Pro Tips for Improving PPC Cost Per Click

Cost per click (CPC) is one of the two factors that influence the success of a PPC campaign (the other one is click through rate). How can you reduce your cost per click? There are a number of tweaks and adjustments you can make to your campaigns that will have a positive impact on your CPC. The objective is to do this without hurting traffic volume or conversion rates.

These tips are based on running a Google AdWords campaign, as it is the most widely used platform, but the principles apply whatever PPC platform you use.

Tip 1 - Segment

You should group small batches of keywords into campaigns and ad groups. That means each ad group should have about six to 10 keywords. This is the level that most people find manageable, although if you really want to maximize your performance you should create one ad per keyword. That means writing LOTS of ads. Plus, monitoring and measuring becomes more time consuming, so six to 10 is a good compromise.

You should batch similar keywords into groups and then write ads that specifically address those keywords. The landing pages should also be keyword-specific. Make it as focused and directed as possible.

Tip 2 - Check Keyword Match Settings

Next, check your keyword match settings. The three options you have are exact, phrase, and broad match. In most situations when you start a new campaign, the majority of keywords should either be exact or broad match.

However, as the campaign runs and you get data, you can start adjusting this by narrowing some keywords and expanding others.

Tip 3 - Landing Pages

Review your landing pages to make them as relevant and ad specific as possible. This will help to improve your quality score, which will ultimately lower your CPC.

Tip 4 - Add Negative Keywords

Review the actual search terms that people used when they clicked on your ads and remove any that are not relevant to your business or are unlikely to result in a conversion. The primary purpose of this is to improve your conversions, so you don't pay for clicks that have no chance of ever turning into a sale. That said, it can also help with CPC, as your bounce rates and quality scores will improve.

Tip 5 - Pause Low Performing Keywords

Keywords that have low click through rates could be hurting your quality score and, consequently, your campaign's CPC. One common reason for a low click through rate is that the keyword is too generic. In such cases, substituting it with a keyword that is more relevant to the ad copy and landing page will help.

Tip 6 - Adjust Bids

Google says its automatic bidding system is algorithmic, so you shouldn't pay any more than you need to. However, not many PPC experts trust this, so it is worthwhile to adjust your maximum bid. There are two things you should try:

1. Adjust bids for different times of the day or days of the week. For example, you might see that your ads perform well during the morning but not so well in the evening. You can adjust your bid strategy to make this more effective by increase your maximum bid in the morning and reducing it in the evening.
2. Push down your maximum bid rate, even if it falls below Google's suggested level. You should particularly do this if you have good click through and conversion rates with the keyword and you have a 10/10 quality score. It is all about testing though - nudge the maximum bid down and see what happens. You are checking whether your ad position is hurt or traffic volumes falls. If they don't, nudge it down a bit more until you hit the sweet spot.

Tip 7 - Optimize Ad Text

Can any part of your ad text be improved? You really have to think about the people doing a search when working on this part. What are they looking for when they type one of the six to10 keywords that will show them this ad? What is their motivation to click and what are their buying triggers? What fears do they have and how can you overcome them? This should all be worked into the copy of your ad text.

The display URL is also crucial, so don't forget about it. Make sure it is highly relevant and delivers a message to the user.

Tip 8 - Change Ad Text

PPC ad text quickly becomes stale, so you should always rewrite it to keep it fresh. You should also make them relevant to the time of the year. This could mean responding to events in the wider community or sales events or special offers that you are running in-house. Even creating specific ads around holiday times and seasons can help.

Tip 9 - Split Test Ads

If you are not split testing ads in your PPC campaigns you should start doing it immediately. It doesn't take long, and it brings multiple benefits to your campaigns. This includes helping you get a better understanding of the keywords and calls to action that work for your target audience; plus it can help you improve conversion and click through rates. Most importantly, it can help you reduce CPC.

Run at least two versions of an ad for every ad group you have. After several days of the ads running together, simply check which one is performing better. You can then either make improvements to the lower performing version and test again, or you can dump the lower performing version altogether and create completely new copy to test.

Finally, one thing you have probably noticed after reading through these tips is they all require ongoing effort. Unfortunately, you can't lower your CPC by taking action and then forgetting about it - this is something you will have to do on a weekly basis. After all, search trends and trends in your industry change, while new competitors start or stop running campaigns. This makes PPC constantly fluid. If you don't keep swimming (improving) you will sink.