right? Well, not quite 🤔

Running a successful PPC campaign is like driving a Formula 1 car - you need precision, strategy and constant monitoring to avoid a costly crash. While PPC ads can drive some insane ROI (return on investment) when done right, even knowledgeable marketers can fall into common traps that will inevitably burn that marketing budget and tank conversions quicker than you can say ‘Box box’.

If you’re looking for ways to maximize your ad spend and crush your competitors ad performance, here’s 7 costly pitfalls you might want to make sure you avoid:

1. Poor keyword strategy

Keywords are the backbone of any advertising campaign and are what help drive browser searches to your shop window, so choosing the wrong ones can drain your budget fast.

A big mistake often made is over-relying on broad keyword matches - imagine someone searching for ‘smart leather shoes’ but instead they get shown an ad for ‘leather handbags’ - hello wasted clicks.

💡The fix: Always use a mix of exact, phrase, and broad match modified keywords. We recommend you regularly conduct thorough keyword research and analyze search terms to refine your targeting.

2. Neglecting negative keywords

Would you bid on keywords that bring you zero conversions? Probably not.

But that’s exactly what happens when you ignore negative keywords and your ads show up for irrelevant queries, leading to wasted spend.

A negative keyword is a term that stops your ad from being shown based on specific words or phrases and the best part is, you can completely control what is and isn’t shown ⛔

For example, if you sell luxury leather trainers, you wouldn’t want your ad to be shown to someone searching for ‘fake leather’ or ‘cheap leather trainers’ - adding these phrases as negative keywords means your budget stays focussed on the ad clicks that are more likely to convert ✅

💡The fix: Ensure you continuously build a negative keyword list to filter out unwanted traffic that’s never going to convert and regularly check your Search Terms Report to identify and eliminate poor performing keywords.

Want to learn more about keywords? Tap here to get started.

3. Weak ad copy & irrelevant messaging

The ad copy you put out is often the first (and last) chance to make the best first impression. Whether it’s someone new to your brand, or someone else actively searching for what you’re selling, having clear ad copy (and creative) gives you the chance to elevate your brand above the rest.

If it’s bland, vague or doesn’t align with their intent (what they are specifically searching for based on the search query), your CTR (click through rate) will take a nosedive.

💡The fix: Make sure you craft compelling headlines, emphasise your products USP (unique selling points) and most importantly, make sure you match your ad copy with the core messaging seen on your landing page - a confusing mismatch between the two will make users bounce.

4. Ignoring helpful ad extensions

If you had to pick between a plain text ad or one that was fully loaded with extra links, your website information and CTAs (call to actions), which would you pick?

If you’re not using ad extensions, you’re missing out on valuable ad real estate in your potential customers search results.

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that ultimately make your ad more useful and engaging. They help increase visibility, click through rates, and provide your potential customers with more information and reasons to interact with your ad. Some key extension types include:

• Sitelink extensions: These allow you to add extra links to key pages on your website, such as pricing, contact or feature pages 🔗
• Callout extensions: A great way to be able to highlight unique selling points like ‘Free shipping’ or ‘24/7 support’ 🔍
• Call extensions: Being able to display your business phone number so users can call directly from the ad is crucial to small businesses owners and provides a layer of credibility you don’t find on all ads 🤙
• Location extensions: These can greatly help local businesses by showing an address and map, letting potential customers know exactly where you’re based 📍

💡The fix: Identify which ad extensions best suit your sales and marketing goals and implement them strategically to enhance engagement.

5. Underperforming landing pages

So, you’ve got the ad click, but if your landing page takes too long to load, or isn’t relevant to what they saw on the ad (and made them click), you’ll lose that lead in seconds.

High bounce rates end up costing you, so keep that CPC (cost per click) down!

💡The fix: Optimize your page speed and ensure a message match to avoid disparity between your ad and landing page. Whilst you’re at it, give A/B testing of landing pages a go, it might just improve your conversion rate.

6. Not tracking conversions properly

Flying blind on one of the most important metrics to track is never a good idea - yet a lot of campaigns run without proper conversion tracking. If you’re not measuring your results (and successes), how do you know what’s working and what’s not?

💡The fix: Set up conversion tracking and integrate it with Google Analytics - you’ll be able to track form submissions, calls, purchases - whatever matters most to your business.

7. PPC - it’s not a one-and-done game

Successful PPC campaigns need continuous monitoring and fine-tuning. Market trends are constantly shifting, your competitors will undoubtedly be tweaking their campaign approach, and user behavior is ever evolving.

If you don't stay on top of these changes, your budget can quickly drain on underperforming ads while valuable sales opportunities pass you by.

💡The fix: Regularly review your campaigns, adjust your bidding strategy, analyze your ads performance data, and test new strategies. PPC success requires constant optimization!

Master PPC, maximize your ROI

Avoiding these common PPC pitfalls can mean the difference between a campaign that prints money and skyrockets your ROI and one that drains your budget.

Audit your campaigns, implement these fixes, and watch your performance thrive 🚀

If you need help optimizing your PPC strategy, let’s talk!