10 best practices to elevate your PPC advertising campaigns in 2024

That's why we've put together this comprehensive guide to the most up-to-date PPC best practices for 2024. In this article, we'll cover everything from keyword research and targeting to ad copy and tracking. We'll also share some tips on how to use automation to your advantage and maximize the success of your PPC advertising this year.

1. Build a comprehensive keyword strategy

Keywords are the bread and butter of PPC campaigns. When you target relevant keywords, you're ensuring that your ads appear to people who are actively looking for what you have to offer. Whether you sell running shoes, sunglasses, or jeans, you'll likely have a core set of keywords that drive traffic to your site.

However, given the competitive nature of these keywords, expanding your keyword research to include long-tail, more specific phrases can significantly improve your PPC ad performance and help you reach a wider audience.

Tip: Use a general keyword research tool like Ahrefs or Semrush to discover new keywords, their search volume, and different variations of search queries used by your target audience.

Long-tail keywords

With the increasing popularity of voice search, more advertisers are using long-tail keywords in their PPC ads. Long-tail keywords usually have less competition than product keywords, a lower cost-per-click (CPC), and a higher clickthrough rate (CTR).

Here are some examples of long-tail keywords:

• Eco-friendly sunscreens with broad-spectrum protection
• Energy-efficient smart TVs for small spaces
• Reusable water bottles for hiking and camping

Negative keywords

Negative keywords are the unsung heroes of PPC campaigns. They allow you to exclude irrelevant search terms from your campaigns, ensuring that your ads are not shown to people who are not interested in what you have to offer.

Here are some examples of negative keywords you might use:

• Brand names (excludes ads for people searching for competitor products)
• "Discount" (excludes ads for non-discounted items)
• "Used" (excludes ads for people searching for secondhand products)

Low-volume keywords

Low-volume keywords, or obscure keywords, are search terms that have a very low search volume. While they may not generate a lot of traffic, they can be very valuable for targeting a niche audience.

We’d advise starting with a small budget and keeping a close eye on your click-through rates and conversions for these keywords to make sure they're performing well.

2. Get your targeting right

Effective targeting starts with a well-defined buyer persona. A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on real data and research.

By understanding their demographics, interests, online behavior, and pain points, you can make sure your PPC campaigns resonate with potential customers.

Most PPC ad platforms allow you to define your audience based on the following parameters:

• Geographical location
• Interests
• Type of device they’re using
• Demographic
• Behavior (how users interact with your website or ads)

Lookalike audiences

Lookalike audiences are a powerful targeting tool that helps you discover new potential customers with similar characteristics to your existing customers. By leveraging data from your past customer interactions, you can identify new individuals who are likely to be interested in your products.

Lookalike audiences can be particularly effective for eCommerce brands seeking to attract new customers with similar purchasing patterns.

Retargeting

Retargeting is a crucial strategy for eCommerce brands, as it allows you to keep your products or services in front of potential customers who have already shown interest.

This is especially important as most visitors don't immediately make a purchase. Retargeting ads can remind them of your products, address any lingering doubts, and nudge them closer to conversion.

3. Write compelling copy

While your targeting is important, your ad copy is where you make your first impression to potential customers. It will determine whether people will click, scroll past, or engage with your brand.

Whether you’re writing copy for Google Text Ads or Facebook and Instagram ads, here are some best practices to help you drive clicks and conversions:

Social proof

Social proof is a powerful tool for establishing credibility and building trust with potential customers. By incorporating social proof elements into your ad copy, such as customer testimonials, reviews, or endorsements from industry experts, you can showcase the positive experiences of others and instill confidence in your brand.

Benefits

Focus on the benefits your products or services offer, rather than simply listing features. Explain how your products can solve their problems, improve their lives, or make their lives easier.

For example, if you sell running shoes, you could highlight benefits like enhanced comfort, improved performance, or reduced injury risk.

Be persuasive

Persuasive techniques can be employed to create a sense of urgency, scarcity, or exclusivity around your offerings, encouraging potential customers to act quickly.

For example, you could use phrases like "Limited-time offer," "Hurry! Supplies are running low," or "Exclusive deal for today only."

Clear calls to action

CTAs are the buttons or links that prompt potential customers to take the desired action, such as visiting your website, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.

Make sure your CTAs are clear, concise, and persuasive. Use strong verbs like "Shop Now," "Join Loyalty Program”, or "Get Discount".

Discounts

Discounts are a ubiquitous feature of the online shopping landscape, used by eCommerce brands of all sizes to attract new customers, boost sales, and encourage repeat purchases.

If you offer any discounts, such as 10% for new customers, make sure to include them in your ad copy.

4. Optimize your landing page

Clicking on your PPC ad is just the first step in the customer journey. The landing page is where you'll seal the deal and convert that potential customer into a paying customer.

While there's no one-size-fits-all approach to creating a great landing page, there are certain elements that consistently resonate with potential customers. Make sure that your landing page is relevant to the ad’s messaging, keep it simple with high-quality imagery, and include social proof and a clear call to action.

5. Choose the right bidding strategy

Bidding is a crucial decision in PPC, determining ad visibility and costs. Choosing the right strategy depends on your goals and budget. Here’s a brief overview of the three main bidding strategies:

• Cost per acquisition (CPA): PPC campaigns that use CPA bidding allow advertisers to set a maximum customer acquisition cost to make sure they pay a reasonable price for each sale without exceeding their budget.

• Cost per mille (1000 impressions) (CPM): This bidding strategy is perfect for brands that want to increase brand awareness and generate leads (such as newsletter subscribers), rather than immediately driving sales.

• Maximize clicks: For advertisers with limited budgets who want to generate as much traffic to their website as possible. Visitors can then be added to a retargeting campaign.

6. Constantly track your PPC performance

While recent privacy changes, such as Apple's iOS 14 update and Google Chrome's phasing out of third-party cookies, have posed challenges to tracking user behavior, there are still effective methods to gather valuable insights into your campaign performance. Here are some best practices for tracking PPC ad results in a cookie-less marketing era:

• Customizing landing page URLs with unique identifiers associated with specific PPC campaigns allows you to track the traffic and conversions generated by those campaigns. This helps you isolate the performance of each campaign and identify the most effective ad groups and keywords.

• Another effective tracking method is to offer unique discounts for visitors who come to your website through your PPC ads. When a user clicks on your ad and enters the designated discount code at checkout, you can track the purchase back to the originating ad or campaign.

• While not as precise as custom URLs or specific discounts, simply asking buyers to state where they found you during the checkout process can provide valuable insights into your PPC performance.

7. Improve PPC ad performance with A/B testing

By conducting controlled experiments that compare different variations of ad copy, landing pages, or other elements, A/B testing empowers you to make data-driven decisions that drive conversions and maximize the impact of your PPC campaigns.

To ensure the validity of your A/B testing results, it's crucial to have a sufficient audience size. A general rule of thumb is to have at least 100 conversions per variation to get statistically significant results.

There are a number of things you can A/B test, including:

• Audiences
• Keywords
• Landing pages
• Ad copy
• Ad visuals
• Bidding strategies
• Device targeting

Tip: Use Google’s Responsive Search Ads to test different combinations of headlines and descriptions.

8. Take advantage of dynamic ads

Dynamic ads, also known as dynamic banners or dynamic creatives, are ads that automatically tailor your ad content to each individual shopper. Google’s Dynamic Search Ads automatically generate ads based on the content of your website (such as your product information) and the user’s search query.

Meta’s Dynamic Product Ads display products from your catalog based on a user's browsing behavior, interests, and demographics. A clothing brand might use dynamic product ads to display personalized product recommendations to users based on their past purchases and browsing history.

For instance, a user who has recently viewed a pair of jeans might see an ad showcasing a similar product or a complementary item, such as a top or jacket.

Dynamic ads eliminate the need for manual ad creation and optimization, as the algorithms handle the task of tailoring ads to individual users. And by delivering the most relevant and personalized messaging, dynamic ads can significantly increase conversion rates.

9. Create different types of visual content

When it comes to Facebook and Instagram PPC advertising, deciding whether to use videos or images can be tricky. There’s no right or wrong answer, which is why it's essential to experiment with different creative formats to determine what resonates best with your target audience, such as:

• User-generated Content (UGC): The best ads blend in with the user’s feed, making UGC a powerful way to showcase real-life customers using your products. Consider running ads with customer reviews, unboxing videos, and testimonials.

• Static images with discounts: Include your promotions in eye-catching visuals to highlight your offers and encourage clicks.

• Problem-solution videos: These videos can be an effective way to showcase your value proposition by visually showing how your product solves their problem.

10. Run PPC advertising on marketplaces

While Google and Meta remain dominant players in the PPC space, marketplaces like Amazon offer a valuable opportunity to tap into a vast audience of actively seeking buyers.

On marketplaces, users are actively browsing and searching for products, making them more receptive to targeted ads.

For example, Amazon Sponsored Products are featured at the top of search results, offering sellers increased visibility and higher conversion rates.