Struggling to Optimize My Ad Spend – Need Help with Campaign Strategy

[kylewilliam]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been running Google Ads for a while now but haven’t seen the kind of ROI I was hoping for. I think my targeting and bidding strategies might be off, but I’m not entirely sure where to start fixing things.

I’ve read a bit about PPC management and how it can significantly improve performance, but I’m not sure if I should hire someone or learn it myself. Has anyone here had success managing their PPC campaigns effectively?

What tools or strategies would you recommend to get better results?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CarlAutofusion]

Without good data, its' hard to make decisions that maximize ROI. Make sure all your data is there. Are you tracking all your leads (including phone calls, chats, sms, etc)? If not, you should. Then make sure they are making it into Google Ads. This will allow you to funnel your $$$ to your best performing campaigns.

PMax campaigns are probably one of the better performing campaign types right now, especially if you add in Vehicle Listing Ads but its' easier to spend a ton there and some mistakes can be costly. Start small, learn, optimize then spend more.

 

[kylewilliam]

Without good data, its' hard to make decisions that maximize ROI. Make sure all your data is there. Are you tracking all your leads (including phone calls, chats, sms, etc)? If not, you should. Then make sure they are making it into Google Ads. This will allow you to funnel your $$$ to your best performing campaigns.

PMax campaigns are probably one of the better performing campaign types right now, especially if you add in Vehicle Listing Ads but its' easier to spend a ton there and some mistakes can be costly. Start small, learn, optimize then spend more.

thank you for your suggestion

 

[DjSec]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been running Google Ads for a while now but haven’t seen the kind of ROI I was hoping for. I think my targeting and bidding strategies might be off, but I’m not entirely sure where to start fixing things.

I’ve read a bit about PPC management and how it can significantly improve performance, but I’m not sure if I should hire someone or learn it myself. Has anyone here had success managing their PPC campaigns effectively?

What tools or strategies would you recommend to get better results?

Thanks in advance!

To add to what Carl was saying:

You might also want to consider building dedicated landing pages for each major keyword set or campaign theme.

This does two things:

1. Improves relevance: When your landing page matches the user's search intent, Google gives you a better Quality Score, which can lower your cost per click.
2. Increases conversion rates: If someone searches for "used Toyota Camry near me" and lands on a page about Camrys, they're far more likely to take action than if they land on a generic homepage or SRP (search results page).

This also makes it easier to track which keyword or campaign brought in which lead.

And from there you can start split testing different messages, calls to action, and inventory layouts to see what works best.

 

[CarlAutofusion]

DjSec is right on point here. A good landing page makes a huge difference. Think about it. You paid for that person to click on your ad and now they're on the website. You want to maximize the chances of converting that visitor into a customer. If you advertise a special lease rate, a landing page that goes into more details on the special lease, along with matches in inventory will outperform landing that visitor on the homepage or even on your SRP.

 

[itsfurqanhaider]

Can we see your landing page?

 

[CarlAutofusion]

Here is an example of a landing page we use on Google's Vehicle Ads. We created a separate set of VDPs that are optimized for Vehicle Ads. They generate more leads and visitors are more engaged.


It was a whole process to A/B test and come up with these landing pages. We initially noticed the normal VDPs had a high bounce rate when coming from Google's Vehicle Ads. When we looked into the analytics, we saw that a high percentage of users that stayed scrolled down and clicked on a similar vehicle. So initially, we expanded that section from showing 3 vehicles to 6 vehicles.
Somewhere down the line, we added a link to the SRP. More people stayed and shopped.
We went crazy and expanded that section again to 12 and a little more people stayed.
We then decided to redesign the VDP and create a separate VDP just for VLA. Through several more iterations, that screenshot is where we're at now.
We did a case study with another dealer group and they saw an overall increase of 59% more leads, 122% increase in engagement and a 36% decrease in bounce rate.
This is all due to changing the landing page. Same spend and more leads.
You can carry this same process to all campaigns, even monthly offer campaigns.

 

[jackie_studor]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been running Google Ads for a while now but haven’t seen the kind of ROI I was hoping for. I think my targeting and bidding strategies might be off, but I’m not entirely sure where to start fixing things.

I’ve read a bit about PPC management and how it can significantly improve performance, but I’m not sure if I should hire someone or learn it myself. Has anyone here had success managing their PPC campaigns effectively?

What tools or strategies would you recommend to get better results?

Thanks in advance!

When you say you're not getting the ROI you're hoping for - are you just not seeing the conversion counts (form submissions/calls) you're hoping to see?


Can you speak to your campaign mix/strategy a bit? I'm sure if everyone had a little bit of info, they could better guide you toward where to start fixing things.

A few practical tips for dealerships in particular:
- Vehicle Listing Ads (VLA Ads) are typically the best bang for your buck in terms of lead quality and volume, with Search closely behind

- Use mostly exact match or phrase match keywords in your targeting and hawk your search terms reports to weed out irrelevant queries

- Be cautious with Performance Max - it can yield a lot of conversions, but Google can very quickly eat up your budget on branded queries and competitors names you otherwise would not want to spend budget on

- Make sure you have all your basic settings dialed in: like making sure your location targeting is set to target people in your location vs. people interested in your location, don't allow Google to serve on Search Partners, double check frequency caps with display/video

- Many people set up their campaigns to maximize conversions, but they'd be better off using maximize click strategies in Search to better control the cost/conversion and CPC


Learning PPC is a pretty large time investment and if you have other responsibilities in the dealership, you'd probably be better off choosing a solid vendor. If your group has multiple rooftops, there's probably a tipping point where an in-house person would yield you better results and be a similar cost to management fees for several dealerships.

At the end of the day, you need to keep in mind that Google's #1 priority is to make money for Google. Google Ads is designed in a way that makes it very possible to endlessly spend and increase your budget. The more you know about campaign management the better, even if to just better manage your relationship with your agency to hold them accountable and to provide good feedback and direction.