The Importance of PPC Tracking

Inny Vaiciute, PPC Manager at Circus PPC Agency, talks about the importance of PPC tracking and how it can positively affect the performance of your ad campaigns.

What is PPC Tracking?

If you’re reading this blog as someone already experienced in PPC, you likely know what PPC tracking is, as well as how important it is when it comes to campaign performance and reporting.

However, for those who don’t know, or just want a refresher, let’s recap.

PPC tracking is essentially, a way to monitor how your PPC ads are performing. So, when running ads on platforms like Google or Bing and you only pay when someone clicks on them, PPC tracking helps you see which ads are getting the most clicks, how much you’re spending, and if you’re actually getting conversions from those clicks. It’s like having a report card for your ad campaigns, designed for you to figure out what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments to drive better results.

Like PPC in general – there’s really no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to tracking. Different businesses have different metrics and KPIs they want to measure, along with different types of conversions that indicate success. For example, an ecommerce company wanting to drive sales might focus on a purchase as their most important conversion type, with revenue or ROI as their KPI. On the other hand, a nightclub wanting to raise brand awareness might focus on a form submission for more information as their conversion type of choice, with CTR (click-through rate) as their KPI.

Effective PPC tracking will deliver the right data around the metrics that you want to see, and will help you to identify both high-performing and under-performing activity, so that you can make necessary changes to drive your PPC activity in the right direction.

Why is PPC Tracking So Important?

Tracking is potentially the most important aspect of your PPC.

Crucially – correct tracking.

Incorrect PPC tracking could be even worse than no tracking at all, as this means that the algorithm is using the wrong data to improve and optimise ads. In turn, budget is then funnelled towards the wrong areas and being wasted.

Some of the areas that effective tracking can benefit are:

• Account optimisation: understanding what’s working well and what’s not means that you can optimise your ads with this information in mind. The best, and often only, way to accurately do this is through tracking that works and captures the data you need to best optimise your campaigns. Poor or no tracking means you’re optimising blindly, without that all-important, data-backed strategy.
• Performance measurement: whether you’re managing the PPC for your own brand, or someone else’s brand, being able to report on what’s working and what’s not is extremely important. Reporting on the account highlights ROI and how efficiently budget is working, which can then lead to budget justification and if the results look positive, additional investment.
• Budget efficiency: with effective tracking in place, we can identify both high-performing and underperforming activity. As a result, we can optimise ad campaigns in the most effective way, channelling budget into what’s already working, and eliminating the activity that isn’t working for the account. This way, we can drive a better ROI, and ensure that budget is being pushed towards what’s definitely working, rather than what could be working.
• Machine learning: the more effective the tracking, the better the accuracy of the data stream being fed into the algorithm. This helps the algorithm to discover and learn the activity that drives desired conversions, and target the right audiences that are more likely to contain high-intent users. Faulty tracking, or no tracking at all, confuses this process, and can lead the algorithm to learn from misinformation – leading to budget potentially being pushed into the wrong areas.

Ultimately, without effective, working tracking in place, important insights and data around your PPC performance are restricted, which means that you’re missing out on key information that could help you to recognise what’s going well, and where changes need to be made.

Your A-Z Guide To Effective Tracking

We’ve only just touched the surface, but our A-Z guide to effective tracking will provide you with all of the insights and information you need to make sure that your tracking is in the best shape to help drive results from your PPC ad campaigns.

And yes, we’ve even included X and Z – register to get your copy when it goes live here.