I have number one positions organically, should I run an additional PPC campaign?

[Smileworks_Liverpool]

My local dental practice has some pretty awesome number 1-3 rankings locally and nationally for all the keywords and topics we're interested in (thanks Moz) I was searching on my mobile locally for a keyword and notice that each time I search on my smartphone the first thing I see is a competitors ad for that keyword or phrase.  Then you scroll through four ads and the map pack (which we're in) and you find us at the number one position.

I want to completely dominate the serp and was reading this: https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/37161.pdf but if I' honest I don't really understand it.

Should I run ads on the mobile to get that number one position on the ads so that everyone who searches locally for our keywords sees us on their smartphone before they even start to scroll and then see us again in the map and again in the 1-3 position?

Is this a good idea or a waste of money?  PPC had never delivered decent ROI for us and will typically break even so we are just busy fools chasing leads for not much gain.  But I was thinking a more 'branding' related number one position ad might increase the conversion rate, CTR or help in some way.  Would it cost a fortune to keep it at the top of the mobile results for maybe 10-20 keywords just on the mobile?

I know this is what google want me to be doing and i also want to choke my competition and completely dominate the SERPS because we provide the best service by miles and often the ads are shoddy and poorly executed.  What's the consensus amongst you wonderful PPC / SEO experts.  Obviously there's lots of SEO's saying it's a great idea because they just want to sell SEO services.  And google is in this camp.  So I don't know who to trust for the right answer.

[brettmandoes]

This is a tricky question to answer because you're asking about the overall strategy and tactics for running a successful PPC campaign and integrating that with your SEO strategy. I'll share with you some personal results and tactics we've used, and some learnings, and hopefully that will help answer your question.

First, some context. We do a lot of SEM and SEO for local services, so I'll be using HVAC as my go to reference point.

1. Brand keywords are super cheap for us. We've always found this to be a good investment as it doesn't normally cost much and if we don't buy those keywords, some of our competitors do.

2. Buying other brands - just as you want to keep competition out of your space, you can invade theirs. Also hasn't every cost us very much money in the past. Much lower conversion rate from these, but every one you snag is a customer won.

3. CPC varies greatly. Especially for local keywords. Different regions have different competition levels it seems. I've seen some guys with a total Cost per Lead of $45. I've also seen it skyrocket to over $100 CPL in a different region.

4. Don't confuse SEO and SEM. There's a big difference. SEM/PPC is referring to paid ads, SEO is the organic listings. They are two separate disciplines that require two separate skill sets, so you shouldn't have any SEOs trying to sell you SEM unless their agency does both.

5. Bid for profitability, not revenue, and you can keep your costs down so you're bringing in leads at an acceptable cost. As long as you've set up a tracking and attribution model that works you shouldn't have any problems making adjustments until your campaign is running smoothly. You can axe the keywords that are costing too much and improve the ones that are bringing solid leads.

Hope that helps. I do recommend doing SEM on top of your SEO. If you're having trouble running a profitable campaign, find an expert you trust and commit a stable budget for a year and see what they can do.

[EGOL]

PPC allows you to present entirely different offers to the searcher.

While the optimization of your webpage used to compete in the SERPs must be worded to win position, your adwords ad can be different - even outrageous.  Match it to your local offline advertising slogan, match it to an additional service that is profitable but not visible in your organic listing, use it to present a click-to-call, use it if you are aggressive and want to run the competition out of town or swamp them with your message.

[Smileworks_Liverpool]

EGOL this is precisely what I was thinking.  Thanks for the reply.  And thanks too Brett for your detailed one. I was wondering whether the outrageous or more brand focussed messaging might affect the quality score of the ad and make it more difficult to retain the number one position on the mobile.  I want it to be the fitst thing ALL searchers see when they type the phrase in.  So to be more 'seen' than 'clicked' is that going to make it super costly to keep it up there or does google not care because it's pay per click not pay per impression I worry it's not going to stay for long were I need it.

[EGOL]

Will it impact your quality score?

Yes, because it might be less relevant to the query.   Yes, because it might be clicked LESS.

But, if you can get clicked more often than your competitors your quality score might rise.

Keep in mind that in the adwords auction it is not the size of your bid that influences your position.  Instead it is the size of your bid x your CTR.  So a $1 per click ad that gets clicked 4x as much as a $3 per click ad can be in superior position.

That is what makes outrageous possible.  Make your ad say what ALL of your customers want.  Do you have a value proposition? do you have unique service, are you the best dentist, do you have the best location, do you have late evening service, do you have openings TODAY?   You can use these things if you have panache and can manage your ads actively through the day.

I would never recommend outsourcing the aggressive campaign. YOU know your business, your clients, where you have competitive advantage, where you can appeal, better than anyone.  And, with a small amount of training your receptionist might be able to weak your ads to say... appts today at 3 and 5.

[Smileworks_Liverpool]

I agree.  I have asked an agency to set it up for me and then I'm going to run it once it's set up with all the bells and whistles and fancy new adwords additions that i'm not familiar with.  Then once we have the targeting and bid strategy organised and optimised I will be free to re-write the ads.  I've offered to write each individual ad for the agency to save time and the budget they've given is more than fair to set it up with skill and aptitude for the correct keywords and all in the right ad groups etc.

I'm running exact match high traffic high position and then a before and after (we have the best before and afters of anyone) and cost (we have the best prices, payment terms etc and also best dentist and our qualifications etc. The emergencies idea is fantastic for me. And I can control that.  We are open later than all our competition and google in it's wisdom is putting us in position one in the maps when we are open for emergencies. Even above the national health service. So their algorithms are getting really, really smart now.  I've also marked up reviews for a 'reviews' ad set. because we have the best and most number of reviews. It's a ballsy campaign but I want to totally dominate and we have the budget.

Thanks for your advice. I love Moz.  You just can't get this level of insight anywhere else.

[EGOL]

Wow!  It sounds like you are really reaching for your competitors' throats. 

[Smileworks_Liverpool]

Yeah they really suck though. They are mean to patients and do a bad job and overcharge them.  So it's a good thing really.  I sound evil but my team do really beautiful work for fair fees and make hundreds of people a week smile and feel better about themselves.  So every patient I acquire I see as being saved from potential dental disaster at the hands of some incompetent or greedy practitioner.  It's a cool culture.

I feel sorry for our competition because I don't ever want to see businesses fail.  But some of them don't deserve to be in business.  Not in 2018.