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Important Facebook Ad Metrics to Track

Facebook ads are amongst the most powerful marketing tools available to you. With Facebook boasting 2.11 billion daily active users globally, it’s one of the strongest platforms for marketing your products and services.

Like any type of digital ad, you can’t “set it and forget it” and expect to make a positive return. Instead, you’ve got to monitor and optimise to ensure they’re reaching your target audience and encouraging them to act.

Today, we’ll discuss the most important Facebook ad metrics to track so that you know where to concentrate your efforts.

What are Facebook ad metrics?

 Facebook ad metrics are different ways of measuring the performance of your ad campaigns. They’re quantitative measures that let you measure different aspects of your ads. In terms of Facebook marketing, they’re your most effective data sources for tracking whether your ads are achieving their goals.

Technically, there are hundreds of metrics, but not all of them will be relevant to you. It’s critical to focus on which metrics matter most to your business if you’re going to maximise your ROI.

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Why is it important to track Facebook ad metrics?

 Tracking and analysing ad metrics provide your most accurate overview of how your ads are performing in key areas. They tell you if:

 

  • Your ads are being shown to your target audience.
  • How your target audience responds to your ads.
  • Whether they’re engaging with your ads.
  • Whether your ads are profitable.

 

Regularly tracking ad metrics provides a benchmark for determining whether your ad spending leads to a positive result. They also let you track their performance over time as you tweak and change your ads.

The most important Facebook ad metrics to track

 According to the latest numbers, all UK businesses have a potential Facebook ad reach of nearly two billion users. In other words, you’re certain to find your target audience, but it’s the metrics that tell you whether your marketing campaign is achieving its goals.

Regardless of the business you’re running, there are five core metrics that should feature as part of every campaign.

 

1. Frequency

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Frequency measures how often the average user will see your ad. If someone sees your ad once, this would be a frequency of one. However, just because a target audience sees an ad multiple times isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Some people need to see your ad multiple times before they’ll interact with it. However, if your frequency is too high and your engagement is low, the ad isn’t resonating with that audience. It could be that the targeting is wrong, or the ad simply isn’t interesting enough to interact with.

2. Cost-Per-Click (CPC)

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The CPC metric focuses on how much you get charged when someone clicks on your ad. That’s because Facebook doesn’t charge you to show your ad, but you’re charged each time someone clicks it.

Ideally, you want the lowest CPC possible because if you’ve got a low CPC, you can show your ads to more people. It’s also key to your ROI because if you’re selling a low-ticket product with a high CPC, advertising is probably costing you more than it’s bringing in.

What a good CPC is often depends on your industry. For example, if you’re selling a product worth thousands of dollars, it’s perfectly fine to have an above-average CPC because the value of your product is so much higher.

For example, if you’ve got a CPC of $1 on an ad marketing a product worth $10,000, that’s pretty good if your conversion rate is high enough. On the other hand, a $1 CPC on a $50 product means you should probably terminate that ad immediately.

3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

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Your facebook ads CTR is the ratio measuring how many people see your ad against how many people click.

For example, if you’ve got a CTR of 1%, it means only one person out of 100 clicks on your ad. A poor CTR indicates that your ad isn’t compelling enough to encourage action or you’re marketing to the wrong people.

4. Conversion Rate

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Your conversion rate measures how many people click on your ad and perform a desired action. What counts as a conversion depends entirely on the purpose of your campaign.

Examples of conversions could include:

 

  • Signing up for your email list.
  • Visiting your website.
  • Liking your page.
  • Buying a product.
  • Filling out a contact form.
  • Scheduling a free consultation.

 

Note that what’s considered a good conversion rate depends on your industry. 

5. Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)

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ROAS is essentially just a fancy way of saying ROI. What’s the financial return on your Facebook advertising strategy?

It compares how much you’re spending on Facebook ads with how much your marketing campaign is generating for your business. A lower ROAS indicates that you’re probably overspending on your advertising for the results you’re getting.

Like the other metrics above, a cause of a low ROAS could be a targeting issue, a creative problem, or even a structural issue with your business’s products and services. It might even have nothing to do with your Facebook advertising approach but your website and its landing pages.

What is the most important metric in Facebook ads?


No single metric stands out from all the others because every metric has its place in creating engaging marketing campaigns. If you absolutely have to choose, you would say ROAS is the most important metric because it denotes whether you’re gaining a profit through your ads.

 However, we can go through each metric to uncover problems during the optimisation process. Here’s where the value in each of the five metrics lies:

 

  • Frequency – Is my ad resonating with my target audience?

  • CPC – Am I targeting the right audience?

  • CTR – Is my ad engaging enough to cut through the noise and encourage action?

  • Conversion Rate – Does the place a visitor lands fulfil the promise of the ad?

  • ROAS – Have I created a viable Facebook advertising campaign?

 

As you can see, every one of these metrics has its place in the funnel. Remember, there are multiple steps between someone seeing your ad and then converting. It means seeing your ad, engaging with your ad, visiting your landing page, and then actually taking action, which then links all the way through to an eventual purchase.

Nailing Facebook ads is tricky, and there are no guarantees of success, but getting it right propels your business into its next growth phase. Hiring a professional Facebook ad marketing agency enhances your chances of success while enabling you to focus on your core business functions.

To learn more about getting started with Facebook ads, contact Tao Digital Marketing today.

How SEO and PPC Work Together for Law Firms

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising are like fishing nets, capturing potential clients as they browse the internet, pulling them towards your firm with enticing bait (keywords) and reeling them in with strategic targeting and optimisation.

SEO is like a trawl net, casting a wide radius to catch a large audience. PPC is like a gill net, used to target specific species, targeting specific audience segments for immediate results. With the right combination of SEO and PPC techniques, your firm can have a steady stream of potential clients hooked and ready to convert into loyal clients. 

Want to know how SEO and PPC work together for the legal sector? Let’s dive in.

What is SEO for Law Firms?

Law firm SEO involves enhancing a law firm’s website and digital visibility to achieve a higher position in search engine results. 

This consists of implementing technical, creative and analytical strategies to improve website content and site structure, acquiring reputable backlinks and targeting appropriate keywords related to your firm’s areas of expertise.

An optimised law website ranks higher on search engines like Google, allowing potential clients to find and contact your firm, ultimately leading to increased leads, conversions and revenue. 

What is PPC for Law Firms?

PPC for law firms is a form of online advertising where you pay each time a potential client clicks on your ad. You’ll find PPC on search engine results pages (at the top), social media platforms and other websites. 

With PPC, you target specific keywords and demographics but only pay for the clicks they receive. The ad’s quality and relevance, keyword popularity and your budget determine the cost of each click.

Why SEO and PPC is important for Law Firms

SEO is takes time to produce results with ongoing efforts needed to improve rankings. PPC provides immediate results but costs more money up front – once you stop paying, your website traffic dwindles.

SEO and PPC should be used together because when a law firm ranks highly organically and has paid ads at the top of the page, it is more likely to be seen by potential clients.

For example, a law firm specialising in divorce law can use SEO to optimise its website for keywords like “divorce solicitor” and “child custody lawyer.” It can also use PPC to target ads to reach people who have searched for these keywords on Google.

Speak to us about a SEO and PPC plans today – Let’s get more leads! Contact Us

How SEO strategies work for Law Firms

By consistently implementing these strategies, your law firm can increase its online presence and attract potential clients who are actively searching for your legal expertise:

  • Keyword Research: The first step in SEO is identifying relevant keywords and phrases that potential clients use to search for legal services. These keywords should be strategically incorporated into your website content, meta descriptions and image tags to improve your site’s relevance and visibility.
  • Content Creation: You can create blog posts, articles and other forms of content with specific keywords and structures whilst demonstrating your expertise in your practice area. You can also optimise for local search, so when a potential client types in “Child law Solicitor in Manchester,” for example, your family law website will pop up (for what area/s you operate in).
  • Local SEO: If you want to boost your online presence in location-based searches further, consider implementing local SEO techniques like enhancing your Google Business Profile, creating content specific to your area and gaining mentions on relevant local websites.
  • Mobile Optimization: Your law firm’s website should be optimised for mobile devices. This includes having a responsive design, fast loading times and mobile-friendly content. Why? Over 50% of web traffic comes from mobiles!

  • Link Building: When other websites link to yours, it shows that you are a trusted and authoritative source of information. This establishes credibility in your industry and boosts SERP rankings.

How PPC strategies work for Law Firms

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) strategies utilise targeted advertisements on search engines like Google and Bing, and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. 

These advertisements are based on relevant keywords and phrases specific to your law firm and its services. When someone searches for a related keyword or phrase, your firm’s ad appears at the top of the search results, labelled as “sponsored content” or “ad.” 

You’re charged a certain amount each time someone clicks on the ad, hence the name “pay-per-click.” PPC strategies also allow you to target specific locations, demographics and behaviours, ensuring your ads reach their desired audience. 

Such a targeted approach attracts potential clients actively searching for legal services who are more likely to be interested in your specific practice areas. 

Another advantage of PPC is the ability to track and analyse ad performance. These metrics help you decide which keywords and demographics drive the most traffic and conversions, allowing them to refine your strategy for maximum impact.

 

Can you use PPC and SEO together?

Yes, PPC and SEO can be used together as part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy. These two separate tactics complete each other, ultimately driving more quality traffic and conversions to your website. 

By targeting the same keywords through PPC and SEO, your business increases its chances of appearing in top positions on SERPs, augmenting clicks and conversions.

PPC and SEO data also inform each other’s strategies. For example, PPC data on keyword performance, ad headlines and other factors can help guide SEO efforts. In contrast, SEO data on keyword rankings and website traffic can inform PPC targeting and optimisation.

Does SEO or PPC have a greater ROI for Law Firms?

Generally, SEO has a higher ROI for law firms than PPC because it’s a long-term investment that generates organic traffic to your website for years to come. Once your website is out there, it is discoverable time and again.

On the other hand, PPC is expensive, especially if you’re targeting competitive keywords, and it only lasts as long as you can afford it. However, PPC is a good tactic to attract specific clients immediately. 

Truthfully, it’s a bit of a trick question as you should use both unless budget is an issue, in which case you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons.

The pros and cons of SEO vs PPC for the legal sector

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SEO Pros

  • Long-term investment: Once you start ranking for relevant keywords, you’ll continue getting traffic to your website for years, even if you stop investing in SEO.
  • Builds brand awareness and authority: When your website ranks well in search results, it shows potential clients that you’re a trusted expert.

SEO Cons

  • Takes time: Ranking for competitive keywords can take months or even years.
  • Complex and time-consuming: You’ll need to invest time and resources into creating high-quality content, optimising your website for search engines and building backlinks.
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PPC Pros

  • Generates quick results: You can immediately start seeing results from your PPC campaigns.
  • Highly targeted: You can target your ads to specific audiences and keywords, which means you’re more likely to reach people interested in your services.

PPC Cons

  • PPC is expensive: The cost of PPC ads can vary depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you’re targeting –  sometimes, it can cost hundreds per click.
  • Campaigns must be managed and optimised regularly: You need to monitor your spending and results and adjust your campaigns as needed.

How do you know whether your law firm should invest in SEO and/or PPC?

As a rule of thumb, you should invest in SEO first because its impact lasts longer, and then PPC. However, there are a few circumstantial considerations:

  • Your budget: SEO and PPC can be expensive, but SEO is typically a long-term investment. PPC can generate results more quickly, but you will need to continue to spend money on ads to maintain your visibility.
  • Goals: Do you want to increase brand awareness and generate more leads over time (SEO), or do you need immediate results (PPC)?
  • Competition: If several competitors already have an established online presence, it will take more time to gain traction with SEO alone. In this case, a PPC campaign momentarily levels the playing field.


Let Tao Digital take care of your SEO and PPC

Like expert fishermen skilfully select the perfect net to catch their target, our team is skilled at utilising SEO and PPC to attract potential clients to your firm. We have a case study, featured on the huge SEO platform Moz, about how we increased a Law Firm’s leads by 174%!

Don’t delay – reach out to us now and let us help you bring online success to your law firm.

Our Guide to PPC for Law Firms

PPC can be an extremely effective way for law firms to increase the number of leads they’re getting; but, how can law firms create a successful PPC campaign that delivers the desired results without breaking the bank?

What is PPC for law firms?

Pay-per-click, or PPC, is an online paid advertising model in which businesses pay a set amount of money each time a visitor clicks on their adverts. When undertaken correctly, PPC can help law firms achieve high quality leads. 

PPC for law firms involves using platforms like Google and social media to drive targeted traffic to law firms’ websites or specific landing pages.

Should a law firm invest in SEO or PPC?

Both SEO and PPC are great marketing tactics for law firms, and it is a good idea to consider both. They both have a few things in common that can support each other for a successful marketing campaign, which is why many law firms will invest in each one. 

Investing your time into SEO will inevitably help your PPC efforts. SEO is one of the best ways to get your law firm in front of the most relevant customers in your area. Since SEO helps to build credibility, users are more likely to click on your adverts since they know and recognise your brand.

Types of PPC strategies for law firms

There are several types of PPC strategies that law firms can utilise in order to achieve their goals.

Paid search marketing 

Paid search marketing is one of the most common types of PPC advertising. Search engines such as Google and Bing will show your ads to users who search for specific keywords. 

You can set up your campaigns by writing your ad copy, choosing relevant keywords with high search volumes and choosing, or creating, suitable landing pages on your site. 

 

Display advertising 

Display adverts are banners, images or text ads that appear on different websites and are selected to target a particular audience. These ads will link directly to your website and will take users to specific landing pages. 

They generally have a lower click-through rate than search ads, but they can be useful for building brand awareness.

 

Social media advertising 

Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have high numbers of users who could be potential customers. PPC advertising on these platforms can help to achieve higher click-through rates to your website compared to other types of advertising. 

Social media campaigns can help to increase awareness of your products or services, as well as being used to target specific demographics and their interests.

 

Retargeting advertising

Retargeting uses cookies on a user’s browser to show them specific ads based on their previous online search habits. For example, if a user searches for family lawyers, they could see display ads for family lawyers in their local area. 

Retargeting can be included in:

  • Display advertising campaigns 
  • Search advertising campaigns 
  • Social media campaigns 
  • Email marketing campaigns 

How much should law firms spend on PPC?

Always a difficult one to answer. The industry is so varied, you may represent a very small niche legal offering such as ‘CCJ Removal services’ or ‘commercial auction conveyancing’. The PPC budgets will look a lot more appetising for these services than if you’re offering ‘residential conveyancing services’. 

The key thing when planning budgets for PPC is not to pull it out of the air. 

A lot of companies talk to us about managing their PPC campaigns and just suggest a budget of £1,000 per month, but this is just guesswork; or, even worse, all they can afford. 

Let’s take the keyword “commercial property solicitor” as an example. Google ads keyword tool suggests that in the month of October 2023, there will be 7,000 searches, to get the best cost per lead you really need to have 100% coverage when people enter it into the search box. 

To do this and be absolute top (number one in the search) all the time, Google says you need a budget of £6,100 per month. Now, this is the maximum you might spend, but it’s so important to think about the leads you might miss out on if you aren’t showing every time someone searches. 

You could have run out of budget by 10AM, but the good leads might be the people searching at 2PM. 

The best way to evaluate this is to start with a bigger budget and then reduce it based on the data you gain. 

If you get better leads at 3PM, each day you can always increase the bid at that time of day and reduce it at other times. 

There are a lot of factors that come into play when you are working out the ROI on a PPC campaign, not least the conversion rate of your landing page. If you convert 20% of those visitors into leads, you’ll be inundated with work, but if it’s a really bad landing page, you might get 1.5% and you’ll not have much work, but you’ll be draining your marketing budget very quickly too.

Speak to us about a PPC campaign today – Let’s get more leads! Contact Us

The benefits of PPC for law firms

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Target audience reached 

PPC campaigns allow you to precisely target your desired audience based on things such as location, demographics and search intent. 

Granular targeting ensures your ads are shown to potential clients who are most likely to engage with your services. This results in higher quality leads and increased conversion rates compared to other channels.

Measurable results and ROI

A major benefit of PPC is that it is measurable. Analytical and tracking tools that are built into platforms mean you can get detailed reports that outline the performance of your campaign.

This usually includes metrics such as conversion rates, CTR and CPI. From this data, you can then continuously optimise your campaigns for maximum ROI. 

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Immediate results 

As soon as your PPC campaign is launched, your ads can appear at the top of the search engine result pages. This will help your law firm to attract the attention of potential clients and push you higher in the rankings than your competitors. 

This instant visibility can be particularly beneficial in highly competitive niche legal sectors which are vital to gain the edge over competitors.

Flexibility and scalability 

With PPC, law firms can easily adjust their ad spend amount, pause underperforming campaigns or scale up successful campaigns. This flexibility allows law firms to optimise their marketing efforts and distribute their budget more effectively.  

How to set up a PPC campaign for a law firm

It’s important as a law firm that you set up an effective PPC campaign, otherwise you may be wasting your time and money. Listed below are the steps you should take to set up a successful PPC campaign. 

 

Set goals 

The very first step you should take is setting yourself goals for your PPC campaign. Think about what you want to achieve from it, who your target audience is, where you’re going to place your ads and so on. 

Some of the key parameters you should decide on before creating your campaign include:

  • Target audience 
  • Ad placement (search engines, websites or social media)
  • Desired outcomes (brand awareness, sales, lead generation or traffic)
  • KPIS (conversion rates, signups and revenue generated)
  • Types of campaigns (display ads, social media ads or product listings)
  • What location do you want to target
  • What devices do you want to target (mobile, laptops, tablets)

 

Research and select the right keywords 

It is vital that you choose the right keywords that are relevant to your niche and industry, otherwise, even if you do get a lot of clicks through from the advert, they are not likely to purchase from you. 

You can carry out keyword research by using tools such as Ahrefs to find out which keywords that are relevant to your niche have a high search volume. You should be choosing highly relevant, low-cost and long-tail keywords in order to get the best results. 

 

Create a campaign that resonates with your audience 

Once you have set your goals and done the research, you can now move onto creating your ad campaign. There are a few major elements that you need to optimise: these are the ad copy, a CTA and the graphics. 

For the ad copy, you will need to write persuasive and informative copy that will provide the user with information on what you offer and will therefore ensure that they want to click on your ad. Look at the specific keywords that you have found and create copy that is tailored to those words or query. The targeted copy should align with people’s pain points and entice them to click your ad. 

Make sure the CTA is short and in line with your goals. For example, if you want more leads, then you should tailor your CTA to prompt people to get in touch or sign-up. 

Each platform has its own specifications of the character limit for the ad copy, so always check with the platform you want to use before you start writing your copy. 

 

Optimise PPC landing pages 

Before you publish your ad campaign, you may want to create a landing page where people will be sent if they click on your ad. The landing page should be relevant to your ad, targeted and provide a seamless experience for the user. 

Landing pages are important because they directly influence how users convert into paying customers. For example, if your landing page is not neatly presented and looks disorganised, people will click out from your website as they will likely be confused and won’t know how to navigate the page. 

To create a landing page that will increase conversions, you should have:

  • A big headline containing the same information as your PPC ad
  • A clean and simple page design 
  • Clear, actionable CTAs
  • Cohesive copy to match your ad
  • Show what is being offered in the ad
  • A/B testing you landing page to see what graphics, page layout, copy and CTAs work best

 

Review and test your PPC campaign 

Just like with any other marketing campaign, PPC campaigns are not a one and done process. You will need to regularly review your campaign to check whether it is doing well or not and solve any problems. This will help you to optimise your ad campaign and get the desired results from it.

Here’s what you should do to review and optimise your PPC campaign:

  • Link your Google ads to Google Analytics to track the amount of traffic generated, the sales, lead generations, signups and so on.

  • If you have website ads, ask the host for the analytics data.

  • Check the reports to see if the data matches your goals for the campaign. For example, are you getting the number of email signups you expected?

  • If you’re not getting your desired results, you need to change up your keywords, modify the copy and so on.

  • If some keywords are underperforming, you can just completely remove them.

You should keep reviewing and testing your PPC ads until it produces the results you’re looking for. 

How can law firms track the success of a PPC campaign?

As we’ve mentioned, PPC is measurable. Regularly tracking and analysing your PPC campaigns performance is essential for identifying areas which could be improved, as well as successful areas. 

Law firms can track the success of their campaigns by looking at key performance metrics, such as click-through rates. These metrics can give valuable insights into the effectiveness of their campaigns and therefore make data backed decisions to amend or alter areas to improve results. 

Law firms can also benefit from the help of tools such as Google Analytics to get a deeper understanding of their target audiences behaviour and their campaign performance. 

When will you see results from a law firm PPC campaign?

Although PPC campaigns can show somewhat immediate results, as in a few days, they usually require around 2-3 months to work. Those initial months can be viewed as a trial period for your ad campaign, providing you with helpful data that you can use to improve the campaign. 

You can use this data to improve your keywords, bids, audience targeting and much more. Law firms can also benefit from A/B testing, which may take some time to get decent comparable results. From here, you can then see which campaign has worked better and move forward with it. 

PPC mistakes that the legal industry make

PPC may seem quite straightforward, but there are some things in which law firms may do incorrectly. This can lead to wasted time and money which could be avoided. 

 

Not setting up remarketing 

Remarketing, also known as retargeting, lets you show your PPC ads to users who have previously shown some initial interest in your services by visiting your website. 

Users will often leave websites without converting, so remarketing works as a simple way to remind them to take the next step on your site. 

 

Running campaigns for too long 

It’s much easier to generate meaningful traffic to your site if you have a lot of short term, smaller advertising campaigns. Make sure you refresh your campaign every once in a while to achieve the best results that also align with your goals. 

 

Using too many keywords in an ad 

It may sound like a good idea to put as many keywords in your ads as possible, but it can do more harm than good. Using too many keywords can actually lower or diminish the relevancy of your ad. 

To avoid this, use a small number of keywords, making sure that they are all relevant to your law firm’s message. 

 

Keeping under-performing keywords 

You should constantly be checking and reviewing your keywords to determine which ones perform the best and which ones don’t. Make sure your keywords are directly linked to your firm’s practices and landing page messages. 

 

Ignoring the appearance 

People are going to be most attracted to the visual elements of your campaign, rather than just the copy. This is why it is so important to have graphics that are equally as appealing as your message. 

You want your ads to stand out to potential customers, and choosing relevant images, colours, graphics and fonts to your firm is the best way to achieve this. 

 

Driving users to the irrelevant landing pages 

Always make sure your landing pages are correctly optimised for conversions. An appropriately optimised landing page is one that provides users with what they’re looking for when they click on your targeted ads. It should be useful, full of original content and have clear CTAs. 

For example, if your law firm has different locations across the country, make sure users are sent to the correct landing page relevant to their location.

Law firm PPC with Tao Digital

Interested in kickstarting a PPC campaign for your law firm? Have a chat with our team of experts to understand what could work for you. We’ll always run through your goals, expectations and current standing in order to offer the best solution, whether or not this is PPC.

As a search marketing agency, we get asked about SEO vs. PPC a lot. Of course, what we recommend completely depends on the client and their industry, and there are many things to consider before we look to recommend either channel. 

In this guide, we’ve gone back to basics about what each of the processes involve (feel free to skip ahead if you’ve already got some understanding), how they can work together and the pros and cons of each.

What do SEO and PPC stand for?

SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ and PPC stands for ‘Pay Per Click’. 

Search Engine Optimisation isn’t just a case of optimising your pages once and never looking at them again. Due to constantly changing search algorithms, site infrastructure updates, your competitor’s activity and much more, you constantly need to be on the ball to make your site as search engine friendly as possible. This is done through a mixture of technical SEO, content marketing and digital PR.

The three pillars of SEO: technical, content and link building

PPC refers to the ads that you see at the top of Google search results. As a business you will pay per every click received on your ad. It’s not a case of paying the highest, although this is a factor - rather, it’s all about the quality of your landing page experience, ad copy quality along with a whole host of other factors. 

Example of Google Ads

What is the difference between SEO and PPC?

There are a few differences between SEO and PPC to bear in mind:

The positioning on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

First and foremost, the most obvious difference between the two is their positioning on the SERP. The paid ads are the first results you see and are labelled as ads, as shown in the graphic above. 

The organic results are shown from that point onwards and are what search engines believe to be the best match to a user’s query, starting from the best match and descending from there.

The goal for both search channels

With SEO, it’s likely that you want to boost the site's visibility in the search results, which is a great investment in the overall value of a business. There are a number of advantages to SEO, improving your keyword rankings, increasing your domain rating through gaining links, improving site traffic, bringing more site visitors that will lead to more sales and leads. 

SEO is best viewed as a long term investment in your business, it can take some time and considerable investment to make major gains in organic search but the value keeps building over an extended period. 

With PPC, you’re normally directing your site visitors to one page (often a particular service page you’d like to push, or a contact form we term a landing page) with the aim being to get users to take an action - ideally, buy a certain product or contact you for more information.

We wouldn't recommend starting a PPC campaign without having a very focused landing page, or set of landing pages, depending on the campaign and number of ad sets you are running. 

The time frame

SEO is a long-term strategy and investment in your businesses long term lifespan. 

Creating a new piece of content, whether a blog or new service page, goes live, you will need to wait till the search engines ‘index’ the page. 

This can be sped up to an extent, but it completely depends on your website's authority and how important the search engines see your website. It can take 3-6 months before you start seeing traffic to the page - in fact, the average time a URL takes to hit page one is over 12 months, according to Ahrefs. On the other hand, paid ads are live immediately and can start generating results quickly when done correctly.

The sort of visitors you will bring to the site

Having managed PPC for a wide variety of clients, alongside undertaking SEO work, we have certainly noticed a difference in the sort of leads that each one will bring in. 

With SEO, you’re likely to attract the sorts of visitors who may be at the top of the sales funnel. For example, if you’re a craft insurance business, many small craft businesses won’t know exactly what they need to cover them from claims - these sorts of visitors are at the top of the sales funnel. 

Say for example they search a question such as: ‘What sort of insurance do I need for craft fairs?’. They may come across your piece of content, a guide to showcasing at a craft fair. After reading the guide and finding out the sort of insurance their business needs, they may request a quote from you as you have positioned yourself as an expert. (p.s. - you can also read our guide for more information on how to use Google searches to create content that answers user’s questions).

If you did want to target people who are more towards the bottom of the funnel, perhaps you want to create a highly targeted piece of content around getting a quote for insurance. SEO can target both top of funnel and bottom of funnel users, it all depends on the content produced and the competition for the terms.

With PPC you can attract visitors much further down the sales funnel who are either looking to make a purchase now or are looking for very quick results - e.g. someone who has left organising their car insurance until the last minute and is looking for a quote as soon as possible. 

They may fill in forms from several of your competitors in order to see who responds first. This means that you may have to filter through more leads to see who is seriously considering buying your product or using your services.

In some instances, you may want to target further up the sales funnel, like promoting a piece of content or a guide, but typically we do see PPC being used for bottom of the funnel purposes.

The sales funnel by Tao Digital Marketing. From top to bottom: reach, act, convert and engage

How SEO and PPC work together

Although SEO and PPC do have their differences, you can seriously reap the benefits of using both together.

Getting greater target audience insights

PPC can give you invaluable data about your target audience. Once your ads have gone live, Google collects information about who is clicking on your ads, such as their age, gender, industry, job role, the area they live in, etc. 

This data can help you to refine your next projects as part of ongoing SEO. For example, if you are a business coach and you see that owners of insurance businesses are clicking on your ads, you might want to create a piece of content or a service page around ‘Business Coaching for the Insurance Industry’. This can help you to continue bringing in leads through your PPC work and also attracting those leads organically too - it’s a win-win situation as you start to dominate the SERP!

Increased brand awareness

Using both together also boosts brand awareness. For example, someone might be carrying out some quick research about your industry, and once they visit your landing page from an ad they get a general idea of your offerings and who you are. They may get distracted and leave the site.

However, when that person searches again, or really does need your product this time, they will remember your name and click on your organic listing this time. Or, you could even use remarketing list search ads on Google and make sure you are there for both organic and paid ads. 

Testing what works and using it in your SEO efforts

You can also test new keywords that can help with your SEO. Choose a word or phrase that you think you could potentially rank highly for and use it in your PPC ads. If you see great results, this is a sign that you should start to include this keyword in your content. 

You can also review statistics such as time spent on the site and bounce rates to see what is working on your landing page and what isn’t - for example, are people getting tired of reading a huge piece of content, or is a call to action too far down? This can help you avoid the same mistake in other pieces of content across the whole site.

Does PPC affect SEO?

Not directly, but as we’ve touched on, you can use the insights to better your SEO. It can be part of your overall SEO strategy, but it’s not essential to your efforts, especially if you have a smaller budget starting out. 

What are the pros and cons of SEO and PPC?

SEO: Pros

  • Increase traffic, leads and brand awareness

  • It often isn’t as costly as PPC can be

  • Visitors who view your site are likely to have a higher level of trust as search engines have suggested you as the best match to their query, rather than paying to get there

  • You can easily attract local traffic to your site by taking advantage of Google My Business and other local listings

  • You can become an authority figure in your industry as people search your site for information and guides

  • One great piece of content can consistently bring in leads - we’ve seen this with some of our client’s top performing pages

SEO: Cons

  • SEO takes longer to see results, so return on investment isn’t instant and needs a consistent budget

  • In some extremely competitive industries, SEO needs a vast amount of resources to compete. You may need to use PPC as well to generate results in the shorter term

  • There are no guarantees with SEO - algorithms change constantly

  • You can suddenly go down in rankings due to a variety of factors, such as competitor activity, the toxicity of the sites that have been linking to you, algorithms etc.

  • The organic results aren’t as high up on the SERP

Pros and cons of Search Engine Optimization by Tao Digital Marketing

PPC: Pros

  • Generates almost instant results

  • Return on investment is very clear

  • Can feed into your SEO strategy and give insights that are more difficult to find through SEO

  • Gets you to the top of the SERP immediately, compared to months or even years of effort with SEO

  • Targets people who are at the bottom of the sales funnel, and so are looking to buy NOW

  • You can set a maximum daily budget to make sure you aren’t spending too much

PPC: Cons

  • Once your competitors catch onto you efforts, you could face a bidding war where essentially the price per click consistently increases

  • Many people don’t trust ads as much as they know businesses have paid to get there - 97% of all clicks go to organic search results. 

  • Money can be burned up quickly if it isn’t done correctly - we’ve spoken to many business owners and marketing managers that have tried their hand and spent so much with little ROI! 

  • You can get caught up in ‘click fraud’, a process where people or certain pieces of software constantly click on your ads to use up your money

  • The data can be complex to understand for those who are new to PPC

Pros and cons of Google Ads by Tao Digital Marketing

So, which is better overall?

Sorry to go for the typical SEO answer here, but really… it depends (yes, we can hear you booing over there).

If you want quick results and know how to optimise a campaign as best you can, PPC might be the best option for you.

However, if you want to put the effort into an SEO strategy over time and bring in consistent organic results, that could be a better choice.

In our honest opinion, a combination of both works really well due to the insights you can get. For the clients we do this for, we are constantly reviewing PPC campaigns to see what’s working and what isn’t, then implementing this into their content.

If you want great results that will take your business to the next level, get in touch with us today. All of our clients receive monthly video reports that prove real return on investment and growth over time.

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As you figure out how to measure your Facebook Ads’ performance, you might hear a lot of advice about click-through rates (CTR). This number measures the percentage of an ad’s viewers who clicked on the ad’s primary link.

Nifty, right? While you want plenty of eyes on your ad, you also want the people who see it to act on it — that’s where the money comes from.

But, if you look at Facebook’s help page for CTR, something’s missing. It tells you what a CTR is, but not what a good CTR is.

That’s where we come in. We’ll explain what to expect as a good CTR so you can start setting benchmarks that matter. 

What is the Average CTR for a Facebook Ad?

Before we talk about what makes a good CTR for Facebook Ads, let’s find out what an average CTR looks like. After all, if you’re doing better than most advertisers, that’s a great start.

Wordstream estimated an average CTR of 0.90% across industries in their 2017 survey of 256 businesses. Of course, the numbers they got varied by industry. Legal (1.61%) and retail (1.59%) had some of the highest CTRs, while employment/job training (0.47%) and finance/insurance (0.56%) had the lowest results.

What Does a Good Facebook Ad CTR Look Like?

It’s promising to have a higher-than-average CTR for your industry, but just because a CTR is average doesn’t mean that it’s good. So, what makes a good CTR? Let’s see what the experts get from their ads to learn what a professional expects.

Databox asked more than 30 marketing professionals about their average CTR to understand what a good Facebook Ads CTR is. They found that industry experts tend to get at least 2-5% — over half of the respondents said they had a CTR between those percentages.

Average CTR Facebook

You can think of that CTR as a floor, not a ceiling. Almost 15% of the marketers had a CTR of 10% or greater. CTRs can go far beyond the average if you know what you’re doing.

If you have a CTR lower than 2%, look at these results as an opportunity. These professionals can earn high CTRs, so you can, too.

How Do I Get a Good Facebook Ads CTR?

What can you do to improve your CTR? Regardless of your CTR, you can aim for a higher number by looking at your ad’s:

  • Targeting: Do you target people who will actually want to click on your ad?
  • Visuals: Does your ad have an image or video that catches viewers’ attention?
  • Copy: Does your ad copy make a compelling point?

Knowing the right direction to take these ad elements takes two actions — research and testing. Research your customers and market to guide your targeting and creative, then test different components against each other to learn what works best.