“Money Pit” Users’ Effect On PPC Budgets – Moz
Skip to content
Moz logo
Menu open
Menu close
Search
Products
Moz Pro
Moz Pro Home
Moz Local
Moz Local Home
STAT
Mozscape API
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Link Explorer
Keyword Explorer
Domain Analysis
MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
SEO Learning Center
Moz Academy
SEO Q&A
Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
Blog
Why Moz
Agency Solutions
Enterprise Solutions
Small Business Solutions
Case Studies
The Moz Story
New Releases
Log in
Log out
Products
Moz Pro
Your All-In-One Suite of SEO Tools
The essential SEO toolset: keyword research, link building, site audits, page optimization, rank tracking, reporting, and more.
Learn more
Try Moz Pro free
Moz Local
Complete Local SEO Management
Raise your local SEO visibility with easy directory distribution, review management, listing updates, and more.
Learn more
Check my presence
STAT
Enterprise Rank Tracking
SERP tracking and analytics for SEO experts, STAT helps you stay competitive and agile with fresh insights.
Learn more
Book a demo
Mozscape API
The Power of Moz Data via API
Power your SEO with the proven, most accurate link metrics in the industry, powered by our index of trillions of links.
Learn more
Get connected
Compare SEO Products
Free SEO Tools
Competitive Research
Competitive Intelligence to Fuel Your SEO Strategy
Gain intel on your top SERP competitors, keyword gaps, and content opportunities.
Find competitors
Link Explorer
Powerful Backlink Data for SEO
Explore our index of over 40 trillion links to find backlinks, anchor text, Domain Authority, spam score, and more.
Get link data
Keyword Explorer
The One Keyword Research Tool for SEO Success
Discover the best traffic-driving keywords for your site from our index of over 500 million real keywords.
Search keywords
Domain Analysis
Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool
Get top competitive SEO metrics like Domain Authority, top pages, ranking keywords, and more.
Analyze domain
MozBar
Free, Instant SEO Metrics As You Surf
Using Google Chrome, see top SEO metrics instantly for any website or search result as you browse the web.
Try MozBar
More Free SEO Tools
Learn SEO
Beginner’s Guide to SEO
The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.
Read the Beginner’s Guide
How-To Guides
Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.
See All SEO Guides
SEO Learning Center
Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.
Visit the Learning Center
Moz Academy
Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.
Explore the Catalog
On-Demand Webinars
Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.
View All Webinars
SEO Q&A
Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.
Find SEO Answers
August 7-9, 2023
Lock in Super Early Bird savings for MozCon
Snag tickets
Blog
Why Moz
Small Business Solutions
Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.
Grow Your Business
The Moz Story
Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.
Read Our Story
Agency Solutions
Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.
Drive Client Success
Case Studies
Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.
See What’s Possible
Enterprise Solutions
Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.
Scale Your SEO
New Releases
Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.
See What’s New
New Feature: Moz Pro
Surface actionable competitive intel
Learn More
Log in
Moz Pro
Moz Local
Moz Local Dashboard
Mozscape API
Mozscape API Dashboard
Moz Academy
Avatar
Moz Home
Notifications
Account & Billing
Manage Users
Community Profile
My Q&A
My Videos
Log Out
M
By: MitchTurck
July 16, 2008
“Money Pit” Users’ Effect On PPC Budgets
Paid Search Marketing (PPC)
This YouMoz entry was submitted by one of our community members. The author’s views are entirely his or her own (excluding an unlikely case of hypnosis) and may not reflect the views of Moz.
No worries if PPC isn’t your bag… this article ties into SEO and general business tactics as well. If none of those things are your bag, then just skip to the bottom – I made a lolcat pic to appease you. Brats.
I was reading Kate’s post on Tightening PPC Ad Budgets and thought I’d chime in with my take on those costly folk I like to call “money pit” users. Money pit users are all those people who are too lazy to connect with your business in the way they “ought” to, and instead choose to query you and click on your paid ad. This is most rampant in the PPC keywords directly related to your business name, e.g., “Jimmy’s Repair Shop.” While I agree with Kate that pausing PPC spend on your business’ DBA and related names is a good tactic when the budget’s tight, I’m not so quick to write off the money pit users as a waste of my ad spend.
Let’s go over some of the typical money pit user scenarios, and look at why you might want to blow some PPC pocket change on them after all:
1. Users who are about to travel to your physical location and just googled you for a phone number or directions. Think real hard, folks: where should users be looking if they just want your address and phone information? Yep, the local results. By having poor local results (nothing useful, or two conflicting records), you drive these people to the PPC ad space you’ve rented above it. If you’re an SEO being paid to drive natural traffic, then whoever’s running the PPC campaign has to make up for the fact that your efforts don’t jive in local search. In this case, I’d be more worried about the big local directories and my own SEO than I would be about cutting PPC spend.
Then there’s the issue of the location that Google targets for your business. If someone querying your business name gets a OneBox (one with the ten local links) that has your competitors listed above you because G thinks their location is better, you could potentially lose that user. If this is the case with your business, I’d definitely keep PPC in the mix to prevent losing customers who are so close to a sale.
2. Users with typically non-converting interests. In my industry (automotive retail), people are constantly – constantly – calling or emailing dealers to find out whether or not their license plates have come in yet. If you care about customer satisfaction, maybe you don’t mind that these people are getting in touch with you by first clicking your paid ad. But if you’re like most car dealers, you couldn’t care less about the customer once the car is sold, and that means these users are a drain on your PPC budget.
My question is this: why do these users have to go to a search engine to get in touch with you? They’ve met 2 or 3 people at your business by now, they’ve spent time in your physical location, and (in the example provided) they have a stack of paperwork from you a mile high. No one gave them a business card and said “Call me at this number if you have any questions”? No one thought to print a “Questions/Concerns” phone number or email address on their paperwork? There are too many users coming in through online searches simply because businesses don’t make the effort to get closer with the customer.
By the by, if your client doesn’t know if he/she has customers with frequently non-converting interests, I suggest you get access to their recorded 800 number (if they didn’t already have one, I’m sure you proposed it as part of your PPC campaign). Listen to the first 10 seconds of every call (or have them do it and generate a trend report), and you might be surprised to find out how many people are calling for reasons that can’t possibly result in profit. Plus, listening to phone calls is a great way to pick keyword lists, for those who didn’t know.
3. Users who are trying to file a complaint or post some negativity online. I’m a big fan of having a PPC ad group dedicated to negative reputation; often, dissatisfied customers are just looking for resolution, and if you can stick a link in their face before they see an organic listing like Complaints.com or Yelp reviews, you just might stop them from flaming your business on the web (and perhaps even turn them into a satisfied customer). Of course, these users are looking for a supportive listener, so you can’t send their clicks to the standard “Contact Us” page… the ad should go to a separate page that talks about how you aim to resolve any issues, and have support staff available at such-and-such number/email. But wait – shouldn’t that landing page be optimized so it makes it to the top of the natural SERPs for something like “Jimmy’s Repair Shop reviews” or “bad experience at Jimmy’s Repair Shop”? Again, here’s where a good SEO can help lower the PPC expense. If your “complaints” page makes it to the top of the listings, perhaps you can cut back on the PPC ad group for negative reputation.
So there are some examples of how improving your business in other areas can lift a little weight off your PPC budget. But my friends, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet, I’ve yet another angle: Quality Score.
All these people we mentioned are worthless for conversion on your site… but ironically, they’re pure gold for your ad campaign’s CTR, and that means improved QS. Let’s do a little math with a sample small business budget:
Monthly PPC Campaign Budget: $5,000
Estimated PPC Budget Wasted On Money Pit Users: $500
Estimated Campaign Quality Score Improvement Attributed To Money Pit User CTR (Dollar Amount): $0.10 per click
(Campaign QS Improvement Per Click) x (Monthly Budget) = $500
This data indicates that the money pit users (who cost me $500/mo) are improving my entire campaign Quality Score by an average of 10 cents per click. On a $5,000 campaign budget, that means I’m getting $500 worth of clicks simply because those money pit users have convinced Google that my ads are highly relevant. $500 wasted ad budget minus $500 in “free” QS-boosted clicks equals a wash, and I can still say that at least those money pit users definitely made it to my site instead of being lost in the natural listings. Obviously these figures are hard to nail down in a real-world campaign, but if you do a ton of testing, I’m sure you’ll find that there’s some rationale for wasting some of your ad spend.
Oh yeah, the lolcat. Almost forgot.
With Moz Pro, you have the tools you need to get SEO right — all in one place.
Start your free trial!
Read Next
How to Use Keywords to Combine the Power of SEO and Google Ads [Case Study]
Read this post
Understanding the Google Ads Auction: The Importance of Quality Score + How to Improve It
Read this post
How to Know When You Need a Dedicated Paid Landing Page
Read this post
Comments
Please keep your comments TAGFEE by following the community etiquette
Comments are closed. Got a burning question? Head to our Q&A section to start a new conversation.
Moz logo
Contact
Community
Free Trial
Terms & Privacy
Jobs
Help
News & Press
Copyright 2022 © Moz, Inc. All rights reserved.