PPC and search marketing are both vital to a company’s success. So, it’s amazing to see the mistakes that so many brands still make today. AdWords has added tools like upgraded URLs to make it a little easier to manage campaigns.
But glaring errors still happen – and frequently. While these mistakes can seem small – especially if a brand has a big SEM budget – each one can have a significant impact on an advertiser’s reputation and ROI. Here are a few of the most common PPC mistakes search marketers make, and some methods to address them.
Your search terms are too high-level
A common mistake[1] for many first-time (and even experienced) search advertisers is that they start out too broadly. For example, if you’re an electrician in Boston starting out AdWords for the first time, you don’t want to go in big on the mains terms such as [electrician] and rely on city geo-targeting. Instead, be selective about your target keywords and build campaigns around specific terms such as [Electrician Arlington], or [24 callout Brookline Electrician].
The same rule applies to different verticals, including for example retail. It can be costly to start driving traffic on the term [dresses] if you’re a retailer. However, terms like [size 12 red dress] would have a higher propensity to convert. Start with these terms, then start adding more terms that could be higher up in the funnel for more awareness.
This process will install more discipline into how you measure the individual ROI of your range of keywords and bring scale when running on AdWords.
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