Google Ads are a great way to get more traffic headed in your direction. However, many people may be clicking on your link because it’s the first thing that they see, not necessarily because they’re interested in what you have. It’s critical that you improve the quality of leads that you get – and that’s where a few hacks can help you considerably.
Know Your Quality Score
The quality of leads starts with knowing the quality score of your ads. Otherwise, you may be spending too much on your cost per click (CPC) without getting enough return on your investment.
The 1-10 Quality Score is reported to you within your Google Ads account. It is based on not only the quality of the ad but also the landing page. The higher the number, the more useful the system thinks your ad is in terms of relevancy toward someone searching for your keywords and viewing your ad.
Here is how to check your keyword quality score.
- Go to ‘Keywords’ tab of your campaign
- Click on ‘Columns’
- Search for ‘Quality Score’ and add it
The ‘Quality Score’ column gets added as shown in the screenshot below.
When you have a higher quality score, it can reduce your CPC and provide higher ad positions. You can improve your score by avoiding jump keywords and to increase your bid with matching keyword phrases. Additionally, focus on the copy quality of your ads.
Get Specific with Keywords
Every campaign involves using keywords. What keywords you use will help you to make better progress within your Google Ads.
Long tail versus short tail is the game that you have to play. The shorter your phrase, the less intent you can assign within the queries. Much of it comes down to knowing what people want – and finding the people who know what they want. Many people will use longer tail keyword phrases when they know what they want, so using them can actually boost your conversion rates, too.
Be sure that you know what kind of competition you have with certain keywords, too. If you’re targeting the same keywords as major corporations, you may be on the losing end of a battle. This is when it can be more effective to get more specific with your keywords based on niche or location.
Change Up the Qualifying Copy
The copy that you’re using in your ads may need to be changed. A simple change to the headline or the call to action may get you a boost in CTR while also increasing your conversion rate.
Think about the kind of customer you’re targeting with your copy. Don’t speak solely to the keywords. Talk about the kind of product or service you may want to offer them. It can lead to them being more interested in what you actually have to offer as opposed to clicking solely because of a keyword match.
Target Customers with Landing Pages
Landing pages need to be written so that your Google Ads direct people to content that is written for specific customers in mind. You don’t write to target all customers, you target specific customers with your landing pages.
Essentially, it’s a way to sort out your potential customers and send them down different sales funnels. One Google ad goes to one landing page while another Google ad goes to another landing page. Each page should include language and photos that will resonate with one audience over another.
There are a lot of mistakes that you could be making with your landing pages. Focus on easy to browse content that is written for one customer persona, not all of them. And then there are some common ingredients of any landing page that works, and you need to make sure to include them in yours.
Ask for More Information
Often, those who aren’t ready to become a lead aren’t going to fill out a form. However, the forms are a necessity so that we can make sure to connect with our leads. Lower quality leads may be costing you a lot of money within your Google Ads, so it is up to you to make changes.
If you find that you have too many lower quality leads submitting form data, ask for more information. Serious leads are going to take the time to fill out the leads with the information you’re asking for. However, in a world where our browsers fill out most data for us, it requires you to beat the system. Ask a few extra questions that will require people to type in the information, such as their job title. Have people fill in a few extra bubbles, such as whether they’re a homeowner or whether they have heard of your company before.
Any extra information can make it easier to sort out your leads more effectively. It will allow you to get your hands on the leads that really matter, leading to more productivity.
Remember: Quality, Not Quantity
It comes down to the need to focus on the quality of the ads and the quality of the leads instead of the quantity. You will need to come to the realization that you’re going to have to turn some people away from your business. You need people who are interested in your product now, not just people who saw an ad and want to look.
As you focus on quality, the volume of leads that you get is going to decrease. The good news is that the high-quality lead volume should increase. Additionally, the cost per lead is likely to go up but if you increase your conversion rate at the same time, you’ll be improving your overall return on investment.
You owe it to yourself to watch the quality of leads that come in from Google Ads. You don’t want to continuously spend your marketing budget on ads only to not be happy with the results. The level of traffic that comes into your site and the number of leads that are generated by an ad should not be the only statistics that you use. As you look to improve the quality of leads, you can start to boost your profits more significantly.