Imagine launching a new pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaign, confident it will boost traffic and conversions. You set it up, sit back, and let your Google Ads campaigns get going. A few weeks later, you check back. After spending thousands on ads, you have few conversions to show for it and no revenue increase. Without PPC optimization, this happens all too often.
Great marketers know that maximizing PPC performance is an ongoing process. To see positive results and avoid wasting campaign budgets, you need to constantly tweak and adjust PPC campaigns. For startups or stores with limited funds, a proactive PPC optimization strategy can help you refine ads and adapt quickly to customer preferences.
Learn more about what PPC optimization is, why it’s important for ecommerce sites, and how to optimize your campaigns without increasing ad spend.
Table of contents
What is PPC optimization?
A pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaign is a digital marketing strategy where advertisers pay a fee each time someone clicks on your ad on Google or other platforms, driving traffic to your website or landing page. As such, PPC optimization is the practice of refining your PPC ads to improve performance. This includes fine-tuning keyword targeting, landing pages, ad design, and copy. It also means configuring campaign settings and adjusting your bidding strategy.
PPC optimization boosts your ecommerce store’s bottom line by targeting more qualified traffic and lowering your acquisition costs. It also improves your return on ad spend (ROAS), a measure of the revenue generated from every dollar spent on PPC ads.
Selom Agbitor, co-founder of tattoo after-care company Mad Rabbit, speaks to the importance of this approach.
“We try to be as proactive as possible,” he says in a Shopify Masters podcast. “If you’re reactive, you’re just waiting for someone else to do something for you to copy.”
ROAS formula
ROAS helps account for the different price points if your store has a wide product mix. It also accounts for the value of larger orders, when determining the value of your ad spend. To calculate ROAS, use the following formula:
ROAS = revenue from ads / total ad costs
The goal of PPC optimization is to improve your ROAS, but ROAS is a complicated metric. To understand how to improve it, it’s helpful to go one level deeper and look at the three main metrics that have an impact on ROAS:
- Cost per click (CPC): How much you spend to send someone to your site.
- Conversion rate: What percentage of site visitors make a purchase.
- Average conversion value: The average amount a conversion is worth to you. If you’re an ecommerce store, this is your average order value (AOV).
8 PPC optimization strategies
- Target the right keywords
- Exclude negative keywords
- Optimize your landing pages
- Evaluate your bidding strategy
- Review audience targeting
- Test special bundles or offers
- Leverage and iterate on your ad extensions
- A/B test ad copy and visuals
Here are eight strategies to optimize your PPC campaigns and improve ROAS:
1. Target the right keywords
Before launching a PPC campaign, do keyword research to identify high-performing and relevant keywords for your product. Use a keyword research tool like Google Ads Keyword Planner and brainstorm how customers might search for your products. Start with general keywords like “winter boots,” then explore opportunities to incorporate specific keywords like “men’s winter boots for hiking.”
Precise keywords cost more but boost conversion rates, while broad keywords cost less but are lower-converting. Keyword targeting optimization is about finding the right balance between both. Without optimum keyword performance, it’s difficult to have an optimal PPC campaign.
2. Exclude negative keywords
Target keywords are relevant to your product and your potential customers’ searches. Negative keywords, on the other hand, will put you at a disadvantage in search results. These are keywords that don’t fit your product offering, gum up the works for search algorithms, and can unnecessarily drive up the cost-per-click.
Find negative keyword ideas by reviewing the search term report in your Google Ads account. Look for search queries that triggered your ads but didn’t convert or are irrelevant to your products or services.
For example, if you sell luxury handbags, exclude terms like “cheap,” “discount,” or “affordable.” You want to avoid customers looking for a deal and target those willing to pay for a premium product. Other negative keywords could include competitor names or searches for “login” or “account,” as these are typically used by existing customers rather than potential new ones.
3. Optimize your landing pages
The user experience doesn’t end after an ad click. Even the strongest ad can lose its impact if there is friction once the user clicks through to your landing page.
Start by making sure your ad and landing page content align. As an example, if your ad promotes your new summer sneaker collection, the call to action (CTA) should lead to a summer sneaker page, not your homepage.
Ensure your landing pages don’t create any confusion about the next steps, including on mobile devices. All copy, visuals, and CTAs should guide the user toward your desired action, whether that’s a sale, sign-up, or product demo request.
4. Evaluate your bidding strategy
When Google first launched PPC campaigns in the early 2000s, marketers would manually set their keyword bids like at an auction house. They would say, “I’m willing to pay $2.50 per click for the keyword ‘dress shoes,’ but for ‘red dress shoes,’ I’m willing to pay $4 per click.”
In a modern PPC strategy, these systems are largely automated. You instruct your ad campaigns to use one of several possible automated bidding strategies. It’s like sending a robot to the auction house for you with your instructions. You might say, “Bid to get as many conversions as I can with my budget,” or “Only spend my budget when we feel we can get an ROAS of three.”
Evaluating whether you have the right automated bidding strategy is a key part of PPC optimization. This is also where you could put a responsive search ads strategy into play. These ads automatically change headlines, descriptions, and design based on what’s performing best for you.
5. Review audience targeting
Sometimes an ad campaign doesn’t perform as expected because it targets the wrong people. Make sure each ad group focuses on what your target audience needs or wants. Revising your audience targeting ensures your ads reach those most likely to convert. Here are some ways to optimize audience targeting:
- Segment target audiences based on behavior, interest, or custom data like website visits
- Adjust ad schedules to bid higher when your audience is most active
- Use Shopify Audiences for personalized audience lists
6. Test special bundles or offers
Experiment with different promotions and product combinations to see which drives the best results. For example, you test different offers like buy one, get one; 20% off a $100 purchase; or $10 off for new customers.
You can also test themed, seasonal, or limited-time offers, such as a summer bundle, Mother’s Day bundle, or a New Year, New Me bundle, combining specific products to appeal to customer interests during peak shopping periods. Packaging different styles of ad groups lets you see what works best for your business.
🌟Learn how to use creative testing to improve your marketing performance and drive conversions for your ecommerce business.
7. Leverage and iterate on your ad extensions
Ad extensions are extra snippets of information that make ads more engaging and informative. They make your ad larger, improving ad visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Implementing or rewriting these is a key PPC optimization tactic.
They can also reduce friction for ad viewers. For example, let users call your store with one click rather than type the number into their phone. Other examples of ad extensions include:
- Sitelink: Additional links to specific pages
- Location: Business address and map directions
- Price: Product/service pricing details
- Callout: Extra descriptive text about features or benefits
- Lead form: In-ad form to capture user info for leads
8. A/B test ad copy and visuals
Your ads might be underperforming because your copy or visuals don’t connect with users. Google Ads includes built-in A/B or split testing capabilities to compare variations of copy and visuals to see which resonates best with your audience.
Test headlines, descriptions, CTAs, and different value propositions or messages. The average test time is two weeks, but you may need to run your test for longer, depending on your traffic volume. Test only one element at a time to avoid muddying results.
Mad Rabbit’s co-founder, Selom Agbitor, says it’s important to innovate with ads continuously.
“Once you stop innovating,” he says, ”you end up being comfortable and you just never want to be comfortable.”
PPC optimization FAQ
What is a PPC strategy?
A PPC strategy is a form of digital marketing that involves pay-per-click advertising. A strong PPC strategy involves keyword research, audience targeting, creating ad copy and visuals, and consistent optimization to improve cost per conversion (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS).
What is the difference between PPC and SEO?
PPC involves paying for ads on search engines and websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an organic approach to attracting traffic through improving search keyword rankings over a longer period of time.
Why is PPC optimization important for ecommerce?
PPC optimization is important for ecommerce because businesses can pull specific levers to reduce their CPC and improve conversion rates. Without PPC optimization, businesses may spend thousands of dollars on ads that don’t perform or convert.
