Tag Archive for: Google Search

Tips for Creating Effective Display Ads

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According to Google, Display Network sites reach over 90% of internet users worldwide. This presents a great opportunity to gain significant visibility for brands. Display ads have considerable potential, but to be effective they must be created correctly. When a display campaign is executed in the wrong way, marketers put themselves at risk of wasting large amounts of ad dollars. If you’re new to display ads or looking to improve performance, here are 5 tips for creating effective display ads. 

1. Use Rich Media 

Rich media helps engage consumers. This can be done with video, audio, or any element that encourages users to interact with the ad. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is with HTML5 ads. HTML5 ads enable animation, and interactive content, but are also responsive/adaptive, meaning that your design will look good across any browser, OS, or device. These ads can be created easily inside of Google Web Designer. Rich media allows for your ads to stand out and has been proved to grab users’ attention.  EMarketer research shows that brands experience higher levels of engagement (16.2%) using rich media ads compared to static banners.

2. Use Responsive Ads 

Using responsive ads ensures you’re making it as easy as possible for your ads to be shown across the Display Network. Using responsive ads saves you time creating different versions of your ads for different devices. Responsive ads will automatically adjust the size of your ad for different types of devices, such as mobile, tablet and desktops, and can fit in almost any available ad space. They can also be used with dynamic remarketing. This is done by attaching a feed to your campaigns. Responsive ads then show personalized content to users from the feed you control. 

3. Use Clear and Compelling Headlines, Ad Copy, and CTA’s

For best results, your headline should be clear, simple, and describe your offering or brand. Avoid generic or click-bait messaging and using all caps. Your description should be easy to understand and make it clear why it’s worth clicking on. Creating a strong call-to-action is always essential when creating an effective ad. Marketers have to tell users what they should do following clicking on the ad. This can be extremely simple, such as “sign up now” or “request a quote today.” Google gives examples of best and worst practices when it comes to headlines and text. 

Source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722134?hl=en 

4. Provide a Relevant Landing Page 

One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make when creating any type of campaign is sending users to their homepage or an irrelevant landing page. If a user goes as far as to click on your ad, you don’t want to send them to a page where they then have to further search for the information they expect to find. Your CTA should take users straight to a page associated with what you ultimately want them to do. For example, if your ad text says “Call us,” be sure to include your business phone number on the landing page. If your ad text says “Limited time offer,” be sure to point people to that promotion on the landing page.

5. Create Multiple Ads per Ad Group

Best practice involves testing out multiple ad variations. Google suggests creating 3 to 4 ads per ad group, trying out different messages and different images to see which perform best with your target audience. With Google Ads it will immediately show which ads are better performing for which group, but it’s best to run the tests long enough to get the most accurate data. 

Conclusion 

Rates per click are generally lower on the Display Network. Which is why to produce high performing display ads, you need to incorporate all of the features above, and then some. Creating successful display campaigns may take some extra work, but the results are worth it. If you need assistance with creating display ads, or in any area of Google Ads, allow Onimod Global to help! We are a trusted Google Partner and specialize in search, mobile, video, display, and shopping advertising. 

Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, learn more about what we can do for you, and become a client today. 

Utilizing Google’s Lead Form Extensions

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In late October of 2019 Google confirmed they were rolling out a new lead generation form extension. The goal of the extension is to help more mobile users convert and easily provide their contact information without ever leaving the SERP. “A fast, mobile-optimized experience makes form submission easy and eliminates the extra step of navigating to your mobile site lead form,” as explained by Google. The feature has been slowly rolled out to marketers in BETA over the last few months. 

What Are Google Lead Form Extensions? 

Before making a purchase, customers often want to contact your business to receive more information, but filling out forms can be difficult on mobile. Lead form extensions simplify the form fill process to generate quality leads for your business. They’re designed to attract customers with a strong call-to-action, which can be accessed after filling out the short form without leaving Search. The extension shows beneath your search ad on mobile and tablet devices. Marketers can customize the forms with their own titles, description, and which pieces of information they require from users. This could include:

  • Name 
  • Email 
  • Phone number 
  • Postal code 

If the user is signed into a Google account they’ll reach a form with already pre-populated contact details and can convert immediately. Additionally, marketers can design and upload their own background image for the lead form and customize the message shown after submission. Marketers then have the option to deliver their call-to-action in the form of a website link or direct download. Like all extensions, it may not always show and is more likely to show in top positions. Lastly, you only pay when a user clicks on the extension. 

How to Create a Lead Form Extension:

Once you’re inside a search campaign, visit the “Ads and Extensions” tab located on the left handrail. If your account has access to this beta, clicking on the blue “+” will give you this drop down, with a noted “Lead form extension” offer. When creating your lead form you first design how it will appear beneath your ad. Some of the choices you will be given include: 

 

  • Call-to-action: Google gives the options of Get Quote, Apply Now, Sign Up, Contact Us, Subscribe, Download, Book Now, or Get Offer.
  • Extension text: Here you can provide a 30 character message supplementing your call-to-action. It will appear right below the CTA on the SERP.

Next, you create the form users are directed to after clicking on the extension. Here you chose and provide:

  • The information you want to collect from users 
  • Your business name (30 characters): Shown at the top of the form.
  • A headline (30 characters): Shown immediately below the headline, serving as your primary CTA in the form. 
  • A description (200 characters): The main body of the form, allowing you to provide additional details about your offer. 
  • A link to your company’s privacy policy. 

Following the form you create a submission message. This includes a 200 character description and an optional additional call-to-action. You can then either store the leads in your ad account, or feed them directly to your CRM. It’s important to note that Google only stores your leads for 30 days, so you would have to download them frequently. 

Are Lead Form Extensions Right for Your Campaign?  

Lead form extensions are a great option, but may not be right for every campaign. They do have some limitations and aren’t available for all ad types. If your ad is for adult-oriented content, alcohol-related content, gambling-related content, politics, healthcare, or medicine it is not eligible for lead form extensions. Additionally, lead form extensions will only appear on mobile or tablet devices. If the majority of your traffic and conversions come through desktop, going through the trouble to set up lead form extensions may not be worth it. They also can only be controlled at the campaign level, not the account or ad group level. Only first-party advertisers or third-party agencies with a well-established, direct relationship with the products or services being offered, can use lead form ads. Affiliate networks or lead generation businesses will not be allowed to use the feature. Lastly, usage of the personal information you collect with lead form extensions must comply with Google’s data collection policies and local legal requirements. 

Final Thoughts 

If none of the policies or requirements present an issue with your company or campaign, then there’s no reason to not take advantage of this new feature. Capturing mobile conversions can be difficult, the lead form extension works to make that as easy as possible. At Onimod Global we are experts in SEM and as a Google Partner, we’re trusted by Google to excel with their products. If you need assistance in any area of Google Ads, we’re your team. 

Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, and learn more about what we can do for you!

 

Optimizing for Voice Search in 2020

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It’s estimated that 50% of searches will be done with voice search in 2020. Optimizing for voice search is no longer a latest marketing trend–it is a necessity. Those who ignore its popularity risk losing a lot of ground compared to those who have already positioned themselves to capitalize on it. As voice recognition continues to improve, and usage of voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google continues to grow, it only becomes more essential. If you haven’t started already, here are 4 ways to start optimizing for voice search in 2020. 

Optimize for Question-Based Keywords 

It’s important to figure out how your audience speaks when searching for your business and products. Voice searches are more conversational and longer than text based searches. Most start with who, what, why, how, etc. Google and other search engines continuously crawl the internet to look for answers to these types of questions. To rank on the top of SERPs for voice searches, long-tailed keywords are key. While long-tailed keywords aren’t a new concept, the way they’re being used and why is changing. Before, they were mostly for the purpose of SEO. Digital marketers are now gravitating towards longer phrases for search queries. Those that have applied them have seen excellent results in search engine rankings. There are a variety of online tools that assist in coming up with relevant long-tailed phrases and optimizing content around them. Answer the Public and BuzzSumo are few examples. 

Optimize for Mobile and Featured Snippets 

Optimizing your site for mobile only becomes more and more crucial for businesses. When it comes to optimizing for voice search, it’s even more important. Most voice searches take place through mobile devices. A few things you can do to ensure your site is mobile-friendly are:

  • Make sure your site is responsive. 
  • Avoid software that’s uncommon for mobile, like flash. 
  • Make the information people look for easy to find. 
  • Use large and easy to read font. 
  • Compress images and CSS. 
  • Make sure links are far enough apart to avoid tapping. 
  • Perform regular mobile and page load time tests.

You’ll also find a strong correlation between voice search and featured snippets. Featured snippets are selected search results featured on top of Google’s organic results, just below the ads. They aim to directly answer the user’s question and give additional brand exposure to the company that’s featured. Getting a featured snippet is difficult, but not impossible. You can increases your chances by:

  • Making an entire search query the title of a content piece. 
  • Using the question explicitly in the content. 
  • Summarizing the answer in a single paragraph. 
  • Using lists when relevant. 
  • Using question and answer formatting. 
  • Re-optimize pages that already rank highly. 

Pay Attention to Readability of Content 

As we mentioned previously, people use a more natural and conversational tone when performing voice searches. To appear in search results, your content has to match the search terms. Avoid complicated jargon or lengthy responses. The simpler the language, the better the chances of your content appearing in the search results. On average, Google gives voice search results of only 29 words. Using clear, concise content is key when it comes to voice search optimization. There are a variety of online tools that check the readability of your content, such as Hemingway.  

Utilize Google My Business and Implement Local SEO 

Another extremely beneficial tool when it comes to voice search is Google My Business. Having a listing makes it easier for customers to find you and get more information. It’s also important to use the right keywords to describe your location. One of the most common searches people do is “___ near me.” Strategically inserting phrases like “near me” in Meta descriptions, internal links, anchor texts, and title tags increases chances of resulting for those searches. If there’s a well-known landmark near your business, it may help to include that somewhere as well. Structure your data in a way that makes it easy for users to get as much information as possible. It’s essential to have contact information, open hours, etc. This all makes it easier for your data to be processed and for people to find you. 

Conclusion 

The use of voice search will only increase in popularity as time goes on. It might not be used by everyone just yet, but that’s where we’re trending. Whether marketers like it or not, it can no longer be ignored. To be digitally successful brands have to start optimizing for mobile, voice, search, etc. 

More from Onimod Global 

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here!

What You Should be Excluding from Your PPC Campaigns to Utilize Your Ad Budget

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When building PPC campaigns, marketers usually focus on what should be included in targeting attributions. However, campaign exclusions are equally as important. Negative audiences, keywords, and other exclusions help to reduce wasted spend ensure people see the right messaging at the right stage of the funnel, and prevent users from being retargeted with products too many times. With targeting capabilities only getting more advanced, why not take advantage and utilize your budget to its fullest potential? 

Audiences You Should Exclude from PPC Campaigns:

Customer Support Seekers 

Users browsing customer support pages are likely existing customers looking for assistance, not shopping for more products. Nuances may apply depending on the goal of your campaign. For example, if you’re trying to upsell, existing customers looking for support may be a good target audience. If you offer premium support, you can also promote that through remarketing. In general, these are not users you want included in your campaign. You can build retargeting audiences based on URLs associated with the support section of your site to exclude them from your campaigns. 

Job Seekers 

Those looking for open job positions are likely not going to be product or service purchasers. So you don’t want to waste your budget by serving them ads for your latest promotion. Usually you  can identify these people by building a URL-based audience from your site’s career page. If you link to a third-party site for job applications, see if you can pixel that site, or track clicks to that site as a Google Analytics event to then build an audience for exclusion.

Past Converters 

These are not necessarily current customers, but have engaged in a conversion action, such as submitting a contact form or clicked on an ad in the past. Whether or not you target this audience depends on your business goal. If you have a multi-step funnel to work people up to the point of sale, then you would probably want to continue targeting this audience. If that’s the case they should still be put into their own category, as you don’t want to show them the same ad as before. This can be accomplished by tracking who as made it to your ‘Thank You’ page, then excluding that group from your original campaign. 

Current Customers

Whether or not you target this audience depends on your business goal as well. Sometimes you may want to sell current customers on additional features or new products. It’s often valuable to retarget past customers because they may be recurring revenue. Best practice would be to put past purchases into their own segment, see how they perform, and bid accordingly. Otherwise, you can create exclusions by uploading a customer match list of customer emails. If your product requires a login, you can build an audience based on people who have accessed pages that would indicate their status as a paying customer.

Additional Exclusions to Consider:

Your Own Company’s IP Address 

You always hope that your own employees aren’t clicking on your ads, but it can happen. But if even the ad doesn’t get clicked, it can still be wasting budget. Every impression counts. If Google detects your ads being seen, but not engaged, your campaign can be penalized. An impression without a click lowers your CTR, which can lower your quality score. This can then increase CPC, leading to fewer clicks and fewer leads. It’s best to be proactive and just block your company’s IP address completely, avoiding wasted ad dollars. 

Non-Business Hours 

Some may believe running ads 24/7 is how you would capture the most business, but this is not the case. It’s rare for companies to get many conversions between midnight and 6am. If your intake team isn’t capable of handling leads after hours, don’t waste your budget on clicks you can’t convert. It’s best to only run ads during business hours to ensure all calls can be answered and emails can be immediately responded to. 

Mobile Apps 

This is an issue most common among display campaigns. While you want to show your ads for mobile searches, you probably don’t want them getting shown within apps. When ads show up on game apps they’re usually either immediately ignored or clicked accidentally. Both which aren’t favorable. Now imagine what happens when a child is playing on a smartphone or tablet somewhere. Below is a screenshot of just a few placements from ONE account for the few short months a Display Campaign was active: 

Source: WordStream

At a top level look, it seems that your campaign is getting great clicks and impressions. When in reality it’s completely irrelevant traffic and wasted ad dollars. If you’re only getting a few irrelevant placements you can just exclude specific apps, otherwise you can exclude all mobile apps from your campaigns. This might be the best decision, as they can be costly clicks unlikely to convert. 

Finals Thoughts

Developing the right audience targets takes analyzation and constant A/B testing. And if your business is seasonal your audience targets may often change. It’s important to remember what you include and exclude from your campaign all depends on your campaign and business goal. 

More From Onimod Global 

At Onimod Global we’re experts in all areas of digital marketing from SEM and Web Dev to Social Media and Content Marketing.  Take a look at how we’ve helped other companies, and learn more about what we can do for you!

Marketers’ Top Google AdWords Mistakes

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Google AdWords is one of the most used digital marketing tools today. Even though its use is widespread, optimization is still difficult for some. Creating a successful AdWords campaign is time-consuming and takes detailed, exhaustive work. It may be demanding, but when carried out properly, these campaigns have the possibility to bring in a mass of sales and business opportunities. Not to mention the inverse can be scary for marketers: spending too much on an underperforming campaign. The average small business spends $9,000 and $10,000 on Google paid search campaigns. With marketers allocating so much budget to AdWords campaigns, it’s essential to know how to effectively use them, and to be aware of the mistakes to avoid. 

5 Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them: 

Irrelevant Keywords or Wrong Match Type 

Keywords irrelevant to your ad copy or that have low search volume can cause your ads to have low quality scores. Along with using irrelevant keywords, you might be using too many. While you want to try to show up in as many searches as possible, you want to make sure they’re relevant to your product or service. Bidding on too many or irrelevant keywords will immediately drain your ad spend and could leave you conversion-less, especially if you’re using broad-match type. This match type allows ads to be triggered on a broad range of variations of your keywords, such as synonyms, possible misspellings, plural and singular forms, related searches, etc. 

The match mistake is an easy fix, as you can quickly go into the campaign settings to change it. First you should do your research on which type would be best for your particular campaign and target audience, such as phrase or exact match. Choosing the right keyword set can be a tedious task. It takes a lot of analysis, as well as trial and error. It’s important to choose keywords that are also used on your landing page, as that will increase your quality score. But it’s even more important to be aware of what your customers are actually searching. Users are much more likely to click on ads that include words and phrases that match exactly the query they typed in. Getting your list of keywords as tight and relevant as possible will help to drive conversions at the lowest possible cost. 

Not Utilizing Negative Keywords

Even after you have a solid list of keywords, there’s still a possibility of your ads getting shown for irrelevant or even negative searches. For example, you’re selling Axe deodorant and you’re bidding on the word “axe.” Someone could search “tree axe,” and your ad could fire. So you would want to apply “tree” as a negative keyword to ensure Google doesn’t trigger your ad for any searches involving that word. AdWords automatically gives you a list of suggested negative keywords to get started, but you shouldn’t leave it at that. Consistently watch your search terms report. Consider adding any keywords that come in for irrelevant queries, as well as expensive CPCs. If there’s a keyword that’s costing you high clicks and isn’t converting, you may want to pull it. 

Minimal Use of Ad Extensions 

Most users of Google AdWords are aware of ad extensions, but not of the full plethora or impact they can have. Ad extensions allow you to get more space on the results page, include more valuable information to your ad copy, send users directly where you want, give them the option to call you directly, and more. They can even have a factor in your overall ad rank. Google reported that adding a new ad extension typically increases click-through rates by 10-15%. Finding the right combination of relevant ad extensions can increase click through rates, lower cost per click, and improve positioning. Consider these popular extensions and their benefits: 

  • Callouts: Allow you to include specific attributes about your business, products, and services. This is an area where you can include more keywords and pitch-heavy content.
  • Sitelinks: These can build the content of your ad by offering additional information and links to more specific pages on your site, allowing users to get directly where they need to.
  • Structured Snippets: Allow your ad to highlight specific aspects of your products and services. The layout is a mix between a callout and a sitelink. Each snippet contains a header and list of features you choose to highlight. This extension can hurt your click-through rates if your content isn’t carefully thought out, because the design can be complicated and hard to read.

Not Using Landing Pages

Sending PPC traffic to a homepage is a huge mistake that some marketers are still unaware of. Most people that are performing searches are looking for an immediate solution to a problem. Sending them to your homepage means they will have to spend even more time searching through your site for what they actually want. If they don’t immediately find it, they’ll likely bounce and search elsewhere. If a user already went as far as clicking on your ad, make it easy as possible for them to actually convert. With that being said, you also need to make sure they’re being directed to appropriate landing pages. If you can, try to create a designated landing page for each keyword set that answer the same user intent, and make sure there is a clear call-to-action on each. You can learn more about creating high converting landing pages here. 

Not Testing Ads or AdCopy 

Testing is widely underutilized when it comes to AdWords campaigns. It is often dismissed as time-consuming and unnecessary, but you really don’t know how an ad is performing unless you can compare it to another. Create ads with various headings, keywords, body copy, placements, landing pages, etc. To get the best results from A/B testing remember to:

  • Only change one factor per test.
  • Have a clear hypothesis. 
  • Perform the test long enough to gain accurate results. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Every marketer makes mistakes, but being proactive can help you to avoid the simple ones. All these mistakes are easy to make, but they’re also relatively quick fixes and easy to learn from. Running AdWords campaigns can be tedious, but when carried out correctly the results can be monumental. That’s why it can be beneficial to outsource for your paid search needs. At Onimod Global we are experts in SEM. As a Google Partner, we are a digital marketing company, trusted by Google to excel with their products. We are experts in paid search on major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as in social advertising across all platforms. We work as your own in-house digital marketing team. 

Learn more about what we do, or become a client today! 

 

Branded vs Non-Branded Keywords: Which Should You Be Using?

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When it comes to branded versus non-branded search, it isn’t an either/or decision, both are critical for successful rankings. Businesses must have a strong understanding of the customer journey, to know when users are more likely to search for branded versus non-branded keywords. If you’re aware of what searches your potential customers are making, and are bidding on the right phrases, you can increase your chances of ranking in moments of the highest intent. 

 

Branded Keywords 

Branded keywords are exactly what they sound like, search words or phrases that include your brand name or a variation of it. Branded keywords are usually used by searchers that have heard of your business through marketing efforts or are a past customer. Some businesses feel that bidding on your own branded keywords is a waste, but this isn’t necessarily true. To help all users in their search journey it can still be beneficial to bid on branded keywords. Here are some reasons to think about. 

Controlling Your Message 

Organic listings are cheap but they don’t give you the chance to really tell users what you’re about. Paid advertising gives you the opportunity to get creative with your message to grab the user’s attention. Additionally, organic results may not take users to their ideal landing pages. With paid advertisements you have complete control of your message and where the user is linked to, increasing your chances of conversions. 

Competitor Bids 

Competitors may be invading your space. Many businesses across all industries bid on their competitors’ keywords with the intention of stealing business and traffic. Bidding on your own keywords reduces competitors’ opportunities to outrank your own results. 

Capture High-Quality Leads. 

People searching for your own brand are already familiar with your company. They’ve either heard good things from a friend or are a returning customer. Either way, they know you have what they’re searching for and are further along in the buying cycle than someone just doing broad searches. Chances are they’re very close to making a purchase. Being one of the top results ensures that they find what they’re looking for, and can follow through with that purchase, creating new or repeat business for you. 

Dominating Your Own Search Engine Results Page

They always say that two is better than one. Appearing both organically and by paid ads can show users that you’re a prominent player in that space. It works similarly to having multiple links in an email, increasing click-through rates, giving the users more opportunities to land on your page. 

 

Non-Branded Keywords 

Non-branded keywords are any search queries that do not specify any specific brands or business names. These include generic searches such as “happy hours in my area,” or “local car repair services.” These are often made by people that are either brand-agnostic, or new prospects not yet familiar with your brand. While ranking for branded terms is still important, strategizing how to rank for non-branded keywords should be a top priority. This is likely to be more expensive than branded keyword bidding, but it’s the best way to gain more visibility, traffic, and conversions. Non-branded searches are made at a much higher volume than branded terms, which is why it’s important to identify those that are most relevant to you. Here are some strategies to optimize non-branded search. 

Optimize for what Users are Searching 

It’s important to begin by putting yourself in the user’s perspective. What exactly would they be searching for to end up at your business? What products or services might they need? What entities are fundamental to your business? For example, if you do work on cars, customers are probably doing searches beyond just “car repair.” They may be looking for – oil changes, new brakes, new tires, etc. It’s important to not only have a clear understanding of what your customers are looking for, but how to optimize your non-branded searches to fit their needs. 

Manage Business Listings 

Make sure your business is listed accurately, everywhere. This way new customers making local searches find you in moments of high intent. Everything from address, hours, business category, etc. need to be correct and consistent. This is necessary for not only your own website, but for third party sites as well, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. To rank for non-branded searches, search engines must be able to identify that your business is near the user’s geolocation and your hours of operation. 

It’s important to emphasize both of these aspects because if search engines can’t find this information then neither will users. Overall, both types of searches work together. By optimizing online listings and your website for the products, locations, services, and other entities that you offer, you’re giving search engines the information they need to deliver structured, verified answers to specific questions customers are asking about your brand. 

Getting business today means you have to understand that customers have grown and know how to search for exactly what they want. Which is why it’s important to utilize and optimize your opportunities in all search areas. 

 

How We Can Help 

At Onimod Global we are experts in all areas of SEM. We are experienced in paid advertising across all platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and Bing. Our strategy is using cross-channel digital marketing campaigns driven by machine learning analytics and human intelligence. Together ensuring your brand meets the consumer when and where they need them. Read more about what we do here, or contact us today here. 

Measuring SEO Success

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Consistently measuring SEO results and success is crucial to maintaining an effective SEO strategy. But what exactly should you be basing your SEO success off of? With so many different measurement strategies, you need to make sure you’re choosing what’s relevant to your company. What small business consider successful for an SEO campaign, large corporations probably would not.

While all businesses are aware they should be focusing on SEO to generate website traffic, it can still be a struggle to create an effective and comprehensive campaign, especially when it comes to small businesses.

Standard Measurements of SEO Success

Website traffic and conversions are the top two ways businesses measure SEO success. While traffic is important, focusing on that alone puts businesses at risk of missing other crucial metrics. Conversions do often equal success, but it’s almost impossible for a company to have a 100% conversion rate. It also depends on what the company considers a conversion. If it’s an online retail store a conversion is probably a purchase. But often times conversion doesn’t equal new business. For example, an online loan company would consider a conversion someone submitting an application, but what if the application was denied because they didn’t meet the requirements?

The metrics chosen should be relevant and align with your company’s ultimate goals and objectives. The most important aspect to be tracked is overall traffic and conversion quality. Are those coming to your website or filling out forms turning into new and legitimate business opportunities?

Measuring Quality

Time on Page & Pages Per Visit

Depending on what your goal is when a visitor reaches your site, these two things may be beneficial to track. For example, you posted a new blog and you know it takes an average of 3 minutes to read, but the average time visitors spend on that page is only 10 seconds. That probably indicates people are not sticking around to read it. It’s the same with pages per visit. Is the goal to keep users engaged on one page, or is there a final step you want them to reach? If your site’s pages operate independently then this wouldn’t really matter, if not, this may be something you want to consistently track.

Bounce Rate

Bounced sessions indicate that a searcher visited the page and left without browsing your site any further. Bounce rate can determine not only traffic quality, but also quality of the site itself. A high bounce rate can sometimes indicate your website needs improvements. Making it more engaging by including links to other posts or pages is one strategy to keep visitors interested. Though a high bounce rate doesn’t always mean the website needs to be updated. This can also mean visitors are just quickly finding exactly what they needed, such as hours, menus, addresses, etc.

Scroll Depth

Scroll Depth determines how far visitors are scrolling through each individual web page. Are visitors regularly reaching your most important content or the call to action? If not, consider rearranging the content of the page, putting the more important information higher up. Consider the quality of the content as well. While keywords are important and should be included, you don’t want that to be the extent of your content. The information included on the page should be enticing and valuable. Put yourself in the user’s place, what would make you continue to scroll down the page?

Backlinks

Backlink quality is measured by the number of links from websites with high domain authority. While you can’t control all the links that come back to your site, you can target backlink quality by reaching out to other sites that provide domain authority and a new, but similar audience. Keep in mind relevance and novelty. Endorsements from new sites can have a greater impact than repeats. The more relevant the site is to your content, the better endorsement as well.

Putting Your Resources to Use

Google Analytics is a great way to track and measure all of this data in one place. If you already enacted an SEO campaign, you most likely have access to all these capabilities. Google gives you an extensive list of metrics to use, but it can be difficult to know where to start or exactly what the data means. A few places to start could be by tracking isolate organic traffic, page visits, campaign traffic, or click through rates.

How Onimod Global Can Help

As experts in SEO and Google Partners, we know exactly what you should be tracking, and how. As one of our core attributes, we can develop SEO campaigns across all major search engines that deliver increases in organic traffic and natural rankings. We are cross-channel digital marketing experts that work with companies of all sizes, all around the world. Read more about what we do here, or contact us with any questions here.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Ad Copy

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Google provides a lot of helpful data when it comes to certain aspects of search campaigns, except when it comes to ad copy. Ad copy can be one of the most crucial elements when it comes to paid search, no matter the platform. Finding the right combination of keywords and titles can be difficult, but when you’re spending a good chunk of budget on paid search, you want your ad copy to be something that’s generating traffic.

 

What is Ad Copy?

Ad copy is the main text or description of a clickable advertisement. The text is usually the second and third lines of the ads displayed on a search engine, in between the title and display URL. It’s generally used to describe what the advertisement is for, as well as inserting related keywords. While most people are aware of what ad copy is, there are still mistakes frequently made, even by experienced paid search marketers. Finding what works best for your particular paid ads can be difficult, but we’re going to discuss some general do’s and don’ts of writing ad copy.

 

Ad Copy Don’ts

Jacob Baadsgaard, founder and CEO of Disruptive Advertising, has identified the top 3 most common mistakes that keep businesses from paid search success, when it comes to ad copy.

Keyword Stuffing

Inserting as many keywords as possible into ads is no longer the secret to search success. The modern user has been trained to avoid any search results that look even slightly suspicious or point towards spam. Users now look for content that address problems and solutions. As consumers evolve, ad copy should follow. This does not mean keywords should no longer be included, they’re still very important. What it means is that they need to be appropriately and specifically selected and placed in the ad copy. The ad needs to incorporate them in a more meaningful way. Focus more on providing answers, rather than keywords, because that’s ultimately what users are looking for.

Focusing On The Wrong Problem

Users click on ads if they focus on a problem, pain point, or whatever triggered their need to search. The issue is many business misidentify the motivating factors behind customers’ searches. A common misconception is that a company’s target audience share the same needs, goals, and values. More often than not the customer doesn’t care, what they do care about is whether or not you can help fix their problem. If the ad doesn’t focus on a solution, customers probably won’t click on it. When the ad copy’s main focus is the need behind a user’s search, you’ll seem like the perfect solution.

Neglecting Ad Extension

While it is ultimately up to Google whether people see your ad extension or not, neglecting it is a huge mistake. It is important to focus on titles and descriptions, since that’s what everyone will see, but when your ad extension is shown, it needs to matter. “Google reports that adding a new ad extension typically increases click-through rates by 10-15%, so they’re well worth investing some time into.” Ad extensions are a way to incorporate callouts, sitelinks, and structured snippets.

Callout extensions allow you to include specific attributes about your business, products, and services. This is an area where you can include more keywords and pitch-heavy content.

Sitelinks are something that should definitely be taken advantage of if given the opportunity. They can build the content of your ad by offering additional information and links to more specific pages on your site, allowing users to get directly where they need to.

Structured snippet extensions allow your ad to highlight specific aspects of your products and services. The layout is a mix between a callout and a sitelink. Each snippet contains a header and list of features you choose to highlight. This extension can hurt your click-through rates if your content isn’t carefully thought out, because the design can be complicated and hard to read.

Ad Copy Do’s  

 

Include Emotional Triggers When Appropriate

Users don’t make decisions on logic alone. People are more often driven by emotions. If someone reads something that triggers a strong emotional reaction, negative or positive, they will be more inclined to click through. You do want to be careful to balance the reaction with the rest of your message because you don’t want your brand to be associated with negative emotions. The ad copy should ultimately focus on resolving the negative emotion. Positive and subtle triggers can be effective as well. It all depends on what exactly you’re advertising.

Create Keyword-Rich Display URLs

Sometimes advertisers may not be aware that the display URL and their actual destination URL can be different. The display URL can be something more interesting or relevant to your ads while including your top keywords. Even if your destination URL doesn’t contain your keywords, your ads can still appear in search results if your display URL includes them.

Be Benefit Focused, Not Features

It can be disappointing, but most customers don’t care about your actual company. As previously discussed, users want to know what you can ultimately do for them. Focus on how your brand can make their life easier, not about your actual brand. Using words like ‘you’ makes the ad more personal and can demonstrate how your service actually benefits the user. How much time or money users can save with your service are easy and effective things to include.

 

Conclusion

Writing ad copy can be tricky, and there is a lot of room for error. That’s why it’s always beneficial to outsource for your paid search needs. At Onimod Global we are experienced experts in SEM. As a Google Partner we are a digital marketing company, trusted by Google and excel with their products. Experts in paid advertising on platforms such as Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Not only are we experts in paid advertising, but also organic search engine optimization. Onimod Global works as your own in-house, cross-channel, digital marketing team.

You can view some of our featured work here, or contact us here.  

Which is Better: Paid or Organic Search?

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Digital marketers have long debated these two search channels in an effort to once and for all prove one as the true victor when it comes to measurable results. However, this comparison is not as simple as it seems. Much like comparing apples to oranges, these two channels are incredibly different from one another.

Organic:

Organic search results typically have a much higher conversion rate, and higher key metrics in general, associated with them when compared to paid search results. Organic results are also 100% free, and who doesn’t love free advertising? At a glance, these well performing statistics may suggest that organic is a better channel than search, but that is not necessarily the case.

 

Paid:

The paid search channel is always the first listed when a consumer conducts a Google search. Google also continues to improve upon its search by providing an obvious preference to paid advertisements rather than organic listings. This was made clear last year when the search giant added a fourth paid advertisement listing in every query. Unfortunately, these prime positions come at a price.

 

Despite the cost associated with paid listings, many advertisers utilize them to gain the most recognition from a potential customer. This form of advertising is most helpful for companies that are trying to gain awareness of their brand.

 

Conclusion:

There is no clear and definite winner. Paid and organic search channels each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, but to only choose one of them in any marketing strategy is a weakness in itself. Digital marketers need to realize the full potential of every marketing opportunity and what they mean collectively for the company’s success.

 

If your business is limiting itself in its number of channels, then there is no doubt that it is also limiting itself in the number of potential customers it can reach. The key to the relationship between paid and organic search is that they are best when implemented together.

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