How to Improve the Performance of Search Ads

Are you running search ads but struggling with poor results? Do you want to identify the reasons for the slowdown and improve the performance of your campaigns?

Since search ads involve various settings, it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of underperformance.

However, if you continue running ads without making improvements, you may end up wasting your ad budget without achieving results.

To avoid such a situation, let’s identify and address the improvements that need to be made for your campaigns.

This article explains the improvements needed to address challenges such as increasing conversions.

First, Understand the Key Metrics Used in Search Ads

To improve your search ads, it is important to understand the key metrics.

Metrics such as conversion numbers and IMP (impressions) are essential for evaluating the performance of your ad campaigns.

If you don’t have a clear understanding of each metric, you might end up implementing ineffective strategies.

Refer to the table below to understand the role each metric plays in your ad campaign.

How to Identify Issues for Improving Search Ads

Once you understand the metrics, let’s find areas to improve in your search ad operations.

To identify issues, it’s crucial to have tracking tools set up that provide data on conversion numbers and the users who clicked on the ads.

Compare the target values with the actual results from the operation report to evaluate the performance.

For example, you might notice that “Impressions are high, but the Click-Through Rate (CTR) is low,” or “CTR is high, but the Conversion Rate (CVR) is low.” Understand the current situation in such ways.

Once you’ve identified the areas for improvement, check what methods can be used for optimization.

Improvement Methods for Specific Issues

Once you understand the issues, it’s time to improve them.

In this section, we will introduce solutions for the following issues:

Want to Increase IMP (Impressions)

If your ad impressions are low, the following improvement methods can help.

Method 1: Add Keywords

By adding new keywords, you can potentially increase your impressions.

For better results, choose keywords related to those that are already producing good outcomes.

Start by finding the keywords that are already performing well for your business, then try using related phrases.

Additionally, using the Keyword Planner can help you discover promising new keywords.

Method 2: Review Targeting Settings

If you’re overly restricting your targeting settings, your ads may not be showing to enough users.

Targeting settings include factors like the time of day, location, and user demographics such as gender and age.

Review these settings, and if possible, adjust them to widen your target audience.

Method 3: Increase Ad Ranking

Improving your ad rank can help increase your impressions.

To improve your ad rank, you need to raise your ad rank score.

The ad rank score is the metric that determines the ad position on Google Ads and Yahoo! Ads.

The ad rank score is calculated using the following formula, and improving these factors can help boost your ad rank:

How to Increase CTR (Click-Through Rate)

CTR is calculated using the following formula.

From the above formula, it is clear that to improve CTR, you need to increase the number of clicks users make on the ad relative to the number of times it is shown.

To improve CTR, it is essential to define your target audience (persona).

The target refers to the users you want to provide your product to, while the persona is an imaginary figure representing a typical user who would actually use your product.

Without defining these, even the methods introduced in the next sections will not yield effective improvements.

Start by clearly defining your persona and narrowing down your target audience.

Once both are clear, try the following methods.

Method 1: Create Compelling Ad Copy

Craft ad copy that will capture users’ interest.

If the title or description is not engaging, users will not be interested, and the ad will not get clicked.

Review your target and persona and consider which phrases will resonate most with your users.

For example, for a dentist offering pain-free treatments, the target audience would be “users who are sensitive to pain or fear painful treatments.”

In this case, mentioning pain-free treatment methods or technologies in the headline would likely resonate with the target audience.

Understand your users and think about what phrases will attract them to your product.

Method 2: Review Keyword Selection

To review keyword selection, follow these two steps.

If a keyword is performing well, try placing it with an exact match or adding related phrases and keywords that reflect user needs to improve performance.

Using the Keyword Planner can help you find promising new keywords with potential.

For example, if you enter “running shoes” into the Keyword Planner, related keyword suggestions like “best running shoes” or “cheap running shoes” will appear.

Once you find relevant keywords, add them to your campaign regularly.

At the same time, stop using underperforming keywords.

Underperforming keywords are those that have a high click-through rate but do not lead to conversions.

Continuing to use these keywords can lead to poor overall cost-effectiveness, so it’s best to stop placing ads with them.

Also, setting irrelevant keywords as negative keywords will help reduce the risk of low click-through rates and unnecessary costs.

Method 3: Use Assets (formerly known as Ad Extensions)

Using assets is also effective in increasing CTR.

Assets refer to the elements that make up your ad, such as the headline and description.

Some assets allow you to add supplementary information as options to your ad, which can convey information that couldn’t fit within the ad itself.

Additionally, as shown in the image below, the ad’s display area expands, making it more noticeable to users.

Since there are various types of asset options, it’s a good idea to use the ones that best suit your service.

Increase CVR (Conversion Rate)

There are three strategies to improve CVR:

Method 1. Set Achievable Web Goals that Are Easy for Users to Click

Make sure that the goals you set for users are psychologically easy to engage with.

For example, goals like “free consultation” or “contact us” might carry the barrier of feeling like the user could be approached by a sales representative.

However, with “request a brochure,” users can imagine first checking out what services are available without immediately fearing a sales pitch.

Even though users may still feel that they could be sold to when requesting a brochure, if you can make them feel interested enough to read the material, CVR will improve.

It’s useful to check competitors’ landing pages to see which goals are easy to click on.

Method 2. Increase the Relevance Between Your Website and Ads

Even if a user clicks on an ad, if the website content is unrelated, they might leave the site immediately.

A study by KoMarketing Associates showed that many reasons users leave a website include “lack of information” or “no contact details.”

In other words, users can’t find the information they are looking for, leading to their departure.

For example, if an ad is for booking a haircut at a salon but the website promotes head massage bookings, the user might click on the ad for a haircut but find it difficult to proceed with the booking since the site content doesn’t match their intention.

If the user can’t find what they want, they will likely leave the site.

To avoid this, ensure the ad and landing page are aligned.

Additionally, if the content of the ad and landing page differ, it will affect your quality rank.

A lower quality rank can result in a lower ad placement, so be careful.

Reference: b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf

Method 3. Improve the Website (Landing Page)

Improve areas that may burden users, such as website loading speed or having too many fields in the contact form.

If users feel psychologically burdened, they may find the website inconvenient and leave.

To increase conversions, check if your website meets the following points:

Improve Cost-Effectiveness

Here are some ways to improve cost-effectiveness:

Let’s go over each one.

Method 1. Set Negative Keywords

To reduce costs, setting negative keywords is effective.

Negative keywords allow you to exclude certain terms so that your ads don’t show up for irrelevant searches.

For example, if you sell premium red wine, excluding terms like “cheap” or “discount” can help prevent unnecessary costs.

It’s good to exclude keywords that fit the following categories:

Method 2. Narrow Targeting

Check if your targeting is narrow enough.

Targeting allows you to set criteria like gender, age, and location to define the scope of your ad.

While a broader targeting range increases the number of users who see your ad, it also shows your ad to users who are less likely to convert.

This could lead to wasted spending if the ad is clicked by accidental or irrelevant users.

Start by reviewing your target audience (persona) and check if the targeting settings are appropriate.

[Summary] Identify Challenges and Implement Appropriate Strategies

In this article, we discussed how to improve search ads.

The strategies will differ depending on which metrics you want to improve in your search ads.

First, check your operation reports to identify any challenges.

As mentioned earlier, you can download our “Search Ads Improvement List” for free.

If you’re unsure about how to improve your search ads, please use it as a reference.

If it’s difficult to make improvements, feel free to contact us for assistance.

We look forward to hearing from you through the red button below.