How to monitor a PPC campaign?
Have you launched a search engine advertising campaign? That's great! However, even the best campaign requires constant monitoring of results and optimization. How to approach it?
We have prepared a comprehensive guide presenting 9 steps for campaign monitoring - from a comprehensive performance assessment, through keyword updates and audience group evaluation, to reporting. Read the article to efficiently and consciously monitor the progress of your Pay-Per-Click campaign.
We have prepared a comprehensive guide presenting 9 steps for campaign monitoring - from a comprehensive performance assessment, through keyword updates and audience group evaluation, to reporting. Read the article to efficiently and consciously monitor the progress of your Pay-Per-Click campaign.
Regular monitoring of a PPC campaign
We recommend performing the following 9 steps on a weekly basis (or more frequently if the situation requires). The process consists of daily monitoring of campaign progress, focusing on broader performance trends, adjusting the strategy, and optimization.
When testing different ad variations, remember to modify only one variable at a time - e.g., the ad text. Otherwise, the test will be unreliable, and its results will be difficult to interpret (we will not be sure which change affected the outcome).
1. Comprehensive Performance Evaluation
The initial phase of PPC campaign monitoring involves a comprehensive performance assessment. We analyze key metrics such as conversion rates and ROI (Return on Investment). Additionally, examining metrics like average position, quality score, and bounce rate provides valuable insights into the campaign's health. By comparing current performance with historical data and established benchmarks, we can identify areas where we are performing better or worse, laying the foundation for subsequent optimization efforts.
2. Campaign and Ad Group Metrics Evaluation
The second step involves evaluating campaign and ad group metrics. We assess the performance of each campaign and ad group to identify those that are underperforming and those that are exceeding expectations. By identifying the best and worst performing campaigns and ad groups, we can better allocate budget, optimize bidding strategies, and make data-driven decisions to improve overall campaign performance.
3. Keyword Updates
Keywords are the foundation of any campaign. They determine when and where your ads are shown. As a result, it's essential to regularly review and update your keyword list.
We conduct keyword research to identify potential new keywords and evaluate the performance of existing ones. Once we've found new phrases, we add them to the campaign and may remove or adjust bids for low-performing keywords. We then assess the match types we're using for each phrase - broad, phrase, exact. This helps us determine how closely a search query must match our keyword for the ad to show.
4. Ad Copy Optimization
Ad copy provides concise, informative details about the landing page to which the ad directs. It presents the offer - product, service, event - and encourages the recipient to learn more on the landing page. But is our ad copy optimized?
To find out, we should test new ad variations, ensuring that the copy is compelling and clear. We identify the best-performing ad copy and replace or modify ineffective ones.
It's also worth taking a look at competitors' ads. How do they advertise, how do they write their copy, what phrases and wording do they use? Other companies' ads are a valuable optimization tip!
5. Bidding Strategies
This allows us to optimize the advertising budget, improve ad performance, and ensure that running the ads is profitable. Bidding strategies are modified based on data from the advertising campaign performance.
It is worth increasing bids for keywords that achieve particularly high results. This will potentially increase the ad's position in the results and drive more traffic and conversions. Bids must be in line with the advertising budget and expected ROI. We proceed similarly with poorly performing phrases - only in the opposite direction: we reduce their bids. The least or completely ineffective phrases can be paused.
A/B testing is useful in confirming the decision.
6. Quality Score
The next step is to measure the Quality Score. Google Ads calculates this score based on: expected click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and user experience after landing on the landing page. Each element is rated as 1) below average, 2) average, or 3) above average. By analyzing them, we can identify areas for improvement.
It's also worth checking how competitors are doing. A tool like Semrush can provide information on how effective competitors' ads are for specific keywords. This will give us a clue as to what strategy to adopt or what mistakes to avoid, made by someone else.
7. Conversion Tracking and Attribution
We ensure that all conversion tracking mechanisms are functioning properly and verify the accuracy of the attribution models. We adjust them as needed to ensure we capture a complete picture of our campaign's effectiveness.
8. Audience Targeting
We now analyze the performance of different audience segments. This will help identify which ones are performing well and which ones require adjustment. It is important to understand the demographic, geographic, and behavioral characteristics of the audience. To ensure that the targeting criteria are aligned with the campaign objectives, let's review factors such as: age, gender, interests, online behavior, and location.
It is also worth examining the performance of custom and lookalike audiences. Custom audiences (based on existing customer data) will help reach people who have already shown interest in the offer. Lookalike audiences, created from the best-performing customer segments, will help find new potential customers with similar characteristics. Evaluating the effectiveness of these audience types provides information on which strategies are working and where there is room for improvement.
9. Reporting
We summarize the actions taken, changes made, and improvements implemented. This will allow us to see week by week which elements of the campaign we changed, tested, and optimized - and thus draw conclusions for the future. What is important in the report:
➡️ Read also: What are the dangers of thin, low quality content?
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Jan Wojciechowski
Content Marketing Specialist
Content Marketing Specialist with several years of experience. Studied Marketing and Management on the University of Warsaw. In his work he tries to combine his writing skills, content knowledge and passion for new technologies. Privately he likes to do sports, read books and illustrate them.