While you took a break from tweaking ad copy and adjusting bids to enjoy the weekend, Google was rolling out an update to Adwords that may significantly impact the ROI of your SEM campaigns.

Over the weekend Google removed ads from the right side of its desktop search results. Staying ROI positive is tricky enough on AdWords without the added cost of having to compete for just 3 to 4 slots, down from the 7 or 8 positions formerly available.

For those businesses who can’t afford to compete with the major players, there are 3 ad positions available at the very bottom of the results page.

What does this mean for the future of SEM?

Optimizing quality scores will be more important than ever. As PPC marketers know, a high quality score not only decreases the price you pay per click but it can also secure top positions for top converting terms.

For those who can’t afford to bid for the top, keyword creativity will be key. Use tools like SEMRush to find phrase match and long-tail keywords with lower competition.

The recent update is just another reason why search engine optimization is key to growing digital business.

You’ve set up a highly targeted lead generation campaign, but you can’t seem to get people to fill out your form.

One of the more frustrating aspects of SEM, is reviewing search terms only to find that people are searching relevant phrases, clicking then bouncing from your landing page without filling out the form.

Why are they bouncing?

No matter how masterful your UX, how optimized your campaign, you may be struggling to get conversions or meet your CPA. In some cases the source of your anguish can be found in your marketing content. By targeting customers at the wrong stage of the funnel, you can waste thousands of dollars a year on end spend.

Whether you’re generating leads for a B2B or B2C business, the idea is the same. Your keywords/phrases must be matched with content that corresponds with the accurate customer stage.

How to Optimize

Consider the various stages of the marketing funnel. There’s:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Consideration
• Intent
• Evaluation
• Purchase

Then take a look at your keywords. Keywords that fall into the “awareness” stage shouldn’t be pared with ad copy and content that is for those in the Intent to Purchase stage.

For example, if someone is searching “what is B2B software” they’re looking for information. They’re not ready to see a demo or make a purchase. Instead of sending them to a demo request page, try providing them with information about your industry/product. Whitepapers and case studies are great ways to engage customers who are the top of the funnel.

Save your conversion content for those further down the funnel ready to buy.

Why market to those at the top of the funnel?

If your budget is tight, and you’re heavily focused on ROI, eliminate keywords that speak to those at the top of the funnel. Terms that start with “what is” for example.

However, if branding is important to you and/or you have a strong lead nurturing campaign, investing in broader terms can help feed your other marketing initiatives.

Why are they leaving?

One of the most important aspects of campaign management is optimization. As a search marketing or pay per click campaign manager part of the job is consistently making tweaks to keywords, ad copy, and yes landing pages in order to improve campaign performance.

You can decrease CPCs, improve quality scores and engage users, but if they bounce before converting all your efforts are wasted.

If you have what you believe is a fully optimized landing page (fast load times, keyword and quality rich ad copy, lead gen form above the fold, etc.) with poor performance you can test visitor interaction with a heatmapping tool.

A heatmap is a graphical overlay of your website which uses different colors to describe what content is “hot” and not on your page. Heatmap technology typically tracks where a visitor clicks, but more advanced versions can track eye and scroll movements.

Heatmaps are relatively inexpensive, and easy to install. There are free trials and free versions which you can use to gain powerful insights about your site visitors.

What Heatmaps Teach Us

Heatmaps give users a glimpse into the minds of site users. Where users click can be especially significant if you have ads or a lead gen form on your page. It’s important to know if users are clicking away to your main site, or missing ads due to placement.

With this knowledge you can gain insight into the performance of everything from the color of your site, content and ad placement, page copy, outbound and inbound links.

Heatmap Options

Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is a popular heat mapping tool, because it’s easy to use and inexpensive. The company provides a free 60 day trial. After the initial trial period plan pricing starts at just $9 a month for up to 10 pages. To install Crazy Egg heatmap tracking, you simply copy the code provided into your site HTML. Instructions are provided. Once installed you can use the platform to test the code, and get confirmation that tracking is live.

Mouseflow

Mouseflow claims to be the #1 heatmap and session replay tool on the market. What makes Mouseflow unique is you can actually view recordings of your visitors interacting with your site. This can prove valuable when users aren’t clicking on your pages. You can see what they scroll over, what they avoid, and what causes them to bounce without converting. Mouseflow offers a free plan for 100 recorded sessions of 1 domain. They also offer a 30 day money back guarantee for their paid plans. Paid plans start at $19 a month.

Ptengine

Ptengine provides analytics for both heat and scroll maps. Unlike other heatmaps, Ptengine allows the user to differentiate between interactive and non-interactive elements of a site. With this tool you can gain insights into clicks on buttons, images, videos, drop down menus and more. With the Scroll Reach Map you can determine the percentage of visitors scrolling to specific sections of your page, and get insights into why your visitors are leaving once they land. There is a free trial for up to 20,000 page views a month for 1 domain. Plan pricing starts at $39 a month for 50,000 page views and up to 20 domains.

Landing page optimization is not voluntary it’s vital to the success of your organic and paid campaigns. Contact I Dream of SEO today to learn more about our landing page and website services or to inquire about paid campaign management.

What’s Wrong With My Landing Page?

“Your landing page is amazing, it’s perfect in every way. There’s nothing you need to change about your pay per click landing page,” is something no SEM expert said (or should say) ever.

Hi, I’m your pay per click advertiser and I’m here to aggravate you all the way to the bank.

I’ve managed pay per click marketing campaigns for small to large businesses in verticals ranging from finance to arboriculture. I won’t say I’ve seen it all, but I’ve seen a lot of it. I know a little bit about what it takes to create a winning landing page, and it might not be (and probably isn’t) what you’re currently using.

Why you messing with my landing page?

When you hand over the PPC reigns to a professional it must come with trust. You must trust that we know what we’re doing and that we have your best interest at heart. After all, you’re not very likely to renew with us if we can’t expand your reach and increase your ROI.

Yet, we often see push back when it comes to editing your landing page. Your landing page is the page your customers land on when they click on a pay per click ad. It can be a page of your website, or a page specifically designed for a pay per click campaign.

Quality Score, what is it and why does it matter?

The first thing we suggest is creating a separate landing page for your marketing campaigns, with no-follow URLs so we keep your search engine optimization chugging along without hiccups from PPC traffic.

Besides keeping your SEO happy, custom landing pages help you achieve your PPC goals. A winning landing page is:

• Easy to navigate
• Provides useful relevant information
• Keeps it simple
• Has few external links
• Is SIMPLE
• Has FEW external links

See where I’m going with this?

The Fewer Links the Better

You’re paying for clicks to your website, why provide the visitor with ways to click away? Imagine throwing money out the window. Not something you’re interested in? Keep links to a minimum on your landing page.

Keep Your Landing Page Simple

If your store offers a variety of products, it’s best to create product groups and then design a page around these groupings. This way we can create a custom ad group for this product type and send visitors to a page where they can shop for exactly what they’re looking for. If you have a sports equipment business for example, you could group your landing pages by product types. You could have one page for camping equipment, one for water sports, etc.

By keeping navigation and your page simple, you improve user experience and make it easier for visitors to turn into customers. Make it easy for your visitors to make a purchase by making the path to the shopping cart quick and easy.

As your PPC experts, I Dream of SEO can help you design a winning landing page. We’ll optimize your existing landing pages, or create brand new ones for you. We work to create campaigns optimized for your landing pages, to increase conversions and help you achieve a high ROI.

Contact us today for a free landing page audit and Pay Per Click management quote.