Serpstat for PPC: Plan, Analyze, and Improve Your Google Ads Campaigns

There are plenty of reasons why you should use the search engine giant for advertising. Consider the following:

Serpstat is an all-in-one SEO platform that provides essential tools for professional marketers worldwide. Popular Serpstat tools marketers use include the keyword research tool, rank tracking tool, competitor analysis tool, backlink analysis tool, site audit tool, and page-audit tool. Serpstat allows advertisers to get one step ahead of their competitors and save time from conducting these analyses themselves. The steps below will explain what’s crucial to enhance your Google Ads campaign and how Serpstat can help you with each step. Cmon, let’s dive into the tips and tricks!

You must verify whether customers are searching for keywords related to your business or not. There’s no point in spending your budget on keywords that won’t generate positive results. There are two main questions to keep in mind when choosing keywords.

Here’s a use case for the second question. On Serpstat underneath PPC Research, go onto keywords and type in “Best [keyword]” or “Best [keyword] for x” or “Buy [keyword]”. See which suggestions have the highest search volume with low or average CPC, and use those for your Google Ads campaign for optimal results.

The amount you spend depends on what industry you’re in and how popular certain keywords you’re ranking for are. For instance, if you're an eCommerce brand in the fashion and apparel industry, you’d have a lower CPC than an advertiser in the electronics industry. 

First, forecast your budget by setting goals. Think about why you’re choosing to advertise online. Is it because you want to increase traffic? Do you want to get more exposure for your business and build brand awareness? Do you want customers to call you? Do you want to reach people internationally or locally? Once you’ve set your goals, brainstorm strategies that will help you meet these goals. 

You can also target by location. Why waste your budget on a place where your ideal audience doesn’t exist? In contrast, if your business serves customers internationally, start off by targeting a few key cities or states where people might be looking for your product. Then, analyze data to see where the majority of your qualified traffic comes from, and expand into those regions to optimize your ad spend.

Creating targeted Google Ads campaigns can also be beneficial for optimizing your ad budget. Instead of running one broad campaign, run a few campaigns based on the different products/services you provide to attract each customer segment of your business. For instance, if you’re a photography company, you’ll have 4 different Google Ads campaigns running:

• Family portraits
• Wedding photoshoots
• Graduation photography
• Fashion/model photography

By doing this, you’re setting budgets according to each campaign’s importance. For example, during peak wedding season, you’ll set a higher budget for your wedding-related campaigns. Being precise is key, as you don’t want to target the wrong crowd and waste ad spend. Effective tools can help you target the right people at the right location. AI-powered tools like Beam.city DNA can help you target customers down to the zip code.

At this stage of your Google campaign planning, you have a list of your affordable buyer intent keywords. The next step is to ensure that competitors don’t take you down. How can you do this? Military strategist, writer, and philosopher Sun Tzu quotes that “to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” How can you know your enemy, in this case, your competitors? Leverage competitive intelligence!

Competitive intelligence is the ability to gather and analyze competitor information that benefits and strengthens your competitive advantage. Before you try to hack into your competitor’s Google account, I’ve got great news to share with you – Serpstat’s competitive analysis tool can help you!

Here are a couple of ways Serpstat can guide you in conducting competitor analysis:

• Relevance column

To simplify and make it easier for advertisers, Serpstat has a relevance column that shows you how relevant a website is to your own. This way, you don’t have to spend too much time analyzing all the domains, and instead, you can focus on the ones most relevant to you. Click on the “Change the list of competitors” filter and customize the results to see certain domains and take out others that are not so important. 

• Domain vs. Domain

Serpstat lets you analyze relevant competitor websites using the domain vs. domain feature. This feature allows you to place two domains side by side and analyze both of them if you don’t want to examine all the domains in the competitor results.

• Positioning

This is another key way to utilize competitive intelligence. Positioning is the ranking place of a keyword in search results. If there is a label called “New” beside the keyword, either the keyword was added to the database recently, or the competitor website has just recently started ranking for the keyword. Serpstat also provides red and green indicators beside each keyword to show changes in position dynamics for the websites using these keywords.

The green arrow means that the website has improved its position for the keyword, and the red arrow means that the domain has lost its position for the keyword. Red is best for your company. The lower position another website gets, your chances of getting a higher position on that keyword increase. Using this handy Serpstat feature, you can rank for keywords that show a red arrow for your Google ad campaign.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to analyze your competitors’ ads.

Along with competitors’ analysis, you should also take a look at your own ads’ progress to compare how far you are from overtaking your competitors. Beam.city DNA can help you publish ads, provide reports, and boost keywords while AI pushes or pauses the best or worst performing ones. By using both competitors’ analysis and your own ads’ analysis, you can deliver the most optimal results!

Of course, you only pay when users click on it. But, what makes users want to click on your Google ad and convert? There’s more to it. You have to ensure your Google Ads are compelling enough to encourage users to click. How can you do this? Well, here’s the trick! 

There are 3 main elements to your Google Ads campaign: headline, description line 1, and description line 2. The headline and description must address the pain points of customers. Let’s take a closer look at these three components. 

• Headline

The headline is the most important part of your Google ad, as it is the first thing users will see. Because of this, include your keyword in your headline, so prospects know that your ad is relevant to what they’re searching for. To make your ad more intriguing, try formatting your headline as a question rather than a sentence. There are countless searches on Google that ask “How do I”, “What do i”, and “Why does”; and by having a question headline, you are immediately drawing the user into clicking your ad. For example, if your keywords are Boston city lawyer, your headline can be “Are you looking for a lawyer in Boston?” 

• Description line 1 & description line 2

In both description lines 1&2, explain the benefits of your product/service, state your unique selling proposition, provide any offers or incentives, and include a call to action. 

Here are some examples of what an engaging vs. not-so-engaging headline looks like:

• Example 1: Keyword “Computer Repair” (poor ad)

(Company Name)|Since 1981| Call for all your computer needs|

The headline of this ad is the company’s name. This isn’t specific to the keyword “computer repair” and Google users who search for this keyword might ignore this ad. The description “Since 1981” doesn’t provide a specific benefit other than the fact that the company has been around for a long time. However, the credibility of the company cannot be solely determined based on the number of years they’ve been active. The description “call for all your computer needs” is very broad and doesn’t provide a specific solution or mention a particular problem.

• Example 2: Keyword “Computer Repair” (good ad)

Computer repair for PC and tablets|Repair done under 2 hours| 30% discount| Call Now!|

The headline “computer repair for PC and tablets” includes the relevant keywords and the specific audience they are targeting — individuals who own a PC or tablet. The description offers explicit benefits by stating that they can fix the devices within 2 hours. Here they are offering their unique selling proposition - fast computer repair on time. They provide an incentive of a 30% discount, which makes customers more inclined to choose them. The description also has a clear call to action saying “Call us Now”, urging customers to take action immediately.

Take a look at these cool Google Ads hacks that you can implement into your Google search ads for optimal results!

Now you’ve reached the final step. Your prospects have searched for a product or service and came upon your ads, found it interesting, and clicked on it. They’re now taken to your landing page — but, is it enough to get them to convert? Remember — Don’t send your prospects to your homepage. A homepage is NOT a landing page! Why? Your homepage isn’t always directly related to the content in the ad. Homepages provide general information on everything your business does. Your homepage might not be relevant for certain audiences that are looking for just one of the solutions you provide. 

For example, if you sell a variety of footwear, and you advertise running shoes, don’t send your prospects to your homepage where you show everything, or to the “winter boots” page. In other words, ensure that your landing page is completely relevant to your ad – use the same CTA, headline, and description that was used in your ad for consistency.

The main goal to keep in mind when creating a landing page is to reduce the number of bounce rates and increase your conversion rate. There are multiple ways to keep customers on your site for longer periods of time. Follow these tips to build a compelling landing page: 

• Show credibility

Credibility proves to customers that you’re trustworthy. If you’re unknown, you’re undependable. You can increase your conversion rate instantly by including testimonials, case studies, customer reviews, social proof, awards, and partnerships. 

• Use strong imagery

Visuals play a huge role in boosting conversion rates. Studies show that customers only remember 20% of what they read, but remember 80% of what they see. As a business, you should ensure that your brand identity resonates with customers’ values. This shared perspective can help build closer relationships with consumers. Images are a great way of capturing your values as a brand. For instance, Nike conveys the message “If you have a body, you’re an athlete” clearly through its pictures by showing various athletes with different body types and abilities. 

• Include videos

Why should you use landing page videos? Well, there’s no point in selling a product if consumers don’t understand exactly what the purpose of it is. 97% of marketers state that videos help boost user understanding of the company’s product. The benefits of videos don’t stop there! Videos also play a vital role in increasing your website’s ranking on search engines. Research shows that websites with videos are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results. To bring out the best results, choose your video content according to your offer. Video types can include explainer videos, promo videos, demo videos, and testimonial videos. 

• Ensure quick page load

The loading speed of your landing page is also a vital component of increasing conversion rates. 40% of customers only wait 1-3 seconds for the page to load before abandoning the website.

Take a look at which pages your competitors choose as their landing page, then format your page accordingly. Once you type a keyword into the search tab on Serpstat, it will display which landing pages use this keyword. This can help you create a landing page that actually converts!

There you have it. 5 initial steps to optimizing your Google Ads campaign with the help of Serpstat’s essential tools. After reading the benefits and tips mentioned above, Google should be at the top of your list for PPC strategies. Google has helped businesses of all sizes with different advertising goals, budgets, and target audiences. So, in an online ocean filled with endless searches, why don’t you drop down your Serpstat fishing net with the necessary tools needed and see how much profit you bring back up?