As a Premier Google Partner with a managed spend of over $100M that’s been around the block a couple of times, we make it our mission to squeeze through as many clicks and enquiries as what your Google Click Budget possibly allows for.

People sometimes assume that a rank #1 position on the page is always best, but that’s just oftentimes not the case. Particularly when we are working with smaller Google Click Budgets and delivering maximum ‘bang for your buck’ is a key priority.

Why a rank #1 position via Google Ads (AdWords) is not always best, particularly when we’re working with a lower click budget

Maintaining a rank #1 position (particularly in a competitive niche) can often require a much higher CPC (cost per click) investment when it comes to CPC, driving up the cost of generating business. If you have a limited click budget, bidding too aggressively is likely to consistently max out your budget, meaning while you might have a higher rank, you might only show one-third of the time, ironically meaning LESS exposure overall. It can be a classic tortoise and hare situation, so we need to be smart about it.

Let’s say you have a $500 maximum daily Google Click Budget. Which would you prefer from your $500 investment?

1. 25 clicks at $20 per click, and ~15 leads at ~$67 per lead?
2. Or 50 clicks at $10 per click and ~30 leads coming in at ~$33 per lead?

In the above hypothetical example, almost every business owner is going to opt for the second option, since cost per lead is HALF and ROI is TWICE as high. What if I told you that would involves us not always maintaining a #1 position, and oftentimes appearing in a #2 or #3 position on the page, or sometimes not at all? This is even more so the case when efficiency is the key priority and we’re working with smaller click budgets.

Sure, like any hypothetical, we’ve had to make some pretty reasonable assumptions in the above scenario (for example conversion rate being steady regardless of position, and that search volumes on Google are high enough to utilise the full budget even with a slightly less aggressive ranking strategy). But, with figures like this, most business owners would agree that it’s a no brainer.

Ultimately, we’ll always heavily optimise to generate maximum ROI whatever your nominated Google Ads budget is — striking a good balance between the VOLUME of clicks and enquiries and the EFFICIENCY at which we can generate them

Most businesses don’t have an unlimited budget and can only afford to invest so much to generate a lead or sale while keeping ROI positive. It’s therefore vital that we’re smart about how we optimise the campaign, and that’s what we’re all about.

A big part of us maximising results is our advanced bidding strategies that make use of machine learning algorithms allowing us to bid based on conversion probability

For mature Google Advertising campaigns, when we bid based on conversion probability, we are factoring in what keyword someone is searching for (of the hundreds/thousands of keywords we’re targeting), what type of device they are searching from (device class), time of day, where they are searching from (geo location), RLSA (re-marketing lists for search ads — have they visited your website previously?), affinity and in-market audiences, a person’s interests and so on.

Ultimately, when conversion probability is very high, we’ll bid aggressively aiming for a high rank so we can maximise enquiries and sales. When conversion probability is OK, we’ll bid moderately, and when conversion probability is very low, we often don’t want to appear at all, saving your ad dollars for better qualified clicks. Our conversion focussed approach makes a HUGE difference, helping us to turbo-charge results and deliver more enquiries and sales, and a vastly better overall ROI. So who cares if you’re in first position at rank 1, a rank 2 or a rank 3 if the results and the efficiency is there!?

Other ways we make lower Google Ads budget stretch further

There are many pieces in the puzzle when it comes to maximising Google Advertising ROI. Getting our ranking strategy and bidding right is vital. But so too is making sure landing pages are really compelling and optimised to convert clicks into enquiries and sales as efficiently as possible. There is also a heap that we do in in the background to ensure we’re maintaining best practice Google Ads campaign structure, negative match programming, ad extensions, audiences, tracking systems and so on.

So what’s the bottom line?

While AdWords rank and page position is important, it isn’t everything. Even more so for those with smaller budgets. Efficiency and ‘bang for your buck’ means that with your best interests in mind, we often need to bid less aggressively to make your budget stretch further. 

It’s important that we make the most efficient use of your nominated Google advertising budget to drive through as many clicks and enquiries as possible. This is best achieved by us taking an intelligent approach and bidding based on what is going to drive the most clicks and enquiries most efficiently, while factoring in conversion probability. So unless you have an unlimited budget and unlimited cost per lead/sale target, and have little interest in ROI, please don’t expect to always see yourself in a top rank 1 position on every single keyword, all day every day. Rest assured we’ll be proactively monitoring and optimising visibility levels in the background with your best interests in mind and will be working hard to squeeze through as much business as possible, as efficiently as possible.