PPC ads can help you dominate the search engine results page (SERP) and become more accessible to the people who matter.

However, running successful PPC campaigns is about a lot more than picking a few random keywords and throwing some money at them.

Before you launch your first (or next) Google ads, let’s talk about what exactly PPC ads are (and Google ads, specifically), what they entail, and how you can turn a profit from your PPC campaigns.

By the way, I have a video on this topic that goes into even more detail!

What are PPC Ads?

PPC stands for “pay-per-click.” In a nutshell, websites run PPC campaigns to show up in search results and get charged every time someone clicks on their link to visit their website.

Let’s back up a little bit, though!

When someone searches for something in the search engines — perhaps “flower shops near me” — the search engine delivers what it believes to be the most relevant results.

Some websites increase their odds of showing up on page one using search engine optimization (SEO).

However, other websites take this one step further with PPC campaigns. Essentially, they pay to show up on page one, and any time someone actually clicks on their link, they’re charged for it.

There are all sorts of ways to run PPC campaigns, but Google ads are a go-to since the almighty search engine basically dominates the market. (There are supposedly more than 8.5 billion Google searches a day!)

Google Ads are Success-Based

Before I go on, I want to point out what I believe is one of the biggest pros of Google ads: They are success-based.

Here’s what I mean.

You can spend thousands of dollars upfront putting yourself on a billboard, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll get any traffic from it.

With Google ads, on the other hand, Google only charges you once someone clicks on your link. Now, I understand that a click doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a paying customer either.

However, a person who clicks is likely at least interested in what you’re offering. They’re a warm lead — as opposed to the hundreds or thousands of people driving by that billboard every day, not even giving it a second look.

With Google ads, brand-new businesses can almost instantly appear at the top of the search engine results and not pay for it until they get those clicks coming their way.

That is the magic of Google ads and pay-per-click!

(To be clear, ranking organically through rock-solid keyword research and SEO efforts is still vital to your overall success. This should be a part of your overall digital marketing strategy.)

How to Improve Your Google Ads

Alright, without further ado, let’s talk about how you can get better results with your PPC campaigns. By “better results,” I mean you’re either spending less for the same number of clicks or reducing clicks that don’t ultimately convert.

Here are some of my best PPC tips so that your next PPC campaign will be a hit and reach your target audience.

1. Decide Whether You Want to Manage Your Ad Campaigns In-House or Outsource Them

There’s a learning curve when it comes to fully understanding PPC marketing. You could either learn how to manage paid search yourself (or have one of your employees learn). Or, you can outsource your paid search ads to a freelancer or agency.

There are some digital marketing agencies that offer PPC optimization as a service. Or, you could find a more niche agency that focuses on PPC ads specifically.

There are pros and cons to both approaches.

When you run your PPC marketing in-house, you have far more control over it. You will also have a much better understanding of your ad groups. This means you’ll be able to tweak them to your liking.

However, it’s going to cost you time and money to get to this place.

On the other hand, you could outsource your PPC marketing. This will free up a lot of your time and resources. You can leave your PPC advertising efforts to the pros.

However, these people very likely will never be as invested in your PPC ad campaigns as you are. Furthermore, a lot of these professionals charge based on how much you’re spending on paid search. They are not charging based on the results they bring you.

This would explain why I’ve seen, time and time again, search ad “experts” set up PPC advertising for a client… and then never touch it again. Months and years will go by, and they won’t so much as look at the client’s search campaigns.

Still, it’s totally understandable why you might want to outsource your PPC advertising. If you’re going to do that, be sure to request weekly or biweekly meetings with the person managing your campaigns. Ask them how they conduct keyword research, decide on keyword bids, choose ad placements, write ad copy, come up with a bidding strategy, and manage their PPC optimization strategy.

How frequently will they be checking your account? Will they regularly be identifying relevant keywords and eliminating the rest? Can they download the results and send them to you in a spreadsheet?

If you don’t want your marketing dollars to go down the drain, you need to consistently be in communication with this person. Your PPC performance depends on it.

On a similar note…

2. You Have to Be Involved in Setting Up the Structure

This applies whether you’re managing your PPC campaigns in-house or you’re outsourcing the work. Either way, you need to be involved in building the foundation.

This is because only you really know who you want to be visiting your website and calling your business up.

Whoever is responsible for initially setting up your Google ads account, be sure you communicate this very important information to them. Who is your ideal customer? Who do you not want contacting your business?

Remember, not everyone is an ideal customer. Refining an ad’s relevance by ensuring it only shows up to the right people is really important.

That leads me to my next tip.

3. Identify Your Negative Keywords

When you specify your negative keywords while setting up your Google ads campaign, you’re basically telling the search engine, “If someone searches this search term, I do not want my ad to show up.”

Sometimes, negative keywords are pretty obvious. For instance, if you’re running Google search ads to sell one of your products, you don’t want to show up in the SERPs for people who are looking to find things for free.

However, there are other less obvious examples.

Let’s go back to our flower shop example. Say you’re running search ads to sell your arrangements. Someone goes online and searches “how to open up a flower shop.” You wouldn’t want an ad placement to show up in this case, right?

Should that person click on your link, you’re spending money for someone who has zero interest in paying for your services! So, you might want to add “open up” to your negative keywords.

In order for PPC campaigns to be successful, you might consistently be adding more of these keywords over time. This will ultimately help refine your approach so that your PPC ad campaigns are only showing up to your target audience, and you’re not using ad spend on people who click but won’t convert.

Make Your Next PPC Campaign a Profitable One

There’s a lot to learn when it comes to running a PPC campaign that actually makes you money. You have to get comfortable with the Google ads platform. Learn how to develop a stable bidding strategy. Poke around the different campaign settings and become more comfortable with Google Tag Manager.

If you do that, you’ll turn strangers into potential customers, and potential customers into loyal, paying fans.