{"id":25423,"date":"2025-01-08T10:08:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T04:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=25423"},"modified":"2025-01-10T20:20:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T14:50:43","slug":"ppcchat-doing-research-in-ppc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-doing-research-in-ppc\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Doing Research in PPC | 7th January 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research in PPC is crucial. Do PPCers use any tools to do the research? What challenges do they face while doing the research? These and other questions were answered during this week’s PPCChat session, which was hosted by Sarah Stemen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: Do you do research as part of your PPC strategy and management? If so, what types?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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So much research! Keywords, competitors, client category…@beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure. keyword research, ad copy research, landing page research, competitors. and of course, does the offer have value? what’s the reason people are going to want this thing? @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask a TON of questions which in some ways is research directly from the client. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course! I want to see what competitors are doing both nationally and locally. Then keywords, ad copy etc. @adwordsgirl<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also get a lot of open questions from clients like “What can we learn from this campaign” or placement or audience or what have you. there’s a lot of optimism\/wishful thinking out there about how much insight you can get from digital platforms. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. Keyword research. Search term research. Ad copy. Competitor. Auction Insights to see what competitors are doing. SEMrush. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely! I wish more folks would. @navahhopkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JuliaVyse<\/a> I agree!! Sometimes I am researching in my own account or I base my research off auction insights. I do feel like it is shortchanged a lot when PPCers are busy, the assume they know…@runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also capture screenshots of high-volume keywords we bid on to see the ad copy used by competitors. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s so many different kinds of research you could do on any given campaign\/account. I think I find competitor research to be the most interesting. It makes me feel like a detective when I get to go spy on the opposition and see where they are lacking or what they are doing well. @jord_stark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@jord_stark<\/a> Can you elaborate a little more how you do the comp research and do you implement them in your account? do you a\/b test them with something else to see if it’s working for you? @AbrahamFriedman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey Abraham, happy to! I like to use a location spoofing tool to identify competitors if it’s local. I use this one here: https:\/\/www.brightlocal.com\/local-search-results-checker\/<\/a> I want to look at exactly who I am going up against and sometimes I find auction insights to be a little off, though I do look at those as well. Then I like to look at what platforms they are spending in and what kinds of ads they are running. Are they 100% all in on Google vs. FB? etc. Then if they are in the same platforms I am planning on running, I will look at ad type? Are they missing out on opportunities I could potentially capitalize on like video? or P. Max? I do KW research as well, but I feel like if you can find a missing component that a competitor is neglecting it’s more impactful. Does that help? @AbrahamFriedman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: Is research something you do once or is it ongoing? If it is ongoing, at what frequency are you doing it and what types are you doing?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Ongoing. I want to keep an eye on the competition but I also don’t want it to cloud my judgement (if that makes sense) so depending on spend I’ll look monthly or quarterly. @adwordsgirl<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do KW\/search terms analysis monthly on the first week of the month so that’s pretty ongoing. Competitor is when I am launching or quarterly to see if there are big shifts in the industry landscape. @jord_stark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ongoing. I’m very committed to my year-long dashboards! @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ongoing. Things change; agree you have to keep an eye on competition. Also need to pay attention to account and spot trends that show a campaign or keyword is no longer performing at prior levels. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JeffreyHain<\/a> I agree on the new trends! @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I run 30-day rolling and 56-day rolling day-over-day reports to see the trends and spot the outliers. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ongoing – pretty much the cadence @jord_stark<\/a> outlined. Need to stay up on trends. @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q3: Do you have any tools you use for PPC research?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I use a location spoof tool to see local search results from time to time, I like SEMrush as well for competitor comparison. I used to use spyfu for competitor spend research but all the tools for that seem to have very different answers, would love to hear what other people use to try and see what competitors spend and where. @jord_stark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agree on using SEMrush to get info on ad text and keywords. I’ve benchmarked the spend they report for us vs. what I know, and SEMrush is way, way lower. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use auction insights, ChatGPT, Google SERP, the actual website so I guess the public information, the feature in Google ads where you can see all ads from an advertiser, I talk to the client a lot, I used to get some data from Google reps for benchmarks…@runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember a time when Google reps were helpful too…. those were the days. @jord_stark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@jord_stark<\/a> if you spend a lot you can get more help! @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEMrush is good, but not great for provincial data. and I like Answer the Public despite the new owner. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q4: What is your biggest struggle or challenge when doing PPC research?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I will go first.  Answering exactly how much a competitor is spending. Also the fact that the information is directional only and far from exact. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re spending enough, and have good rapport with your Google rep, sometimes you can get ‘hints’. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that PPC is one part of the equation @JeffreyHain<\/a> and sometimes that rep changes which stinks. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magical thinking honestly. My clients are VERY optimistic about PPC and digital channels and they should be. But the insights they expect us to get in the years post iOS14, and all the ‘go broad let the machine do it’ products are just not realistic. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m with @runnerkik<\/a> that I never know how accurate\/trustworthy the tool’s data is. @robert_brady<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords that have unclear intent or crossover with non-competitor brands\/definitions\/institutions. The dream is a funnel report of where users are going from the SERP. @ChrisMurray<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also real competition comes from the outside, I think with what @JuliaVyse<\/a> said that it is easy to get caught up mimicking successful competitors, leading to lack of originality also…the advertisers obsessed with the competition ASSUME they are doing something right.  So much of a grass is greener situation.  You don’t know that they aren’t falling apart and the seams…@runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I review competitor actions\/copy, but rely on internal value props to set us aside from them. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also interesting in this thread that we should ask ourselves, “What are the core needs and underlying motivations of your target audience? Are they driven by practicality, emotion, social status, or a desire for convenience?”  And sometimes the core needs are secret to the buyer or even unknown to the consumer. @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

… or price. What value do they get from us for the price we’re charging vs. what the competitor charges. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q5: Is there a tool you wish existed for PPC research?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Accurate competitor spend please! And where they are spending as well would be even lovelier. @jord_stark<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@jord_stark<\/a> Literally just came here to say this. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reliable opportunity tools. The Meta audience planner is straight-up lies, like doesn’t even match standard pop numbers, and the pmax tool in Google has no spend ceiling view, just est conversions. I need to know how much I can propose to spend, and how many people I’m able to reach. you know, MYSTERIES. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An affordable mind reader for end client, and yes accurate competitor spend, or just to know their true marketing mix. An oracle that could perfectly predict the conversion rates of any ad copy, landing page, or campaign before you even launch it. Direct access to the inner workings of the search engine algorithms…@runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A tool that could instantly identify and exploit any weaknesses in your competitors’ PPC campaigns…LOL dare to dream! @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JuliaVyse<\/a> good one!!! I wonder with AI will we get better at all this? @runnerkik<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or WAY worse faster! 50\/50 @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PPCChat Participants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n