How to control your rising month-over-month CPC’s in Google Ads non-brand search campaigns.

How to control your rising month-over-month CPC’s in Google Ads non-brand search campaigns.

Let’s begin with a scenario: you notice that your CPCs (cost-per-clicks) have been steadily rising in your non-brand Google Ads search campaigns. If the data below feels familiar to your experience, this article is for you.

Now that we’ve identified the problem, let’s explore potential causes and solutions. Managing rising CPCs in non-brand search campaigns requires strategic control over competition, keyword relevance, and ad performance.

Causes of Increasing CPC in Non-Brand Search Campaigns:

1. High Competition: Non-brand keywords are often more competitive since you’re bidding on generic industry terms that many advertisers target.
2. Low Quality Score: If your ads aren’t perfectly aligned with the search intent or if your landing pages aren’t optimized, your Quality Score may drop, driving up your CPC.
3. Broad Match Keywords: Broad match keywords can trigger your ads for irrelevant searches, leading to unnecessary clicks and higher costs.
4. Overbidding: If automated bidding strategies aren’t optimized, you may end up bidding too high to maintain ad positions, especially for highly competitive keywords. Example: If you have given tROAS/tCPA in your search campaigns at campaign level and if they ar not optimized regularly google mat bid too high to maintain that ad position in order to bring higher ROAS and if google does this everytime even for low intent users, you might end over spending you budget.
5. Ad Relevance Decline: Over time, ad copy that doesn’t resonate with users or address their search intent can lead to lower click-through rates, resulting in higher CPCs.

Campaign Structure Strategies to Maintain Low CPC:

1. Separate Brand and Non-Brand Campaigns:

Why: Mixing brand and non-brand keywords within the same campaign dilutes your control over bidding, ad copy, and targeting. Brand keywords usually have a higher Quality Score and lower CPC compared to non-brand keywords. By keeping them separate, you can allocate the right budget and bid strategies to each.

Action: Create distinct campaigns for brand and non-brand search terms. Non-brand keywords should focus on generic industry terms, product categories, or customer pain points, while brand campaigns should strictly focus on searches related to your brand name, product names, or trademarked terms.

Below is a campaign structure chart that highlights effective segmentation strategies, such as separating brand and non-brand campaigns Brand campaigns managing high and low intent keywords with exact and phrase matches and Non-Brand Campaigns managing high, mid, and low intent keywords, using broad matches and negative keywords where necessary.

2. Ad Group Segmentation by Keyword Intent:

1. • Why: Grouping all your keywords in one ad group can lead to generic ads that don’t align with searcher intent, resulting in lower CTRs and higher CPC. Grouping by intent allows more relevant ads and landing pages to be shown.
   • Action: Segment your non-brand search campaigns into tightly themed ad groups based on keyword intent.
     For example, if you’re selling shoes, create different ad groups for “running shoes,” “formal shoes,” and “women’s shoes.” Each ad group should have its own tailored ads and landing pages, improving Quality Score and lowering CPC.

3. Use SKAG (Single Keyword Ad Groups):

1. • Why: Using SKAGs can give you more control over your bids and ad messaging, directly aligned with specific keywords. This can result in higher relevance, CTR, and Quality Score, leading to lower CPC.
   • Action: Create SKAGs where you have one keyword (or a very small group of closely related keywords) per ad group. This allows you to write highly targeted ad copy and direct users to the most relevant landing page, enhancing overall campaign performance.

4. Use Tiered Bidding Based on Funnel Stages:

1. • Why: Non-brand keywords generally target users higher up in the funnel, and those users may not convert immediately. Having a one-size-fits-all bidding strategy can lead to overspending on top-of-funnel searches.
   • Action: Structure your campaigns to focus on different funnel stages—top-of-funnel (TOF), mid-funnel (MOF), and bottom-of-funnel (BOF)—with different bidding strategies.
     For Instance:
     set lower bids for TOF campaigns (generic, non-brand searches)
     Set higher bids for MOF or BOF campaigns (remarketing, product-focused, or branded search).
     This ensures you’re not overbidding on non-converting users, keeping your CPC in check.

5. Exact, Phrase, and Broad Match Keyword Structuring:

1. • Why: Relying too heavily on broad match keywords can drive CPC up by showing your ads for irrelevant searches. Conversely, using too many exact match keywords can limit your reach and make it difficult to scale.
   • Action: Structure your ad groups with a mix of exact, phrase, and broad match modifiers to balance relevance and reach.
     For instance:
     Broad Match Modifiers: Maintain reach without sacrificing relevance.
     Exact Match: Target high-intent searches precisely.
     Phrase Match: Capture mid-funnel searches with moderate precision.

6. Negative Keyword Strategy:

1. • Why: Allowing your ads to show for irrelevant search queries wastes your budget and drives up CPC. Over time, if irrelevant clicks aren’t managed, your ad relevance and Quality Score can suffer.
   • Action: Continuously update and expand your list of negative keywords to avoid triggering ads for irrelevant searches.

7. Ad Testing and Optimization:

1. • Why: Stale or underperforming ads can lead to a lower click-through rate (CTR), which directly impacts your Quality Score and increases CPC.
   • Action:
     Regularly A/B test different versions of your ad copy and monitor performance.
     Use dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) to increase relevance, and ensure that your headlines and descriptions are compelling and aligned with the user’s search intent.

8. Bid Adjustments for Time and Dayparting:

1. • Why: User intent and conversion likelihood can vary greatly by time of day or day of the week. Without proper bid adjustments, you could be overspending during low-converting hours, increasing your average CPC.
   • Action: Use ad scheduling and dayparting to increase bids during peak times and reduce them during low-performing hours.
     For instance, if your e-commerce store sees more conversions during evening hours or weekends, adjust your bids accordingly to maximize ROI while controlling CPC.

9. Use Audience Targeting:

1. • Why: Not all non-brand searches are equally valuable. Some users may be returning visitors or high-value audiences, while others are new and may require more nurturing.
   • Action:  Incorporate audience targeting into your search campaigns by layering audience segments (like remarketing lists, customer match, or similar audiences) over your non-brand search campaigns.
     For more insights on audience types, check Google’s article: Google Ads Audience Types.

10. Device, Location, and Demographic Segmentation:

• Why: Different devices, locations, or demographic segments may have varying levels of performance. By not segmenting these properly, you might overbid on low-performing segments, which drives up CPC unnecessarily.
• Action:
  – Continuously monitor demographic data (age, gender, income) in the Audience section to gain insights into your audience, allowing for more precise targeting.
  – Focus on specific geographic regions instead of broad audience targeting. When choosing location options, prioritize “Presence” over “Interest” to ensure your ads reach users within the desired area.
  

Here are the above-mentioned key strategies for controlling rising CPC in non-brand search campaigns, along with their impact levels:

Final Thoughts:

A well-structured non-brand search campaign that separates brand and non-brand keywords, optimizes match types, implements negative keywords, and uses precise audience and bidding strategies can significantly help control rising CPC. By focusing on ad relevance, segmentation, and ongoing optimization, brands can drive more efficient ad spend and avoid escalating CPCs in competitive non-brand search campaigns.