Pay-Per-Click or PPC advertising can help you generate leads relatively quickly. That’s why an increasing number of businesses are investing in paid advertising.
According to Statista, in 2019, search advertising spending stood at $104.8 billion worldwide. It is projected to reach around $137 billion by 2022.
However, without the right key performance indicators or KPIs, you can’t create successful lawyer PPC campaigns.
Here are six KPIs that you shouldn’t miss on when planning your campaign.
1. Average Click-Through Rate
Click-Through Rate or CTR is one of the most important KPIs in paid law firm SEO. It is the number of clicks marketers receive on their ads per number of impressions. The average CTR is the ratio of ad clicks to impressions across your campaign or for a specific keyword. It is expressed in percentage.
A higher average CTR usually indicates that your ads are relevant. A good average CTR depends on a variety of factors, including your industry, keywords, and your advertisement campaigns.
You can use WordStream’s CTR calculator to know if your average CTR is higher or lower than your competitors. Once you know where your average CTR stands, you can optimize your campaigns accordingly.
2. Cost Per Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Click or CPC is the cost you have to pay to a publisher like Google for every click your advertisements receive. It is the price you will pay for running your lawyer PPC campaigns. You can calculate the CPC by using the following formula:
Cost Per Click = Advertising Cost / Number of Clicks
In advertising platforms like Google, you can set maximum CPC when bidding. The actual CPC you pay for a campaign is often less than the maximum CPC (your bidding cost).
CPC is a crucial metric as it will tell you how much your paid law firm marketing will cost, helping you plan your budget. The average CPC in AdWords is $2.69 (search) and $0.63 for Google Display Network (GDN). However, it is quite high, i.e. $6.75 (search) and $0.72 (GDN), for the legal industry.
3. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
Cost Per Acquisition is the aggregate cost marketers have to pay to acquire a new customer. You can calculate the CPA by dividing the total cost of conversions by the number of conversions. CPA is more of a financial metric that helps you to calculate the revenue your advertisement campaign has generated.
The average CPA across industries varies. While the average CPA in Google AdWords across all industries is $48.96 (search) and $75.51 (GDN), it is $86.02 (search) and $39.52 (GDN) for the legal industry, probably higher than any other niche.
4. Conversion Rate (CVR)
Conversion Rate or CVR is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors. In AdWords, it is the number of conversions divided by total number of clicks, which is expressed in percentage.
For example, if your lawyer PPC campaign generates 12 conversions per 1000 clicks, your CVR is (12/1000) X 100 = 1.2%. This KPI offers you a direct measure of how successful your campaigns are. If you optimize your PPC campaigns for higher CVR, you will get a better return on your paid advertisement investments.
5. Impression Share
This simple KPI tells you how many people have viewed your advertisements. However, a higher impression share alone doesn’t indicate the success of your lawyer PPC campaign. You have to use this metric in conjunction with others to measure the success of your campaign.
It does tell you about how many viewers you have reached compared to your competitors. For example, if your impression share is 30%, it means 70% of your target audience is viewing ads by your competitors. In other words, the higher your impression share is, the more people your ads have reached.
6. Quality Score
Although Quality Score is a bit difficult to understand, it is an important KPI. Created by Google, this metric helps you to understand how relevant your paid advertisements are. As it affects your CPC and CPA, quality score is critical for your lawyer PPC success.
This metric uses other KPIs, including average CTR, the quality of your landing pages for specific ad campaigns, and the relevance of your advertisement content and the keywords used in it.
Google calculates this score on a scale of 0-10, with a score between 7 and 10 being considered as a good quality score. If your score is less than 6, you need to improve it to make your campaigns more successful.
Parting Words
Running lawyer PPC campaigns requires careful planning, which in turn, is based on selecting the right metrics or KPIs. Keeping these six KPIs in mind should help you optimize your PPC campaigns for better results. However, you can also let an experienced PPC agency for Lawyers like Gorilla Webtactics create, run, and optimize your PPC campaigns. We can help you stay two steps ahead of your competitors. Call us today at (612) 470-9877 or contact us online to know more.