PPC for Automotive Companies: 7 Tips for Exceptional Campaign Management

PPC advertising is a great way for automotive companies to reach their audiences on search engines like Google and across the web on placements and websites.

Using a wide range of tools on platforms such as Google Ads this is more than possible and allows you to target highly qualified audiences. And many of these will be searching for a provider and you can appear at those crucial moments.

Whether you sell new or used cars or are data and pricing experts for the automotive industry, PPC advertising can help you achieve your goals.

And if you’re already running campaigns for your automotive business, then these seven tips will help you manage them for exceptional results.

 

1. Setup conversion tracking

The first thing to make sure of when managing your PPC ads is that you have set up conversion tracking. Without this, you’ll get little benefit from running PPC campaigns in Google Ads and other platforms.

With the correct tracking in place you’ll be able to see which of your keywords and search terms are driving conversions. And you can remove any that are underperforming and focus on the best performing ones.

You can track calls, lead forms, contact forms, sales and more in your Google Ads account. And all the options are available in the Conversions page under Tools & Settings – and follow the instructions there to set up the most relevant for you.

Also, consider setting up goal tracking in Google Analytics. Visit the Admin page and go to the Goals page and then use one of the templates there to set up your goals. And when that is done you can import them into your Google Ads account for conversion tracking.

 

2. Add new negative keywords

One of the main PPC challenges for automotive companies is getting the right searches for their ads. Many times the searches are too generic and are therefore not relevant, which leads to a low conversion rate.

The solution is to make sure you regularly add new negative keywords to block searches that are not relevant.

Your search terms report under the Keywords tab in your campaign reveals to you the exact searches that you’re getting. And you can select any that are not relevant and add them as negative keywords.

 

3. Check Recommendations

The Recommendations page is packed with insights to improve the performance of your campaigns. There are at least 50 recommendation types which cover areas like keywords, ads, bidding and many more. And each of these is designed to improve your performance based on the machine learning system’s assessment of your campaigns.

But check each of these recommendations to make sure they are relevant. And if any are, then you should apply them and then dismiss those that are not.

And by doing this regularly you will maintain a high Optimisation score and get better recommendations from the system.

 

4. Find new keywords

An effective PPC tactic for automotive companies is to continue to look for new targeted keywords to add. This helps to drive more visitors to the website and potentially more leads, sales or enquiries.

There are many ways to find new keywords to add to your campaigns. One of the main ones is in the Recommendations page as mentioned above. These keyword recommendations are based on the machine learning algorithms findings based on past performance and search history.

Another way to find new keywords is with your Keyword Planner tool in Google Ads. This free tool helps you to carry out some research and shows you what you’re likely to spend per keyword and a forecast to show what budget to set.

And the tool allows you to scan your website or a competitor’s website to find new keywords.

 

5. Update bid strategy

One of the recommendations you are likely to see is to update your bid strategy. The machine learning system in your Google Ads account is always looking for opportunities to improve your campaigns. And seeing that bid setting is one of the most important, it will send you recommendations at different times, to improve this.

For example, if you start with a bid strategy to achieve high click volume like Maximise Clicks, later you’ll get recommendations to change to a conversion-focused bid strategy.

This will only happen of course if you have a consistent number of conversions and the system has found a way to maximise this.

 

6. Do competitor analysis

As an automotive business running PPC campaigns in Google Ads, it’s important that you carry out research into your competitors. This research should reveal the average spend in their campaigns per month and how much they are paying for each keyword click.

The Competitor tool in SE Ranking helps you to carry out this research. And it also shows you the ads that other automotive businesses are using in their PPC campaigns and how they are positioned on average.

Another insight you get from the tool is how your competitors rank in the Organic search results. And that helps you find new keyword opportunities and also helps you to implement an effective search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

 

7. Consider broad match type keywords

If you’re managing your campaigns and are struggling to increase click volume, there are a number of options you can take. You could increase your budgets and get more traffic from existing keywords. But that will only work if your budget is limited and increasing it will lead to more clicks.

Or you could increase your bids and that should increase your ad positions and therefore leader to a higher click through rate (CTR) and more clicks.

Another way to increase click volume is to add broad match type keywords. This match type targets a wider range of searches than phrase and exact match keywords. So it’s a quick way to get more clicks and potentially more conversions.

But you should be careful with broad match because it targets some searches that are not relevant, and you’ll need to add them as negative keywords.

 

Get in Touch

Want to find out about my PPC services for automotive companies? I have experience setting up and managing Google Ads campaigns for IoT businesses and I’d be happy to help. Use the form below to contact me.