As PPC professionals, we are trained to look for new ways to optimize our PPC programs.
But in this quest, our natural bias is to focus on the important stuff, like revamping account structures or updating landing pages. These projects can make a real difference in performance, but they take time to complete.
Fortunately, not every optimization has to be a one-week project. Some optimizations are relatively quick and simple, but can still have an impact. Here are three you may have overlooked.
1. Reevaluate Microsoft ads
Many advertisers only advertise on Google networks, where competition can be high. In contrast, there are fewer advertisers on Microsoft Ads.
With less competition, some advertisers removed from Google Ads may still get some traction at Microsoft. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always championed Microsoft Ads.
It’s true that the volume of leads and sales we get for our clients with Microsoft Ads is typically only 5% to 10% of what we get from our Google programs. But still, this is not an insignificant amount, especially for B2B in competitive spaces.
But unfortunately, Microsoft Ads is changing, and not for the better.
The context
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that the Microsoft Audience Network is now integrated with its search network. You have no choice but to advertise in both spaces. You cannot disable either.
of course, Microsoft touts the value of being on both networkswriting:
“We conducted studies on accounts driving search and audience traffic to understand the incremental value for advertisers. We found that advertisers maximize performance and increase lift when they combine their efforts from the Microsoft Search Network and Public Network”.
In theory, this sounds great. I’ve always believed in future-proofing your brand with campaigns that build awareness, so it’s not like I have anything against the Microsoft Audience Network.
However, I would prefer to control the terms of how I advertise.
When Microsoft made this change, it didn’t seem like a big deal at first. Microsoft assured us that while we couldn’t disable the Audience Network, we could add some major exclusions to cover us.
So everything would be fine, right?
Get away from Microsoft
At the time of writing, this change happened about three months ago.
Some of our customer accounts are not affected. But one of our biggest accounts hurts and bad.
Despite daily monitoring and updating of site exclusions, we have not been able to change things.
No matter what we do, Microsoft continues to increase impressions and ad spend on the Audience Network, with little to show for it.
The performance has been so disappointing that we are close to recommending that this client channel their Microsoft Ads budget to Google or LinkedIn.
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2. Rethink retargeting
Retargeting (now known as audience segments) may seem a bit 2010. But it still exists because it’s a great way to re-engage with someone who has previously engaged with you.
However, retargeting is widely underutilized and somewhat misunderstood.
The context
If you haven’t updated your thinking about retargeting recently, here are three reminders on how to optimize it:
Narrow your focus
Retargeting has been around for so long that we forget it’s not just a way to reach people who have visited a website before.
You can also retarget people who have seen one particular video on your YouTube channel, none video to your YouTube channel or video ad (or some combination of the three), making it even more targeted.
As you can see from the image below, you have several targeting options, from website visitors to app users to YouTube users and more:
Add exclusions
Don’t forget to exclude audiences you don’t want to retarget. These could be:
People who have already converted. Past customers who are unlikely to buy again. Audiences that are not relevant to the category of solutions or services you are promoting.
Unless your business is very narrow in focus (eg, sells only one product to one type of audience), you should never target all past website visitors.
Review your audience regularly
Retargeting isn’t “set and forget.” As your business changes and grows, you’ll need to update your target audiences accordingly. Have you added a new service line or adjusted your target market? Make sure these changes are reflected in the audiences you’re targeting.
Retargeting on a limited budget
We applied these strategies recently when a B2B client gave us a special launch budget to build awareness of a new product.
The budget was not big. So instead of retargeting people who had visited the client’s website, we retargeted people who had seen a video of the new product in action – a much smaller segment of potential customers.
The result? This strategy worked very well for this client and at a very reasonable cost.
3. Review your sitelinks
Like the redirect, sitelinks have also undergone a recent name change, now known as “assets” instead of “extensions”. Whatever they’re called, they’re still my favorite ad extension.
The context
Like retargeting, sitelinks are ripe for optimization. Many advertisers fail to optimize them in three ways:
Disapproved sitelinks are not quickly fixed
Every PPC Pro knows that ads can be disapproved. Most of us watch for and address these disapprovals quickly.
But just like ads, sitelinks can also be disapproved. Unfortunately, disavowed sitelink reports are not that obvious and will often go unnoticed until an account is audited.
Do not disable automatic sitelinks
Disabling automated sitelinks is another way to optimize. We routinely do this whenever we onboard new customers.
In general, we don’t like to give Google permission to create content on our behalf. At the very least, we want the opportunity to review and approve.
This does not mean that Google creates bad sitelinks, exactly. It’s just that, in our experience, sitelinks created by Google rarely align with our clients’ goals.
Not implementing a sitelink strategy
As noted above, you want your sitelinks to be compatible with your goals.
If one of your goals is to sell products, you should build sitelinks to support that goal. Perhaps you could use them as a way to up-sell or cross-sell products.
However, even if sales are your primary goal, you don’t want to overdo it. Not all sitelinks have to (or should) be sales.
Save some sitelinks to grow brand awareness or to tell people about your new product. Use them to provide useful information, such as links to educational webinars or other events.
Optimization doesn’t have to be long or complex
Optimization is a never-ending task. But that doesn’t mean that every optimization has to be difficult or time-consuming.
Sometimes minor changes, whether it’s shifting your budget from one platform to another or retargeting a slightly different audience group, can happen in minutes, as these three examples demonstrate.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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