by Alicja Grzadkowska 22 Sep 2020
Mastering the art of
advertising using Google AdWords can bring many benefits to an insurance
agency, such as enticing potentially thousands of new prospects to your
business. However, there are several important tips and tricks when using
Google Ads that agencies need to be aware of before they dive into this
advertising minefield.
“It starts with having a
clear goal, but then you also need to have a set budget, do keyword research to
know exactly what you’re building your campaigns for, create a compelling ad
with good copy that has a strong call to action, and build an effective landing
page that links from that ad,” said Becky Schroeder, chief marketing officer at
Insurance Technologies Corporation (ITC).
Agencies also need to pay
attention to their quality score, which is Google’s rating of the quality and
relevance of keywords in ads. Google uses that score to determine the ad’s cost
per click and determine its ranking in the ad auction process. There are a few
notable components that get taken into consideration in the quality score
equation.
“The quality score depends
on your click-through rate, the relevance of each keyword to your ad group, the
landing page’s quality and relevance, and the relevance of your ad copy, plus
your historical Google Ads performance,” said Schroeder. “Google doesn’t share
how much each of those factors weigh into the algorithm, but what has been
shown through some research is that the click-through rate is the most
important component.”
After all, Google wants to
give prominence to ads with which people are engaging. If people are clicking
on an ad, that’s a clue to Google that people find that product and company
relevant.
Agencies likewise need to
build an effective landing page to accompany their advertising on Google. The
landing page is the last chance they have as an advertiser to convince a
consumer that they can help solve their insurance needs since the purpose of an
ad is to get them to click on the link, and the purpose of the landing page is
to turn that initial click into a lead that they can then have a chance to
quote and sell to, explained Schroeder.
“A bad landing page is not
going to convert as many of those clicks, so to build an effective one, first
do some research. Look at other pay-per-click landing pages for the keyword or
the product that you’re planning to advertise – what seems to be working and
what doesn’t? What do you like about some pages? From a consumer perspective,
what do you think is going to be engaging? What can you do better?” she
continued.
A landing page should also
only have one job – converting traffic from a specific ad group that is
advertising one product. A landing page that tries to convert for multiple
products will be confusing, potentially making customers back out and look
somewhere else for insurance solutions. As a result, agencies should focus the
landing page on one product or line of business that they’re advertising, and
then use a stronger call to action than just “learn more” to encourage people
to click through.
“With the copy on your
landing page, you want to keep your language simple and effective. Short,
direct sentences are critical,” said Schroeder. “You want to also make sure
you’ve included some of the keywords from your ads so that there’s a connection
in people’s minds from the ad they saw and clicked on to your landing page, as well
as include some imagery that mirrors your message and the audience that you’re
trying to reach.”
Perhaps most importantly,
agencies need to measure and track their campaigns, and make adjustments as
needed because Google Ads is not something that you can create and then just
let run, explained Schroeder, noting, “It’s something that you have to pay
attention to, so that you’re getting the best conversions and return on the
investment you’re putting into it.”
Take smart bidding, for
example, which is one way to optimize your Google Ads. With this strategy, it’s
very easy to overspend or not spend enough to make your ads effective. An
agency can adjust how they bid based on certain keywords, locations or devices
that they’re trying to target, the time of day, or the specific audience, among
other factors.
The first place an agency
wants to start for smart bidding is the keyword planner that Google offers.
This will not only help an agent identify the keywords that they want to
target, but Google will also suggest a bid for each of those keywords and
provide an estimate for the bid necessary to get to the first position, or even
just on the first page, in the ad results.
“When starting out, I
recommend aiming for the first page and not the first position because that
first position is going to cost more,” noted Schroeder. “If you aim for the
first page, you’re paying a little bit less, but you can test and adjust your
ads as you go without having to spend so much more on a click.”
Then, after becoming a
Google Ads pro, the agency can decide to pay more for appearing at the top of
the page, but they’ll likely be paying less for that first position than they
would have when they first started because they have historical performance and
a good click-through rate, and thus a better quality score.
There are also tools that
can show an agency what their competitors are bidding for those same keywords
along the way, and agencies can consider using negative keywords, as in search
keywords for which they don’t want their ad to appear as a result. This means
that they don’t pay for clicks that won’t convert. If ITC, for example, is
running Google Ads on auto insurance rating, they don’t want their ads to show
on auto insurance-only searches because ITC is not an insurance provider.
Schroeder’s final takeaway
on Google Ads is to outsource this work to either an in-house hire or third
party since it’s an advertising channel that requires a good amount of effort.
She also pointed out that insurance is an industry that has very high bidding
on its keywords because big names like Progressive and GEICO are
running ads and trying to capture as much of that market as they can.
“As an insurance agency, it
can be a little cost prohibitive to do it,” she said, adding, “For the right
agency, it could be a really good strategy. The approach just has to be very
mindful, and something that you pay attention to [on an ongoing basis] so that
you don’t end up wasting budget on it.”
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