PPC Search Ad Campaigns
PPC search ad campaigns were the original digital ad campaign type from Google. They are primarily text ads, matched to search queries and keywords.
Google shift to the "responsive search ad" format only within PPC search ad campaigns, by deprecating (eliminating the ability to create new) extended text ads on June 22, 2022. Now that the day has almost arrived, it appears we're seeing a preview of it now.
The ad group structure flows naturally from groups of words that are semantically related. This is one of the secrets to developing search campaigns with high "quality scores" (QS). When search campaigns are built around relevant groups of semantically related keywords, good quality scores follow.
By factoring, we organize the keyword base into ad groups around semantic relationships. This is the process for creating a structured campaign – one with just keywords that mean the same thing in each ad group.
We then apply a workflow to assign keyword match types in a strategic fashion, to fit your market based upon an assessment of search intent.
Responsive search ads use machine learning to test headline and description combinations across search auctions. Learn how they work, where they can help, and why strong ad copy and ongoing optimization still matter.
The majority of search campaigns that we rebuild, initially do not have accurate search ad conversion tracking in place. In the era of automated bidding, full tracking coverage for all types of conversions is crucial to each search campaign’s success.
There is a reason for this – conversion tracking can be difficult to implement and test. At Blastoff Ads we go to great lengths to set up search ad conversion tracking with 100% coverage of all conversion events.
We spider your website to locate exposed email addresses, as they are “conversion tracking leaks”. We set up call conversion tracking if not present. Because conversion tracking is so crucial, we go to whatever lengths are necessary to achieve 100% conversion tracking coverage.
Audience targeting applied in a search campaign acts as an overlay on keyword matching. It allows "shaping" who the ads serve to. For example, we might exclude certain age groups or income levels. In search ad campaigns we can also use remarketing lists as search audiences. This is known as 'RLSA', short for "Remarketing Lists for Search Ads". RLSA facilitates serving different search ads to those visitors who showed engagement in previous searches. RLSA allows the advertiser to follow a user as they navigate their sales funnel journey to a conversion. Not just through display remarketing, but on search engine result pages as well. Search campaign audience configuration is an important capability that shouldn't be neglected.
Before launching a search ad campaign, we’ll configure search campaign reporting.
The reports will be designed to fit your accounts, campaigns, and business objectives. We'll add standard key performance indicators (KPI's), or implement custom KPI's most closely aligned to your business objectives.
Search campaign reports include a summary page for each type of campaign, along with pages for each individual campaign detailed across the reporting period.
Charts showing daily campaign behavior for the reporting period, and key performance indicator summaries for the reporting period compared to the previous reporting period.
Once a search campaign project is onboarded, we study your website, products, and services then begin our paid search competitor assessment.
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• Identify the significant direct and indirect competitors.
• Familiarize with their products, services, and positioning in the market.
• Familiarize with advertising history, ad copy, ad spend.
• Identify significant competitive trends.
This provides visibility into how your ad campaigns can be best structured for highly competitive PPC ad auctions.
A strong keyword discovery process helps paid search campaigns start with better structure, clearer intent, and a more practical path for optimization. Learn why keyword base size, search volume, landing page alignment, and budget fit all matter when building PPC campaigns.
Ad Spend: A search campaign should generally be purchasing at least 15 to 20 clicks daily. Below that level, failure rates are higher.
Geo Targeting: Controls the locations where ads serve, and where they do not serve.
Bidding: Influences when a campaign participates in an ad auction, how it ranks in that auction, and which search results pages the ads may appear on.
Campaign Serving Schedule: We start most campaigns to serve 24x7x365. This creates a baseline that can later be used to optimize the serving schedule.
Ad Rotation: Responsive search ads, or RSAs, can be rotated and reviewed to support ad copy testing and performance optimization.
Search campaign conversion tracking is crucial to success. PPC conversions are meaningful events including sales transactions, form fill submissions, phone calls, and other meaningful actions.
PPC campaign conversion tracking provides visibility into campaign performance. But the more important benefit to advertisers results from the conversion metadata being fed back into the campaign's machine learning algorithm. Conversion metadata is the fuel for automated bidding.
When properly configured and optimized, machine learning will lift most campaigns to higher levels of performance.
Blastoff has experimented with and tested a number of methods for creating, improving, and optimizing ad copy.
Our small team develops high quality ad copy in multiple refinements with all team members participating over multiple days. The ads go up on a wall-mounted TV during review and brainstorming sessions. This method of developing copy consistently delivers superior ad copy.
Strong ad copy can improve search campaign performance by helping ads stand out, earn clicks, and support better conversion volume. This article explains how Blastoff Advertising develops and refines ad copy for PPC search campaigns.
After a search campaign launch, the first few weeks are focused on monitoring serving patterns, refining keywords, checking conversion tracking, and preparing the campaign for stronger performance through automated bidding.
Most paid search campaigns require a manual optimization period after launch before transitioning onto automated bidding. This article explains how optimization helps improve campaign performance, strengthen data, and support ongoing PPC automation.
Optimized automated bidding allows PPC platforms to adjust bids based on conversion probability, available signals, and estimated conversion value. This article explains how automated bidding fits into paid search campaign optimization.
