How To Lower Average Cost Per Click
Average cost-per-click (CPC) is the talk of the town – the lower the CPC, the more clicks you can fit into your budget.
Several questions have been asked about how to lower average CPCs. Today’s Ask An SEO comes from two readers, Muhammad and Raghvendra, asking the following two questions:
1. How can we reduce our keyword CPC? The keyword triggers at $15, but I have a low monthly budget. Can you please explain to me how to control CPC?
2. How can we lower the average CPC of keywords? For example, “Interior Design Institute” CPC is Rs.71, but I am getting an average CPC of Rs.102 in my search campaign.
This post examines strategies for lowering average CPCs and evaluating average CPCs.
How to lower average CPCs
Remember that an auction dictates the average CPC.
The price you pay is a direct result of what you and your competitors are willing to offer.
The most direct way to control your bids is to bid manually. However, doing so will lose the 60+ signals that go into auto bidding.
Instead, consider opting for different variations of keywords. This may mean bidding on “lawyer” vs. “lawyer”. It can also mean bidding on spelling mistakes.
A typical budget buster bids on the same concepts across multiple campaigns or ad groups. Before you bid on an idea, make sure that you are not participating in the same auctions with this concept.
For example, if you bid on the keyword “dog walkers near me” in a Boston-targeted campaign and a New York-targeted campaign, you wouldn’t inflate your auction price.
Providing this keyword concept targeting exact location would result in duplicates. Duplicate keywords increase average CPC.
Why are some average CPCs so high?
Some industries have higher average CPCs due to the services offered. Location and cost of living can also affect CPCs.
It’s important to set realistic expectations for the average CPC.
Too low, and your budget is not enough to get a decent ROI (return on investment) from your marketing. Too high and you will allow your campaigns to become complacent.
As more accounts switch to automatic bidding, it’s imperative to build new campaigns ahead of time to find your keyword champion.
Sometimes it makes sense to go for more expensive keywords because they represent more value.
For example, investing makes sense when you know that your best customers search a certain way and transact at a certain time.
On the other hand, cheap clicks for the sake of cheap clicks could clog budgets and leave you running out of fuel for those high-quality prospects.
Balance efficiency with pragmatism and your account will perform well.
Last takeaways
The most important factor that contributes to higher CPCs is competition.
Make sure you’re not accidentally bidding against yourself and set reasonable expectations for keyword concepts’ competitiveness/value.
Do you have a question about PPC? Submit them using this form or tweet me @navahf using the hashtag #AskPPC. I’ll see you next month!
More resources:
Featured image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal