7 Strategies to Lower CPC on Your Google Ads
Achieving success with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on Google can be confusing.
If this subject makes you feel like Dorothy right after she and Toto made their grand entrance into the land of Oz, we feel your pain.
Just know that by the end of this article, not only will you better understand how to lower CPC (cost-per-click) for your Google Ad campaigns, but it’ll feel as natural as waking up in your own bed.
Keep in mind that getting lower CPC is just part of the ad game. You’ll also want to pay attention to your CTR (click-through-rate), and yes, digital marketing is littered with acronyms, so bear with us if you’re new at this.
If you can find ways to lower your CPC while raising your CTR, your ad campaigns will be in great shape… Brad Pitt kind of shape.
However, the one metric that trumps all others is your cost per conversion. You can maximize the heck out of the other two, but if you’re not converting visitors into customers, none of it will matter.
So, do yourself a favor and find some strategic ways to improve your conversion rate.
While the focus of today’s article will be on improving your Google Ads ROI (we’re going to assume you’re familiar with this acronym), some of the strategies you’re going to learn today will work with other ad platforms, like Facebook Ads, for instance.
And finally, one last word of caution regarding your ads’ CPC: Like most weight loss ads will tell you, your results may vary; in this case based on your target location, products, and industry.
Lower CPC with a Proper Keyword Strategy
Many marketing experts will tell you that getting a lower CPC is all about the keywords, but this is only partially true. And yet, it’s still the best place to begin.
First, find a keyword research platform that you feel comfortable with and preferably one that others trust (social proof), which should mean that it’ll also work well for you. SEMrush is a great option and the one we’ll be using today.
Ask yourself these questions: What keyword would I use to find my business? (Or what keyword are others using to find my business?)
Then take that keyword, or keywords, go to SEMrush and put it into the top search bar, and make sure Keyword Overview is highlighted in the left column. Here are the results we got using “keyword research” as our example:
Look at the three columns: Keyword Variations, Questions, and Related Keywords.
The keywords with the most searches appear at the top of the list, as you can see in the graphic above. You can expand each list by hitting the View button under each column. If your business is new and you’re still building your brand, you’ll want to use more longtail keywords, as these tend to have less competition.
Make a list of the most relevant keywords you find that pertain to your business. Focusing on keyword questions in the middle column is a nice strategy for getting on the first page of Google in their People also ask section. Though, more marketers and business owners are likely coming around to this strategy.
If you want to see how competitive your keywords are, click on the Keyword Magic Tool in the left column then look for the column heading Com. If you hover your mouse over Com, it will explain how rankings work. Essentially, lower scores mean less competition. Make another list focusing on lower competition keywords that relate to your business.
Now cross-reference your two lists. At this point, you should be left with keywords that rank high in search volume and are less competitive.
And finally, a quick word on using negative keywords. A negative keyword is a type of keyword that prevents your ad from being triggered by a certain word or phrase. If you’re a roofing contractor, you may want to add DIY to your negative keyword list because you don’t want people who are interested in doing it themselves. If you’re an SEO consultant whose rates are high, you might want to add free, cheap, and bargain to your negative keyword list.
You can write an entire book on keyword research alone, but this is an excellent place to begin.
Maximize Your Bid Spending
Switching to manual bidding and lowering the amount you spend on bids are both great ways to get a lower CPC. However, if you’re just beginning to advertise on Google, automatic bidding may be your best option… for a while.
Simply put, lowering your CPC bid forces Google to charge you less. Though, there are risks to doing this, as you don’t want to go so low that Google stops showing your ad entirely. Focus on reducing your CPC bid in small increments and pay attention to how your average ad position changes in Google search ads.
Bids for keywords that get a lot of impressions but no click-throughs or conversions should be particularly lowered, and maybe even trashed altogether. On the other hand, you should consider increasing your bids on your best-performing keywords.
Again, pay close attention to your average position. If you can move up a couple of spots, it could be worth the higher CPC cost.
Google ads provide a great ROI, but only if you’re able to tinker successfully and improve as you go.
Improve Your Quality Score
Using the most relevant keywords for your business will naturally help you achieve a higher quality score from Google, and a higher quality score equals greater PPC success.
A higher quality score means Google sees that keyword as relevant. Google is all about giving people what they want when they’re searching. For improving relevancy, Google will likely reward you with a higher search ad position and maybe even a lower CPC.
So, how do you make your ads more relevant to achieve a higher quality score?
Make sure that the main keyword from your ad group goes into your ad’s headline and description and make sure the landing page getting that traffic contains that keyword in the appropriate density. It all must be aligned; it’s about congruity. Not just for achieving a low CPC, but also for improving conversions.
Another way to improve your quality score is by creating tightly related ad groups.
As we’ve already mentioned, Google loves relevancy, so create ad groups where all of your keywords are related. Create more ad groups if you have to, but don’t just toss all of your keywords into one ad group and call it a day. You’re not making jambalaya; you’re cooking a steak.
Let’s say you own a SaaS company looking to improve its marketing and you’ve decided to try your hand at PPC ads. For the sake of our example, let’s also say that one of your direct competitors is Hubspot.
Do you think Hubspot takes all of their products – CRM, CMS, marketing automation, customer service, sales software, etc. ― and creates one landing page and one ad group? (Let’s call this question rhetorical since it’s so obvious.)
Instead, they divvy it up – one product gets one ad group and one landing page. However, can you think of any reasons why they could segment even more? How about if they want to appeal to different segments of their target audience? How about if they’re going after customers in different markets?
The more detailed or targeted that you can be with your landing pages, your keywords, and your PPC ads, the more you’ll achieve the one thing ― relevancy ― that Google loves to reward. And by now you know what that reward is: A higher spot in Google’s search ads.
Not to beat this idea to death, but congruity isn’t just good for getting a lower CPC. This is how you convert visitors into customers at a higher clip, regardless if you’re marketing an e-commerce company or a charitable organization. Congruity across all marketing channels works for all businesses.
Warning: This is as good a place as any to give some of you bad news. Google restricts certain kinds of businesses. Click on that link if you suspect your business may be restricted.
Consider Only Using Search Network Campaigns
Your Google ads can show up in search results, like in the image below, or they can show up on display networks.
Display network ads are those ads that show up while you’re trying to browse your favorite online news sites, blogs, or stores. Most high authority sites now seem to have more Google ads than content. The problem is that we’re reaching a point where we’re starting to look around those as if they don’t exist. (Or just getting annoyed by them.)
The reason people choose both placement options is to increase visibility, as marketing works best when there are multiple impressions (more frequency) on a variety of mediums. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work for your business or be cost-effective.
If display network ads aren’t providing you with a good ROI, or if you already know that your target audience is finding you primarily through Google search ads above the organic results, you may choose to eliminate display network ads entirely.
Other Adjustments to Lower CPC
The targeting power of Google Ads can sometimes be put to better use than the average small business owner realizes.
Targeting options that you should consider adjusting are location, device, and ad schedule. While keywords are the king, there are other members of the PPC royal family that should get more notoriety.
An obvious example: If you didn’t choose any specific locations when creating your Google Ad, you may get a ton of traffic coming from a country like India but no conversions. That could be a huge waste of money.
Certain days or hours may perform better for your business. Let’s say that on Mondays, you get a lot of click-throughs but hardly any conversions. You may want to make sure this trend is solid, then stop showing your ads on Monday.
What if you notice that mobile users are converting much better than desktop users and you’re getting a lower CPC on top of that? Why not create ads that only show up on mobile?
Always consider these targeting options:
- Days of the week
- Time of day
- Locations
- Device
Retargeting and Segmentation
Have you ever shopped for a product, opted to not buy it, and then found that item showing up again and again as you continue to browse other websites? That’s the gist of retargeting or remarketing.
Retargeting is about re-engaging with visitors you weren’t able to convert the first time around. And since landing page conversion rates hover around two percent, that means that you can potentially remarket to the other 98 percent.
Why would you do this if they didn’t buy it the first time around?
Well, they were interested enough to click through your ad. They took the time to at least check out your landing page or your website. Just because they left doesn’t mean they weren’t interested. Sometimes shoppers get distracted. Or people just want to think about it more. Other times your website might sit in a visitor’s bookmarks for weeks or months before a conversion takes place.
Even though they weren’t convinced at that moment to buy doesn’t mean they won’t eventually. Retargeting is just a way to bring them back into the mix and a way to keep your brand in front of them…. as in getting frequency. The next time they see your ad, they might be in a buying frame of mind.
Google Ads make it easy to segment your remarketing lists and show ads to prospective customers based on what they want and on your specific landing pages that your ads first brought them to.
There are five ways to retarget and resegment:
- Standard remarketing: This shows ads to your past visitors (as we mentioned above) as they browse other sites on the Google display network.
- Dynamic remarketing: This uses ads that include the same products or services that people viewed before but didn’t purchase.
- Remarketing lists for search ads: This allows your ads to show up in front of your past visitors as they do follow-up searches on Google after they left your site.
- Video remarketing: This type of remarketing allows your ads to be seen by people who interacted with your videos or YouTube channel while they are still on YouTube or display network sites that show videos.
- Customer list remarketing: This is also known as customer match. You upload contact information that your customers have given you. When they are signed in to Google, your ads will appear again across different Google products. (Santa might know if you’ve been naughty or nice, but Google knows everything else.)
Bonus Tip to Lower CPC
Google Ads callout extensions is a great lead generation tool. It allows you to get more information in front of prospective customers and create ads that are larger than the norm and thus more visible, hence the name callout extensions.
You can use this add-on to highlight a lot of different information:
- Free shipping
- Special offers
- Your business address and phone number
- Additional product information
Conclusion
PPC ads are a fantastic way to build a brand and drive targeted web traffic to your website and landing pages. And not just any traffic; these are people who are searching specifically for what you do or sell or people who have shown genuine interest in the past.
So just as VCs like Elizabeth Edwards give their portfolio startups cash to find product-market fit, you too need to find product-market fit with your ad campaigns.
We hope this gives you a better understanding of all the different ways to lower CPC with Google Ads. It may not be as simple as waking up in your own bed, but by now, it shouldn’t be as foreign to you as meeting tin men who talk and monkeys that fly.
What’s your best tip to lower CPC?