Don’t fall for these PPC myths

How to avoid letting these PPC Myths Corrupt Your Marketing

Have you heard about some of these PPC (Pay Per Click) myths before? As so many businesses use PPC, it’s not surprising there are lots of myths about them. Over the years, PPC has changed and been updated. Some of the old strategies that were successful ‘back in the day’ are now outdated.

Common misconceptions have allowed many myths to spread and have negatively influenced how people understand PPC advertising.

There are many PPC myths out there so we’ve picked some of the most dangerous. The myths we’ve chosen are so believable, they have the potential to corrupt marketing strategies or stump success.

1. PPC guarantees instant and fast results

Some marketers quickly jump on the PPC train because they believe it will win instant results. In truth, sometimes you can see a rapid rise in traffic but it definitely does not guarantee positive results.

In both keywords here we can see a high click rate but minimal/no conversions.

Most new PPC campaigns have a ‘burn’ period at the start where you have to spend money to find out what will work, what will not, where the volumes are, what the CPC is, etc. This period can be expensive and make no positive ROI but it’s usually essential in making a solid PPC strategy.

To be successful on PPC, you need to understand all the stats above as well as your market and how they search online. Once you understand the keywords they use, you can target them and increase your chances of getting clicks.

It’s important to research your target audience because PPC is not always the absolute best marketing strategy to attract visitors. If most of your audience is Generation Z, you may get more success using messaging apps and social media to attract and engage with them. Have a go creating a profile of your Ideal Customer to get a better understanding of their online habits.

2. Being top spot is the best place to be

In organic search results, being ranked in top spot is certainly the best spot. However for PPC, it’s not always a good thing to be 1#. Each time someone clicks, they are spending some of your PPC budget and if they’re not ready to buy or become a lead then they are wasting your spend.

PPC Ad in 1# position

No conversions

The number one spot can cost significantly more per click that the number two spot but it doesn’t always get significantly more conversions. You need to find the best position for you goals, and if your main goal is best cost per conversion then top spot might not be right.

The best thing you can do to increase conversions is to make the content in your advert as relevant as possible. Make it clear what the ad is linking to. What will the page do for the visitor when they land on it? If your advert is misleading, online visitors won’t stay on your site for long.

3. Having more keywords means more conversions

This is a common trap marketers have fallen into. Having more keywords usually means you will get more impressions and clicks but it does not mean you will have more conversions.

In fact, your budget will decline faster meaning you could be taking budget away from your highest converting keywords. Consider safeguarding your positive performing keywords by having them in separate campaigns before adding new keywords.

People make different searches depending on where they are on their buyer’s journey. Your ads should be specifically targeted and created to target the right people rather than being wasted on people who are not ready to buy or be marketed to.

4. You should only rely on Google’s Keyword Planner for keywords

It’s the norm for people to use the Google’s Keyword Planner to find keywords for their AdWords campaigns and there are many benefits to using it.here are limitations to what you can look for with Keyword Planner. Consider using other keyword search tools to find the more, and maybe the best, keywords for your campaign. SEMrush and Moz’s keyword tool, Keyword Explorer, gives you the ability to explore more keyword opportunities.

You should use multiple tools to find the best keywords, don’t rely on just one.

5. PPC is the only profitable marketing channel

There are many benefits to using PPC. If you’re a new business and you’re struggling to get organic traffic, PPC gets you noticed at the top of search.

However paid advertising is expensive and a constant cost so the people who are clicking need to be converting into customers to make your PPC campaign worthwhile and profitable. We refer to PPC as renting, in terms of marketing, i.e. when you stop paying, the results instantly stop.

Alongside PPC you should consider owned channels such as SEO, social media, content and email marketing. These can be used alongside your PPC campaign.

In the first six months of this client starting their marketing strategy, they had a combination of marketing channels. While their main owned channel, SEO, was a slower starter over a six month period it actually out performed PPC.

• Paid Search: 880
• Organic Search: 1,062

For this client PPC is extremely profitable however their owned media is a lower ongoing cost and provides more leads, making it even more profitable. The key lesson here is to use PPC alongside other marketing strategies rather than entirely rely upon it.

Don’t be deluded by these myths. Be smart with your PPC campaigns to get the best returns

PPC is a fruitful means of marketing your business as long as you use it correctly but it is easy to overspend and waste your budget. Our advice is to learn more about PPC before you start but if you have already got an out of control account read this 5 step plan to get it under control.

Thanks to Riki for sharing their advice and opinions in this post. Rikki is the director at Digital 22. He is an inbound marketer with over 8 years experience and qualifications from Hubspot, Google, Bing and The Chartered Institute of Marketing.