PPC Optimization Guide: Keeping Your Ads Visible When the Holiday Competition Heats Up

Now that September is well under way, advertisers everywhere are gearing up for the upcoming holiday season.  Regardless of whether your goal is moving inventory, scheduling appointments or simply increasing exposure for your web presence, now is the time to look at your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns with a critical eye and get them optimized in time to capture traffic from the seasonal spike that’s already begun to build momentum.

If you’ve run holiday PPC campaigns before, you may already know what works well—and what doesn’t—for your business.  If, however, this is the first year you’ve ventured into online marketing, you may soon find that what’s worked well so far isn’t going to cut it once the increased competition during the holiday season starts driving up bid prices, proportionally sending your ad’s position down (and possibly off!) the first page of Bing search results.

Be sure to bookmark this post and refer back to it whenever you need help troubleshooting and resolving some of the most common red flags that may pop up when you review your Microsoft Advertising adCenter reports.  Below you’ll find a mix of resources from the Support Center on our sister site, Microsoft Advertising for Small Business, as well as links to topical blog posts here on the Community site.

As always, if you have any questions or need more information, you can always ping us on Twitter, ask a question in our forums, or contact support… we’re here to help!

Keep in mind that you can find all Support Center content linked to below by visiting the Ad Optimization section.

1.) RED FLAG: Low CTR

IN THE SUPPORT CENTER: Improve Click-Through Rates

POSSIBLE RESOLUTION STRATEGIES:

• Test multiple ads
• Use dynamic text
• Make ad groups more focused
• Make ads more relevant (to keywords and landing pages)
• Adjust match types:
  • Use phrase match instead of exact match
  • Use broad match instead of phrase match
• Add negative keywords
• Implement demographic targeting

2.) RED FLAG: High CPC / Low ROI

IN THE SUPPORT CENTER: Improve Cost-Per-Click

POSSIBLE RESOLUTION STRATEGIES:

• Ensure landing page URLs are current (no broken links)
• Revise ad copy; make it more concise, mention special offers, use calls to action (e.g. “buy”, “shop”, etc.) 
• Adjust bids (lower)
• Match types: bid on broad, phrase, exact
• Add negative keywords
• Set daily limit to monthly budget

3.) RED FLAG: Low Traffic

IN THE SUPPORT CENTER: Increase Traffic Volume

POSSIBLE RESOLUTION STRATEGIES:

• Shorter keyword phrases
• Expand keywords (try Microsoft Advertising Intelligence)
• Increase bids to improve page position
• Use broad match
• Remove or expand geographical targeting

4.) RED FLAG: Low Conversion Rate

IN THE SUPPORT CENTER: Improve Relevance

POSSIBLE RESOLUTION STRATEGIES:

• Use dynamic text in ad title, text, display URL
• Revise landing pages to be better aligned with your keywords and ad copy
• Bid higher on the keywords that perform the best

For more tips on improving your adCenter campaigns, you'll find a wealth of useful information in the posts tagged with "Small business series".

Thanks for reading,

Tina Kelleher, SMB Community Manager