PPC Performance Guide

Let’s help you rest your fears about your PPC performance. 

Although we are pretty spectacular, account performance is not always rainbows and unicorns. Some fluctuations in performance may cause unnecessary concern, and we don’t want you to be concerned! We want you to be confident that our team is reacting to important KPIs.

Our team is always on the case. We don’t reach out to our clients on every slight performance fluctuation. Sometimes, the fluctuation means nothing, and it’s not uncommon to see daily fluctuation either (especially in the first two weeks). If our team spent all our time sending daily alerts on changes, we’d not have time to get out our secret caches and optimize the account into submission. As promised, we provide an update after the first two weeks. To speak out any sooner is speaking too quickly.

This document will review common performance concerns, what they mean, and how we resolve them.

Google Ads is not Facebook

If you are experienced in running Facebook ads, you’ll know that the pace of campaign change is somewhat breathtaking. Campaigns and ad sets were killed in 24 hours, scaled within a week, burned out, and started over in a month.

The world of Google Ads seems sedate. Campaigns take weeks to mature and months to optimize, but the results last much longer. Before you dive into the details below, remember it’s a different world that plays by different rules, and we know how to play the game.

Account Not Getting Impressions

If an account does not get any impressions on the day it is scheduled to run – we know about it. We have daily alerts for this. It is common for Google to throttle new accounts for the first few days, and we don’t stress if we go just one day without any impressions. We do take action, but based on our years of watching new launches, we don’t worry, and neither should you.

We are busy ensuring our bids are competitive enough, we have the right keywords, our ad scheduling and geotargeting are wide enough, and we have no sneaky disapprovals. Usually,  it is the bids! We start with competitive yet conservative bids. Why don’t we begin with aggressive bids? Google will rip it right from our hands! Trust us; we’re on top of it. If there is an urgent problem, we will let you know ASAP.

Account Has a Dip in Impressions/Clicks

Fluctuation is typical, especially in the first month of management. During the first month, we are trying to find the perfect bid strategy based on your targeting, budget, and competition. Google has a “learning phase” for bid strategies, and you have to let it play out for at least a week for it to gain full strength.

For example, The possible decrease in impressions could be due to the maximize clicks bidding strategy, as it can occasionally reduce impressions to show ads to searchers who are more likely to click.

This type of fluctuation is also expected at the end of a month. When we reach the end of the month for an account that has a limited budget, we run out of budget and have to turn down the campaigns, which results in fewer clicks and impressions, see the “You’re Pacing the Budget Too High or Too Low” for more details.

We are monitoring these fluctuations daily. Due to the learning period of bid strategies, we can’t make immediate changes because there is a high likelihood that if we let it learn, it will kick butt! If we intervene, we will be the cause of the failure.

Account Not Getting Clicks

We know when an account hasn’t received a click for a day and are on it. It is not alarming if we have a day without a click, but we’re reviewing the account anyway.

Our steps are similar to the optimizations performed when an account is not getting impressions. We check that bids and bid strategy are competitive enough and we’ve got all the right keyword selections. We will alert you if our optimizations are not making an impact and we need to make more significant changes.

Account Not Spending Budget

We never spend money for the sake of spending budget.   Typically, if we’re not spending the budget, it is due to the search volume being too low or our targeting being too narrow.  

First, we’ll explore expanding ad scheduling and location targeting. If we still do not have the desired search volume, we’ll test new campaigns and notify you.

Low Average Position

We don’t bid for a specific position. We bid to get as many clicks and conversions as possible for our budget. For some, that might mean position one; for others, it might mean position 3.   Like age, position is just a number; all that matters is how you feel.

The only time where intervention is needed is if the low average position is causing impression, click, or budgeting issues. At that point, we’ll adjust bids or bid strategies for improvement.

Can’t Find Your Ads

PSSYOA (Please. Stop. Searching. Your. Own. Ads.)! Two reasons.

Reason 1: Your ads may only sometimes show when they are searched. The most common reasons are:

• Your budget is not large enough for all your ads to show every time, so Google has no choice but to show your ad occasionally, or you’d go over budget.  
• You’re not in your targeted location when you are searching or searching during the hours your ads are scheduled to run.  
• You’ve already searched so often that Google has stopped serving your ad because it doesn’t think it is relevant. Enter reason two…

Reason 2: Seriously, just do not search for your ads. You mean well, we know. But you’re working against us. If you repeatedly search to get your ads to show and don’t click on your ads, you are telling Google that your ad is irrelevant. In return, we must continuously bid more to get your ads to show.

We Aren’t Getting Any Leads

First thing is first, check our reporting dashboard. It records all calls and lead form submissions. We’ve encountered countless times where our client has gotten upset, and it turns out we are sending them PLENTY of calls, and they just don’t answer their phone! Please ensure this is checked before reaching out to your account manager.

This is also not alarming if you are new and have not received a lead in the first week. We are data gathering. Also, after being live for seven days, we triple-check our tracking setup. If there is a tracking issue, we’ll let you know. If tracking is working, you’ve just not gotten a lead yet. All new accounts get a two-week update from their manager, which will address lead quantity and if we need to do something about it.

That is not a big deal if you’ve checked the dashboard and they’ve not had a call in a day. Unless your budget is over $5,000, it is unlikely that they will get a lead every single day. We do not investigate a day without leads.

When you aren’t getting leads, or there is a significant lead fluctuation, we are aware. Performance can fluctuate, and it doesn’t always need to be alarming and might not be related to our management. Performance can fluctuate due to weather, competition, and other external factors.

We are internally checking tracking, reviewing our change history over the fluctuation, and getting to the bottom of the performance issue. We’ll bring something strange to your attention and what is being done about it when we see something weird.

Cost-per-click (CPC) Increased/Decreased

CPCs fluctuate! A 15% fluctuation in either direction is expected.   Typically, we experience decreasing CPCs over time as we optimize accounts. CPCs on Search are much different than CPCs on Display. Search CPCs are typically over $4 and can be over ten times that cost, depending on the niche. Display CPCs are usually $0.25 – $0.75. If we add a Display campaign, overall CPC will significantly decrease. Alternatively, the average CPC will rise if we pause a display campaign. This is normal. Some other reasons CPCs might fluctuate (increase/decrease) are a competitor has entered/exited the auction; we are testing bidding for a higher/lower position to understand the impact on conversions, you’ve added a new smart niche to the account which has a higher/lower CPC initially.

There is typically no reason for concern in these fluctuations. We’ll inform you if we launch or pause a display campaign or see a radical change for another or undetermined reason.

Our focus is meeting your goal, and CPC changes are simply outcomes of strategies to achieve that goal. In and of themselves, they are not important.

CTR Increased/Decreased

Fluctuation in CTR is similar to CPC fluctuation and is normal. Search campaigns typically have a CTR of 2% or above. Display campaigns usually have a CTR of below 0.5%. When a display campaign is added or paused, CTR will change drastically.

There is typically no reason for concern in these fluctuations. We’ll inform you if we launch or pause a display campaign or see a radical change for another or undetermined reason.

You’re Pacing the Budget Too High or Too Low

We aim to spend an advertiser’s budget within a given calendar month. However, daily spend will not be the same day after day. A budget allows you to afford a certain number of clicks based on the average CPC. Some days, you will not get as many clicks as others.  

Google Ad Terms of Service and their spending algorithms allow them to spend double your campaign’s daily budget. This means throughout the month, we must continuously adjust that budget to get you the clicks you can afford. It is not uncommon to run out of budget early if you do not have a large enough budget to support your niche. In the end, if you run out of budget on the 26th of the month, you’ve already received all the clicks you can afford. 

We will notify you if we run out of budget early and give you the option to add more or pause until the next calendar month.

Too Many Spam Calls

Hello? You’ve won a free cruise! We hate spam calls, and we hate to send them to you. Unfortunately, the world of call tracking numbers includes spam calls. One every few months is not a cause for concern; it just happens. Just think how many spam calls your cell phone gets!

Conversions are Showing in Decimals

How can I get 1.4 conversions? When keywords play together (someone does multiple searches and clicks multiple ads, ultimately leading to conversion), we want to give everyone involved in winning that lead some credit. The first and last clicks and all the clicks in between get partial credit for that win so we can optimize accordingly.

No Knee Jerk Reactions Guaranteed

It is easy to jump and react to something small that seems like the start of a trend. That is bad! Knee-jerk reactions are the first step in destroying account performance. So you’ve had a bad day. Stepping in a puddle one day doesn’t mean you’ll cut off your foot. You’re upset initially but then realize you must dry off your shoe and see what happens tomorrow. Now, if you step in the puddle a few days in a row, you might need to watch what you’re doing more carefully. If you step in the puddle a week in a row, something is probably wrong with you. That is how we operate.

When we see a trend that needs addressing, we address it and tell you what is happening. Please don’t feel dismissed if we do not jump to fix one step in a puddle; it is in the advertiser’s best interest.