A White Paper from Search Star

PPC Trends & Tips

Accountancy

July 2012

About Us Search Star was set up in 2005 and is now a top 10 independent UK PPC agency.

• We do 100% Pay Per Click (PPC) and we do it extremely well.

• By combining our expert PPC knowledge with a sound understanding of technology and a passion for campaign delivery, we achieve unbeatable results for our clients.

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• We’re based in the centre of Bath and work for clients across the UK including Jimmy Choo, Claims Financial, PHS, the Chartered Institute of Marketing & Good Energy.

• We do not do SEO. We do not do affiliate. We do excellent PPC.

Accountancy Search Trends

With unemployment rising and 15,000 new

businesses registered each month in the UK,

accountancy-based searches are increasing (+15% from June 11 to

June 12*). This is a sector with increasing volume, mid to high competition

and decent opportunities for worthwhile ROI.

Generating 50% of searches, bookkeeping is

the most popular sub sector, followed by

business, chartered and tax related terms.

Bookkeeping also has the most expensive terms (average CPC is £1.81). Chartered accountancy

offers the most profitable opportunities with

average CPCs of £0.89 and CTRs of 5%.

*Google Insights for Search, July 12

Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Data, July 2012

Top Terms

Group similar keywords together in a granular

campaign and ad group structure. Most

accountancy accounts have at least 50 ad groups. Some have

thousands, each one containing just a few

closely related keywords and highly targeted ads.

The statistics above are all based on position 1

and broad match. Broad match is brilliant for

targeting the ‘16% of the daily queries on Google

that have never been seen before’*. Include

the broad match modifying +sign before

crucial keywords for lower average CPC with

quality scores equivalent to exact match.

Go for the mid and long-tail. Longer search strings

containing more specifics generate the same CTR (6% in this example) for lower CPC (£1.03 compared to

£1.23). Searchers using mid and long-tail terms are

generally further into the buying cycle so are more likely to convert. Google

also love relevancy, and will reward you with lower CPCs

and higher ad positions.

Build up a tailored, keyword specific list of negatives. Use Google’s keyword tool and search query reports (AdWords

>> Campaigns >> Keywords >> Keyword

Details) to find irrelevant terms. Use -exact, -

”phrase” and –[broad] matching on your negatives to filter

effectively.

Campaign Ad Group Top Service Provider Searches Daily Impressions Daily Clicks Average CPC Average CTR

Short-tail Accountancy Accountants accountants 13693 929.03 £1.09 6.80%

Short-tail Accountancy Accountants accountant 3739 217.93 £1.34 5.80%

Short-tail Bookkeeping Bookkeeping bookkeeping 1669 103.18 £1.39 6.20%

Short-tail Accountancy Accounting accounting 1097 65.16 £1.50 5.90%

Short-tail Bookkeeping Bookkeeping Services bookkeeping services 895 60.53 £1.31 6.80%

Short-tail Accountancy Accountancy accountancy 665 37.64 £1.04 5.70%

Short-tail Tax Tax Accountant tax accountant 571 37.96 £1.21 6.60%

Short-tail Chartered Accountant Chartered Accountant chartered accountants 436 27.8 £1.04 6.40%

Short-tail Tax Tax Advice tax advice 424 28.91 £1.38 6.80%

Short-tail Accountancy Accountancy Services accountancy services 403 28.39 £1.04 7.00%

Long-tail Chartered Accountant Certified Chartered Accountant certified chartered accountant 18 1.2 £1.30 6.40%

Long-tail Bookkeeping Outsourced Bookkeeping outsourced bookkeeping 7 0.54 £1.59 7.50%

Long-tail Bookkeeping Bookkeeping London bookkeeping services london 22 1.62 £3.22 7.00%

Long-tail Bookkeeping Bookkeeping Cheshire bookkeeping services cheshire 0 0 £0.00 0.00%

Long-tail Bookkeeping Bookkeeping Rates rates bookkeeping services 1 0.12 £0.24 6.60%

Long-tail Business Small Business Accounting small business accounting uk 0 0.04 £0.04 6.90%

Long-tail Chartered Accountant Chartered Accountants London chartered accountant firms in london 0 0.01 £0.05 7.70%

Long-tail Chartered Accountant Chartered Accountants England chartered accountants england 24 1.56 £1.56 6.40%

Top Accountancy Keywords

* Think with Google

Structuring your Account The top 5 accountancy campaign must-haves:

1. Set up accounts on all search engines - Google, plus the Bing/Yahoo! partnership. The current average CPC for accountancy keywords on Bing/Yahoo! is £0.56 less than on Google.

2. Use geographical targeting to reach the areas that are going to yield the best ROI for your accountancy firm (AdWords >> Campaigns >> Settings).

3. If you’re going to capitalise on the reach of Google’s display network, set up a completely separate campaign. There are many benefits to be had from remarketing, contextual and keyword marketing, but they need to be run, managed and optimised in a completely different way from search network advertising. With the display network, always use site exclusion. This removes high-click, low yield partner sites from the display network. Go to networks >> show details and check & remove all underperforming sites.

4. Do the same for mobile campaigns. Mobile search has grown 400% in the past 12 months* and 15% of UK Smartphone owners have ‘awareness of advertising on smartphone’*. Copy your mobile campaign, run it separately and keep on top of this emerging market.

5. Link to the right landing pages - test whether deep or category links work best for your site. This will reduce bounce rates, increase dwell time and lead to improved sales.

* Think with Google

Writing effective PPC ads

Get the basics right:

Include the keyword

Use correct spelling,

punctuation, grammar &

capitalisation

Use calls to action

Include special offers

Filter out non-

converters by being as

specific as possible, e.g.

‘small business

only’. Qualifiers also work wells for

this.

Be local. ‘Including location or

phone information in

a search ad increases CTR

by 6-8%’*.

Cost is king so include it

where you can. Check prices

are competitive first.

Have at least 3 ads per ad group. Test

different messages. More than 5 ads per ad group can dilute your

data.

Ad scheduling on Google AdWords

allows PPC advertisers to set different

bids for different days of the week

and different hours of the day. If your business is closed on

weekends, you can pause your

ads.

If you’re bidding on shorter tail

terms, consider using persuasive

language to encourage

searchers away from what they

thought they were looking for

(e.g. ‘online bookkeepers’)

to you (‘bookkeepers

in Bath’)

* Think with Google

Tracking

Implement Google AdWords Conversion Tracking (AdWords >> Tools & Analysis

>>Conversions). This piece of code on your conversion page will allow analysis of

campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ads and search queries that resulted in specific

customer actions. The only con is the 30 day cookie length, which means that if a

searcher returns to your site after 30 days, the conversion won’t be attributed to the

PPC keyword.

Google Analytics has a longer default cookie length of 6 months. Google Analytics

is also the best place to analyse engagement – you can see page views, time

on site and bounce rate for every single keyword. You may find terms that aren’t

performing well in terms of conversions, but are still generating strong engagement. This software also allows you to track non-PPC

traffic sources, including social media.

Demographics • The best PPC accounts target the

right audience. When it comes to accountancy, it’s a fairly even-split of men and women aged between 35 and 49 (37.5%) doing the searching.

• The majority of people searching for accountancy services are in London, followed by Southampton, Essex and Gloucester.

• If your business is targeted to these demographics, consider uplifting bids for this audience.

• Also bid on long-tail terms especially relevant locations. These London-based accountancy keywords have high CTRs for relatively low CPCs.

Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Data, July 2012

Next Steps A decent PPC campaign takes patience, commitment and time. It’s no longer profitable to adopt a ‘set it and forget it’ attitude. Return to your account regularly and optimise, optimise, optimise:

• Run search query reports (AdWords >> Campaigns >> Keywords >> Keyword Details)

to find the phrase and broad matched search queries for your keywords. Add any relevant ones with decent click levels to your account. Use the irrelevant search queries as negatives.

• Use Google Insights for Search to find breakout searches – those which have increased in popularity by at least 40%. These should have low competition and therefore low CPCs.

• Run an ad group report. Ad groups with large click volumes might need splitting out. Also analyse ad groups with high CPCs and low CTRs. You may need to rework ads to boost relevancy.

• Analyse your tracking data regularly. Update everything from landing pages to your social media to improve conversions and engagement.

• Keep up-to-date with the latest algorithmic and product updates. Search engines are constantly striving to provide their audience with better results, and you’ll need to do the same.

• Be aware of seasonality. January is the key month for accountancy. Ensure you have enough budget, seasonal ads and the right keywords to capitalise.

• ‘Two line sitelinks increase click-through rates by more than 30% compared to standard AdWords ads’*. Sitelinks are brilliant for helping users to quickly navigate your site. This is an automated process, but Webmaster Tools allows you some control.

• And lastly, please get in touch with us if you need any further assistance.

*Google Insights for Search, July 12

Contact Details

http://www.search-star.co.uk/

info@search-star.co.uk