Ecommerce PPC 101

PPC (pay-per-click) marketing is one of the most powerful tools in any retailer’s advertising toolbox. Whether your goal is to build brand awareness or to drive sales, PPC is all about positioning your business in front of conversion-ready shoppers. For ecommerce businesses of all sizes, PPC marketing is the key to scoring quick, cost-effective wins.

In this ecommerce PPC 101 guide, we will review the foundations of creating a basic search campaign to help your business connect with new audiences, increase traffic, and drive sales. The core topics we will cover include:

1. Account Structure

2. Keyword Research

3. Keyword Match Types

4. Bidding Strategy

5. Ad Copy Creation

6. Landing Pages

7. Conversion Tracking

Keep reading to learn how to leverage these ecommerce PPC 101 fundamentals.

1. Account Structure

Your PPC account structure can make or break your paid search success. What exactly do we mean by account structure? Your PPC account structure includes your various campaigns, which will each house multiple ad groups. Each of these in turn contain multiple keywords. Account structure also includes ad copy and landing pages.

Building a strong account structure will support every element of your paid search marketing efforts. There are big decisions to be made at each level of the account structure — for instance, how many campaigns to create (since budget is determined at the campaign level) or how to segment your keywords. 

A strong account structure also allows for ongoing maintenance, as well as scaling or adapting campaigns over time as your business evolves. The following sections will dive deeper into certain aspects of account structure and offer some best practices.

2. Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most critical stages of ecommerce PPC marketing. When you select certain keywords for your ads, you tell platforms like Google which searches you want your ads to show up for. If your keywords are present in a user's search, your ad will be eligible (though not guaranteed!) to show up. If not, then it won’t.

When thinking about keywords, one place to start is by considering the terms and phrases that best describe the products you offer — especially those items that earn the most revenue.

One often-overlooked component of PPC keyword research is negative keywords. These are the terms and phrases you want Google to avoid targeting. Identifying negative keywords can help keep your ad from appearing in irrelevant searches, thereby protecting your ad spend from being wasted.

3. Keyword Match Types

Keyword match types are yet another component of PPC keyword planning. They tell Google how specifically or rigidly you want your advertisements to match user search queries.

The three keyword match types to choose from are:

1. Broad match: Reaches the widest audience by appearing for any search that includes your keywords or any variants, in any order.

2. Phrase match: Appears for searches that include your exact keywords, though there may be other words before or after your keywords.

3. Exact match: Reaches the most specific audience by appearing for searches that contain your exact keywords in the exact order (though searches containing synonyms or plurals of your keyword may still match).

As you might imagine, the keyword match type you select can dramatically change the reach of your PPC ads, even if you are using the same keywords.

4. Bidding Strategy

After you have identified your list of target keywords, you can bid on them. Bidding on keywords effectively tells Google how much you are willing to pay each time a user clicks on one of your ads for that keyword.

There is a high level of strategy that goes into keyword bidding. While you don’t want to overpay for clicks, your ad may not appear as often as you would like if it is outbid by other advertisers. Google’s assessment of your ad’s quality (known as the Quality Score) is another factor that determines whether or not your ad will be displayed for a given search query.

Additionally, bidding can be done at the keyword level or at the ad group level, meaning all keywords housed within that ad group share the same bid. There are pros and cons to both approaches.

5. Ad Copy Creation

The ad copy is the actual text that will appear when your ad is displayed. It includes your keyword, as well as your value propositions and call to action.

Ad copy space is limited, so it is important to make every character count by packing as much detail into your ad as possible. Effective ad copy speaks directly to your target audience and highlights your product as the ideal solution to the problem they are presently facing.

It’s also important to A/B test your ads by using different calls to action, highlighting different features or benefits of your product, or experimenting with different display URLs. 

Ad extensions offer another way to optimize your paid search ads. These include sitelinks to specific pages, callouts for highlighting key details, location extensions, and more.

6. Landing Pages

Landing pages are the destinations on your ecommerce site where users will end up after they click one of your ads. After getting a click on your ad, it may seem like the hard part is done — but a strong landing page is necessary to seal the deal. 

Each landing page should be extremely relevant to its corresponding ad, to provide a seamless experience when a user clicks on that ad. Landing pages should also highlight your unique selling proposition and offer a strong call to action. All of these factors will help convert your clicks into conversions. 

7. Conversion Tracking

Finally, conversion tracking is a vital part of ecommerce PPC success. Advertisers can create conversion goals to help them monitor how well their ads are performing — i.e. whether or not they are translating into real sales (or form signups, phone calls, app downloads, or whichever conversion metric you are tracking).

Conversion tracking is the best way to determine the ROI of your paid search campaigns, and to identify opportunities for improvement. Investing time and money into setting up PPC ads without tracking conversions is not advisable.

Ecommerce PPC Checklist

To summarize, these are the action items that should be on every retailer’s ecommerce PPC checklist:

1. Build out the proper account structure

2. Conduct keyword research (including negative keywords)

3. Select your keyword match types

4. Plan your keyword bidding strategy

5. Write your ad copy

6. Finalize your landing pages

7. Set up PPC conversion tracking

While focusing on these key items will help set you up for paid search success, they are still just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ecommerce PPC.

The best way to ensure that your PPC campaigns are optimized for maximum conversions is by partnering with a PPC agency that specializes in ecommerce. Contact our team of experts today to learn more.