Customers see that competition ads look much better. They appear in more noticeable places on websites, at higher positions in search engines and for more key phrases, taking a much larger share of a valuable piece of cake, i.e. the market. The cause of such a situation can be many, and they will not always be easily diagnosed. However, there is a set of reasons that very often defines why your ads do not carry out the expected effects and lose to competition in the Google Ads ecosystem.
So what causes do I see most often?
You allow competition to promote on your brand in Google search engine
Brand campaign makes you display ads for key phrases related to the name of your company. This allows you to smuggle additional information about your brand into the search engine and, for example, place UVP messages. Unique Value Proposal or USP Unique Selling Point) distinguishing you from the competition. A big advantage of branding is that it is one of the cheapest types of campaign in the search engine and allows you to often already for a few cents a click. CPC – Cost Per Click) acquire a valuable user.
If you haven't created a brand campaign, you're allowing your competition to do so. It can be displayed on the key words related to your brand and take away those potential customers who have heard about the brand from another source, for example from their appearance at a conference or worse – promote themselves as a better alternative to your solution. There is also a risk that your existing customers will be convinced at the advertising stage by the competition, which will automatically have a negative impact on the conversion number.
You're not promoting yourself to the competition phrase.
Competition can promote itself to your brand, so why don't you do the same? Promoting competition phrases is much more expensive than promoting your own brand, but it also has a number of benefits. With this, you present an alternative to the user, increase your brand's market visibility and, above all, you can get users who need to use the service has already been generated and partially “financed” by the competition.
However, when you create such a campaign, remember not to use in advertising texts the name of your competition, to which you have no right to mislead the user. This may be considered a impersonation of a second company, which is an act of unfair competition.
You did not create a remarketing campaign and a dynamic remarketing campaign
The purchasing decision is rarely made under the influence of impulse. Often, the customer needs to think longer before making a decision about buying or contacting the company. In most cases this is related to the price of the product or service. The more expensive they are – the longer the customer's purchase cycle will be.
In order to bring the user to the conversion, i.e. e., purchase of the product in the online store, it is often necessary to remind him about his offer. It is often said that the user does not convert until approx. 7 contacts with a given brand. In achieving this number, the remarketing campaign will be invaluable, which will systematically remind potential customers of the brand for you.
Even if someone is considering buying socks from your online store, which may cost a dozen zlotys – their decision-making process may break the usual household duties or unforeseen phone call from a friend.
Option 1: Google Ads remarketing campaign
Advertising in the remarketing campaign will automatically be displayed to users who have already been on your website (so they have already met your brand) regardless of where the user is on the Network. Remarketing can also be segmented into specific groups of customers – if you have visited a particular product, you can display the same product again or the same category of products you have been looking for.
Option 2: Dynamic remarketing campaign at Google Ads
Dynamic remarketing is a type of campaign that uses the information contained in the product file from your online store. This allows Google Ads to automatically display current information about your products such as price or available product variants without the need for manual changes in advertising when changing product information.
Important: Remember to create a list of recipients!
But before you start creating any remarketing campaign (standard or dynamic) make sure you create a list of recipients in Google Analytics. Lists of recipients (or otherwise remarketing lists) will save the cookies of users on your website, so that your advertisements will reach a specific user segment. Create a list of recipients in the Administration – Definitions of the recipient lists section.
You don't analyze the competition activities in Google Ads
A mistake when running a Google Ads account is to set the campaign once and not analyze what is happening on the market. It often turns out that competition actively conducts its campaigns, tests new solutions or increases its participation in specific areas, which is most often directly affecting your performance.
By promoting yourself in Google Ads, you must keep in mind that an account should have a dedicated person who will systematically optimize campaigns and test new solutions, and, above all, respond to changes made by your competitors. Having an account with an automatically renewing budget and without the person responsible for this channel You can't count on a high return on investment.
Your ads have a low quality score
Quality result Quality Score) is one of the most important indicators assessing the effectiveness of Google Ads advertising, which determines on a scale of 1 to 10 how valuable your ads are to the user. The greater the quality score, the greater the chance to reduce the price per click. CPC – cost per click) and to display on a better position in the search engine than competitors.
The Quality Result consists of the following parameters:
- expected coefficient of cliqueness CTR — click through rate) – this indicator estimates how users will be willing to click on your advertisement in relation to competition
- aptness of advertising – i.e. how your advertising responds to the expectations (question in the search engine) of users.
- quality of the target page – the system scans the target page, which is specified in the advertisement and checks its matching to the user's intentions and usability for the use of the site (e.g. structure and hierarchy of information). Read more about this in the following section: The website is not adapted to the user's needs).
Quality results are considered to be good values from 7/10 up. If you have a lot of phrases on your Google Ads account that have a Quality Score less than 7 – it's probably one of the reasons why you're losing to competition.
One of the simplest ways to increase Quality Score is to closely match keywords to ads and include them on the target page. For this purpose, advertising groups are often formed, which contain only one keyword (so-called: SKAG Single Keyword Ad Group). Thanks to having one phrase in the advertising group it is easier to put it several times in the advertising, which automatically has a beneficial effect on the Quality Result.
The second fastest way to increase the Quality Result is to add all possible advertising extensions and make sure that the ads contain a CTA message. Call to Action – a call for action), are attractive to the user, so they manage his need, which he defined in the search engine, and are also visually attractive, i.e. they contain numbers and USPs. Unique Selling Points) such as free delivery or discount.
Advertising does not go to your purchasing person
Your ads can be ineffective and lose to competition due to bad choice of advertising management.
Very often I encounter situations where advertising accounts contain too many phrases or are too general. This causes them to appear to users who are not ready to convert (e.g. purchase) or the chance that they will do so is low. In this way, the lion's part of the advertising budget is “burned” to move, which has no right to provide a return on investment. In return, it is worth placing more phrases on your advertising account, but more precise (e.g. keywords containing 3 parts) or applying more precise matching of keywords (e.g. instead of matching a wide or wide with a + modifier, it will apply a match to the expression).
You're using too precise guidance.
Google Ads' too wide ad targeting often leads to an inefficient budget. And what about very precise driving?
Very popular in Google Ads campaigns and in the positioning of websites has become a strategy for the use of the keywords of the so-called long tail (long tail), which is the keywords of very precise words containing a few words. For example, the long tail will be a “red shoes on the heel of the Reichs”. Using this type of phrase allows you to get very precise to the user, who has very good chances of doing the conversion. However, in many cases a long tail can also be a silent campaign killer. Long tails due to their specificity are much less frequently searched, and some of them often only a few or several times a month in all Google searches. This results in a lack of traffic on your website and ultimately no conversion.
The website is not adapted to the user's needs
Another popular error in the fight against competition at Google Ads is the lack of attention to the website. And this destination page is the place that ultimately is supposed to get the user to perform the action desired by the advertiser, i.e. you (conversion).
Many websites lack the most important elements that have an impact on the increase in conversion rate. Such elements include:
- lack of social proof of fairness such as customer reviews, customer logos, product or service assessments, case studies, portfolios or user photos of the use of products
- no contact form or alternative forms of contact
- Non-intuitive purchasing process and the look of the basket
- too long user path to be converted
- no unique offer elements (unique selling points)
- missing or small number of CTA messages and buttons (p.m.) Call to Action)
In 2018, Compass analyzed 10 online stores in search of a response to what is a good conversion rate in e-commerce business broken down by source of acquisition (more Here. ). It is assumed that a good conversion rate for Google Ads campaigns is placed around 1,5-3%.
If your website's ratio is lower than these values, then you probably need to spend more money on advertising and generate more traffic to sell the same number of products as the competition that did this lesson. Start by verifying whether the above mentioned elements, having a significant impact on the conversion factor, are present on your website.
You lack experience in running the Google Ads campaign
The lack of knowledge of Google's advertising system and knowledge and experience in conducting advertising campaigns will have a negative impact on the effects of your work. Before you actually work in your account (or appoint someone to manage your account) you should invest in the knowledge that will give your actions thought out and will have the best chance of success.
If in turn you do not have time to study and systematically work on campaigns, consider hiring SEM agencies to help. At the end of the day, it will be a much lower cost than not thinking about the advertising budget spent along with the loss of many hours of your work.
Product prices are too high compared to competition
Suppose your Google Ads advertising account is well optimized, you have a website that is adapted to the expectations of users and contains all the most important elements. Despite this, sales are still not at the level you expect. What could be the cause?
In most cases you will lose to competition due to the price. This is very important for online shops, where the entire purchase process takes place on the website and you are unable to interfere with the user's decision, for example, during a convincing trade conversation. If you offer more expensive products than competition – users click on advertising, but most of them will also go to the pages of several of your competitors and will eventually buy the product that will be the most affordable.
Higher prices will mean a higher margin on the product, but if you calculate the entire return on Google Ads campaign investment then it may turn out that selling more products at a lower price than competition can be much more advantageous for your company in terms of revenue and profits.
In order to promote effectively in the Google Ads ecosystem, it is essential to start with a comprehensive analysis of its competitive situation. On the basis of these data, further decisions and implementation of changes can be made, but they must be systematic and supported by thoughtful hypotheses. Also remember not to focus on just one item of promotion on the internet, e.g. technical optimization of the campaign, but also on the appropriate quality of the website or e.g. price strategy for your products.
It will also be important in the whole process of advertising through Google Ads to know and experience, so don't save money and time for courses and training books – in the end, it will be cheaper than spending money on inefficient advertisements. Remember that the competition is awake, so if you want to win with it – start working now.
However, if you feel that your account is not correctly and regularly optimized or you do not have a dedicated person for this purpose – write to us.
