Tackling paid search advertising isn’t an easy feat – keyword research, creating ad copy, determining negative keywords, setting up audience targeting, etc. It’s especially difficult if you’re running a one-man show and trying to figure out why your campaign isn’t converting. With so many moving parts, how can you pin point what went wrong in your campaign? And better yet, how can you increase your conversions?
Rather than speaking in hypotheticals, let’s illustrate how our client, HZ Plastic Surgery, cut their paid search budget in half and increased their conversions by 37%.
HZ Plastic Surgery’s AdWords Campaign Before Adjustments
In December 2016, our client allocated $3,039.93 to their “Plastic Surgery” campaign that targeted users searching for a qualified plastic surgeon in the Orlando area. They received 16 conversions resulting in a 2.81% conversion rate. Unfortunately, they needed to scale back their paid search budget by slashing their funds in half. Our marketing team expected to see a substantial drop in their conversions, but we knew if we spent the time optimizing their account that these conversions wouldn’t be gone for long.
HZ Plastic Surgery’s AdWords Campaign Optimizations
Our marketing team got to work fine tuning HZ’s account in order to make every click truly count. We began by making the following changes:
Search Query Deep Dive
We began by truly diving into the search queries that were leading patients to our ads. We soon realized patients were searching for procedures that HZ Plastic Surgery didn’t offer, international plastic surgery options, general questions about surgery like, “Can I breast feed after a breast augmentation?”, etc. Once we did a deep dive into their search query history, we implemented hundreds of negative keywords to ensure our clicks were truly qualified.
Eliminating Ads That Aren't Cutting It
We reviewed the running ads – which ads are converting? Which ads are not converting? Why? Then we began creating new ads using the techniques/tactics we used in the successful ads. This eliminated wasteful impressions on ads that simply were not cutting it.
Duplicating Keyword Success
Next, our team paused all of the keywords that simply were not attracting the right leads. If they had low CTRs, we paused the keyword. If a keyword had high click through rates, we searched that exact keyword in our SEO/paid search platform, SEMrush, to find similar queries in order to add to our campaign.
Heat Mapping Our Landing Pages
We used a heat map tool on our landing page to determine where users were clicking. It was apparent that our CTAs were not garnering the attention we hoped, so we tested out new copy in hopes of pushing conversions.
HZ Plastic Surgery’s AdWords Campaign After Adjustments
Fortunately, our hard work and optimizations truly paid off. Two months after HZ Plastic Surgery cut their AdWords budget in half, we saw a 37.5% spike in their conversions! In March 2016, our client allocated $1,519.98 to their “Plastic Surgery” campaign and received 22 conversions, resulting in a 7.10% conversion rate.
If you’re in need of paid search advertising assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out to our qualified team at Atlantic Health Solutions. Our team can work wonders with your AdWords account – all you have to do is ask. Schedule your free consultation with our Director of Marketing, Sara McFarland.
Morgan Rudd
Creative Marketing Manager
Morgan is the head of our Paid Search Management and Graphic Design departments at Atlantic Health Solutions, a boutique healthcare marketing agency specializing in digital and creative marketing.