Understanding Adwords In PPC

Most internet businesses utilising Google AdWords campaign management services are already aware of the great potential for generating massive amounts of online leads.

But few realise (or choose to ignore) the single most important factor for ROI return-on-investment: a “quality of lead“. Unfortunately, many AdWords managers focus too much on quantity (to prove to the client the leads are rolling in) and too little on quality.

This results in many AdWords PPC campaigns underperforming due to neglected or lack of due diligence and costs businesses hundreds, thousands and even millions of dollars each year.

Implementing conversion tracking, and clearly defining hard and soft leads, is the imperative to improving the successes of your search advertising campaigns… and critical to your success and it’s not a difficult task.

Conversion Tracking

Conversion Tracking is a feature of Google AdWords that allows you to insert snippets of code on your website and track what happens after a customer clicks on your ads.

This enables you to see whether an ad led to an online purchase, a request for quote, a general inquiry, a newsletter sign-up, etc.

By tracking these actions (conversions) you’ll know which ads, keywords and campaigns perform the best and bring you business.

It also allows you to identify the low performers and thus supports your investment more wisely which in turn boost conversions and ROI.

That being said, it is easy to see why conversion tracking should be mandatory in any PPC campaign.

Defining A Conversion

What do you call a conversion? What is the user action is it important for you and your business? This is also where many AdWords managers do themselves and their clients a disservice.

Conversions aren’t easy to come by, and clouding reports with unclear conversion definitions often leads to inaccurate measures of campaign profitability.

• Hard Conversions Vs. Soft Conversions
  When preparing a search advertising (ppc) campaign (and many other types of digital marketing campaigns), it is of the very importance that everyone involved understands the how, what and why conversions are defined, and what’s their value to the advertising project. The very first set of definitions should be those of hard and soft conversions.
• Hard Conversions — Simply, these are strong leads that present the greatest chance for a purchase, or some other goal defined that is vital to your campaign’s overall success. For many of SEO Digital Solutions clients, hard conversions are:
  • Request-For-Quote Form Submission Via The Client’s Website
  • An Online Purchase (e-commerce)
  • An Ad Related Phone Call (e.g., Get Started With A New Subscription, Phone Orders, etc.)
  • Request For Consultation
  • Lead Generation
• Soft Conversions — These types of conversions represent an interest in product or service from visitors gaining more information before making a purchase decision. While they valuable leads, soft conversions usually require time and nurturing before reaching the end goal. Soft conversions if not followed up constantly have a smaller chance of reaching a sale than the hard conversions. Typical soft conversions include:
  • Views Of A Specific Web Page
  • Catalog Downloads
  • General Email Inquiries
  • Video Views

All of the above conversion types are of importance and valuable, understanding a clear definition between hard and soft types of conversions will help to determine appropriate conversion acquisition cost and provide a clearer picture of return-on-investment.

Hard conversions may require higher bid prices and better positioning due to their greater chance of reaching the desired outcome – Sale.

For more information regarding PPC conversion metrics, or to see our AdWords services details, view our Google AdWords Management page. For questions or comments, feel free to give us a call or send a message:

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