When it comes to AdWords, there’s nothing wrong with doing a little investigating of your competition. It might seem like cheating, but it’s an instrumental part of your pay-per-click (PPC) strategy.
The Google Search results page is a highly competitive marketplace, but if you follow these three simple steps, you’ll know how to compete against rival businesses.
Step 1: See what keywords your competitors are using
In AdWords, it’s always a good practice to be familiar with your own account. You should always know your goals and the unique selling points of your particular business, but it never hurts to see what’s going on in your backyard.
Using tools like iSpionage or SpyFu, you can see what keywords the competition is bidding on and how much they’re bidding. This information will help you to see your entire competition’s list of keywords as well as other useful metrics, like cost per click (CPC), daily searches, and average position.
Using this information, you can take competitor’s keywords that are relevant to your campaign and add them to your own. Tools like these will help you to see what the competition’s most profitable keywords are by simply copying and pasting in their URL. This is invaluable for finding proven effective and profitable keywords so you can, in turn, be more aggressive in your keyword bidding and strategies.
Step 2: See if your ads stand out
Spying is also great for seeing what your competitors’ ads look like. To get clicks on your ads, you not only need a high position on the search results page, but you also have to stand out with your ad copy and ad extensions. For your ads to stand out to customers, you should regularly check what ad copy and specials your competitors are using to appeal to customers.
To see how your ads stack up to your competitors, use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool. According to Google, “If you want to see how your ad appears in search results, it’s better to use this tool than to do a search on Google. You’ll see the exact same results as a Google search but you won’t harm your performance by accumulating ad impressions every time you look for your ad.”
To see what ads show up on the Google search results page, simply type one of your top search terms into the Ad Preview tool and set your location. If you’re a Chevrolet dealership, you might search for “chevy dealer” in the Ad Preview tool to not only see if your ad shows up but also to compare your ad to your competition.
In this instance, Action Chevy, a Stream Companies client, stands out over its competition because it’s higher on the page and has more compelling copy and ad extensions.
When your ad stands out, customers are more likely to click on it. This will drive up your click-through rate and, according to Joe Putnam of iSpionage, “If your ad click through rate (CTR) goes up, then your Quality Score goes up, and if your Quality Score goes up, then your cost per click (CPC) goes down, which means your campaign ROI will go up since you’re paying less per click for the same results.”
All of these positive changes in your ads will give your ad more exposure and allow for more conversions and visitors to your website and/or store.
Step 3: See how your competitors convert shoppers
One last benefit to spying on your competition is to see where they’re sending their shoppers after the shoppers click on competitors’ ads. This strategy can give you insights on how your competitors get their shoppers to convert.
If you find that your competition is using a more effective conversion strategy, you can use that strategy to modify your own by changing your destination URL or modifying your landing page. Use tools like iSpionage to capture screenshots of your competitors’ top landing pages, since clicking on your competitors’ ads is a slightly unethical practice.
Spying on your competitors isn’t only informative but also a necessary part of your strategy if you want to stand out Google’s highly competitive search results page. Using tools like Google’s Ad Preview and Diagnosis, iSpionage, and SpyFu will help you to gain a better understanding of your competition so you can stay up-to-date and informed in your digital market.
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