To kick off a winning advertising campaign on Bing or Google, it's crucial to grasp the searches that not only draw in leads but also have a strong chance of converting into sales. Here are some key plays to help you master this hard part of the game.
Keep an Eye on
Rival Searches
If your search term report shows competitor names (e.g., "MJK Roofing," "PW Tree Surgeons," "Eden Locksmiths") and you've targeted these as keywords, exercise caution. Ensure their business model fully aligns with yours, for example, if they provide both online and face-to-face training services, and you only offer one of these parts, then from the leads you do capture, fewer will convert into sales.
Additionally, keep in mind that staying competitive is key. A loyal fan is more difficult to win over (as they were originally seeking your competitor), so, to combat this, offer lower prices and demonstrate that your service/product is superior from start to finish.
The search term report is invaluable for distinguishing between the two types. Query-related terms often include phrases like ‘how to fix,’ ‘DIY,’ ‘repairing’ and ‘tutorial.’ While these might occasionally generate leads, they are less likely to result in a sale, as the primary need (99% of the time) here is for free advice/support rather than a purchase.
Additionally, be cautious with query-related searches like ‘price,’ ‘cost,’ ‘how much,’ and ‘deals.’ These terms are enticing to use, but often attract window shoppers seeking quotes rather than ready-to-buy customers. Unless your pricing is highly competitive, it’s advisable to put less emphasis (by lowering CPC’s) on these phrases.
Have you noticed location names in your search term report that fall outside your service area, despite having specific geo-targeting set up? For example, as a tree surgeon covering Coventry only, you might see a term like 'Tree Surgeon Liverpool' appear. Unfortunately, both Google and Bing sometimes fail to match user IP addresses to their actual location, leading to this frustrating situation where the user is ready to buy, but you are unable to serve them due to distance.
To reduce the chances of this occurring, we recommend taking a proactive approach by compiling a list of all the locations within the country that you don't service (e.g. ‘Liverpool’, ‘Manchester’ ‘Blackpool ‘ etc). Then, applying these as negatives keywords in the account, however, be mindful that when you do expand your coverage, you'll need to update these negative keywords accordingly.
When providing a service that is related to a specific product, such as installing solar panels from a brand like Jinko or boilers from Worcester Bosch, it makes sense to incorporate these brand names as keywords in your campaigns (e.g., 'Jinko Solar Panels'). However, be aware that some searches resulting from these keywords may be more e-commerce-focused rather than service-oriented. For instance, someone searching for ‘Jinko JKM430N’ might be interested in buying the product only (after all, they have input the product code), rather than seeking your installation services on-top.
Important to note – If you're encountering these terms in your search results and noticing poor performance, make sure to add them as negative keywords. If the issue continues and becomes difficult to manage, the next logical step is to pause phrase match terms and only use exact match (this should completely eliminate product code related searches).
Watch Out for the
Qualification Matches
As a carpet cleaner targeting the keyword 'carpet cleaner near me,' you might notice 'NCCA carpet cleaners near me' in your search terms report. Similarly, in the solar panel industry, targeting 'solar panel installer near me,' you could see 'MCS solar panel installers near me.' These searches indicate a preference for accredited professionals. If you hold similar qualifications like these and see them pop up in your search terms report, then we recommend targeting these specific terms with a dedicated ad group that houses hyper targeted ads (to maximise click numbers).
However, if you do not hold these qualifications yet, then we suggest adding them as negatives, after all, when a customer asks for a red pen, trying to sell them a blue one is almost impossible.
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