{"id":311,"date":"2023-11-27T12:21:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T12:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7searchppc.com\/blog\/?p=311"},"modified":"2026-04-10T15:06:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:36:47","slug":"costly-ppc-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Triumph in Contentious &#038; Costly PPC Environments?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-black ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#employ-proper-tracking-techniques\" >Employ proper tracking techniques<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#pay-special-attention-to-keyword-matching\" >Pay special attention to Keyword Matching<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#start-with-an-aggressive-negative-keyword-list\" >Start with an aggressive negative keyword list<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#evaluate-the-relevance-of-the-device-for-conversions\" >Evaluate the relevance of the device for conversions<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#how-do-those-users-search\" >How do those users search?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#are-these-users-researching-something-like-high-dollar-software-solutions-on-their-phones\" >Are these users researching something like high-dollar software solutions on their phones?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#employ-remarketing-to-drive-lower-click-costs\" >Employ Remarketing to Drive Lower Click Costs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#use-relevant-audiences-to-ppc-bid\" >Use relevant audiences to PPC bid.<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/costly-ppc-environments\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Developing a marketing mindset and leveraging different tools can help you win in high-cost verticals. You can get started by adopting the following ways mentioned later in this article regarding PPC.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cost per click (CPC)<\/strong> varies widely. You can quickly learn about it by working in different verticals. For example, a CPC for a wedding dress will be different from searches for software services. In general, if advertising doesn\u2019t cost much, the average CPC will be lower.<\/p>\n<p>Wedding dress retailers will max out around the same ranges because their margins aren\u2019t much different from one another; this tends to set the price for a given vertical. Moreover, this creates challenges for instances where CPCs are higher: every click matters, which costs dearly.<\/p>\n<p>Most retailers are willing to pay those costs, either because their product is worth that much, or because they know they will make it back over time because of a customer\u2019s lifetime value. It\u2019s a bit risky some days, but positive ROI doesn\u2019t have to be exclusive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The following steps will help you stand out from your competitors and will result in good ROI:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"employ-proper-tracking-techniques\"><\/span>Employ proper tracking techniques<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It will be helpful if you keep in mind that while working with a high-cost client environment, keep track of the phone calls generated from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/ppc-automation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>PPC ad campaigns<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A feature like call tracking used to seem too complicated for local businesses. It required coding, extra subscription fees, etc., and CPCs were relatively low back in the day, so it didn\u2019t seem worth the hassle.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays, industries like HVAC or lawyers can routinely pay upwards of $100 per click, which means they could lose even more money if they don\u2019t utilize a platform to track phone calls.<\/p>\n<p>Now we can quickly know from where our high-dollar leads are coming from internet searches and taking snapshots.<\/p>\n<p>By employing this technique, we can concentrate our budget on useful and profitable activities rather than spending too much on trivial things.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"pay-special-attention-to-keyword-matching\"><\/span>Pay special attention to Keyword Matching<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>An age-old argument about structuring your account bases itself on the match type of the keywords in each ad group. Should you add all keywords on the exact, phrase, and broad? What is the appropriate way to do it? If there are many ways to structure, how do you choose? These are all questions that need to have definitive answers. Everyone seems to have an opinion on structuring an account \u2013 do this, don\u2019t do that, add this, follow this best practice, etc. But who is right?<\/p>\n<p>Firm evidence lacks for one view or another, but is adding all these match types essential? People don\u2019t know the match types\u2019 differences, when and why to use them. You don\u2019t need to have all three match types for each keyword in an ad group to understand each match type\u2019s fundamentals. It seems unnecessary to add all three match types, and it will be more costly this way in which you structure your account.<\/p>\n<p>Broad match keywords lead to a lot of unwanted traffic, and you end up spending more time adding negatives and fighting with your <strong>low CTRs<\/strong> than you do working on other essential parts of your account.<\/p>\n<p>A good thing about having all three match types is to test each keyword match type against each other to determine which one is cheaper, has a <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/advertisers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">better CTR<\/a><\/b>, and drives more conversions than the others. Usually, through testing, you can evaluate which match types work for you and which ones don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"start-with-an-aggressive-negative-keyword-list\"><\/span>Start with an aggressive negative keyword list<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While this is usually for Broad Match, the more recent issues outlined in the previous section make this even more critical.<\/p>\n<p>With Exact Match taking more liberties than it used to and a lack of transparency about how your keywords will match, establishing negatives out of the gate can help mitigate the impact of these.<\/p>\n<p>One irrelevant click could cost you $100+.<\/p>\n<p>So I use the keyword search in reverse: use it to find terms you don\u2019t want.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, use the <a href=\"https:\/\/ads.google.com\/intl\/en_in\/home\/tools\/keyword-planner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keyword Planner<\/a> to see the related terms that it suggests.<\/p>\n<p>You can also use Google\u2019s suggestions when you search to see if it suggests any long-tail queries that you want to avoid.<\/p>\n<p>For example, many accounts automatically exclude queries with \u201cjobs\u201d because they\u2019re an employment seeker and not a potential customer.<\/p>\n<p>Other examples include searches, like \u201ccustomer service numbers\u201d or \u201clogins,\u201d indicating a current customer looking for information.<\/p>\n<p>You can also infer people who are information seekers or ones who may be competitors in your industry with references like \u201cpodcast\u201d in the query.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"evaluate-the-relevance-of-the-device-for-conversions\"><\/span>Evaluate the relevance of the device for conversions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Users sometimes differ on mobile devices versus desktops or tablets, but it isn\u2019t consistent in a high-spending environment.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s have a glance at two examples of how this could be different from one another.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you live in Arizona, and your air conditioning dies during June.<\/p>\n<p>HVAC clicks are costly, and it\u2019s not hard to understand why: the jobs are urgent and worth a large amount.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-do-those-users-search\"><\/span>How do those users search?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>They\u2019re on their phones while they\u2019re trying to get the A\/C to work, not sitting at their desk doing careful research on their laptop.<\/p>\n<p>In these cases, mobile users are precious, mostly because they\u2019re likely to click-to-call right from the ad and not necessarily go to a site.<\/p>\n<p>Many B2B verticals are also very expensive for CPC, but for different reasons: they\u2019re very high-dollar deal amounts that can take months (or years!) to close.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re worth a lot but for a different reason than our HVAC example.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"are-these-users-researching-something-like-high-dollar-software-solutions-on-their-phones\"><\/span>Are these users researching something like high-dollar software solutions on their phones?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Probably not so much. In this case, desktop users are probably more valuable than mobile ones. Understanding where your conversion actions come from is essential in your bid strategy. Make sure that you pay attention to the data in Google Ads and any CRMs you might use to understand users\u2019 full purchase cycle and their devices.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"employ-remarketing-to-drive-lower-click-costs\"><\/span>Employ Remarketing to Drive Lower Click Costs<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Keyword bidding in an open auction means you\u2019re up against every competitor.<\/p>\n<p>It also means there might be searches that indicate a possible future customer (i.e., information searches like \u201cwhat is\u2026\u201d or \u201chow to do I\u2026.\u201d), so a high CPC for where they are in their customer journey doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n<p>One way to stay present as people search without clamoring for them on the open market is by using a Remarketing List for Search Ads (RLSA).<\/p>\n<p>Just like display remarketing, you can apply a customer list of your choosing and only show your ads to those users who search for those higher-competition keywords; this keeps your brand persistently in front of users but at a lower overall cost.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"use-relevant-audiences-to-ppc-bid\"><\/span>Use relevant audiences to PPC bid.<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3430 size-full lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Use-relevant-audiences-to-PPC-bid.jpg\" alt=\"PPC bid\" width=\"870\" height=\"380\" title=\"\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Use-relevant-audiences-to-PPC-bid.jpg 870w, https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Use-relevant-audiences-to-PPC-bid-300x131.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Use-relevant-audiences-to-PPC-bid-768x335.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This method is similar to RLSA, but you use Google\u2019s customer lists instead of using your own.<\/p>\n<p>If, for example, you know your customer tends to be a Foodie or into Home Remodeling, you can have only users in those groups see your ads when they search.<\/p>\n<p>It works just like the RLSA function, but you can choose \u201cTargeting\u201d or \u201cObservation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By employing \u201cTargeting,\u201d only the users who fall into those audiences will see your ads.<\/p>\n<p>By employing \u201cObservation,\u201d all searchers can still see the ad, but you can see precisely how users in those audiences behave.<\/p>\n<p>You can also make bid adjustments to increase or decrease for those audiences based on the results you see over time.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>High competitive bid environments will only stay that way, and every day we see CPCs rise in nascent industries as they grow.<\/p>\n<p>Google Ads faced people\u2019s flak for removing some of the control <strong>PPC practitioners<\/strong> used to enjoy in the past. However, there\u2019s still maneuvering, which we need to do to get ahead to compensate for losses in these higher stakes.<\/p>\n<p>Applying marketing principles like user habits, interests, and existing relationships with your brand can help you better target and cut your costs.<\/p>\n<p>Combatting the lack of transparency directly in an account can be fended off to a degree using the research available in Google\u2019s tools.<\/p>\n<p>Usually, the best results come from all of these efforts to some degree.<\/p>\n<p>Create a testing outline, and make sure to document your results along the way to find your winning combination!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Developing a marketing mindset and leveraging different tools can help you win in high-cost verticals. You can get started by adopting the following ways mentioned later in this article regarding PPC. Cost per click (CPC) varies widely. You can quickly learn about it by working in different verticals. For example, a CPC for a wedding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[64],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ad-tech-trends","category-digital-marketing-insights","tag-ppc-campaign"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.7searchppc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}