For Great Campaign Results Fix Local PPC Management Mistakes

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising helps local businesses increase online visibility and local traffic to their physical or digital storefronts at a low cost. Geotargeting and local keywords allow companies to target people searching for relevant products and services using PPC. Unfortunately, the complexity of PPC takes time to master. Many first-time PPC users make costly mistakes such as:

• Ignoring location targeting
• Neglecting local keywords
• Inadequate call tracking
• Lack of local ad extensions
• Ignoring local competition
• Neglecting local landing page optimization

Local companies can avoid mistakes and ace PPC marketing with a local PPC management agency. Let’s go!

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Ignoring Location Targeting

Ignoring location targeting is a critical mistake. Your local audience has specific needs and preferences, and without location targeting you cannot tailor your marketing to them.  This risks wasting resources on irrelevant audiences outside their geographic reach. Neglecting location targeting costs you the opportunity to establish a solid local presence, connect with nearby customers, and showcase relevance and availability. The following are effective ways to fix location targeting in local SEO:

• Adjust and refine geo-targeting settings in advertising platforms to ensure that ads are shown explicitly to users within the targeted geographic area.
• Use location-specific keywords throughout the website content, meta tags, and headings to signal relevance to search engines.
• Optimize Google Business Profile (GBP) with accurate location information, business hours, contact details, and relevant categories to improve local visibility.
• Create location-based landing pages for different locations the business serves, optimizing them with local keywords, testimonials from local customers, and location-specific information.
• Encourage local customer reviews on GBP and other relevant platforms, enhancing local credibility and visibility among local searchers.

Finally, tailor a content strategy to address local topics, events, and news relevant to the target geographic area. This demonstrates the business’s involvement in the local community and fosters a stronger connection with local customers. For example, a local pet grooming and supply store can create ads about pet care during the summer months or the prevalence of distemper or parvovirus, informing customers of dangers necessitating immediate vet care services.

Neglecting Local Keywords

Neglecting local keywords hinders a business’s ability to appear prominently in local search results and reach the intended local audience. Location-specific terms and phrases signal relevance to users looking for products or services in their area. Without them, you have decreased visibility and reduced organic traffic. Local keywords effectively communicate the business’s proximity and relevance to the local market. This increases their chances of attracting nearby customers and drives foot traffic to their physical locations. These best practices for using local keywords can help with PPC success:

• Use keyword research tools to identify relevant local PPC keywords specific to the target geographic area, including city names, neighborhood terms, and location-based phrases.
• Optimize landing page content by integrating local keywords naturally throughout the page’s meta tags, headings, and content.
• Create location-specific landing pages for each location the business serves, optimizing them with local keywords, relevant information, and testimonials.
• Ensure GBP is optimized with accurate location information, business hours, contact details, and relevant categories.

Stay updated on local search trends and changes in local user behavior to continuously adapt and refine local PPC keyword strategies, ensuring the ad content remains optimized and aligned with the local audience.

Inadequate Call Tracking

Inadequate call tracking prevents businesses from accurately measuring the effectiveness of their online PPC efforts in driving phone calls and offline conversions. Without comprehensive call tracking, companies could miss valuable data to inform decision-making, optimization strategies, and budget allocation for PPC campaigns. Neglecting call tracking risks underestimating how their digital presence affects local customer engagement and missing opportunities to improve their local PPC strategy—fix this mistake using the following strategies:

• Use call tracking software that allows monitoring and analysis of the source of incoming calls. This software traces phone call conversions to specific marketing efforts and analyzes the effectiveness of local SEO campaigns.
• Use dynamic number insertion (DNI) on the website to dynamically display unique phone numbers to visitors based on the traffic source.
• Create dedicated call conversion goals from the analytics platform to track and measure the success of local PPC campaigns in generating phone calls.
• Analyze call data, including call duration, frequency, and location. Use analytics to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences.

Integrate call data with customer relationship management (CRM) software to consolidate customer information and history. This creates a holistic understanding of the customer journey and enables a seamless and personalized experience for the local audience.

Lack of Local Ad Extensions

The lack of local ad extensions limits the ability of businesses to provide essential information, such as location, phone number, and business hours, directly in the search results. This mistake hinders the visibility and appeal of the ads to local customers. Without local ad extensions, businesses miss the opportunity to highlight their proximity and accessibility to the local audience, resulting in decreased click-through rates and diminished engagement with the ad content. Fix this mistake by adding local ad extensions and using these best practices:

• Use location extensions to display the business address, phone number, and a map marker alongside the ad.
• Include call extensions in the ads to encourage users to call the business directly from the search results.
• Use structured snippet extensions to highlight specific aspects of products or services, such as service categories, amenities, or product features.
• Include site link extensions that direct users to specific pages on your website, such as your services, testimonials, or contact page.
• Enable callout extensions to showcase special offers, unique selling points, or critical benefits of choosing the business.

Lastly, test and optimize extensions based on user engagement and conversion data to ensure the overall success of your local PPC campaigns.

Ignoring Local Competition

Overlooking local competition hinders the ability of businesses to understand the unique market landscape, consumer preferences, and competitive strategies within their specific area. Companies might lose valuable insights into successful PPC tactics, key differentiators, and new trends. Ignoring the competition leads to missed opportunities to refine offerings, enhance PPC strategies, and gain a competitive advantage. Monitoring the competition takes experience and knowledge of the local market scene. Here are tactics for local businesses:

• Identify and analyze local competitors’ online presence, PPC strategies, and unique selling points to gain insights into their strengths and weaknesses.
• Track local keyword rankings and search trends related to the industry and location to understand how competitors perform in local search results.
• Optimize business listings on various online directories and review platforms. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews and ratings on GBP.
• Highlight unique value propositions, customer benefits, and specialized services or products through PPC ads, landing pages, social media channels, and marketing materials.

Keep updated with local trends, consumer preferences, and industry developments to stay ahead of the competition and adapt local PPC strategies to the evolving demands of the local customer base.

Neglecting Local Landing Page Optimization

Neglecting local landing page optimization is a critical PPC management mistake. Local landing pages give businesses the chance to showcase their local relevance, unique offerings, and value proposition to potential customers. Without them, it is hard for businesses to provide relevant and tailored information to the local audience. With local landing page optimization, companies can avoid a subpar user experience, decreasing engagement, higher bounce rates, and lower local search rankings. Optimize your local landing page to draw your customers in. Here are some practical ways to do it:

• Naturally insert local keywords throughout your landing page content, headings, and meta tags to enhance the page’s visibility and relevance for local search queries.
• Optimize meta tags that incorporate local keywords and accurately represent the content on the landing page.
• Include local business information such as the business name, address, phone number, and operating hours to improve local search visibility.
• Tailor landing page content to address the target audience’s local needs, preferences, and concerns, showcasing the local market’s understanding and establishing a stronger connection with local customers.
• Optimize for mobile devices with a responsive design, fast loading times, and user-friendly navigation.

Lastly, include local testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers on the landing page. Testimonials and reviews build trust and credibility among local audiences and demonstrate the business’s reputation and reliability within the local community.

Summing Up

Avoiding or fixing these local PPC mistakes can help businesses reach their target audience more effectively. They can deliver information, provide relevant products or services, and establish themselves as an authority in the local area. Prevent these costly PPC mistakes by working with an expert local PPC management agency. Contact Digital Authority Partners today for expert, professional, and effective PPC management.