If you are new to Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising or you are unhappy with the current click-through rate (CTR) of your Google ads; then, this article is for you.
Running a business online is not an easy feat especially when you are pitted against industry giants with an endless advertising budget. If you are a small-to-medium sized company, don’t give up your hopes of ranking on the first page of Google just yet. It’s true; even with excellent SEO strategies; it may take months or even a year to get there. That’s where paid ads come in.
Let your SEO strategy take its own time. Meanwhile, you can show up on Google’s first page with Adwords. In this blog post, we’ll tell you how to increase the CTR on Google Ads in 5 simple steps. But first, let’s get down to the basics.
What is a Click-Through Rate?
In PPC advertising, CTR is the metric used to measure the number of times your ad was clicked against the number of times it was shown (also known as impressions). The formula to calculate CTR on Google Ads is fairly simple:
(Total Clicks on Ad) / (Total Impressions) = Click-Through Rate
You can view the CTR on the Adwords dashboard. A high CTR is desirable; it means that a high percentage of people click on your ad when they see it. Also, having a good CTR is one of the factors that improve the quality score of your ads.
What Is The Average Click-Through Rate For A PPC Ad?
Now, the answer to this question is not as easy as it seems. There is no one-size-fits-all. The click-through rate for your Google ads will vary from campaign to campaign, and from industry to industry. According to a study by WordStream, the average CTR for a search ad is 1.91%, and 0.35% for a display ad, across all industries. If your CTR is above 2%, then congratulations, you have a high CTR; if it is anything below that, then you need to think of ways to increase your Adwords CTR.
How to Increase Adwords CTR in 5 steps?
Here are a few things that you can do to increase the CTR of your Google Ads:
Know Your Audience: The first step to increase the click-through rate on Google Ads is to know who your audience is. You should know:
• What language your audience speaks and understands,
• What their search terms and search intents are,
• Their choice of device. Are they more likely to use smartphones or desktops?
• What they are most likely to buy and when?
This may seem obvious but having your target personas and demographic research in place will help you to target your ads better. The better you know your audience, the more relevant your ad copies will be. And, this helps to improve the click-through rate of your Google ads as well as conversions.
Write Better Call to Actions: If you are running a PPC campaign, do not hesitate to put a relevant call to actions (CTA). A good call to action is crisp and precise; it speaks directly to the audience. It tells them what they have to do on seeing the ad. Some examples of good call-to-actions are:
• Call Us Now
• Sign Up Today
• Download your free copy
• Learn More
• Enroll now
• Join Us Today
Now, take a minute to look at these call-to-actions. Do you see a pattern here? We do. Almost all good CTAs come with power words like now, today, free, new, increase, easy, hurry, etc. These words create a sense of urgency in the reader and work wonders on their psyche. As per research, call-to-actions with power words have a better click-through rate. Do not use all these words together but use them one is two at a time to make you call-to-actions more compelling.
Write Appealing Ad Copies: The way you word your ad copies has a direct impact on the click-through rate of your ad. A well-written ad copy is compact. It does more with less. Within the specified character count, it sums up who you are, what you do/offer, and what makes you different. Ad-copies that have both an emotional and transactional touch, one that resonates with your TG and offers value, has the best chances of getting clicked. Make sure you include keywords in your ad copies. Create tightly themed keyword groups and use them in your ad copies at least twice. By inserting dynamic keywords in ad copies, you can make ads seem more relevant to consumers. This will further improve the click through rate for your ads. You should also use title capitalisation and effectively display URL in ad copies. While targeting keywords, make sure you add negative keywords to cancel out irrelevant searches.
Do A/B Testing: This is the best way to find out what works and what does not. Run multiple versions of the same ad, with different headlines, and content to see which gets more clicks. You can run as many versions as possible. When one version does not perform well, you can press pause and direct your budget to a better performing version.
Use Ad Extensions: This is a feature provided by Google to add more weigh to your add. These add-ons can help you get more clicks. Sometimes, Google automatically adds relevant extensions like phone numbers and web links to your PPC search engine results. You can also add manual extensions to your PPC ads. Options for Ad Extensions include:
• Location
• Callout extensions
• Call extensions
• Site links
• Price highlights
• Structured snippet extension
The Conclusion
The list mentioned above is not extensive. But, taking care of the basic hygiene factors is bound to positively impact the click-through rate of your Google ads. Use geo-targeting for better reach, and come up with better PPC bidding strategies.
On second thoughts, you can just sit back and relax. Let us do the heavy lifting.
We are IMZ Media Solutions. Over the last decade our hard-hitting, ROI centric approach has helped our clients, big and small, to achieve their online marketing goals. At IMZ, we have a team of PPC professionals willing to work with you.
Just pick up the phone and call us @ +91 22 23682245/8998 or write to us at info@imzmediasolutions.com.
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