Are You Performing Competitor PPC Research Correctly?
Clement Foo
Senior Digital Content Manager
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. It allows them to reach a wider audience, target specific demographics, and track the success of their campaigns. However, in order to truly make the most of PPC advertising, it’s important to also perform competitor research. This can help you understand what’s working (and not working) for your competitors, and how you can improve your own campaigns.
Why Perform Competitor PPC Research?
There are several reasons why you should perform competitor PPC research. Here are just a few:
- Understand the market: By researching your competitors’ PPC campaigns, you can get a better understanding of the market you’re operating in. This can help you identify trends, see what types of ads are performing well, and get a sense of what your target audience is looking for.
- Improve your own campaigns: By analyzing your competitors’ campaigns, you can identify areas where they’re excelling and areas where they’re falling short. This can give you ideas for how to improve your own campaigns and make them more effective.
- Stay ahead of the competition: By keeping an eye on your competitors’ campaigns, you can stay ahead of the curve and respond quickly to any changes they make. This can help you stay competitive and ensure that your campaigns are always up-to-date.
How to Perform Competitor PPC Research
Now that you know why it’s important to perform competitor PPC research, let’s take a look at how to do it. Here are a few tips:
- Use PPC research tools: There are a variety of PPC research tools available, such as SEMrush and SpyFu. These tools can provide you with a wealth of information on your competitors’ campaigns, including keywords they’re targeting, ads they’re running, and more.
- Analyze their ads: Take a close look at the ads your competitors are running. Pay attention to things like the ad copy, the images or videos they’re using, and the landing pages they’re directing users to. This can give you insight into what’s working for them and what’s not.
- Track their performance: Use PPC research tools to track your competitors’ performance over time. This can help you see how their campaigns are evolving and identify any changes they’re making.
- Check their landing pages: The landing page is the page where users are directed after clicking on an ad. Analyze your competitors’ landing pages to see what type of content they’re using, and how well they are converting visitors into customers.
- Monitor social media and online reviews: Keep an eye on your competitors’ social media accounts, online reviews, and customer feedback. This can give you insight into how they’re interacting with customers, and how they’re addressing any complaints.
- Learn from their mistakes: Look for areas where your competitors are falling short and learn from their mistakes. This can help you avoid making the same mistakes in your own campaigns.
Tips to Enhance your PPC Research
- Use Google Analytics and Search Console to track your own website performance and analyze the behavior of your visitors, this will help you identify what works and what doesn’t.
- Look beyond Google Ads, also research on other platforms like Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.
- Use Google Alerts to monitor any mentions of your competitors and their campaigns.