A “limited by budget” campaign warning
Assumption
I should increase my budget.
Reality
Not necessarily, if you’re looking at sticking to a set budget, or you’re looking to lower you’re cost per acquisition, the “limited by budget” signals that you could lower your bid and still drive the same or even more clicks for the same cost.
A low mobile conversion rate
Assumption
My site isn’t mobile optimised I should only bid on desktops and tablets.
Reality
You may still be able to produce conversions at you’re target CPA. Use you’re bid modifier to customise you’re bidding. You’ll likely reduce visitor numbers but can still bring in some profitable conversions whilst you work on you’re mobile site experience.
Display advertising doesn’t work for me
Assumption
I have next to low recorded conversions in Adwords, display is a waste of my budget.
Reality
Display campaigns can often have a much higher CPA in terms of last click conversions but may be far more important when taking into considering assists from the multichannel funnels report in Analytics. Because of the way conversion are assigned in both Adwords and Analytics the campaign that seals the deal gets all the credit, it’s important to recognise that their success with some customers may be a result of several interactions starting with other campaigns. This is especially prevalent with brand keywords which tend to have the lowest CPA but by their nature rely on an initial introduction from another source.
People who look for our brand will click on our links whether or not we have a presence in PPC
Assumption
PPC on brand terms is just paying for something you’d otherwise get for free.
Reality
Whilst it’s correct the vast majority of searchers will still click your organic listings, like in politics, the balance of power here lies with the less convinced “swing voters”. Brand traffic converts like nothing else so a small loss to competitors bidding uncontested above your organic listing can have huge implications on your bottom line. What you need to establish is the impact on clicks and revenue of removing your brand PPC Ads, if the loss in profit is greater than the added cost of running these campaigns then you should strongly consider continuing to bid on brand. Even where the difference is small it is important to take a long hard look at lifetime value and simply if you’re comfortable conceding customers to your competitors in this way.
Broad Keywords just increase my overall CPA
Assumption
Broad keywords are a waste of budget and should be turned off where exact keywords are available.
Reality
The truth is that even with a good use of negative keywords and sticking to broad match modifier, broad keywords will likely still come in at a higher CPA. The hidden benefit, however, is that broad keywords present an opportunity to unlock new keywords opportunities which will develop your account and allow you to uncover different profitable avenues which may have otherwise remained undiscovered. Use the “search query report” in Adwords to analyse the search terms you’re having success with and where there is sufficient traffic; use these to add additional keywords or to create new ad groups or campaigns around emerging themes.
