How to STOP Wasteful Spending on Google Ads for Accountants

When it comes to effective advertising for accountants, Google Ads are a great way to supplement your SEO strategy, generate leads and boost brand awareness. But it’s important to know what you’re doing to avoid throwing your marketing budget down the Google Ads drain. Costly missteps could impact your overall business goals, so here are six ways to avoid wasteful spending.

  1. Avoid Broad Match Keywords

From your Google Ads for accountants background, you probably already know that there are four main types of keyword matches. These include:

  • Broad match – this will match searches with the words in any order
  • Broad match modifier (+) – if you add a (+) sign before a word, your ads will be shown only for queries that contain that exact word (but still the individual words in any order)
  • Phrase match – if you put your keywords in quotes, your ads will only show up on searches that contain that exact phrase.
  • Exact match – if you put your keywords(s) in square brackets, your ads will only show up on that exact search query.

Google even created a little chart to help you understand these keyword examples:

ppc marketing

There’s also ‘negative’ keywords – but more on those later.

Newbies to Google Ads might focus on getting their ad seen as much as possible and opt for broad match terms. But this can waste time and money. Instead, it’s much better to tailor your ad copy around exact match terms as these have higher conversion rates.

  1. Don’t be Stubborn

PPC for accountants isn’t about pursuing campaigns that you ‘think’ will work well. It’s about looking at the data and carefully analysing what’s working and what’s not. Sounds simple right? But many people stubbornly plug the same set of keywords without result. To be blunt, if your ads don’t produce the conversion rates you expect, it’s essential to swallow your pride and regroup.

  1. Make the Most of Negative Keywords

As well as the four types of keywords mentioned above, there’s also negative keywords. These are words you can apply to your PPC campaign to block your ads from showing up in any search queries that include them. This stops ads from popping up for irrelevant queries that won’t result in clicks or conversion. So, negative keywords are great for streamlining your PPC approach. Let’s take a look at this in action…

If an accountant is looking for a job, they might type ‘accountancy jobs’ into Google. This is because they want to see accountancy job-specific content. Therefore, if you’re promoting an accountancy service, it’s a good idea to block the word ‘jobs’ as it won’t convert and is simply a waste of money. The key rule to remember is that you don’t have to show up for every SEO-related search – just the ones that are most likely to generate business.

  1. Create Relevant Landing Pages

You will waste money if the landing page you take people to does not match up to the ad content. Consumers who click on your ad copy are interested in what you have to offer and require an easy conversion portal. So make sure you create landing pages that match specific keywords and marketing goals. And don’t just use Google Ads as a form of clickbait as this could raise the bounce rate of your site and negatively impact your SEO strategy by creating a poor user experience.

  1. Take Note of Your Competitors

With a little bit of competitor research, you can identify which keywords those in your niche focus their time and budget on – and which ones convert the best for them. Firstly, check out the top ad results from competing companies. You can then use specific tools which will show you how much competitors spend on Google Ads per URL. By viewing all paid keywords they bid on, you can start to shape a more economical strategy.

  1. Show Ads for Brand Searches

Don’t let anyone else scoop the top spot for your branded searches. Branded searches have high conversion rates and believe it or not, competitors will advertise under your branded terms if you allow them to. This sort of advertising isn’t usually expensive and will give you another chance to improve your outreach.

Take your PPC strategy to the next level with the help of Whitefish Marketing.

Avatar for Kayleigh James
About Kayleigh James

Kayleigh is our digital marketing executive. She is well versed in a variety of digital marketing activities some of which include producing monthly KPI reports, developing SEO Strategies, Social Media Management, Press Release distribution and much more.