Whether you already have a pay-per-click (PPC) partner or are thinking of getting one, they should know how to follow the industry’s best practices. But of the many tips, which one should you focus on?

This article highlights the top five principles every advertising firm should know wholeheartedly.

5 PPC Standards Every Ad Partner Must Adhere To

Many businesses invest thousands of dollars in PPC because of the following advantages:

It supports a larger marketing effort, ensuring you can cover the most popular channels where your target audience is.
PPC complements highly effective online marketing strategies, including search engine optimization (SEO) and email marketing.
It generates excellent returns fast with the right PPC plan.

While you do this marketing tactic yourself, you can maximize these advantages with the best advertising partner. We are talking about those who follow and execute PPC best practices excellently.

Here are five.

Know What Is Happening with PPC

Even the best-written ads will not see the light of day if they violate policies, which can be a lot. Examples are:

Federal guidelines. These include HIPAA if you are in healthcare and the CAN-SPAM Act if you are in the ecommerce industry or a business trying to collect mailing list information.

International laws. If you are marketing to Europe, you must be familiar with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For instance, your website should have an opt-out button for those who do not want cookies.

Publisher policies. The ad rules can vary widely between search engines and social media platforms. Example: Google usually limits healthcare ads to certified professionals or partners.

Besides these regulations, Marina Turea of Digital Authority Partners (DAP) believes that PPC partners should stay updated with ad policy changes. For instance, Google will run a pilot program starting January 1 to allow businesses in California, Puerto Rico, and Colorado to run ads for limited non-CBD products.

When a PPC partner keeps up with the times, it can make compliant, effective, targeted, and competitive ads.

Understand Your Brand Inside Out

It is not enough that you run PPC ads. They should stand out, beat those of your competitors, and attract the right audience. The only way to do that is if your advertising partner understands and believes in your brand.

When they know your value proposition, they can:

Target the right keywords that align with every customer journey stage. This way, you will always have the chance to convert.
Easily pivot ad messaging and strategies depending on customer feedback and analytics.
Create tailor-fit copy for each niche you want to target.
Accurately break down your broad target market into segments and craft ads that speak their language and address their needs with laser precision.
Identify the right metrics to track.

Always Aim to Improve Your Quality Score

Ads do not appear randomly. Their location and position, among others, all depend on the quality score (QS).

Various platforms have different definitions and guidelines for QS. However, they share the same idea:

It is a metric that informs you how your copy will likely perform against that of your rivals.
This diagnostic tool applies at the keyword level. In other words, it determines how relevant your ad is to the query or search. In particular, it uses data from an exact match. For example, if your keyword is “dental clinic in New York,” users should also be searching the same thing to get a more accurate assessment.
QS can directly impact your ad position and budget. The higher the score, the lower your cost per conversion.

The right PPC partner makes a high QS both a key performance indicator (KPS) and a goal. It can achieve this by:

Paying attention to the primary factors that influence it. In Google Ads, for instance, the advertising firm identifies the expected click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience. It also uses your historical data over the last 90 days
Conducting competitor research to understand what you are up against. What type of ads do they run? What keywords are they using
Running A/B tests for your campaigns. It will help you identify which versions resonate with users and why.

Establish a Clear Return on Investment (ROI)

Not all PPC ads convert. Further, if you are an account executive, you can never get a nod from the upper management if you do not have favorable numbers to show them.

The best way to show ROI is by tracking the ad metrics that matter most for your business. It could be cost per conversion, revenue per click, or another combination.

Once you have established ROI objectives with your PPC partner, they can use qualitative and quantitative analytics to measure performance and make necessary adjustments to achieve those goals. These include:

Using remarketing strategies to ensure maximum visibility
Determining new objectives, such as brand awareness in a new market segment
Adjusting bids according to performance levels
Identifying the best time and day to launch campaigns
Analyzing data to determine what works best for each segment
Building a reporting dashboard for easy tracking
Putting all the metrics in one place to easily compare trends

Regularly Communicates Every Campaign Aspect with You

Partnerships require regular two-way communication to flourish. The same principle applies to PPC management. After all, your business can go under when a campaign fails.

But how do you know that your PPC partner values open communication? What data should they provide you?

Ask your PPC partner:

How often will you update me on performance?
What metrics are you using to track our success?
Can I access all campaign data at any given time?
Do you have the tools (e.g., remarketing) to optimize campaigns and reach maximum ROI?
Where are you publishing the ads?
What is your PPC management process? For instance, how do you research keywords?
What ad types and formats are you running for different ad groups?

By having this conversation up front, you can gauge if the PPC firm emphasizes collaboration. It also gives you an idea of how they will track and measure success, so you will not be caught off guard later on.

Summing Up

The right advertising company can help you hit your goals, from increasing brand visibility to maximizing ROI.

Doing diligent research and asking the right questions will help you identify a PPC partner that authentically cares about your business and its success.

In turn, they will provide data-driven strategies, comprehensive campaign tracking, and open communication to ensure that you have all the necessary resources on your side.