Seven PPC Optimization Benchmarks That Cut Your Costs in Google Adwords

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Seven PPC Optimization Benchmarks That Cut Your Costs in Google Adwords

I won’t go into what makes a successful PPC ad campaign because this topic is better covered by experts like Perry Marshall.

My goal is to describe seven specific aspects of a Google AdWords campaign that you can control, which I will go over in more detail in a minute. These are the limits or benchmarks you can set for your campaign results. They are based on your financial goals –That is, the numbers of leads or sales results you want to aim for.

These benchmarks will vary depending on what your price point is, the type of market you are pursuing, the keywords you choose and whether you use Search or Content marketing. That’s already a lot of variables and it doesn’t even take into account the following list from Noble Samurai, (They make a nifty keyword research tool.)

What the competition is in your market.

What your visitor-to-sales conversions are.

How many competitors exist in the market.

How easily you can achieve high rankings

How strong the competition is in that market.

How hard you work.

How easily your can dominate your niche.

All that being said, what CAN you control? Consider establishing these benchmarks before you even set up an AdWords campaign. With these controls you will be able to optimize your adgroups as you see results and improve your keyword scores, CTR and positioning. Optimization is part of “speaking Google” so it’s a good idea to learn the language.

From the start, decide what position you want to “own.” Are you going for the very top (1-3) of the first page, or are you happy to be in the middle, or just anywhere you can afford on the first page? The quality of your traffic will vary and so will the price, so keep an eye on how your positioning affects results. “Owning” a position is the only way to get consistent traffic, and consistency is the only way to build a business. So keep track of which keywords are producing conversions and cut out the ones that are not giving you adequate results. Focus on keeping your keyword quality scores high-at least 5-7. When a keyword score falls below a 5, the cost per click goes up 15+ %. So watch those scores! Profitability in a competitive market can be tough when keywords are expensive, so set a limit on your CPC (Cost per click.) Never pay more than a click average. Depending on your niche, you may pay much less, but low cost clicks don’t always mean quality traffic. You also may pay more at first. Your goal is  to find a price that works in your niche. Always aim for a 1% CTR (Click through rate) or more on Search keywords. Google likes relevancy and they score it based on your CTR. Again, you get a better position and pay less when your ad is relevant (It gets traffic and clicks.) However, high CTR doesn’t guarantee sales. Conversion rates for leads or sales will be a factor that varies for each market and price point, but generally speaking, shoot for at least 5% for Content, and 10% conversion for Search keywords. Don’t waste your advertising budget on keywords that don’t convert to sales! And finally, decide what you are willing to pay for those conversions. (Also called Cost per Acquisition or CPA.)  Whether it’s a visit to your website, a lead, or a sale, what is the average price that works for your metrics and produces a profit on the back end? You may go above it or below it, so find an average profitable conversion price, and stick to it.

Obviously this all requires a lot of surveillance on your part. It also means becoming intimate with the “Reports” tabs and other tools on Google that provide the information you need to evaluate your returns on each keyword so you can cut out the “weeds” and only keep the best.

Does optimization take a bit of work? Yes it does, and you can skip it if you want to…. It’s your money and your business.

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