“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
Woody Allen
There’s nothin like showin up. I showed up to write this and you showed up to read it.
If great advertising shows up so does sales.
First impressions matter. Impression share matters. That is, impressions that relate to paid search.
In life, business and PPC getting impressions are imperative. For PPC advertising, strong impression share creates success. Weak impression share means little brand awareness, fewer clicks, calls, form fills or sales. Impressions are the starting point of all PPC success.
It’s like the old saying, “Nothing happens until a sale is made.” In digital advertising, nothing happens until your PPC campaigns have strong impression share.
Definition Of Impression Share
Simply put, impression share is the percentage of time your ads show. When relevant searches are made for your product or service specific keywords you want potential customers to see your ads. No impression, no click. Period.
Wordstream defines impression share as “the number of impressions you’ve received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive. Eligibility is based on your current ads’ targeting settings, approval statuses, bids, and Quality Scores.” *
Perfect impression share is 100%. That means your ads are showing every time searches are made in your product category. Ideally, you want your ads to show in at least 75% of relevant searches. The closer to 100% the better off you are. Impression share is a window into the world of where you stand with your PPC competition. For example, if your campaign is receiving 80% of impression share, that means you’re appearing in 8 out of every 10 searches.
Recently I presented at the corporate headquarters of a national home service franchise. My agency has managed PPC campaigns for over two years at one of their larger local franchises. When the corporate marketing director heard that our existing impression share was 98% he was amazed. Not perfect but darn close. This means we were doing a fantastic job of protecting this client’s brand and products against the competition.
The Cost of Impressions
Strong impression share doesn’t just happen. It takes one critical starting point: a strong budget. Without an adequate budget there is no hope in the world your PPC ads will show. You can have the best ad copy, the right keywords, competitive bidding and ad extensions, a high quality score, perfect landing pages and a great website, yet without a competitive budget you’re up a digital creek without a paddle unless that budget supports the impressions you need.
You have to pay to play. Time and time again I see this with some PPC clients. Their impression share gets shot in the foot due to low budget spend. Once we increase their budget, adjust some keyword bids, and improve ad copy often conversions spike because ads are showing 75% plus of the time.
And how do you know your budget range? Research regarding the average cost per click in your keyword category is a great start. Once you know what the average cost per click is within the various keyword categories in your campaigns and their ad groups, you can determine how much your daily spend levels need to be for impression share potency and visibility.
An expert ad agency has the tools and methodology to set your budget. In addition, it takes time plus data plus patience. Usually three to six months of data gives you a good idea what spend levels are needed for success. It does not happen overnight. Patience is key, provided the account is designed properly.
Did you know that impressions are free until your ad is clicked or a call is made? That’s right. Free. So in reality a well-designed account can still get thousands of free impressions. That’s great for brand awareness but clicks are golden because that starts the customer’s journey to what should be a simple yet fantastic landing page. One or two calls to action (CTA), and boom, the lead is generated or the shopping cart transaction is completed.
How To Protect Strong Impression Share
Average position. Once you have an adequate budget and have determined the correct keywords needed, over time bidding on those keywords determines your average position. Ideally, position 1 to 3 is best. The higher the better because appearing at the top of a search page increases both your visibility and click through rate, or your clicks divided into your impressions. Click through rate is also a percentage. Ad Clicks/Impressions=CTR.
Beware Of Jello-O Money To Get Impression Share
Jell-O money is throwing money at an account and hoping it will stick. It doesn’t happen that way. A big budget does not mean big results with Google AdWords or Bing unless the account is structured properly. Build, design, research, time, tracking, and many other factors go into a PPC account.
An expert PPC agencies’ job is to help you spend less but get more results. Built in design efficiencies and monitoring is critical. A good agency is like a force field. It protects you from bad practices that costs your business conversions and revenue.
Make sure your ads show up at the right time, the right place, and for the right customers. When your ads show up success is not far behind.
Contact Atkins Marketing Solutions for Help With a New or Existing PPC Account.
By Stuart Atkins
* https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/28/adwords-impression-share
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