While it may sound appealing to look for your own ad on Google, it’s in your best interest to avoid doing so. Plus, there is a much more accurate way to see how your search ad is appearing to users without doing potential damage to your campaign. Keep reading to learn why looking for your own PPC ad is misleading and potentially harmful to your campaign.
The result won’t be accurate
Even upon searching for and finding your PPC ad, it won’t actually give you an accurate gauge of when and how your ad is showing up. This is because PPC ads are based upon an auction system of bidding on keywords, and because the bidding process happens in real-time searches that are performed now will differ from a search performed even just a few minutes from now. To truly see how a campaign is performing, you’ll need to look at more data and data over a longer period of time. Even data between seven and 30 days would give you a much better idea of how the campaign is performing and how your ads are showing up.
It could be damaging to your campaign
While seemingly harmless at first, searching for your own ad can actually do damage to your campaign. This is because your search behavior gives Google signals that can eventually have a negative effect on your campaigns. Most of the time this occurs when an ad is searched for repeatedly without being clicked on. When this happens, you essentially let Google know that the ad is not relevant which can lower your quality score as a result. Lower quality scores can also mean paying more per click and costing more money to show your ads.
You may stop seeing your ad
Because Google uses your computer’s IP address to identify you and decide which ads to show, you may stop seeing your ad as another result of repeatedly searching for your own ads and not clicking on them. On the other hand, if you do click on the ads you’ll be costing yourself money. If you get to the landing page by clicking on your ad and close it before filling out a form or making a call, Google may then assume that the landing page is not relevant or engaging. Furthermore, if you do this repeatedly, Google may even think that you’re trying to do damage to a campaign and block your IP address from viewing the ad.
If you’ve searched for your ad and haven’t found it
Although searching for your ad and not finding it can be slightly alarming, there’s usually no need for concern and there can be a variety of reasons for this. Sometimes, you may not find your ad because the campaigns are optimized for conversions. This can be a feature set by your paid search manager that allows your ads to only show up when the conditions are such that a user is most likely to convert. Therefore, your ads will not always show, which is intentional.
How to see your ad
Seeing your PPC ad can be exciting, so if you’re interested in learning how to do so, here’s how.
You’ll need to use the Ad Preview Tool from Google. This is also something that your paid search manager will likely be able to show you. When using the tool, you’ll first enter simple information and then be able to perform various searches to see what ads from your campaign are showing and see what they look like. The Ad Preview Tool is helpful because it simulates searches but doesn’t actually serve ads. Therefore, you are still able to preview your ad in real-time and see how it would show within a real search scenario.
At Jubilant Digital Marketing, our Paid Search Team is always here to help you have visibility into your campaigns and make the most of your advertising efforts. We’re glad to provide examples of your paid search ads and provide you with detailed explanations. If you need assistance managing your paid search campaigns feel free to contact us or give us a call at 913-246-5800.
