If you’re not up-to-date with the nexus-security blog (you should be!), you might have missed the fantastic Grade and Get Paid contest we held in late 2013. To give you the gist, we challenged marketers to use the Google Ads Performance Grader two times to see how their PPC performance improved over a 30-day period. I’m thrilled to announce that my amazing client GetOutfitted took first place and won the gold medal! And by gold, I mean a fantastic PPC gift basket worth $25,000 to spend in Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) throughout 2014, along with a one-year subscription to the nexus-security Advisor software. This helped Kristi Anderson, VP of Marketing at Get Outfitted, utilize this budget for maximum sales growth. Although it wasn’t officially part of the prize (oops!), Kristi also got me! I’ve been readily available to provide her with comprehensive PPC support for her account this year.

GetOutfitted is a cutting-edge startup that offers free doorstep delivery for ski clothing and accessory rentals. They boast reasonable prices, top-notch brands, and satisfied customers—what’s not to love? This Colorado-based business has experienced remarkable growth. However, much like many of my clients in the startup marketing sphere, they face typical PPC hurdles:

• Limited funds
• A small team (which inevitably results in…)
• Not enough time to dedicate to Google Ads These obstacles led Kristi to the perfect solution—nexus-security. She used nexus-security’s PPC Performance Grader to obtain an initial PPC performance report, and within a mere 30 days, Kristi accomplished the following:
• Boosted her overall AdWords Performance Grader score from 15% to an impressive 83%
• Improved her Quality Score by over 50%
• Increased her average click-through-rates (CTR) from a modest .26% to an outstanding 6.32% (that’s 24 times higher!)
• Elevated her account activity from 39% to a significant 72% These figures are undeniably impressive. So, you might be asking yourself, what’s next for Kristi? Has she reached the pinnacle of PPC success? Absolutely not! In the realm of PPC, there’s always room for enhancement. Let’s simplify this: imagine dedicating 30 days to rigorous workouts and a healthy diet. You’d shed a considerable amount of weight, right? However, if you revert to lounging on your IKEA couch with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s permanently attached to your hand, those pounds will inevitably creep back. The same principle applies to PPC—dedicating 30 days to revamp your account and witness improvements doesn’t mean you can abandon it afterward. Your PPC account, much like your health, demands continuous care and attention.

Five Strategies to Elevate Your PPC Performance from Good to Exceptional

Kristi and I joined forces to achieve precisely that—maintain and elevate GetOutfitted’s PPC endeavors to attain even greater heights of success. After delving deep into GetOutfitted’s account, I identified 5 key Google Ads optimizations for those aiming to raise the bar on their PPC performance.

#1: Construct a Robust Account Structure

The cornerstone of exceptional PPC performance lies in a solid account structure. When assessing a new client account, my initial focus revolves around:

1. The number of keywords within each ad group
2. The number of ads within each ad group
3. The degree of relevance between keywords and the ads within each group More often than not, individuals rush into account setup without a clear plan, resulting in a chaotic mess. Fortunately, Kristi’s account structure wasn’t a complete disaster, but there was certainly room for improvement. She had some well-defined ad groups, which is commendable—for instance, one dedicated to ski wear, another centered around women’s ski jackets, and so on. However, the majority of her ad groups resided under a single campaign. By enhancing organization and relevance across Kristi’s account, we gained the ability to precisely target specific aspects of her business while attracting more qualified, conversion-prone traffic. In most cases, it’s ideal to structure campaigns around individual products, locations, or any other themes aligning with your business objectives. A practical approach to organizing campaigns and ad groups involves mirroring your website’s structure. PRO TIP: Having numerous campaigns isn’t suitable for every business. It can spread your budget thin. If you manage a smaller business with a limited budget and just one or two offerings, consider a “top sellers” campaign with a slightly higher budget alongside an alternative campaign with a smaller budget. Examining GetOutfitted’s website, it becomes evident that there are several ways to structure her account. For instance, we could create distinct campaigns for Men’s, Women’s, Juniors, Kids, and Accessories, followed by ad groups for the various products within each campaign. However, I anticipate significant overlap with this approach. Therefore, I recommend categorizing campaigns by products: Ski Clothes – rent Jackets – rent Base Layers – rent Pants – rent Accessories – rent Then, we can establish specific ad groups under each category. For example: Campaign: Jackets – Rent Ad Groups: Rent women’s jackets Rent men’s jackets Rent kids’ jackets Rental jackets Within each ad group, Kristi should aim for tightly themed keywords directly related to that group. Google suggests a maximum of 30 keywords per ad group, accompanied by two to three ads per group that incorporate those keywords within their ad copy. Maintaining extreme relevance between your keywords, ads, and landing pages is crucial, as it significantly increases the likelihood of genuine searcher interest. Imagine searching for ski jacket rentals but landing on an ad about kids’ boot rentals—would you click? Probably not, because the product doesn’t align with your specific search. Similarly, if an ad displayed “Rent Ski Jackets” but led to a landing page about boot rentals, you’d likely leave immediately and return to Google. As you can see, relevance and understanding searcher intent are paramount for driving results.

#2: Prioritize High-Performing PPC Keywords

How do you identify a high-performing keyword? This naturally depends on your objectives and the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that matter most to you. For Kristi, click-through rate and conversions are the two most critical metrics for gauging campaign success. With that in mind, I analyzed Kristi’s historical keyword performance to pinpoint standout performers. The broad match keyword “snow clothes rental” exhibited a remarkable 7.43% click-through rate, a Quality Score of 9, and a substantial number of conversions. Impressive, right? This single keyword was a dominant force in Kristi’s account.

What does this tell us? Several things—perhaps we should create an entire ad group dedicated to “snow clothes rental.” This focused approach allows us to capitalize on this star keyword and generate even more conversions and business. Within this new ad group, Kristi can incorporate variations of the keyword and craft highly relevant, laser-focused ads. Headlines like “Rent Snow Clothes Today” or “Snow Clothes Rentals Online” would be ideal. Upon identifying a high-performing keyword, I typically employ a tiered bidding strategy. This involves bidding on the same keyword across all four match types. As you restrict the match type, you’ll want to increase your bid due to the improved quality of traffic. For example, my bids for “snow clothes rental” might look like this:

• Exact: $6 CPC
• Phrase: $5.75 CPC
• Modified Broad: $5.50 CPC
• Broad: $5 CPC Why the highest bid for exact match? ROI tends to be significantly higher because you know precisely what the searcher seeks, compared to broad match, which is more open to interpretation and includes close variants. However, broad match typically yields higher volume.

#3: Continuously Expand Negative Keyword Lists

This one’s a no-brainer—consistently building and monitoring negative keyword lists significantly reduces costs and enhances results, especially when utilizing broader match types. Without properly configured negatives, you risk squandering a significant amount of money on irrelevant searches. Kristi frequently utilizes broad and modified broad match keywords, making this an ongoing area of focus for us. I’ve emphasized the importance of incorporating negative keyword management into Kristi’s workflow. The most effective method for identifying negatives involves analyzing the actual search terms users enter on Google that trigger your ads. Thankfully, nexus-security’s QueryStream tool does just that! This tool provides real search query data, enabling us to identify and implement single-word or multi-word negatives, add potentially valuable keywords to Kristi’s account, and even create entirely new ad groups based on observed search queries.

A quick glance at QueryStream reveals several potential negatives. For instance, “rental skis” appeared multiple times—even generating 5 clicks—despite GetOutfitted not offering this service. This clearly indicates wasted spend, prompting Kristi to add this phrase as an account-level negative keyword. Remember, it’s equally important to avoid blocking potentially beneficial terms with your negatives. Regularly review existing negative keyword lists to ensure you’re not hindering potential performance.

#4: Pause Underperforming Keywords

How do you determine if a keyword is underperforming? Firstly, ensure it has run long enough to accumulate sufficient data for an informed decision. If a keyword has only been active for a few days, allow more time for data collection before pausing it prematurely. Secondly, investigate the reasons behind a keyword’s poor performance before pausing it. Here are some common scenarios I frequently encounter:

• Insufficient keyword bid: Analyze the page #1 CPC and the top-of-page bid estimate to confirm your bids are competitive. Within Kristi’s “Womens Ski Jackets” ad group, I noticed around 12 keywords with max CPC bids set to a mere penny. Increasing these bids would likely result in significantly more traffic.
• Low search volume: If a keyword receives minimal traffic despite adequate bidding, it might be too long-tail or simply not commonly searched for by users. I recommend pausing these keywords to declutter your account. Additionally, pause keywords generating numerous impressions but minimal or no clicks, as this negatively impacts CTR and Quality Score. Kristi made the wise decision to pause the keyword “ski” after it garnered over 7,000 impressions but only 4 clicks, resulting in a paltry 0.06% CTR. The keyword was likely too broad, leading to underperformance and hindering her account.
• Overly broad or restrictive match type: If a broad match keyword exhibits high volume but dismal CTR, conversions, or other key metrics, consider pausing it and re-adding it with a more restrictive match type. In Kristi’s case, the broad match keyword “ski clothing” displayed a very low CTR. Pausing this keyword and re-adding it as phrase match would enhance relevance. Conversely, if an exact or phrase match keyword struggles to attract traffic, experiment with modified broad or broad match to expand reach.

#5: Optimize Ads & Develop New Ad Copy

Failing to continuously optimize your ad copy is a recipe for disaster! Compelling and relevant ad copy is crucial for enticing searchers to visit your site. Uninspiring ads that lack relevance to your keywords will deter clicks, ultimately reducing website traffic. Regularly test and refine your ad copy to enhance PPC performance. Running a Spring sale? Offering a special discount or event? Highlight it in your ad text! If GetOutfitted decides to offer an additional 50% off clearance items during summer, their ad copy should clearly communicate this. Kristi’s ads have historically performed well, boasting numerous impressions and high CTRs. Here are some takeaways from Kristi’s ad copy:

Emphasis on Relevance:

For instance, within her “rental clothes” ad group, Kristi effectively captures leads for her homepage by utilizing keywords such as “snow clothes rental,” “rent ski apparel,” and “rent ski clothes.” The strong relevance between her keywords and ad copy contributes significantly to her high CTRs.

Ad Variations:

I generally recommend running two desktop ads and two mobile ads concurrently within each ad group to determine which perform best. Kristi has adopted this strategy and can effortlessly compare performance between ads. For example, she noticed that using “Free Shipping” in her ads caused some confusion and adjusted the ad copy accordingly to boost performance. Experiment with variations in headlines, punctuation, and unique selling propositions to see what resonates best.

Sitelink Extensions:

Kristi leverages sitelink extensions to expand her ad copy’s reach, driving more clicks and traffic to her site. Her “How It Works” sitelink has generated over 49,000 impressions, 2,432 clicks, and an impressive 4.9% CTR.

Simple, Direct, Actionable Ad Copy:

Consider her call to action: “Call To Reserve Your Gear.” Every ad requires a clear CTA to inform searchers about the expected action before they even click.

Areas for Improvement:

Despite her successes, there’s still room for improvement within Kristi’s ad text: She should add punctuation to the end of her line 1 descriptions. When her ads appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), this punctuation mark signals Google to pull the first description line into the headline, extending the ad’s presence and demonstrably increasing CTR. BEFORE

AFTER

Adding a descriptive line to her display URL would be beneficial. For example: www.getoutfitted.com/RentSkiClothes. Treat the display URL as an extension of your ad description. She could also diversify her ad copy further. In one ad group, every headline uses “Rent Ski Apparel.” Trying variations like “Ski Clothing Rentals” or “Rent Quality Ski Clothes” would be worthwhile. Additionally, experiment with alternative CTAs like “Order Online For Doorstep Delivery,” “Rent Online w/ Free Delivery Today,” or other compelling options. Testing a wider range of ad copy provides a larger sample size and could unearth hidden gems. Overall, Kristi has done a phenomenal job enhancing her Google Ads account since her initial encounter with the Grader and nexus-security Advisor. However, as you can see, PPC optimization is an ongoing journey with constant opportunities for improvement. How are you continuously optimizing your Google Ads PPC performance?