Per click campaigns (PPC) in Google Adwords are the most effective way to obtain leads in a short time, so it is very common for the competition to be quite tough in some market segments. To invest strategically, you need to do a preliminary investigation of the actions of your competition. But how to do it? We explain it to you below:

How to analyze the PPC strategies of the competition?

To recognize your competition, the first thing you have to do is search Google for the keywords that define your business. If you don’t know what they are, we recommend reading our guide on how to do keyword research.

The first thing the search engine shows are paid ads (if any). You should focus on them. It recognizes the following characteristics:

• What types of ads do they use? 
• What keywords are they investing in?
• During which months do they invest the most?
• How are your ads?
• What elements do they include on their landing pages?
• Are they organically positioned too?
• How does your strategy work on mobile devices?

7 keys to analyze the PPC strategies of the competition

Type of ad used

There are different types of ads in Google Adwords and it is important to know which one your competition uses to better understand the market you are trying to conquer.

For example, many ecommerce or retail companies opt for shopping ads: as they show images and price of the product, they are more effective for their audience. Others have a better reach with text ads. There are even cases where they invest much more in display. 

Discover the keywords your competition uses

The next step is to discover which keywords other companies and brands on the market use for their Google Adwords campaigns. There are tools to help you with this research, such as Serpstat, Semrush, and Ahrefs. 

Do not focus only on transactional keywords, but also on organic ones. Then evaluate the profitability of each term for your business.

Be careful with seasonal investment

One factor that you must take into account is at what times of the year they use certain keywords. This will allow you to understand in which periods the investment is more profitable. 

Programs like Semrush show you your ad history, so you can check which months are busiest for your niche and which ones have the least activity. So you can decide in which periods to increase and / or decrease the investment. 

Analyze your competitor’s ads 

Now that you know which ad is best for you, which keywords are more profitable and in which periods it is better to invest, it is time to analyze how your competition advertises itself: what titles do they use? How are their copies? do they respond? 

You can see all these elements with a glance at the results page (although some SEO tools also allow you to see this data in greater detail). Use this for inspiration or find weaknesses. So you can create successful ads.

Landing Page Assessment

Another detail that you cannot overlook are the landing pages of your competition. Where do the users who click on the ads go? What information do they receive that encourages them to become a lead? 

Check the web structure of your competitors, what images they use, what is their value offer. These details will help you add value to your proposal. 

SEO positioning

When conducting your research, consider whether your competition is also ranking in organic results. We explain why.

Organic results typically generate a higher click-through rate than ads. And if other domains are positioned for the keywords that you will use in your campaigns, it is very likely that you will not generate the expected attraction. 

Given this scenario, it is important that your PPC strategy is accompanied by SEO actions that build your long-term positioning.

Mobile strategy

Last but most importantly, check out how your ads look from mobile devices. Remember that most users carry out their searches from their smartphone, a strategy that is not responsive would lose many sales opportunities.

Keys to a good analysis

Unlike SEO, which adds leads without investment, the effectiveness of Google Adwords campaigns depends mainly on the return (ROI) they generate. So a good analysis is essential for your strategy to work and you can take full advantage of the benefits of this platform. Some details that you should take into account are the following:

Evaluate the budget

If this is the first time that you will activate a campaign for your business or company, we recommend that you start with a minimum budget. Test how the market reacts before increasing the investment, analyze which keywords attract you the most clicks and which ones are better to remove from the campaign. 

Optimizations can be daily, weekly or monthly, it all depends on your market segment. The important thing is to improve performance as much as possible.

Remember: the important thing is not to have thousands of impressions, but to reach the right audience. It is better to reach 100 people and have them buy 10 from you, than to have thousands of impressions and your transaction percentage does not exceed 2%.

Select a good mix of Keywords

We have always divided keywords into two large groups: transactional (used to buy a product or hire a service) and informational. However, there are also mixed keywords, which have a bit of both worlds and work very well when used strategically. 

A solid PPC strategy in Google Adwords must gather a good mix of keywords: aim not only at the conventional keywords of the sector. It is important to test what works and what does not work, week by week, to refine your selection of terms.

Do A / B tests

A tip that can help you optimize your strategy is to apply A / B tests in your campaigns. Create two ad sets that lead to the same landing page and see which one consumed the budget the best. This will serve to perfect your investment.

Optimize your landing page

It never hurts to mention how important it is to have a landing page with an excellent user experience. Ads can attract hundreds of people interested in buying, but if the web page that receives them is slow to load, does not have a value offer, is not responsive and is generally not attractive, you will lose most of the opportunities.