How much did you spend generating leads using Google Ads last year? What was your Cost Per Lead? In 2021, you can slash your Cost Per Lead in Google with these 7 tips.
Crush Click Fraud
Click fraud is infuriating. Unethical operators clicking on your ads and wasting your budget.
Though Google is pretty good at identifying low-level fraud from competitors who are randomly clicking on your ads, it is possible to get around their fraud filters and eat up your campaign budget.
In high-risk categories like Plumbing and Electrical, it might be necessary to block people from seeing your ads after they have clicked on your ads just once. That means they get to click on an ad of yours only once and then are blocked for some period of time. This can be a very effective way to beat fraudsters and drive down your Cost Per Lead.
Explode Your Conversion Rate
What percentage of visitors to your website make an enquiry?
This is known as “conversion rate”. Your website conversion rate is the big lever in your marketing program. A much higher conversion rate can change the course of your business by delivering many more leads and sales at no extra cost. For many service businesses, a doubling of conversion rate is very achievable.
The higher you can get your website’s conversion rate, the lower your cost per lead. If you double your conversion rate, then you will halve your cost per lead.
Discount Your Bid
In Google Ads, your “bid” is the price you are willing to pay Google for someone to click on your ad and visit your website.
If you decrease your bid, you will pay less to Google for each ad click. This leads directly to a lower Cost Per Lead.
However, decreasing your bid on a keyword is a fine science; though it will reduce your cost-per-click, it can also cause a fall in your total number of leads.
Boost Your Quality Score
Your Quality Score is a rating out of 10 that Google gives to every keyword in your account. The higher your Quality Score, the less you will pay to Google.
Your can increase your Quality Score in three ways:
- Ad Relevance – your ad needs to be super relevant to the intent of the searcher
- Expected CTR – ads with a higher than expected click-through-rate are rewarded with a higher score
- Landing Page Quality – ads that deliver users to a landing page that solves their problem are rewarded
Keywords with a Quality Score of 7/10 or higher will help reduce your cost-per-click which will also reduce your Cost Per Lead.
Terminate Wasted Spend
Your Google ads budget is limited and cannot be wasted on users who will never convert.
Common sources of wasted spend include:
- Showing ads to people outside your service area.
- Showing ads when people search for your competitors.
- Showing ads for irrelevant keywords.
By eliminating wasted spend you free up budget for those keywords that are likely to convert. This will produce a lower Cost Per Lead.
Cull the Under-Performers
If a keyword is continually under-performing it is a good idea to cut your losses and pause it.
This will free up budget for your best performing keywords and further bring down your Cost Per Lead.
Retreat to Off-Peak Bidding
In your market there are certain times that are far more busy than others. It is usually at these times that you and your competition are going your hardest with Google ads. That means you are all bidding each other up and driving everyone’s costs higher. The only winner at these times is Google.
It may be sensible to drop out of these high cost periods. Rather than splurge your limited budget on high cost leads, you can hold your budget for those off-peak times when competition is lighter and costs are lower.
Now is the time to slash your Cost Per Lead from Google ads. Implement these tips and enjoy the extra profit.
This post was written by Darren Urqhart, founder of Rise Local.