What Are Google Ads Recommendations?

Google Ads recommendations are personalized suggestions Google provides to its users that they can apply to boost campaign performance. These recommendations are automatic, and they are based on your unique user data. 

When you log into your Google Ads account, you will see recommendations listed in these two areas:

• The left-hand navigation (old design)
• Under ‘Campaigns’ in the left-hand navigation where a new sub-menu column opens up beside it (new design).

Once on this page, you should see the recommendation cards, each containing a suggestion that Google has for your account. Google says these are customized for each account. However, we generally see the same recommendations in most accounts.

Another item you may see is your account’s optimization score, which is located at the top of the page. According to Google, these scores range from 0-100% with 100% meaning your account is performing up to its full potential.

In some of the cards on this page, you will see a plus sign and a percentage. The percentage displayed represents the amount your optimization score can increase, if you apply that recommendation. 

Users have the option to dismiss that recommendation, which will also increase your optimization score by that percentage. This is the action that many of our clients have been told by Google reps is detrimental to their accounts. While some recommendations can be helpful, not all of them are relevant to your goals for the account. Let’s look at some examples.

Recommendations That Don’t Apply

Example 1: Raising Budgets

When taking the Google Ads certification exam, there is one question that has been in the test since the beginning of time (or at least during my many, many years of taking it):

What are the benefits of using Google Ads? 

To answer this question correctly, check all that may apply. One of those benefits should be the ability to control costs. You have a budget that you have to adhere to, and Google realizes that. So, you can set your daily budget to whatever works within your budget. 

If that’s the case, then why does Google deduct a percentage from your optimization score if you can’t raise your budget?

Granted, Google is trying to say in this example that your cost per conversion may go down if you add $140 to your budget each week, but if you don’t have that extra $140  and end up dismissing this recommendation as a result, should that negatively impact your account? No, and it doesn’t. Google will not take one of the ‘benefits’ of using Ads and penalize you because you are using the platform as intended.

Example 2: Conversion Value

A large portion of our clients are focused on getting leads. For some, a phone call is just as valuable of a conversion as a form completion. Both are considered “conversions” and are equal in value to the client. 

For one of these clients, this was the recommendation:

It’s harmless enough, but it doesn’t apply to this client. There is no need to assign values to these conversions because the client sees them as equal. If we view and apply this irrelevant recommendation, Google will raise this client’s optimization score by 6.5 percentage points. We will also receive those points if we dismiss it, which we did.

Other noteworthy Google recommendations include:

• Add broad match keywords. We rarely use the broad match type, as it tends to bring in irrelevant traffic.
• Expand your reach with Google Search Partners. This will drive additional traffic, as the recommendation card says, but this traffic is rarely (really, never) of any quality.
• Adjust your CPA targets. This recommendation always suggests increasing the target CPA (cost per acquisition). If a client knows how much a lead is worth to them, why set a target CPA that is more than that?
• Enable automatically created assets. Applying this gives Google the ability to automatically create site links, callouts, and structured snippets for your account. However, we have seen this go horribly wrong. Would you want a callout in your account that was just ‘Tough Men?’ Yep, we’ve seen it happen.
• Add new keywords. This method sometimes provides good suggestions, but be careful. For example, one chiropractic school received a suggestion for the keyword ‘chiropractic doctor near me.’ They always tend to suggest broad matches for these additional keywords. (see above)

It’s Okay to Dismiss

There are many more, but from the abovementioned, you can see that Google should not penalize you for not applying their suggestions. And, as of now, they don’t. Dismissing these suggestions just tells Google, “Hey, this isn’t for me.”

Now, Google may bring that suggestion back up to you down the road even if you let it know that it doesn’t apply, and at that time, you can decide if it’s for you. If not, you can dismiss it again. 

We understand, Google reps have been taught to live and die by these recommendations. For some, applying them all might be beneficial to your account. But for the times when it’s not, you can tell your Google rep that you don’t think a specific recommendation will help your account and that you will dismiss it. 

Yes, you or your PPC agency have the ability to reject recommendations from Google, because, in the end, it’s your account. If they respond and say that dismissing will hurt your account, we suggest asking, “How?”

That’ll stump them.

The post The Truth About Google Ads Recommendations appeared first on DAGMAR.

When Google Analytics 4 (GA4) was released out of beta in October of 2020, I don’t know of a single marketer who jumped up and said “I’m going to make the change to that right now.” As digital marketing agencies and in-house teams, we had gotten used to and mastered Universal Analytics (UA) and were comfortable with it. Being on the paid search side, we had learned the ins and outs of how UA and Google Ads worked together, and they did work together quite well. Why wouldn’t they? They are both Google products, getting data from the same place, and are linked through the Google system. They are like siblings who should know each other so well. 

Then came GA4.

Preparing for GA4 Migration

Dagmar was ready when the UA doomsday clock showed up. Our team had been collecting data in GA4 for our clients and had completed setup for them well before the deadline. Everything was tested and ready to go for July 1st. For the paid search team, we had imported conversions into Google Ads from GA4 and had been comparing the UA data to GA4 data for a couple of months before we were going to flip the switch and make those GA4 conversions ‘primary’ in the account. We determined that this would be the time to work out the kinks, and any issues would be cleared up by July 1st.

Little did we know…

The Battle of GA4 and Google Ads Begins

We saw discrepancies between conversion data being attributed to paid search in GA4 and what was being imported into Google Ads right away. These weren’t the small discrepancies we saw before with UA due to the day the conversion was credited or attribution. These were sometimes 50% discrepancies for decent size conversion numbers.

Our first call with Google Tech Support, we were told that it was a latency issue. Data was taking longer to get from GA4 to Google Ads, and it could take up to 72 hours for data to show. Despite having plenty of examples during time periods prior to that, we waited.

On the second call with Google Tech Support, we were told that it was because we had not yet turned on Google Signals in GA4 (mind you, each call we went through the process of making sure that GA4 and Google Ads were properly linked.) We weren’t doing remarketing for that client, which we thought was the primary role for Google Signals, but we clicked the toggle to turn them on any way. While we had turned on Google Signals for other clients seeing discrepancies, we did this and waited.

Still seeing discrepancies, we saw a yellow banner at the top of one of our client’s Google Ads account offering a call with a GA4 specialist. 

We thought that maybe we had been talking to the wrong people, since the Google Tech Support people we had spoken to previously were a third party working on behalf of Google. We clicked the banner, which took us to a page to request the call. When we selected my client’s Customer ID number, it said that the account wasn’t eligible for the call. This is the same account in which we saw the banner offer.

For call number three, we were told that it was because we had chosen ‘paid and organic channels’ in this admin section in GA4 under Attribution Settings and that it needed to be Google paid channels only:

We switched it, but still wasn’t sure how the previous setting would hinder conversions credited to google / cpc in GA4 from being imported into Google Ads. With fingers crossed, we did this and waited.

On call number four, the discrepancies were due to us removing a conversion action in Google Ads and then adding it back. They even sent a screenshot of when “we” did that. Trouble is, this change was made by the Google Ads system, which is the backend system making automated bidding changes and such. It wasn’t us.

Where It Stands

As of this writing, we are still seeing large discrepancies, and we have another call scheduled with Google Tech Support. GA4 is definitely collecting the data and is working fine. The conversions listed in there for paid search match up with what our clients are seeing on their end. That data is just not making its way into the Google Ads platform. This is for form fills for some clients, call tracking for others. There is no rhyme or reason, but we promise to get to the bottom of it and will update this if/when it all gets resolved.

Or, like in true Google fashion, ‘poof!’ One day it is just all fixed. 😉

The post Google Ads & Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Still Not Playing Nice Together appeared first on DAGMAR.

The year has brought many new updates to Local Services Ads. In addition to five new industry verticals which were announced in March 2023, Google has now improved its process for reviewing images within LSAs.

Google announced that these improvements will launch on September 1, 2023, and will provide users with more flexibility that gives marketers and business owners more creativity with their ads. This means that previously rejected images may now be accepted (that’s a win for the creative folks!).

In addition to the looser photo guidelines, Google will also be speeding up its review process. Google claims that they are rolling out a new automated process that will facilitate photo reviews. If this works, then photo updates on LSAs will be shown to potential customers faster. 

What Does This LSA Update Mean?

Those who have been in the digital marketing world for a while know that ads with a visual component can play a major role in the success of a campaign. In fact, Google says that advertisers who have an image shown with mobile Search ads can see an average increase in click-through rate of 10%. Furthermore, images can help to communicate complex ideas and provide additional information about your business or services.

Since image and video-based ads have taken the digital marketing world by storm, it makes sense that Google is working to improve its LSA product offering. In fact, Google has been rolling out new and better ways to create video and visual content in Google Ads over the past few years. I wouldn’t be surprised if Local Services Ads have a similar capability in the near future. 

For now, this photo guideline update means that potential customers can see images directly from your LSA. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate service offerings, provide more information about what your business can do, and also show a little bit more creativity than previously allowed. 

What Are the Photo Guidelines?

If you’re already familiar with Local Services Ads or Google Ads, then you are likely up-to-speed on what is simpatico to Google in regards to images. As a refresher, here are the key things to keep in mind:

Accepted Content:

• High-quality images
• Images showing the work rendered during the service
• Images relevant to your work or business
• Original images, i.e. not copied or stolen images (make sure to follow copyright laws!)

Prohibited Content:

• Images containing inappropriate content (ie, sexual, violent, etc.)
• Images with watermarks from another business
• Images with phone numbers or other identifying information
• Low quality images
• Images with clients or customers (for legal verticals only)

Image Requirements:

• File types: JPEG, PNG, BMP, ICO, and WEBP
• Resolution: 640 x 640 or greater
• Maximum size: 10 MB

Headshot Specifics:

• Only the head and shoulders should be visible
• The face must be centered in the image
• The individual must be looking at the camera
• The image can only include one person 
• Must be a high-quality image
• Cannot contain text or overlays
• Must have a neutral background
• Cannot be black-and-white or have excessive filters applied
• File Types: JPEG or PNG
• Resolution: 500 x 500 or greater
• Maximum Size: 10 MB
• Aspect Ratio: must be square (LSAs will allow you to upload an image and crop it)

To stay up-to-date with LSA updates and other PPC and SEO industry news, subscribe to our blog and YouTube channel!

The post Local Services Ads: Photo Guideline Updates appeared first on DAGMAR.

In March 2023, Google announced the launch of 5 additional categories to the Local Services Ads offerings, allowing over 70 different industries to utilize LSAs to grow their business. 

These new LSA verticals are:

• Education
• People Care
• Pet Care
• Wellness
• Healthcare

This expansion is a milestone for the healthcare industries, including the newly added Dental category, because they had not been able to run LSAs due to HIPAA restrictions. 

To see your specific business’ availability for an LSA, you can check your eligibility here. 

How Much Do LSAs Cost?

Now that your business is available for LSAs, your first question may be, “How much does this cost?” Luckily, Google has a free tool that allows you to see what your estimated monthly budget could be based on your service, location, and desired number of leads.

Keep in mind, that this is just an estimate, and could change. That being said, it’s a great way to get an idea of what you could pay for leads, especially if your business falls into these newly added verticals.

How Do I Get Started with LSAs?

If your business is now eligible for Local Services Ads, your next step is to gain your “Google Guaranteed” or “Google Screened” badge. 

Google Guaranteed

“Google Guaranteed” means that you’ve provided Google with the necessary information so they know customers are being provided with quality and legitimate work from the LSA ads. 

Depending on your industry, Google requires the following business screening and verification:

• Background check
• Business check
• General Liability or Professional Liability Insurance
• Business license on state or province level
• Owner license on state or province level
• Up to 5 Reviews

Once you’ve completed these, you’ll receive your “Google Guaranteed” badge. This badge will show up on your LSA listing as a signal to customers that Google will reimburse them if the provider does not provide satisfactory service.

Google Screened

Additionally, depending on your industry, you may also need to be “Google Screened”. This means you’ve passed the licensing requirements and checks. Industries that need to be Google Screened include:

• Law
• Real Estate
• Child Care
• Financial Planning

With these new verticals starting in LSAs, it is likely that several of these categories will need to be Google Screened. 

For more information on setting up your new Local Services Ads account, read our LSA Guide.

How Do I Get Leads From LSAs?

Many factors go into answering this question. Like any other marketing effort, you’ll need to make sure your LSAs are properly optimized. This means honing in on the location you want to target, having high-quality reviews, photos of your business, and up-to-date information in your ad. And just as important as having these pieces in place, you’ll also need to make sure you have someone regularly monitoring your ads and responding to all inquiries. Having all these elements in place greatly impacts your local ad rank. Generally speaking, the higher your ad ranks, the more leads you are likely to obtain.

In the past, the primary way to get leads via LSAs was through a phone call or to link a landing page in your ad. Then, Google provided a way for potential customers in the US to message your business through your Local Services Ad. 

Google states, “Messages are 50% of the cost of a phone lead. When a customer sends a message, their name, ZIP code, job details, and phone number are shared with providers. Google will route your back-and-forth communications with providers through an anonymized alias.”

Message leads are sent via email and through the LSA mobile app. You can respond to the customer by typing back a message and sending it via email or text, calling the customer through their provided number, or declining the message if it’s not applicable to your services. Regardless of the action, you must respond within 15 days of receiving the lead. If you don’t, it will be marked as “inactive”. This is something you want to avoid because it will impact your ad ranking.

New Ways to Get Leads

Google recently launched a new “direct booking” feature within LSAs. This allows a customer to book a service with you through the ad. To utilize this feature, you’ll need to set up an account with one of the third-party vendors. Right now the options are: 

• Housecall Pro
• Jobber
• ServiceTitan
• Workiz
• Scorpion
• LeadConnector
• FollowUpBoss

Once you’ve created an account with one of these partners, you’ll set your business’ availability and pricing. You’ll have the ability to manage the jobs through the booking partner, but you’ll still be able to dispute charges and view your performance reports within your LSA account.

Improvements to Combat the Spam Issue

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in spam accounts and spam LSA reviews. Google has strict Local Service policies in place to help stop spam and other harmful practices. Google also released a statement explaining how they are fighting abuse in Google Maps. This is a step in the right direction, but many advertisers are asking for more action such as a more comprehensive help desk community outlet and a publicly announced LSA Spam Prevention team. 

Started in 2015, and Now We’re Here

Although Local Services Ads started over 8 years ago, it is still considered a fairly new Google product. Over the years the major changes have been the nationwide rollout, expansion of services, and additional ways to gain leads by calls, messages, and direct booking. On the other hand, spam accounts have caused a major disruption to honest, hardworking business people utilizing LSAs. Google has made efforts to clean up and stop spam, but they still have a lot of work left to do. 

To stay up-to-date with LSA industry news, subscribe to our blog and YouTube channel!

The post What’s New With Local Services Ads?  appeared first on DAGMAR.

This technology has significant potential for PPC experts looking to create more targeted, effective campaigns that drive conversions.

With ChatGPT, businesses can leverage the power of natural language processing to generate new keyword ideas, analyze customer behavioral data sets, and create more engaging ad copy when given the appropriate prompt(s). The system can quickly generate insights based on user data, providing businesses with a more accurate understanding of their customers’ needs and preferences. This, in turn, can help businesses create more effective ad campaigns that resonate with their target audience.

While ChatGPT has many exciting benefits, it’s important to note that it is not the total solution for PPC campaign builds. There are several limitations to using ChatGPT for keyword research, including its lack of live, up-to-date data for traffic volume. Additionally, ChatGPT may not be able to provide insights into all aspects of a PPC campaign, such as landing page design or ad targeting. 

As with any technology, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of using ChatGPT in conjunction with other tools to create more effective PPC campaigns.

Pros of Using ChatGPT for Google Ads Campaigns:

• Continuous Learning and Improvement: ChatGPT can continually learn from user interactions and feedback, improving its recommendations and insights over time. 
• Efficiency: ChatGPT can quickly generate keyword ideas and ad copy suggestions, saving businesses time and resources when brainstorming draft ideas.
• Scalability: ChatGPT can handle large volumes of data, making it scalable for businesses with significant PPC campaign data to review.
  

Cons of Using ChatGPT for Google Ads Campaigns:

While ChatGPT has several benefits, it is not the total solution for PPC campaign builds, especially when it comes to keyword research. Some of the limitations of using ChatGPT for keyword research include:

• Lack of live, up-to-date data for traffic volume, making it difficult to accurately estimate how many people are searching for a particular keyword.
• Inability to provide insights into industry-specific jargon or terminology, which can be a significant limitation for businesses operating in specialized industries or niches.
• Lack of human touch: ChatGPT is an AI-based tool, and therefore lacks the human touch that can be crucial in PPC campaign builds. Human intuition and experience can often be necessary in interpreting data and making strategic decisions.
• Limited scope: ChatGPT may not be able to provide insights into all aspects of a PPC campaign, such as landing page design or ad targeting.
• Language limitations: ChatGPT may not be able to understand certain languages or dialects, limiting its usefulness for businesses operating in multilingual markets.

Recommendations for Using ChatGPT with PPC Campaigns:

When it comes to keyword research, there are several powerful tools available that businesses can use to complement ChatGPT. Some of the most popular tools for keyword research include SEMrush, Google Ads Keyword & Forecast Planner, and Ahrefs. These tools can help businesses:

• Identify keyword opportunities, track their keyword rankings, and analyze their competitors’ strategies.
• Estimate search volume and see how competitive keywords are.
• Identify long-tail keywords that may be easier to rank for.
• Analyze competitors’ strategies and identify high-value keywords.

Using tools like SEMrush, Google Ads Keyword & Forecast Planner, and Ahrefs in conjunction with ChatGPT, businesses can create more effective PPC campaigns that reach their target audience and drive conversions. These tools can help businesses identify the right keywords to target, estimate their search volume and cost per click, and analyze their competitors’ strategies, providing a more comprehensive approach to PPC campaign builds. While ChatGPT may not be the total solution for PPC campaign builds, it can still be a valuable tool for businesses looking to optimize their PPC campaigns.

Using ChatGPT + Google Ads: Real-World Application

ChatGPT excels at saving time by streamlining the process of collecting, sorting, and restructuring data. As illustrated in the example below, we utilized ChatGPT to extract and then calculate data from Google Ads Platform in this example.

Objective – calculate the average daily conversions based in a date range from a Google PPC Campaign – November 1st, 2022, to February 28th, 2023
Source: Google Ads

Step1: Pull up the campaign in Google Ads platform with the correct date range.

Step 2: Download the data into an Excel, CSV or Google Sheet format.

Step 3: Copy and paste all the data into ChatGPT along with the prompt. ChatGPT is advanced enough to analyze non-delimited data.

ChatGPT gave us a correct output the 2nd try, after a slight hiccup based on the original prompt: What is the average daily conversion metric for the following data set?  You may need to try a few times in order to produce the result you are looking for. 

As we can see, ChatGPT produced a number of 0.75 average daily conversions. That calculation in itself is not unique.

What is unique and the most important concept of ChatGPT is the ability to calculate multiple data sets and combine a result using conversational language.

You could also take this prompt a step further in precision. This client’s ad schedule runs Mondays through Fridays. To be precise on our data, we want the daily average conversion metric recalculated with this factored in, excluding weekends.

ChatGPT gave an updated metric of 1.0227 conversions/day above with an explanation on how it calculated its answer. This can be insightful information to the user if ChatGPT needs additional guidance in the end result.

ChatGPT proves to be an excellent resource for modifying keywords in lengthy datasets and extracting information from external sources. To make the most of this tool, it is essential to provide precise prompts, exercise patience, and experiment with multiple attempts to achieve the desired outcome. It is important to remember that ChatGPT is a tool that will improve its recommendations and insights over time based on user input.

The post How to Use ChatGPT for Google PPC Campaigns appeared first on DAGMAR.

Law firm marketing should be on your radar if you’ve just started a private practice or want to attract more clients to your established firm. At the same time, you may be hesitant about getting started because you’re unsure if this investment will be worthwhile.

About Law Firm Marketing

Lawyer marketing is a broad subject, and it includes several activities you can implement to attract clients to your firm. 

We can assure you that lawyer marketing has been an effective lead generation method for many law firms. Let’s look at some helpful insights and statistics.

Why is legal marketing important?

Marketing is the most effective way to attract clients to your law firm. By using appropriate marketing strategies, someone who needs your services will be more likely to find your office.

Do lawyers need marketing?

Almost all law firms benefit from marketing, especially firms with competitive specialties, like personal injury. A combination of an intuitive website, good content, and a solid SEO strategy can work wonders for your online visibility.

How much should law firms spend on marketing?

The money you spend on marketing like pay-per-click (PPC) can lead to excellent returns. But how much should you spend? Businesses that wish to stay competitive have a monthly advertising budget, and here’s what the budget looks like for most law firms like yours:

• Small firms spend between $1,000 and $10,000 on PPC each month (WordStream)
• Large companies can expect to pay anywhere from $10,000 per month to upwards of $50,000 per month (CostOwl.com)
• Legal marketing budgets tend to run between 2% and 15% of revenue (Lawyer Monthly)

Benefits of Law Firm Marketing

With the right approach, marketing will help you boost your reputation, improve your position in search rankings, and attract potential clients to your website:

• The top four search positions get the majority of clicks (SEO Inc.)
• One-third of people who hire attorneys begin searching online (Wise Media)
• 75% of marketers report that their campaigns directly impact revenue (HubSpot)

As you can see, the decision to implement law firm marketing can only increase leads and introduce your firm to a larger audience. Also, if you would like to remain competitive online, law firm marketing is the best way to secure top placements in search engines.

Website and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Law Firms

SEO is a core part of marketing for lawyers. Let’s consider the reasons why it should be a key focus for busy law firms like yours.

What Is Law Firm SEO?

Law firm SEO helps ensure that people searching for your legal services will find your website in Google search results. SEO helps Google recognize that your web pages are relevant for specific keywords.

Is law firm SEO effective?

These stats prove how effective SEO can potentially be for your law firm:

• Organic search brings 69% of internet traffic (Milestone Internet)
• Organic search leads to 66% of call conversion (On The Map)
• Legal firms average 4% conversions for organic search vs. 2.4% for other channels (Ruler Analytics)

Paid Advertising for Attorneys

What is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for law firms?

Pay-per-click advertising is a form of internet marketing in which businesses pay to have their advertisements featured prominently, such as with Google Ads. With PPC, you’re charged each time a prospect clicks on an ad.

How effective is PPC for attorneys?

Paid search ads can help lawyers increase traffic to their law practice websites and convert new clients quickly:

• PPC attracts low-funnel clients searching for specific legal services (Rocket Level)
• More than one-half of all website traffic comes from paid search (Wise Media)
• 89% of paid traffic would not have occurred with organic search (Think With Google)
• People are 52% more likely to click on paid ads at the top of search results (Justia)

Finding a Law Firm Marketing Agency

If you’re new to marketing, it can be challenging to grasp on your own. Rather than trying to figure it out by yourself, it’s worth investing in services from an experienced law marketing firm.

What should I know before hiring a law firm marketing agency?

Before you hire a law firm marketing agency, it’s important to determine how much experience the agency has with attorneys and their firms. After all, you’ll get better results if you work with professionals who understand your business and what it takes to attract clients. It’s also important to understand your goals, marketing budget, and how involved you want to be in the marketing of your firm.

Hiring a marketing agency can be an ideal choice if you want to achieve growth and increased brand awareness in this very competitive industry. Remember that larger law firms usually have internal marketing departments. This creates a competitive gap that small- to medium-sized firms can close by outsourcing marketing to an agency that specializes in growth marketing for attorneys.

References

The post Law Firm Marketing Statistics appeared first on DAGMAR.

PPC Statistics

Curious about PPC? If you’ve been wondering how pay-per-click advertisements work and if these ads would be a good idea for your business, there are a few things you should know.

For starters, PPC can be a valuable asset to your team, or it can be a major setback if you aren’t quite aware of the power they have.  

About PPC Advertisements

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an advertising model that enables businesses to promote their company, products, or services online and pay only once an ad has been interacted with. This methodology has been proven to be advantageous to businesses like yours in a variety of ways.    

Benefits of PPC Ads

45 percent of businesses have implemented PPC ads into their digital marketing strategy and there are several reasons why. Some of the most common benefits a company can receive from PPC ads are:

How effective are PPC ads?

• 33 percent of online users click a PPC ad because it answers a question, 26 percent click an a because it mentions a familiar brand, and 26 percent of users click on PPC ads because they are listed before other results (Clutch)
• The average click-through rate for PPC ads is about 2 percent (WordStream)
• 20 percent of businesses believe PPC ads offer the highest ROI out of any digital marketing strategy (Statista)

How much does PPC cost?

• The average PPC campaign can range from $1,000 to $10,000 per month for small to mid-sized companies (WordStream)
• Large companies can expect to pay anywhere from $10,000 per month to upwards of $50,000 per month (CostOwl.com)
• PPC advertising returns $2 for every $1 spent – a 200 percent ROI (WordLead)

Display Ads

What are display ads?

Display ads, also referred to as banner ads, are visually enticing digital advertisements used to promote your brand online. These ads can appear on social media platforms, applications and even on a website you visit. It is easy to determine which advertisements are display ads because they generally contain an image and copy.

How effective are display ads?

• 43 percent of PPC marketers say display ads are their least effective channel – yet 84 percent of marketers still invest in display ads (Hanapin Marketing)
• A 59 percent average lift in conversions can occur when users conduct a search related to a display ad (LinkedIn)
• Display ads appear across the entire Google Display Network, reaching over 90 percent of online users (Google)

Search Ads

What are search ads?

Search ads are a form of online advertising that can promote a product, service, or company using text advertisements. This is one of the most popular forms of PPC advertising. Search ads are found both above and below the organic search results. These ads are easy to spot because they are made exclusively with text and they are marked with the word “Ad” next to them.    

How much do search ads cost?

• Advertisers have spent an estimated $59.22 billion on paid search ads (Semrush)
• The average cost-per-conversion across Google Ads is $56.11 (WordStream)
• The average cost-per-click (CPC) for Google search ads is under $2.69 (WordStream)

How effective are search ads?

• 89 percent of the traffic generated by search ads cannot be replaced by organic clicks when ads are paused (Google)
• 3 out of 4 online users (75 percent) believe paid search ads make it easier to find the information they are searching for (PR Newswire)
• 84 percent of respondents who use paid search are currently using or planning to use Google’s new responsive search ads (Search Engine Journal)

Social Ads

What are social ads?

Social ads consist of advertisements placed onto social media platforms that aim to connect with a desired audience. Facebook ads are the most popular form of social ads.  

How much do social ads cost?

• Facebook video ads have a low CPC at $0.55 (Social Insider)
• The average Instagram cost-per-click (CPC) is $1.23 in the US (Sprout Social)
• 5 percent of revenue should be allocated to your social advertising budget for steady growth and 12 percent should be allocated for aggressive growth (Social Media Examiner)

How effective are social ads?

• Facebook ads provide the highest return on investment (ROI) among all paid advertising channels (HubSpot)
• Social media advertising is the second biggest market in digital ads and it is expected to grow to over $252 billion in 2026 (Hootsuite)
• Google (38.6 percent) and Facebook (19.9 percent) hold the largest share of total U.S. digital ad spend (eMarketer)

Google Local Services Ads

What are Google Local Services Ads?

Google Local Services Ads are designed to attract local prospects to your business. These ads typically appear above the list of organic results, at the top of the search results page, and in areas where traditional Google Ads are generally displayed in search engines.

While LSAs are a form of paid advertisements, there are some differences between their pay-per-lead model and traditional pay-per-click. For starters, a business is only required to pay a fee per qualified lead, instead of paying each time an advertisement is clicked.  

How effective are Google Local Services Ads (LSAs)?

• Local Services ads by Google receive 13.8 percent of local SERP clicks (BrightLocal)
• According to Google, a 900 percent increase in the use of “near me/close by” searches (Think with Google)
• 76 percent of online users that search for something nearby on a smartphone typically visit a brick-and-mortar business within one day (Google)

What ranking factors are considered for Local Services Ads?

• 4 in 5 consumers want search ads to be customized to their city, zip code, or immediate surrounding (Think with Google)
• Google Local Services Ads ranking factors are determined by business hours, location, reviews, responsiveness, and the overall amount of complaints a business receives (Google)
• Local Services Ads (LSAs) require at least one Google My Business review on your profile before they can go live (Google)

How much do Google Local Services Ads cost?

• Google Local Services Ads cost around $6-$30 per lead (WordStream)
• The average monthly budget for a Google Local Services Ads campaign is $5,000 (Search Engine Journal)
• The Google Guarantee Program associated with Local Services Ads costs $50 a month (TechRadar)

Retargeting Ads

What are retargeting ads?

Retargeting ads enable businesses to circle back and market to online users that have interacted with their website, but have not yet taken the appropriate action to qualify as a conversion.

How effective are retargeting ads?

• Retargeting ads can lift engagement rates up to 400 percent (SharpSpring)
• 30 percent of consumers have a “positive” or “very positive” opinion of retargeted ads (LinkedIn)
• Customers are 70 percent more likely to purchase a product when a company utilizes retargeting (TechJury)

References

The post Important PPC Statistics You Should Know (2023) appeared first on DAGMAR.

For many businesses, generating quality leads is one of its biggest challenges. With an advertising revenue of over $131 billion in the U.S alone, Google is the perfect go-to platform to help your business be seen online by your target audience.

From Google Ads to Google Local Services Ads, there are a handful of Google platforms that can help you achieve the task. 

In this article, we’ll be specifically discussing how to generate leads by leveraging Google Local Services Ads.

Why Leads Are Important

If you have a local business that relies on attracting customers or clients, you should understand just how valuable local lead generation can be.

Leads are a strong indication that your marketing efforts are actually paying off. In fact, 74 percent of companies say converting leads into customers is its top priority.

Types of Leads

Whether you’ve hired an agency to handle your marketing and advertising or have taken on the task of doing it yourself, knowing what types of leads you can expect to receive can go a long way.

In the case of Local Services Ads (LSAs), there are typically three types of leads:

1. Phone Leads – When a potential customer speaks with your business by phone or leaves a message in response to your LSA, this is considered a phone lead.
2. Booking Leads – When a potential customer schedules a booking online via a Google Guaranteed Ad, this is considered a booking lead.
3. Message Leads – When a potential customer either calls your business or leaves a message, you will receive an email notification. This is considered a message lead.

*Both message leads and booking leads are only available in the United States and Canada.

Given Google Local Services Ads has adopted a pay-per-lead model, you are only charged for qualified leads, regardless of the type. While both booking leads and phone leads are typically the same price, message leads, however, are currently priced at 50 percent of the corresponding phone lead.

This is something important to consider, so you can also make decisions more cost-effective for your advertising spend. We will discuss other costs you should be considering in greater detail later on in this article.

Who Qualifies as a Lead?

Unlike other advertisement platforms, Google Local Services Ads enables businesses to determine who qualifies as a lead based on their relevance to the business.

For more information on how you can dispute invalid leads, click here. 

How Google Local Services Ads Can Help

Extra Visibility

There is a space reserved at the top of the Google Search results page for Local Services Ads. This is the first part of the first page on Google that the user will typically experience.

Given 75 percent of users never click past the first page of search results, Local Services Ads can assure that the users that match your interests and your service area will see your LSA.

More Clicks

Its high placement in local searches encourages more engagement. The top three results on Google are also known to receive over 75 percent of all clicks. This could be due to the fact that LSAs display your review rating, which is one of the biggest drivers of clicks in local SERPs.

The Google Guarantee

The Google Guarantee program allows users to feel confident in knowing that they are selecting a company that Google, one of the most influential companies in the world, recommends.

As a result, businesses that pass the Google background check earn a Google Guarantee badge on their Google My Business listing and a Google Guarantee Ads check of approval will appear on all of its LSAs. 

This can win over the trust of its potential customers and increase its chances of appearing further up in local search results. 

Boosts Brand Awareness

On average, it takes 5 to 7 impressions for a user to remember your brand. Once your LSA is published, it will be displayed to potential customers in your neighborhood that have been pre-defined in your campaign from the service area listed on your Google My Business profile.

As the users continue to perform relevant searches, your LSA will continue to circulate to them throughout the duration of your campaign. 

Reduces Ad Spend

Did you know that in the Marketing industry, the average cost-per-lead is around $99? In the Business Services industry, the average cost-per lead is around $132. 

With Google Local Services Ads, the average cost-per-lead for local firms varies between $6-$30. That means choosing Local Services Ads could potentially save your business over $100.

Encourages Informed Decision-Making

One of the best parts of using Google Local Services Ads is that your potential clients will know what they are getting. 

From the moment they interact with your LSA, they are introduced to valuable information such as your company’s star rating, actual customer and client reviews, and even the services offered. 

This can empower them to make the best decision for themselves or their businesses.

Get More Local Leads

Are you looking to advertise your business, increase the visibility of your business, and most importantly, generate more local leads? Google Local Services Ads is the perfect solution for all of the excellent reasons we mentioned above and beyond.

Start incorporating Google Local Services Ads into your local lead generation strategy today!

The post How to Generate Leads With Google Local Services Ads appeared first on DAGMAR.

Most users performing high-intent searches on Google have probably already made up their minds about two things–they are interested in a product or service your business offers and they are exclusively interested in finding it in your service area. Still, there’s no guarantee they will choose your business in a sea of other competing advertisements that may be stealing the spotlight.

Learn more about the differences between Local Services Ads, that use the pay-per-lead model, and pay-per-click. Once you’ve gained a better understanding on how each one works, you can master the art of increasing your company’s online visibility locally and nationally.

What are Local Services Ads?

Google Local Services Ads are digital advertisements that appear in search results when a potential customer in your area conducts a keyword search for relevant products or services. Advertisements will appear for local services and are typically the first ads a user comes in contact with. They can be displayed in several places such as at the top of search results, above organic results, and even above pay-per-click Google Ads.

Types of Local Services Ads

Google Screened Ads – These are local pay-per-lead advertisements that come from a business that has successfully passed a Google screening.

Google Guaranteed Ads – These are pay-per-lead advertisements that come from a business that has successfully passed a Google Guarantee screening from a Google background check partner. Google Guaranteed Ads are the only LSAs that are backed by Google.

What are Pay-Per-Click Ads?

Pay-per-click ads are displayed when a user performs a keyword search that is relevant to your product or service. Advertisers must pay a publisher each time one of your ads are clicked – regardless if they convert or not. Unlike pay-per-lead ads that are powered by proximity, PPC ads leverage keywords to determine what type of ad will be served during a user’s search.

Types of PPC Ads

Google Ads is one of the most popular types of pay-per-click advertisements used by marketers and advertisers today. This could possibly be due to the variety of PPC ads to choose from.

Below are several types of PPC ad types available and how they work:

Social Ads – This is the most common type of PPC ad. Social ads employ an auction system to determine where each ad will rank in the results section. They are located above and below the organic search results in Google.

Display Ads – This form of pay-per-click advertisement is powered by user interest. Based on information generated from previous searches, advertisements are served to them as they browse the web. Display ads typically have a lower click price than search ads.

Shopping Ads – These ads appear in search engines and contain a title, description, price and an image of the products offered by your business. Given shopping ads are product-driven and not service-based, they are typically preferred by ecommerce businesses.

Instream Ads – These ads can appear before, during, and after a video that is being played. Instream ads can be found in videos on platforms like YouTube, or Facebook.

Gmail Sponsored Ads – These ads are displayed in your Gmail inbox and resemble regular emails. They can be created using Google Ads.

Remarketing Ads – These ads use third-party cookies to serve ads to users who have visited a website prior. Given these are individuals who have already expressed interest in your products or services, remarketing ads help your business remain top-of-mind until these users are ready to convert.

Quality of Leads

Pay-per-click and pay-per-lead are similar in many ways. For starters, both generally have decent lead quality. However, only one of these methods has a system in place that caters to assuring that leads received are relevant to your business, so it won’t impact your bottom line.

Local Services Ads only charge a business for valid leads, or leads that meet the criteria necessary to be considered potential customers. Unlike PPC ads that consider any user that clicks your ad to be a lead, LSAs enable your business to determine what a quality lead is and what it isn’t.

In the case of LSAs, leads that are not in search of local services or that do not live locally will not be considered qualified leads. Once a business reviews its leads and discovers that one or more do not meet the requirements of a valid lead, it can dispute these and possibly receive a credit to its account.

This process changes the game for local businesses everywhere. Not only can you target the right customers at the right place and time, but you also have the freedom to identify which leads are actually worth paying for.

Price

In order to properly calculate your return on investment (ROI), the expenses your business originally allocated must be considered to determine if your efforts were cost-effective.

The average cost of PPC is between $9,000-$10,000 per month. There are several fees that are included in this amount such as a management fee (if you hired a PPC agency to handle it for you) and the cost-per-click (CPC).

To get the most out of Local Services Ads, it is recommended to join the Google Guarantee program and once admitted, this will cost you $50 a month or $600 annually. In addition, LSAs require businesses to pay per valid lead received, which can range anywhere from $6 – $30 per lead.

Pay-Per-Lead vs. Pay-Per-Click

We’ve discussed both, pay-per-lead and pay-per-click, but now it’s time to see how the two models compare to one another. Get a good look at our comparison chart below and see for yourself.

Management

Overall, LSAs are easier to manage than PPC ads. If you are familiar with the world of PPC, it can take a few days or even weeks to set up. However, if you lack experience with PPC campaigns, setting it up can be a major learning curve.

Unlike PPC, the Local Services Ads requires less experience and due to its small but mighty options, it can be rather intuitive.

Optimization

Keywords

One of the biggest differences between the two is the use of keywords. While Local Services Ads generates the keywords for your advertisement, PPC ads allow the user to add in their own desired keywords. This is especially helpful for businesses looking to target long-tail keywords, which generally make up a majority of a company’s keyword searches.

Analytics

Both models have their own unique analytics that a user can review to determine the success of their advertisements. However, when it comes to analytics, PPC offers a wide range of metrics that LSAs do not.

The ability to have greater control over your advertisements also provides an opportunity to optimize your campaigns with the data received and improve results. If this is a must-have for your business, PPC ads would be your best choice.

When to Use One Over The Other

Which would you say is the most important to your business – a click or a lead? It sounds like an easy answer, but the decision isn’t as simple as it seems. The beauty of running PPC ads using something like Google Ads is that it can drive users to a destination to measure their interest and gain valuable information from this interaction that can be used to improve conversions.

However, Local Services Ads can increase exposure by targeting local users and following them throughout their journey to becoming leads.

In other words, these two models can have immense benefits when used together and should not be seen as interchangeable, but instead, perceived as two powerful tools that should be included in your marketing arsenal, and used on a situational basis.

The post Local Services Ads vs. Pay-Per-Click appeared first on DAGMAR.

But when it comes to visibility and credibility, not all LSAs are seen as equal. There are intricate details behind-the-scenes that let Google know it’s safe to boost your advertisement’s visibility in Google during local searches.

With the most important Google Local Services Ads ranking factors in mind, we’ve highlighted some of the best actions you can take to dominate local search results.

Enhance Your Google My Business Profile

Location, Location, Location

Since Local Services Ads are generated based on the information found on your Google profile, correctly providing your location matters. As a result, it is important to make sure both your address on Google My Business and the map pin location for your business on Google Maps are accurate.

Once a user begins their search, your location is one of the most important factors considered when ranking your LSAs. The closer you are the greater your chances of appearing higher in results. This means those extra miles you may have accidentally added could be weighing down your rank.

If it isn’t correct already, update your pin location and update your address immediately.

Add Photos

According to research, businesses with more photos get more clicks, calls and directions requests. The study also discovered that businesses with more than 100 images can receive 520 percent more calls than the average business.

Whether seeing the outside views help customers identify local landmarks or the inside views provide them with a glimpse of the environment, photos help consumers get an idea of what doing business with you might be like.

Manage Your Online Reputation

Get More Five-Star Reviews

Once your listing appears in search results, your star rating will be one of the first things a user will encounter. Given first-impressions are important, that can only mean your review rating can be rather influential to a user’s level of engagement. In fact, a study from Bright Local revealed that review ratings are the biggest driver of clicks in local search results.

Google keeps things like this in mind when determining a company’s eligibility for incentives like the Google Guarantee program.

Respond to Customer Reviews

Generating positive reviews is only part of the task. Responding to customer reviews is another way that the algorithm can work in your favor and boost the visibility of your business in search results. Not only does responding to reviews show a company’s level of commitment, but it is also an indication of great customer service.

According to a study by Gallup, companies that provided an emotional connection with customers outperformed the sales growth of their competitors by 85 percent.

Collect LSA Reviews

Did you know that users can also leave reviews on your LSA ad page? While Google will simply display reviews from your Google My Business profile, generating reviews for your LSA ad page could be beneficial in several other ways in the long run.

Keep Complaints to a Minimum

Negative reviews are one thing, but complaints are another red flag that can concern Google and scare away potential consumers. Unfortunately, if your business has received multiple complaints, it can have a harsh impact on your ranking power.

This is why keeping complaints low is a constant effort that must always be tended to when striving to keep your Local Services Ads at the top of local search results.

Be Responsive

Whether it be reviews or complaints, the more responsive your business appears to its customers, the better. If you were to miss a few calls here and there, it can still negatively impact your response rate, which is something Google considers heavily when ranking your LSAs.

Ensure the Accuracy of All Information Provided

It may sound like no big deal, but S Church St. and Church St. S are considered two completely different addresses in the eyes of Google. Not to mention, adding the incorrect service area can lead to several unwanted fees and broken promises. But not only your address, it’s essential for the business hours to be accurate, as well.

Since the visibility of your Local Services Ads will depend heavily upon if your business is open or closed when the search is conducted, incorrect business hours (including holiday and weekend hours) on your profile are seen as missed opportunities that can be far too damaging to your reputation to ignore.

Invest In Your Business

If you’ve already tried all of the options above, it may be time to take the saying “the best thing money can buy” to an entirely new meaning and start increasing your investment for a greater return. You can achieve this when you:

Bid Higher on Leads

Since Local Services Ads are pay-per-lead, businesses can identify how much it would like to pay weekly for a lead. The more bids made on a lead, the greater value it is determined to have. Similarly, the more a company pays for leads, the greater its chances of having its Local Services Ads move up in local search results.

Get The Google Guarantee Badge

Believe it or not, whether your business has a Google Guarantee badge or not, is a ranking factor that plays into how high your Local Services Ads can appear. Google is the authority in search engines and a certified badge of approval could be just another thing on the list of items you may need to outsmart the algorithm and convert your leads to customers once and for all.

The post Pinpointing Google’s Local Services Ads Ranking Factors appeared first on DAGMAR.