
Google Ads is a well known digital advertising strategy. A strategy that is not as familiar to people however is conversion rate optimisation. When you combine the two of them you can create a powerful lead generating machine. Let’s look into the details.
How Google Ads works
Google Ads, often referred to as PPC, is a paid advertising platform that allows businesses to target specific search terms and display ads across Google’s vast network. It’s a popular way for businesses to reach their audience quickly. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, which makes it a cost effective option if managed well. However, even though Google Ads can drive traffic, not all traffic will convert into leads or sales. This is where CRO comes in. Getting people to your site is only half the battle. You need to ensure your landing pages and overall site experience are optimised to turn that traffic into conversions.
What is conversion rate optimisation
CRO is the process of improving your website or landing pages to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action. This could be filling out a form, purchasing a product, or signing up for a newsletter. Essentially, CRO is about making your site as effective as possible at turning traffic into leads or sales.
CRO involves analysing how users interact with your website, identifying barriers to conversion, and testing different variations to see what works best. Some common techniques include simplifying forms, improving page load times, and adjusting the design or layout to make key information more accessible.
One crucial part of CRO is A/B testing. This allows you to test different versions of a web page or element to see which one performs better. For example, you might test two different call-to-action buttons to see which one gets more clicks. By continuously testing and refining your website, you can gradually improve your conversion rates.
While SEO consultants can help bring organic traffic in and PPC agencies can drive paid traffic, neither ensures that the traffic will convert. CRO specialists are tasked with making sure the visitors who land on your site are more likely to complete the action you want them to.
How you can use Google Ads and CRO together
The real magic happens when you combine Google Ads and CRO into one unified strategy. Each tool is powerful on its own, but together they can create a feedback loop that drives even better results. Here’s how you can leverage them in tandem.
- Optimising your ad spend
When you’re running a PPC campaign, you’re paying for every click. Naturally, you want as many of those clicks as possible to convert into sales or leads. By implementing CRO strategies on your landing pages, you increase the chances that each visitor will take action. This means you’ll get a better return on your ad spend since more of your clicks will result in conversions.
- Improving ad relevance
One of the keys to a successful Google Ads campaign is ensuring your ads are highly relevant to the audience and search terms you’re targeting. If your landing page doesn’t match the promise of your ad, visitors may leave quickly. By using CRO techniques like ensuring message match (where the ad’s headline closely matches the landing page headline), you create a more seamless user experience. This not only helps with conversion but can also improve your Quality Score within Google Ads, potentially lowering your cost per click. This can also help with SEO as dwell time and the percentage of clicks that bounce back to results is thought to be an SEO ranking factor.
- Continuous learning and testing
CRO thrives on testing, but so does PPC. Google Ads campaigns benefit greatly from regular adjustments to keywords, bids, and targeting. Meanwhile, CRO focuses on testing elements of your landing pages. When these two processes work together, you have a system where insights from one can feed into the other. For example, if you discover through CRO that a particular headline increases conversions, you might want to incorporate similar phrasing into your Google Ads text.
- Maximising user data
Google Ads provides a wealth of data on how people are finding and interacting with your ads. By integrating this with CRO tools, you can dig deeper into user behaviour once they land on your site. For instance, you might find that certain demographics respond better to different types of content or design layouts. This can help you refine both your ad targeting and your website to cater to your audience more effectively.
- Scaling with confidence
Once your PPC campaigns and landing pages are well optimised, you’ll have the confidence to scale up your efforts. With CRO in place, you’re not just throwing more money at ads hoping for better results. You’re investing in a system that has been refined and tested. This means that when you increase your PPC budget, you can do so knowing that your landing pages are equipped to handle the increased traffic and convert more visitors into leads or sales.
Final thoughts
If you’ve only been using PPC without CRO, you’re leaving money on the table. On the flip side, if you’ve been focusing on CRO without driving enough traffic, you might be missing out on potential leads. The most successful campaigns are those that harness the strengths of both strategies.
The key to success is a mindset of continuous improvement. By regularly testing, learning, and adapting, you’ll create a system that consistently drives leads, sales, and growth. Google Ads brings them in, and CRO makes sure they stay and take action. It’s a winning combination.