The best way to have a successful pay-per-click campaign is to firstly, clearly define the objectives and goals of the campaign; secondly, establish some effective analytics to accurately track the metrics that matter; and thirdly, separate yourself from the competition – both visually and strategically.

The first two steps seem to be no brainers, and most marketers understand that you both need to know where you are going and know when you get there; however, some marketers still make common mistakes and improperly append URLs for their analytics, or compromise strategies weekly while making erratic changes to campaigns. It is basic business common sense, but marketers still make errors.

But where the majority of marketers fail is in distinguishing themselves from their competitors – either visually or strategically.

Visual differentiation

Take the time to perform a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) of the SERP. Find out who is bidding on those keywords that your are targeting. Sometimes your brick-and-mortar competitors aren’t online – in fact, oftentimes the business competing directly with you in the SERP is only competing online. Sometimes they aren’t even selling the same product or service. Consider the keyword “auto insurance” – the sponsored SERP is comprised of insurance providers, government watchdogs, and independent consumer review agencies. Each business is targeting a unique intent, but they are also targeting the exact same keyword.

As a result of this visual dichotomy, not only are you competing with different behavior intents, but these non-competitive competitors are driving up bid prices and driving down ROI.

The other element to consider is that oftentimes all the sponsored SERP real estate is comprised of the exact same headline (usually the keyword query) and very similar messaging. The net result is that the entire SERP tends to bleed into the background.

As everybody fights for the top sponsored position, no one is focusing on visual contrast and attracting eyes. The real opportunity lies in differentiating yourself from the competitors – for instance, if everybody starts their messaging with the keyword (to utilize hitbolding), choose to end your messaging with keyword instead. The net result is that you can sometimes be in the third position and get more clicks if your ad is visually bolder than the competitive landscape. In some of my personal tests I have driven up CTR by more than 80% just by manipulating the look of an ad.

Competitive Intelligence

If we can agree that sometimes the competition for certain queries is not what you may anticipate, then we can also agree that sometimes you may not inherently know what your real competition is bidding on. In this case, I strongly recommend signing up for a free trial to Adgooroo and using their keyword research tool to cull out your real competitors and find out what keywords they are bidding on. In fact, if you purchase an account, “once AdGooroo discovers these keywords for you, you can add them to your subscription with a few mouse-clicks. Within 24 hours, you’ll then be able to see the most prominent ads for each keyword and incorporate that data into your own search campaigns. And once these keywords have been added to your subscription, new highly-targeted terms will take their place in your next weekly update.”

In addition, you can answer a variety of strategic marketing questions, such
as:


  • Where, when, and how much are my competitors advertising?

  • What new competitors are entering my industry?

  • What new campaigns have my clients, prospects, or competitors launched in the past week?

  • What keywords are my competitors targeting?

  • How am I positioned relative to my competitors on my most profitable keywords?

  • Are any of my competitors making unauthorized use of my trademarks?

  • How have my competitors changed their ad copy over time?

  • How does my campaign compare to my top competitor’s?


Specific features include:

  • Historical archive of competitors’ ads

  • Trademark infringement search

  • Industry map

  • Detailed Keyword map

  • Detailed analysis of competitors’ campaigns

  • Compare two campaigns in a side-by-side fashion

  • Diagnose “unhealthy” keywords and get recommendations on how to correct them.


Learning what keywords your competitors are targeting may be your best source of competitive advantage in online advertising. Advertisers with larger keyword lists win more traffic at a lower cost per visitor than your competition.

Pay-per-click is as much dependent on having the right keyword as it is having the right messaging and standing apart from the competition.