We audit a lot of PPC accounts. An unsettling number. And the single most common phrase we hear from business owners is "it's just not really working for us". What they mean, almost always, is that someone set it up in 2021 and nobody has touched it with any strategic intent since. Let's talk about how to actually make PPC pay.
ROI Starts With Knowing What a Customer Is Worth
You cannot calculate return on investment if you don't know the value of a conversion. "A lead" isn't a number. "A lead worth an average of 340 pounds over twelve months" is a number. Start there or don't start.
Structure Your Account Like a Human Designed It
Most underperforming accounts are structural disasters. One campaign, one ad group, forty unrelated keywords, two ads written in 2019. No wonder it doesn't work. Proper structure separates themes, matches ads to tightly grouped keywords, and lets you actually analyse what's happening.
- Theme-based campaigns: One campaign per service or product line, not one for everything.
- Tight ad groups: Five to fifteen closely related keywords, not fifty loosely related ones.
- Multiple ad variants: Always be testing. Two variants minimum, three preferred.
Match Types Still Matter
Google would quite like you to use broad match for everything, because it makes them more money. Funny, that. Phrase and exact match remain the adults in the room for most accounts. Start tight, loosen carefully, monitor search terms weekly.
Negative Keywords: Where the Money Is Saved
Every account we take over has a negative keyword list that's either empty or comically thin. Meanwhile, the account is paying for clicks on "free", "jobs", "DIY" and "tutorial". Pulling weeds is half the gardening job. Same applies here.
Landing Page Relevance Kills or Makes You
Google's Quality Score rewards ads that send users to relevant, fast, useful pages. Higher Quality Score equals lower cost per click equals better ROI. The loop is simple. A mediocre landing page is a tax you pay on every click, forever.
Bid Strategy: Smart Bidding Is Not a Magic Button
Target CPA and Target ROAS are powerful, when fed proper conversion data. Switch them on with dodgy tracking and they will optimise towards nothing and burn your budget doing it. This is the single biggest mistake we see. Get tracking right, then automate. Not before. Our paid media team spends at least a week on tracking alone for every new account.
Remarketing: The Cheapest Conversions You'll Ever Buy
Someone visited your site, didn't convert, and left. Of course they did, they're busy. Remarketing gently reminds them you exist, often at a fraction of the cost of a fresh click. Every serious PPC strategy includes it.
Think Your PPC Is Leaving Money on the Table?
It probably is. We will audit your account and tell you exactly where, with numbers, for free.
Book Your PPC AuditPPC ROI is not mysterious. It's structure, tracking, relevance, and obsessive iteration. Campaigns that tick all four boxes print money. Campaigns that don't, don't. Figure out which camp yours is in, and if the answer makes you wince a bit, do something about it before the next quarter's budget meeting.
