Hello, community! Optimizing ad campaigns is one of the key aspects of an affiliate’s work. And the most important part is to have something to optimize. Situations where your ad literally has no clicks are not unheard of. So what to do in this case? Let’s explain!
But before we begin, a reminder of related materials. We’ve already covered what CTR and CRO are. We recommend checking it out!
What Generally Affects the Number of Clicks on an Ad?
If you think that the number of clicks on your creative directly depends on the cost-per-click you set, you’re partly correct. While the RTB auction system favors the highest bidder, there are often cases when multiple advertisers have the same click rate.
In such cases, Google Ads considers another important criterion – keywords. If the system deems your ad more relevant based on keywords, your ad will be prioritized over competitors with the same click rate.
But what should the CTR be? It depends on many factors, but the key one is the chosen vertical and even the GEO. For some combinations, a 5% click-through rate may be the norm, while for others, it’s very low. Seasonality is also a factor: Christmas items are more relevant in December than in August. So, the best approach is to analyze competitors and observe the CTR of more successful campaigns in your niche to have a reasonably objective idea of the performance to aim for.
How to Increase CTR in Google Ads
Now, let’s discuss how to increase clicks on your ad. Although we’re talking in the context of Google Ads, our tips can also be applied to other networks, with some exceptions. For example, not all advertising platforms emphasize keywords as much as Google does.
1. Always Monitor Stats and Metrics
Credit to Google Ads for providing very convenient tools for both tracking the current state of campaigns and making predictions.
The main metric for campaigns is the Quality Score. It forms when you add extra keywords to your account. The better the score, the more clicks you’ll get on your ads.
Key indicators affecting Quality Score are:
- Expected CTR
- Quality of promoted pages
- Relevance of ad text
It’s essential to monitor your Quality Score and aim for it to be as close as possible to 10/10. To do this, continuously work on optimizing your campaigns, especially by experimenting with ad texts until you find your golden grail.
2. Narrow the Scope of Keywords and Topics to Better Target Your Audience
It’s clear that only the target audience clicks on your ad. Your ad won’t be relevant to everyone or even most people. But you can still narrow down those who won’t be interested in your ad offer at all.
If you’re seeing a CTR around 5% or even lower, although higher click rates are typical in your niche, it’s likely that your ads are reaching the wrong audience. Here are a few ways to fix this:
Narrow the ad reach by focusing only on the target audience. For example, you could run ads in specific regions if you believe your product will interest residents of Kyiv more than Poltava, for instance, if you’re targeting traffic from Ukraine.
Improve the overall relevance of your campaign. This is a broader task that includes working on keywords. Understand the queries your target audience uses to find the product you’re promoting. Use the most common queries in your ad text and headlines.
These methods will help you target your audience more effectively, increasing the number of clicks on your ad.
3. Integrate Extensions into Ads
With Google Ads’ contextual advertising, we don’t have the flexible settings that we do with Facebook targeting. However, we can still partially personalize our campaigns, for example, by integrating extensions:
- Add a menu for the landing page
- “Call” buttons
- Geo-links, if needed
These measures not only increase the likelihood of receiving a click but also help you stand out from competitors, which can positively impact your campaign in the long run.
4. Test Creatives, Change, and Find the Most Effective Ones
If you use creatives in your ad, consider testing them. We’ve already discussed creative testing in a separate article. To recap, this is a research method where you launch identical ads with different creatives to identify the banner that generates the most clicks.
You can test the entire ad by changing any element: headlines, text, banners, or even GEO. The key is not to make drastic changes but to test carefully, for example, using split-testing.
5. Increasing the Click Cost
No one wants to do this, but the most effective way to quickly and easily increase CTR is by raising the click cost. This allows you to outbid competitors in the auction; however, it will impact your campaign’s ROI. Considering that contextual advertising isn’t cheap, for some offers, this could mean losses instead of profits. So, increase the price only if you can recoup your investment.
Conclusion
Optimizing ad campaigns to increase clicks is a complex but critical process. Clicks are what we’ll convert into profits. So, if there’s an opportunity to improve your campaign to achieve a 1-2% CTR, it’s worth doing. However, raising the click cost should only be a last resort, squeezing the maximum out of the current price range!
Do you buy ads on Google Ads, and how do you manage to increase CTR? Join our Telegram community, where we discuss ways to improve campaigns and increase profits every day!
Best regards, Your Geek!
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