Is it better to place PPC when competition is high or low?
-
When managing a clients PPC campaign is there any advice on throttling up and down the accounts depending on the search popularity. Let's take "wedding cake" there are obvious trends here https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=wedding cake but would you advise to spend more on Ads during the quite months as competition is low and you can get more click for less cost, or do you load up on clicks when it is more competitive/expencive .
Please don't get bogged down in the "weeding cake" keyword, I'm looking more for views on when would be best to load an account in terms of return on investment. For example would you get better quality clicks when low search volumes as opposed to high. Lets also assume that our product costs us the same all year round. I have seen different side to the story.
What are your views
-
Competition does matter, and the landscape does change based on different keywords. Most head terms don't have significant amounts of competition because they are too vague. Something like Wedding Cakes is not a good PPC term when you are looking to make money on your money as fast as you can.
It's always best to try bidding on the term (especially on Broad Match Modified) to see how it performs for you, but it is highly likely you will receive a low QS and a low CTR and higher CPCs which make it not as important of a term when you are looking at everything from a returns or profits perspective.
As far as low v high volumes for keywords, it's not something that I take into significant consideration unless my client is trying to get close to a specific number or is very concerned about a specific keyword. PPC is about throwing out a wide net for low, mid and high volume keywords, bidding on all of them, and learning over time what creates good return for your particular niche. What works for my business might be a horrible strategy for your business.
-
Hi Simon,
From your question it is very clear that you want to get more clicks in less cost but spending more in quite time there is no doubt cost will reduce due to less competition but you will also get less conversion in quite months.
IMO you should bid on peak season and if your budget is tight don't use broad match use only exact match and even if you think exact match is expensive use BMM keywords and add exact match as negative keyword so you can target only long tail keyword.
To reduce CPC best option is increase QS of your keyword.
Hope this helps.
Thanks
-
People who run PPC campaigns should be focused on the average cost for a conversion and the average profit on a sale. These can vary wildly as traffic blasts arrive from various sources that might have purchase intent or not. As soon as the eye is removed from the cost of what you are doing and the profit that it is producing, then a vendors shirt can be lost without knowing it.
-
Maybe more complicated decision than asked.
To me and my clients it is about market share. As you know ultimately there is usually only one winner/survivor. Law of the jungle.
google -v- bing
pepsi v coke. etc,
I suggest you use adwords as one tool in the kit to strategically gain market share at a faster rate than your competitors - however carefully monitor the cost of client acquisition. At some stages it may get too expensive to chase key Adwords in the high season - due to bulging cheque books of competitors - but stay in the hunt as long as you can afford to. Do not go head on for the "main" keywords if you cannot afford it. Also get smart if you can't afford to go head on - use social media, mail outs, editorial, long tailed keywords - fight to the death. A favorite of mine at the moment is outbrain. Never stop thinking about stealing clicks from your competitors. But never stop marketing at any time, just do it smarter. In high season you must be seen and heard as that is what will carry you through the slow season...
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
PPC Long tail keywords
I was wondering feedback and input on creating long tail keywords associated with a question. With addition a landing page that addresses that problem with a few products. Using PPC to bid on long tail keywords, I would set a campaign for long tail keywords and have multiple ad groups with a close knit and similar sentences like "Top 10 highest rated summer dresses" and "Popular dresses for the summer weather." My landing page would address the question with a list of products like a buzz feed article format. 1. As it is on a subdomain blog with an add to cart feature, would interlink building be helpful in exchanging link juice. 2. Bidding on a long tail keyword is cheaper, but will they result in higher conversions since its hyper-specific question? And since it is a long tail keyword sentence. 2-3 smaller keywords between the sentence would also pick up on to Google search?
Paid Search Marketing | | petmkt0 -
Will pausing my AdWords PPC campaigns impact my organic rankings?
Over 95% of my revenue comes from organic search; less than 5% comes from AdWords PPC (all other sources account for about 1-2%). My ROI on AdWords is roughly zero. It's negative if you include opportunity costs. My question is: if I pause all of my AdWords campaigns, is there ANY chance that my organic rankings (and organic click-through rates) will suffer? This is really two questions. First, could Google retaliate to my reduced ad spending by dropping my rankings? Second, will searchers think differently about my organic link if they don't also see the accompanying paid link on the SERP?
Paid Search Marketing | | ahirai2 -
Can you market to someone 30 days AFTER they visit your site via PPC?
Hi all, I'm looking to market to visitors 30 days AFTER they have been to a website. Their is a coupon this business wants to run every 30 days to its' repeat customers (and if they purchase again); thus, 30 days more will resume. I'm aware that your remarketing list can capture audiences from 30, 60, and 90 days past. I'm talking about future display ads running 30 days after visitor has cookies enabled. Thanks for your help! Cole
Paid Search Marketing | | ColeLusby0 -
How to find a good PPC firm
Hi guys, I'm completely new to PPC. I want to hire a firm to help drive PPC traffic to credit card landing pages. Our starting budget is limited ($2,000/month for everything) but can grow to about $5,000 if we see results. My questions are: Where can I find a list of good PPC firms that fits my vertical (credit cards) and budget? What are the key questions I should ask a PPC firm before I hire them? Is there a "Beginner's Guide to PPC" type of whitepaper, ebook, article, or course I can take to educate myself? Thanks in advance!
Paid Search Marketing | | Brand_Psychic0 -
Advantage in PPC for megaspenders like VistaPrint and Office Depot?
I sell niche printing and office supplies. Our site goes after certain specific keywords, and we use PPC where we compete against small companies such as ourselves, and the mega companies like VistaPrint and Office Depot. I know about how quality score affects our PPC costs, I was wondering if these huge companies have any other advantage against us in the PPC world. Does their name recognition give them a quality score of 10 on every keyword they buy? Is there a way to find out what your competition is paying on PPC keywords? Do they have other advantages in PPC that I may not know about? Thank you so much.
Paid Search Marketing | | Ryan_B0 -
What are the strongest and most-Google friendly directories to place my business on for the sake of large SEO gains? for the sake of Exposure to customers? What is the best way to invest for ROI nowadays? Thanks.
I do basic SEO stuff as well as marketing for quite a few clients. But, I am wondering which directories or exposure based groups are worth the money? Is a business.com directory listing for $300 a solid investment to get a strong link? Is yext a good move? How about wildfire? I could use some really high DA links to stack on top of the link profiles I have already built through content, etc.? Please advise me. PS Confession: I was once a pre-panda Fiverr link junkie. But I am in recovery. I have an 18 month chip and am currently making amends. 12 steps to SEO freedom baby.
Paid Search Marketing | | creativeguy0 -
Youtube ad video ppc
anyone has any experience with youtube for adwords and how its converting, etc? tips on how to really narrow it down to keyword level and making sure impressions are based on your preferences? Thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | PaulDylan0 -
Does anyone have a good resource for learning PPC?
Hi guys I'm looking for a good resource to brush up on PPC. Any help would be great. Thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | flemingsteele0