If you’re looking to take advantage of local PPC for your business but you don’t really know how it works and what it entails, stick with us.
Below, we discuss local PPC management, explain local pay-per-click ads and share the benefits of both.
Table of Contents
What Is Local PPC Management?
PPC management is the process of developing a pay-per-click advertising strategy for your business and managing your ad spend.
Local PPC management is the same thing, but with a focus on your target geographical area.
When implementing paid search advertising, there are two options: you can manage the campaign yourself if you’re skilled enough, or you can hire a dedicated agency that specializes in local business PPC management.
An agency that specializes in paid search advertising has the skills and expertise to develop and execute a successful PPC campaign. They will design your PPC campaign to reach a targeted group of consumers in your local area.
This type of advertising is suitable for all kinds of businesses that rely on the nearest vicinity and community, such as law firms PPC.
Local PPC management includes:
1. Keyword Analysis
Creating local search ads requires local keywords. A company you hire for local PPC management will conduct a keyword analysis to discover keywords to use in the ads. This involves using a local language that speaks to your target audience. It also includes identifying negative keywords or terms that you do not want your business to rank for.
2. Competitor Research
A competitive analysis is crucial for local PPC as it helps reveal the marketing tactics that your competitors use along with methods that work for them. This step also helps uncover the search queries your competitors are using as well as the ones they are overlooking, so you can determine which ones you want to try to rank for.
3. Channel Strategy
Determining which channels you will use for your paid search advertising is also important. For example, you might consider Google Ads, Microsoft Ads (previously Bing Ads) or even social media paid ads, depending on where your target audience spends the most time.
4. Optimizing Ad Spend
At this stage, you optimize your PPC ad spend by segmenting your target audience into categories and determining which ones aren’t likely to convert/click on your ad and make a purchase. For example, if you run a fast-food restaurant, you want to target customers who live close by, since those located far away are unlikely to drive long distances to visit your restaurant.
5. Monitoring
Once your paid search advertising strategy is ready and launched, you need to keep an eye on the results. This includes testing keywords used to see which ones are successful as well as comparing your ad spend with your return on investment (ROI).
Local PPC Management Strategy
- Be Clear on Your Objectives
- Research Your Competition and Target Audience
- Create a List of Local Keywords
- Develop a Powerful Ad Copy
- Localize Landing Pages
- Set Up Ad Groups
- Monitor and Optimize
A local PPC (pay-per-click) campaign doesn’t just become successful overnight. It requires planning, implementation, and monitoring. Here are the steps you need to take to ensure your campaign is a success.
1. Be Clear on Your Objectives
Any effective local ads management starts with planning, which goal setting is a huge part of. Your campaign goals can include increasing sales and leads, boosting website traffic, building brand awareness, and more. Setting these goals first will help you create a strategy that works.
In addition to setting clear objectives, you should also set a budget. The cost of PPC management can vary depending on your company's size, industry, and which agency manages your PPC (pay-per-click) campaign.
2. Research Your Competition and Target Audience
As much as goal setting is important in creating an effective local PPC campaign, so is conducting market research to identify your target audience (and their needs) and your competition (and their strategies that work). Conducting market research will also help you create compelling ads that resonate with your audience.
You can use Google Analytics to gain insight into the behavior and demographics of your website visitors or conduct customer surveys to gather feedback. Additionally, you can analyze the websites of your competitors to understand more about brand messaging and user experience.
3. Create a List of Local Keywords
PPC (pay-per-click) keywords are the words or phrases a company bids on to secure its ad placement on SERPs. Finding the right PPC keywords is crucial in enhancing brand visibility and targeting user intent.
To optimize keywords for local searches, you must specify your location, include keyword modifiers, and focus on industry-specific keywords. You can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Microsoft Keyword Planner Tool to search for the most relevant keywords.
4. Develop a Powerful Ad Copy
Your ad copy should be eye-catching and highlights the unique selling point of your offering. Also, don’t neglect the power of a compelling call to action to increase click-through rates and conversion. Lastly, try to connect with your target audience emotionally and not just get caught up in the factual details.
5. Localize Landing Pages
Optimizing your landing pages for local searches entails aligning them with your ad copy, including a clear call to action, and ensuring that they load quickly and are mobile-friendly. Creating a mobile-friendly landing page is particularly important because the latest statistics show that 58% of global traffic comes from mobile devices, excluding tablets.
6. Set Up Ad Groups
Each campaign consists of several ad groups, which contain one or more ads with similar themes and keywords. You can separate ad groups into different services or products you offer. However, you must ensure that your ad copy, keywords, and landing pages align well.
The benefits of using PPC ad groups include improving the relevance of ads to user search queries, allowing better budget control, and making it easier to optimize local PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns for better performance.
7. Monitor and Optimize
The last step in local ads management, but not the least important, is monitoring and optimizing when necessary. This is an ongoing process that entails analyzing the performance of local ads and adjusting your strategy for better performance.
Conduct conversion tracking to maximize your return on investment, distinguish clicks from conversion, and allocate your budget properly. Google Ads and Google Analytics are two great tools for this.
Here are other things you can do in this step:
- Regularly monitor campaigns
- Conduct A/B testing
- Refine targeting by focusing on specific demographics, locations, or interests
- Use negative keywords to eliminate irrelevant searches
- Adjust your bids based on keyword performance
- Use ad extensions
Benefits of Local Business PPC Management
Putting your local PPC management in the hands of a skilled agency solves that problem. The benefits of hiring a local PPC management agency include:
Save Time
Launching paid search ads might sound like a simple task, but it’s a lot of work to optimize it and see results. It takes time to research keywords and refine your local pay-per-click strategy. Not to mention that it can be overwhelming if you lack the experience to do this.
Hiring an agency for your PPC management leaves you free to focus on other important matters, while experts work to drive results.
Save Money
You may think that handling pay-per-click ads yourself will save you a few bucks. However, it might actually be the opposite.
If you’re new to PPC, the learning curve will take time – so instead of saving money, you will actually be losing potential PPC profit. Paying a local PPC management professional who knows what they’re doing will speed things up so you can start seeing a return on investment sooner.
Launch Targeted Campaigns
Local paid search ads only work if they’re targeted and carefully thought through. There are a lot of elements to consider such as keyword research, identifying negative keywords, running a competitor analysis, knowing your audience and more.
All of this requires skills and experience that expert PPC managers have, so they can set up targeted local PPC campaigns for your business and attract more customers. They will do all the research for you with precision to drive results.
Get Ongoing Tracking and Adjusting
Setting up Google Ads or social media ads is not a one-time thing. Ad campaigns require monitoring, testing, tracking relevant metrics and adjusting the campaign accordingly.
Your local PPC advertising expert will handle all of this, ensuring that your strategy is up-to-date and fruitful.
Expert Insights on Local PPC Management
We asked agency experts: "What is the difference in managing local PPC from the "usual" PPC?"
Avinash Chandra - Branding, Integrated & Digital Marketing consultant and Founder of BrandLoom Consulting:
"Local PPC is like playing chess on your home turf; you know every alley and street corner. It's not just about keywords and bids. It's about deeply understanding local lingo, events, and sentiments. The ads are tailored not just to what people search, but how they live in that area. It's a game of relevance and connection, not just reach and frequency."
Mauricio Luiz Siriguti, Marketing Director and Business Partner at Webegin:
"Everything goes to the local level: geographic area, landing page, keywords, copywriting, and advertising. In other words, it's much more precise, it's a very selected audience while the "usual" PPC is generally broad. You can have more or less possibilities depending on what you choose to do locally vs the "usual" PPC, for instance, one action that is critical to local businesses is to leverage the power of Google My Profile (ex GMB), so you can advertise on Maps."
Paul Bies, President of Mystique Brand Communications:
"Unlike traditional PPC, local PPC focuses on specific areas, reaching local audiences effectively. Tailor strategies to local nuances, ensuring your business stands out where it matters most. Target precisely, use local keywords, optimize Google My Business, and stay mobile-friendly for maximum impact!"
Danielle Denman, Senior PPC Analyst, Small Business Lead at SmartSites:
"Local PPC involves precise geography targeting and while typically costlier, 'near me' searches often yield higher-quality leads and using dynamic location-insertion in ad headlines will help assure your audience that you're local."
Local PPC Management Key Takeaways
Local pay-per-click campaigns can transform your business quickly by getting your brand in front of your local target audience without breaking the bank. The factors that go into designing a local PPC campaign include:
- Keyword analysis
- Competitor analysis
- Finding suitable channels
- Determining which metrics to track
- Monitoring, optimizing and adjusting your campaign
Local PPC management experts conduct thorough research to uncover keywords you want to rank for, set up targeted campaigns and provide continuous tracking and monitoring of the results. Sometimes, in-house teams lack the experience for this task so outsourcing is worth considering.
Local PPC Management FAQ
1. How much does a PPC manager cost?
The average hourly cost of hiring a PPC manager for local ads management ranges from $75 to $200. However, it varies on the experience of the agency, campaign size, company size, business location, and industry.
