Obtain a Higher CTR to Flourish in Adwords

• September 3, 2014
• Adwords

Click through rate or CTR is the key to success in Adwords. When you achieve an above average click through rate when compared to your competitors, amazing things in your account will start to happen.

Google only shows you in the auctions that you’re eligible for. So what does that mean exactly? Well Google is going to show the best ads that get clicks, that’s how they make their money. Therefore, when a user performs a search the best ads are going to be served. The better your CTR compared to the average, the more likely your ad will be served in the auction due to its potential to generate a click.

It’s not to say that you won’t get ad impressions with a low CTR because you will. You just won’t get as many as you could be. That is unless you’re seriously outbidding the competition. The problem with outbidding the competition is that you will end up overpaying for clicks. Typically, you want to maximize your budget and get the most relevant clicks for the least amount of money. The lower your CTR is, the more you are going to pay per click.  Google rewards advertisers with a discounted CPC when an ad has an above average CTR.

So How Do You Increase CTR?

There are a variety of ways to increase CTR but there’s no one solution. Every Account, campaign, and adgroup could use a different tactic to increase CTR. Everyone is in different phase of optimization therefore consider these 4 basics:

1. Make sure the keywords in each adgroup are tightly themed
2. Use the keywords in your adgroup in your ads.
3. Use sitelinks. They take up real-estate in the SERPs and will help get you in the top 3 positions where click through rate is naturally higher.
4. Always test new ads in high volume adgroups

You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned anything for Bing Ads. That’s because the same strategy or tactics used in Adwords typically works with Bing Ads. While Bing is not as complex as Google they want your ads to get clicked too.

Continue testing your ads and you will eventually find a winner. Obtaining a higher CTR should be apart of your daily/weekly account optimization strategy.