Cutting-Edge Tactics To Spy On Your Competition

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&HOSTED BY:

Cutting-Edge Tactics To Spy On Your PPC Competition

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Presenters

• David Black– Customer Success Director at SEMrush

– @theguyatsemrush

• Cassie Oumedian– Senior Digital Specialist at Hanapin

Marketing.

– @cass_oumedian

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Join the conversation

• Include the hashtag #thinkppc in your Twitter tweets.

Or use the webinar question box to send us questions.

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Inc. 5000 Competitive Research Study• 4 out of 5 companies on the Inc 5000 list

spend money on PPC advertising

• The IT Services industry also spends the most on PPC

• The Advertising and Marketing Industry spends the largest percentage of its revenue on PPC

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Live Poll Question #1

How long have you been in PPC?#thinkppc

A. Less than 1 yearB. 1-3 yearsC. 3-5 yearsD. 5+ years

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Live Poll Question #2

How do you manage your account(s)?#thinkppc

a) I manage it myself.b) I’m part of a team that manages it.c) I outsource my account management.d) I’m rethinking how my account is managed.

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Competitor Research and Analysis

• Start with researching the competitive PPC landscape.

• Analyze competitor’s keywords, budget, ads and trends.

• Competitive research tools make this MUCH easier

AdWords Auction Insights Google Trends SEMrush

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Competitive Research and Analysis

Create a SWOT analysis.

Understand your place in the market and create a plan of attack on how to approach competition in the PPC space.

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Don’t have a budget of 5.2 Million dollars to spend on PPC like your GoDaddy.com competitor??

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Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

Strategy Tip: Use RLSA to bid on expensive generic terms your competitors bid on that are too expensive to bid on solely on Search network.

Have an AdWords Remarketing Tag pixel on your page?

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Ad Scheduling

• Time of Day

• Day of Week

• Geo-location

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Ad Scheduling• Time of Day, Day of Week

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Ad Scheduling

• Geo-location

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Bid on Competitor Brand Terms

Bid on competitor terms cautiously and be sure to read up on Google’s trademark policies to make sure you are not in violation!

Bidding on competitor terms is generally accepted in the US and typically Google will not investigate as long as trademark terms are not used in the creative.

• Competitor Name

• Competitor Domain

• Competitor Product Name

• Competitor Product SKU numbers

• Competitor Name + Product/service you also provide

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Competitor Bidding Pros & Cons

Pros:• Lower volume but higher conversion rates – 11X Higher CVR• Lower CPAs (21% Lower CPA in the campaign above)• Usually higher CTRs

Cons:• CpCs more expensive – 10X higher CPCs• Low Quality Scores due to lack of keyword/ ad/ landing page relevancy• Competitors cold start bidding on your brand terms increasing CpCs

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Competitor Performance

#1 Rule For Bidding on Competitor Terms….

NEVER USE DKI (Dynamic Keyword Insertion)!!

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Gmail Sponsored Ads • Target users in their gmail accounts by targeting specific

domains… competitor domains or other competitive keywords.

** May not be available in all verticals. Check with your Google rep.

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Gmail Sponsored Ads Results

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Live Poll Question #3

a.) I’ve done it in the past but not right now. b.) I am actively conducting competitor analysis.c.) I haven’t yet. But, I will now!d.) No plans in the foreseeable future.

Where does competitor analysis fit into your Marketing plan?

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Programmatic Analysis Techniques

SEMrush

Our Data Collection and AnalysisAll these data are great but you need to know everything about your sample in order to account for variables and draw accurate conclusions.

Our total keyword database = Over 100m keywords worldwide Infographic is based on the top 40m keywords in Google US Analyzing millions of SERPs everyday Analysis applied to top 20 organic/ads positions in each SERP

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Where Do These Data Fit In?

Application

Who can utilize these data?(Search Engine) Marketing intelligence data has a number of different applications within and outside of the direct industry.

Small Business Owners – DIY’ers SEO and PPC consultants – The one man band Digital Marketing Agencies of any size Enterprise-level in-house marketing departments Investors

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Got the Data – Now What?

Organic Search Marketing

Improving your visibility in natural search resultsThe keyword/domain connection is an excellent way to enhance your keyword research.

On-site optimization: Titles, tags, URL’s, Navigation, Sitemaps, etc. “Not Provided” got ya down? SEMrush = “Provided” Content development and Semantic core improvement Proactively or reactively fight algorithmic penalties

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Got the Data – Now What?

Paid Search Marketing

Minimize Risk & Maximize ROIOptimize existing search network AdWords and display network campaigns OR create beautifully crafted campaigns from the get-go. Don’t go in blind!

Know which keywords drive traffic and convert Write copy that attracts for better CTR Figure out what works and (sometimes) more importantly, what doesn’t

work!

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The Method: Competitor Analysis

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Your Competitors Keywords

%

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Analyze Historical Data

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Recognizing Patterns & Behavior

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Live Poll Question #4

a.) FREE Account Assessment from Hanapin (for accounts spending more than 20K/mo)

b.) Free One Month Trial of SEMrushc.) No Thanksd.) Both

Would you like help with your PPC accounts and management? I’m interested in:

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Live Q&A Time!

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Have more questions?

Thank you for attending our webinar! #thinkppc

• Contact us Directly:

» Hanapin Feedback: marketing@hanapinmarketing.com

SEMrush Feedback: mail@semrush.com / david_black@semrush.com