How to Succeed with PPC Data-Driven Analysis

If you think you’re ready for pay-per-click (PPC) analysis, think again.

Surprisingly, there’s a lot more to a data-driven PPC analysis than what meets the eye. In order to conduct a successful report, there are a series of steps, procedures, and preparations you must take.

You’re in luck. We’ve compiled everything you need to know in a neat and comprehensive mini-guide. Take your PPC advertising to the next level by following these professional instructions.

Preparation for Your PPC Analysis

Before we jump into any sort of analysis, you’ll need to properly prepare yourself and your campaign.

The preparation process will enable you to conduct a stress-free and smooth analysis, with full focus on the aspects that need more attention.

Make Sure You Have the Proper Amount of Data

Before the analysis, make sure you have enough data to draw insights from. This involves gathering enough campaign and ad group performance data. Once you’ve compiled the data, all you need to do is organize and define the metrics and parameters for your goal measurements.

Figure Out What Matters

Your campaign goals are what determine the type of performance analysis you should run.

The goals of your PPC campaign should be:

• Generating leads
• Boosting traffic
• Increasing brand awareness
• Increasing conversions

With these goals in mind, you should consider measuring the most relevant parameters and attributes for analysis. For instance, look for targeting parameters such as device type, demographics, location, time and day of the week.

5 Pay-Per-Click Account Analysis Approaches

After you’ve prepared your analysis plan, it’s time to choose which approach you should take.

Depending on your preferred analysis purpose, you can choose one of the following ways to run a PPC account analysis.

1. Statistical Analysis

This type of PPC analysis requires collecting and observing numeric data in order to draw out specific trends. Statistical analysis belongs in the category of business intelligence (BI).

This type of analysis is used to determine patterns and trends within a structured data set. For instance, statistical analysis can be utilized to determine your performance based on keyword and device type trends, to name a couple.

2. Exploratory (Drilled-Down) Analysis

This type of analysis involves further drilled-down categorized characteristics of a single data set. In other words, it explores the analysis of keyword performance by time, day, device types, etc, even more.

It can also provide a performance analysis of a single metric-based parameter such as call-to-action (CTA), impression share, cost-per-click (CPC), etc.

3. Associative Analysis

The associative analysis involves related attributes and metrics. This is where marketers can gain valuable information.

During this PPC analysis, the user is able to measure the number of clicks by the number of impressions on different keywords, which will boost clickthrough rate (CTR) and conversion rates.

4. Historical Analysis

This type of analysis focuses on determining the patterns and trends of PPC campaign elements, based on their previous performance.

By studying past performance, marketers can effortlessly focus on the best and worst-performing elements and then choose to opt-in or out of those elements in the future.

Furthermore, from analyzing historical data, you can identify negative keywords, which will help you filter out irrelevant traffic to optimize your PPC campaign for better results.

5. Comparative Analysis

The comparative analysis helps in determining the issues based on data comparison over two different time periods.

The current and past period comparison is used to highlight the performance differences of the various metrics. This is essential for determining the issues you’re likely to experience.

The Role of Visualization in PPC analysis

Visualizations are likely the easiest and most effective way of presenting sets of data — they can be in the form of bar charts, line charts, Sankey, funnels, etc.

It’s vital your business come equipped with the means and methods for professional data analysis — especially for large-scale PPC advertising campaigns. Statistical and numerical data tend to be complex and confusing, which can lead marketers to make poor decisions.

By taking advantage of data visualization, marketers can present their findings in a way that stakeholders are able to understand with ease. It’s not only easy to process these charts, but it makes for a more effective and engaging way to professionally capture the sheer magnitude of the results.

PPC Data-Driven Analysis Advantages

Data-driven PPC analysis can help you in many ways, throughout your campaign and marketing duties.

Here are some of the advantages you can enjoy:

• A clear understanding of the trends and patterns in your PPC campaign performance.
• Boosts optimization, which is one of the most important advantages in your pay-per-click campaign.
• Helps maintain your ROI.
• Narrows in on top movers within your campaign.
• Helps you keep up with intense competition.
• Offers insights to encourage you to take action.
• Encourages marketers to redesign or modify your PPC strategy for more profitable outcomes.

PPC Data-Driven Analysis Disadvantages

Data analysis serves up plenty of opportunities for advertisers, however, there are no guarantees of success. In fact, a careless misstep in the wake of data analysis may result in serious losses for your business.

There are a few reasons for this, which highlight the potential drawbacks of PPC data-driven analysis:

• A PPC analysis isn’t a simple task. It involves a deep process, which can be confusing due to the many numbers and metrics from the results.
• Figuring out what metrics should be measured is a crucial step for precise analysis. If you don’t do this, all your efforts come undone.
• While analysis can be extremely beneficial to highlight potential issues in your campaign you should never skip out on updates on market trends. This will leave you behind the competition.

PPC Analysis Gives You Actionable Insights

According to the current market, adaptation is essential in PPC advertising.

Acting on the insights you gain from your professional analysis will help improve your ROI and conversion rate. The trick is to use Pareto’s principle to guide you – data-driven ppc analysis will enable you to spend only 20% of your time on data analysis, and 80% of your time on action.

You can only reap the benefits of PPC analysis if you take the actions required to optimize and strengthen your campaigns. Instead of becoming overwhelmed with the flood of metrics and information, choose to specify which metrics you want to measure and the factors you’re looking to improve.

With PPCexpo insights, wisdom and tools by your side, you’ll be ahead of the game — and will stay ahead.