“First of all, what is a conversion?”
“How can I improve search ad conversions?”
Are you worried about this?
Conversion, simply put, is the result you want from your website.
If you don’t know the basics, you may find it difficult to coordinate with other ad operators, or you may not be able to successfully improve your search ads.
Therefore, this time we will explain about “conversion”, an essential indicator in advertising operations.
Below is the content of this article.
By reading this article, you will understand the meaning of conversion and how to improve your search advertising operations.
If you are in charge of advertising operations, please read until the end.
Table of contents
What exactly is a conversion?
Conversion is the “result” that a website wants from its users.
Conversions vary depending on the purpose of the website you are using.
For example, one of the most common conversion criteria for beauty salons is “visit reservations”.
Since a store’s sales vary depending on the number of reservations, beauty salons tend to achieve results by having users make reservations on their website.
Depending on the purpose and job type, the following conversions may also be set.
Companies must be conscious of the number of conversions in order to improve their performance.
To that end, it is important to introduce measurable tools such as Search Console and Google Analytics to your website and repeat “analysis” and “improvement”.
In the next chapter, we will explain how to measure conversions.
Even if you set up conversions in search ads, you won’t be able to find anything to improve unless you know how to measure them.
Therefore, it is important to understand the details of the measurement method.
Let’s quickly check the contents.
Conversion measurement methods to remember when using search ads
Search advertising has the following conversion measurement methods:
Type 1. “Click-through conversion” and “view-through conversion”
Click-through conversions are the number of times a user converts after clicking on your ad.
View-through conversions, on the other hand, are the number of times a user who was shown an ad did not click on the ad, but accessed the ad from another source and converted.
Click-through conversions are the focus of attention in advertising operations, but if you also pay attention to view-through conversions, you can get a more detailed understanding of advertising effectiveness.
For example, have you ever had the experience of somehow remembering the content of an ad even though you didn’t click on it?
If the user subsequently accesses the website from a search engine or SNS and converts, it cannot be said that the ad was not effective at all.
Therefore, by focusing on view-through conversions, you can analyze advertising effectiveness in more detail.
Type 2. “Unique conversion” and “Total conversion”
Unique conversions are conversions seen on a per-user basis.
Even if a user clicks on your ad and converts multiple times, it still counts as 1 conversion.
On the other hand, total conversions are the number of times a user takes an action.
For example, let’s say a user makes three purchases on your linked site via an ad.
In this case, the unique conversion is 1 and the total conversion is 3.
The proper use of the two depends on whether the KPI is “increase repeat business” or “increase sales.”
If you want to increase repeat visitors, focus on unique conversions to focus on the number of users.
On the other hand, total conversion is a good idea to focus on if you want to increase sales.
Conversions vary depending on a company’s management attitude, so it’s a good idea to check what your company’s KPIs are before determining conversions.
Type 3. “Last click conversion” and “assisted conversion”
Last-click conversion is the measurement of the touch point just before a user converts.
Assisted conversion measures all contact points except the final contact point leading to conversion.
The reason for measuring two conversions is to see which ad contributed to your company’s conversion.
For example, let’s assume that users are searching for keywords in the order of “Rental Apartments” → “Shinagawa Ward Newly Built Rental Apartments” → “●● Real Estate Company” and then the traffic comes in.
If an ad displayed by “●● Real Estate Company” results in a conversion, “●● Real Estate Company” will be counted as the last click conversion.
On the other hand, keywords that did not result in conversions (“rental apartments”, “newly built rental apartments in Shinagawa Ward”) are counted as assisted conversions.
By counting assisted conversions, you can check which ads indirectly led to conversions.
Therefore, even if an ad does not lead to a direct conversion, you can know whether it is effective or not, and use it in your advertising operations.
Factors that do not lead to search advertising conversions
In this chapter, we break down the factors that don’t lead to conversion into three major categories.
Factor 1. Changes in the market and environment
One of the factors that does not lead to conversions is changes in the market and environment.
The number of search advertising users is increasing year by year, and the increase in competing companies may make it harder to convert.
Additionally, it may be difficult to convert due to a decline in demand for products, changes in prices, seasonality, etc., so you must always be aware of the trends of the times and the sense of seasonality.
Think about whether there is a demand for your products and whether they will sell well during this season.
Factor 2. I have a problem with advertising
Conversions may not occur because the ad content is not set appropriately.
The following is an example of when the advertisement content is inappropriate.
If there is a discrepancy between the ad text and the content of the link destination, users will become distrustful of the ad, making it difficult to convert.
Additionally, if your company is not able to display ads to the users you want to offer your products to, this may also be a factor that does not lead to conversions.
For example, if an advertisement for an apparel brand aimed at women in their 20s is delivered to women in their 50s and 60s, it is unlikely to lead to sales, right?
If you do not narrow down your search ad targeting by age, gender, etc., your ads will be shown to users who are unlikely to generate sales.
As a result, your advertising budget will run out faster, and your ads will no longer reach the users you really want to serve.
When it comes to advertising content, it is important to determine whether the advertisement is being displayed to users who are likely to purchase it for your company’s products.
Check once to see if it applies to your advertisement.
If you would like to know how to set up targeting and tips, please see the link below.
Factor 3. There is a problem with the quality of the website
In some cases, website quality issues may not lead to conversions.
Below are some examples of factors that make it difficult to convert.
Users find websites that are inconvenient to be troublesome.
As a result, they may leave your website and not be able to convert.
A study conducted by Google in 2012 found that 61% of users would move to another website if they couldn’t find the information they wanted on a mobile website.
Although the survey targeted mobile sites, we can confirm that users may abandon a website if it is not convenient.
From the above, it can be said that it is important to constantly improve not only the content of advertisements, but also the linked websites.
reference:Google Analytics Solutions: Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers
How to increase conversions for search ads
The way to increase conversions for search ads is simple.
First, take a look at how to calculate the number of conversions below.
Number of conversions = number of clicks x conversion rate
As mentioned above, the number of conversions consists of the number of clicks and the conversion rate.
So if you want to increase the number of conversions, you need to increase the number of clicks and conversion rate.
From now on, I will explain how to increase the number of clicks and conversion rate.
Method 1. Increase number of clicks
The number of clicks is calculated using the following formula:
Number of clicks = number of impressions x click rate
Therefore, to increase the number of clicks, you need to increase the number of impressions and click rate.
Below are ways to increase the number of impressions and click-through rate.
Please review the above and see if there is anything that can be improved.
Also, if you want to increase the number of clicks while keeping a fixed budget, you can do so by lowering the CPC (cost per click).
For example, here’s how to lower your average cost-per-click:
If you want to operate your ads with a fixed budget, please use this as a reference.
Method 2. Increase conversion rate (CVR)
Here are some strategies to increase your conversion rate:
Check to see if there are any areas of your advertising or website that can be improved.
If you would like to know an overview of negative keywords and precautions when setting them, please see the article below. Even beginners can understand! How to choose negative keywords and match types -webma-
[Summary] Analyze conversions to maximize the results of search advertising operations
In this article, we explained conversions in search ads.
Let’s briefly review the contents.
First of all, conversion is the “result” that a website wants from its users.
Below is an example of a conversion.
The three conversion measurement methods introduced this time are:
There are three main factors that don’t lead to conversions.
The number of conversions is calculated using the formula “Number of conversions = Number of clicks x Conversion rate.”
Therefore, the number of conversions can be improved by increasing the number of clicks and conversion rate.
So far, we have explained the concept of conversion for search ads.
However, some people may find it difficult to actually operate it.
In that case, it may be a good idea to leave the advertising operations to an advertising agency.
All work such as reporting and ad creation can be left to the advertising agency, so you can focus on your own services.
We also provide advertising management services, so if you are interested, please contact us using the inquiry form below.
