B2B marketers are increasingly embracing online advertising to reach their potential customers. Google Ads can be a powerful B2B marketing tool not only for driving traffic but also for generating leads.
However, it can be a costly endeavour if it is not properly set up and maintained, especially for B2B industries, where cost per click can be particularly high.
To maximise ROI on this channel, it is important to regularly review and analyse key metrics and continuously optimise your campaigns to ensure that you’re making the most of your marketing budget.
The Google Ads platform is complex and can seem overwhelming. With a multitude of metrics available on Google Ads, it can be difficult to know which ones to look at to provide clarity on campaign performance.
At The Lead Agency, we use 7 key metrics to analyse the performance of Google Ads campaigns. We have grouped these metrics into three overall categories:
- Overall Campaign Quality
- Engagement Rates and Conversion Rates
- Cost Metrics
Overall Campaign Quality
Measuring the overall quality of the campaign using CTR, Bounce Rate and Quality Score gives advertisers the opportunity to optimise their campaigns, improve ad positions, reduce costs, and ultimately maximise their return on investment (ROI). The following metrics can be used to enhance the overall Google Ads strategy to achieve greater success.
1. CTR (Click-Through Rate)
One of the most important metrics for measuring the overall quality of the campaign is to examine the Click-Through Rates (CTR) of the campaign overall as well as each Ad Group specifically. A low CTR is an indication that the ad does not match what the audience was looking for. This can mean that the keywords that have been chosen do not align with the searcher’s intent. Alternatively, if keyword intent is not the issue, it is possible that the ad copy fails to capture the searcher’s attention and does not entice them to click.
2. Bounce Rate
Looking at the bounce rate of the landing page is another valuable metric for determining the overall quality of the campaign. If users are quickly leaving the page upon landing on it, this can signify a disconnect between the keyword search intent and the content of the landing page. This typically indicates that the user did not find what they were initially searching for on the page. Alternatively, the design, copy, and CTAs (Call-to-Actions) of the landing page may not be compelling enough to retain the searcher’s attention.
3. Quality Score
Google Ads’ Quality Score is a significant metric as it directly impacts cost-per-click (CPC) and influences ad rank within the Google Ads auction. A higher Quality Score indicates that your keywords and ads are relevant to your customers, which results in higher ad positions and a lower CPC.
Quality Score is a metric that is assigned by Google, and the Search Engine keeps its algorithm for generating the score highly confidential, as such, it can be challenging to influence this metric. However, there are certain factors that are believed to be used in determining these scores, such as the relevance of the ads to the keywords, click-through rates compared to the average, and the overall landing page experience. Ads will receive more quality score points for each metric that surpasses the average.
How to Improve Overall Campaign Quality
The following are some key things to do to improve the overall quality of your campaign and increase your Quality Score:
- Develop ad groups that are both relevant and targeted.
- Consider implementing Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs), which use very tightly related keywords and direct users to a landing page designed specifically for that Keyword.
- Continuously test new ads that align with your keywords, attempting to outperform your current top-performing ad.
- Use phrase and exact match keywords to avoid broad keyword mismatches that may lack the desired level of relevance.
Engagement Rates and Conversion Rates
Engagement and conversion rates give an indication of how effective your ads are in reaching the appropriate audience and driving them to act. A low engagement rate may suggest that your ad lacks relevance to the intended audience, or that it fails to reach them effectively.
4. Engagement Rates
Engagement rates quantify the frequency at which individuals who come across your ad actively engage with it. Google determines the engagement rate by dividing the number of clicks on your ad by the total number of times your ad was displayed (impressions). If the engagement rate on your ads is low, this can indicate that your ad is not relevant to your target audience or that your ad is not getting in front of the right people.
5. Conversion Rates
Conversion Rates gauge the frequency with which individuals who click on your ad successfully accomplish the intended objective. The objective may be making a purchase, making an enquiry, or subscribing to a newsletter. The conversion rate is determined by dividing the number of conversions by the number of clicks on your ad. There are a number of factors that may be impacting your conversion rate, understanding the underlying factors behind the lack of performance is essential.
How can B2B marketers Improve Engagement and Conversion Rate
Several strategies that can be used to enhance both engagement and conversion rates are similar to those mentioned above for improving overall campaign quality. This correlation is due to the way Google calculates Quality Score from engagement and conversion statistics. The following are some of the key strategies for improving conversion rates:
- Develop ad groups that are relevant and tailored to your target audience.
- Craft ads that align closely with your chosen keywords.
- Make use of negative keywords.
- Direct users to landing pages that are highly relevant to your keywords and ads.
- Conduct experiments with diverse ad copy and landing pages to identify optimal combinations for increased performance.
Cost Metrics
Examining cost metrics, such as Cost per Acquisition (CPA) and Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) is crucial for assessing the financial performance and effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. These metrics allow advertisers to identify areas where advertising spend may be inefficient or where adjustments can be made to improve cost-effectiveness. They can help advertisers to determine which campaigns, ad groups, and keywords are delivering the highest return on investment so that budget can be prioritised towards campaigns that are performing better to maximise the impact of your advertising budget.
6. CPA
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is a straightforward metric that quantifies the amount spent on Google Ads divided by the number of conversions obtained. This metric serves as a direct measure of the effectiveness of your campaigns in generating customers or leads, and at what cost.
7. ROAS
Return on ad spend (ROAS) takes the CPA evaluation a step further by considering the monetary value of the sales generated through Google Ads. This metric not only shows the number of transactions from the campaign, but also provides insights into the worth of those transactions. To access this metric within Google Ads, dynamic revenue tracking must be enabled. ROAS calculations hold particular importance when the products or services advertised have varying price points.
How to Lower CPA & Increase ROAS
To decrease your Cost per Acquisition (CPA) and increase your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), there are several actions you can take. These include:
- Lowering bids to reduce the cost of each click. Note that this enables more efficient spending of a limited budget, but it may also lead to decreased traffic levels.
- Analysing demographic targeting to identify the rate at which certain customer segments convert. This can help to identify the demographic segments that may need to be excluded, or have their bids adjusted accordingly.
- Similar to analysing demographic targeting, looking at geographic data can help inform which locations to prioritise.
- Scheduling ads for peak performance days and times. This should typically, align with business hours.
- Prioritising campaigns with higher Average Order Value (AOV).
- Leveraging automated bidding strategies such as Maximise Conversions or Target CPA. Running experiments alongside your original campaign for a few weeks and comparing results will help determine if automated bidding is beneficial for the campaign.
Discuss your B2B Google Ads Performance with the Experts
At The Lead Agency, we are an expert B2B Google Ads agency. We have worked with various industries across the B2B sector including manufacturing, IT, education, financial services and law firms. If you want to develop an effective B2B Google Ads strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team today.
