How to Track Ad Performance for a Service-Based Business
Intro
Our SEO agency works with a variety of different businesses ranging in size and niche. One of the most common types of campaigns we work on though is for service-based businesses. Whether you’re only running Google ads, or launching a full press effort in tandem with an SEO campaign or possibly Facebook Ads as well, we can help. When it comes to advertising and marketing, one of the most important considerations is always ROI. We understand how crucial ROI is for a company, especially for those with limited advertising budgets. Having tested a multitude of systems, we’ve found an efficient way to track ad performance and lead flow from Google Ads for a service based business.
Data Points to Look At
To start, it’s important to closely examine multiple data points. There’s quite a lot of them to factor in, but they’re a great high-level indicator of the success of your ad performance.
- Impressions– How many people see the ad? This is an important factor to consider as it can help you evaluate any potential issues. If a large number of people are seeing your ad, but not clicking on it, then you may need to focus more on improving the ad itself in some way to improve the click thru rate (ad copy or images). If, however, your impressions are low, or at least lower than expected, you may need to examine other factors as well.
- CTR (Click thru Rate) – Of the people that see the ad, how many click on it? As mentioned above the Click thru Rate can help you determine the quality of your ad and whether any improvements need to be made. CTRs are always going to be much lower than your impressions, but that being said there are still lines when a campaign needs to be reworked and when it’s obviously doing well.
- CPC (Cost per Click) – What is the click costing you? Context is everything and a campaign that is costing you $200 a month can deliver very different results than another business running a campaign for $200. Part of determining your budget will be to evaluate the CPC of the keywords you plan to bid on. Not all keywords are created equal, so businesses in highly competitive fields can likely expect a higher CPC. Fortunately, as an SEO expert, our agency conducts in-depth keyword research in order to find clever strategies to bid on keywords with lower CPC without sacrificing potential leads. It’s also important to remember that even if you’re running the exact same campaign as another business, you could be paying more for each click if you’re quality scores are low.
- Quality Scores are a score that Google assigns your ad from 1 to 10 as a reflection of how well your ad is resonating with those who are served it. Higher scores can lower your CPC and maximize impressions. You can find out more about Google Ads quality scores and their importance here.
What to do if your Ads are not Performing
- If your impressions are lower than expected, then you may need to reevaluate what to budget with Google Ads or the audience you’re serving the ad to. Maybe your budget is too low and the entire ad spend is running out quicker than it should or maybe you need to widen the parameters of your audience. It’s important to note that not every business should expect a high number of impressions. One business might expect 50 new clients each paying $200 for a service, whereas another might expect 4 or 5 new customers each paying over $20,000.
- If your CTR is lower than expected, there might be an issue with the copy or visuals you’re using, or it could be an indication that your offer needs to be improved or revised. Whether you’re choosing an offer for Facebook Ads or Google Adwords, it will always play a critical role in your conversion rate. It’s important to look at what your competitors are offering and see if you need a stronger offer to bring in new clients.
- Another factor to consider if your ads aren’t performing is a dedicated landing page. A landing page can help improve your Google Quality Scores as well as conversion rates. Running traffic to the homepage is often times a bad idea. For instance, most websites load too slowly and a landing page can be built to load in 2 seconds or faster. Page load speed is an important consideration when looking at conversion rates.
Summary
There are a variety of different ways you can track conversions for a service based business. The data points that we’ve outlined above are only the tip of this iceberg, however, they are a great place to get started. By focusing on these factors you should be able to create and optimize a solid ad campaign. If you do need more help, Local Blitz has Google Adwords Experts who know how to make sure your campaign is getting the best results possible. If you think your Google Ads could be performing better, it’s worth reaching out sooner rather than later. The longer you wait the greater your risk of wasting money on an ineffective ad campaign.