Organizations that want to get the most out of their ad grants and Google search campaigns need to have a large number of landing pages to link to each of the different ads, and it’s best to host landing pages on subdomains if possible. Such landing pages are necessary to maintain a low bounce rate and high conversion rate, which results in higher quality scores from Google and makes advertising more effective.
Every day, Google receives millions of search queries from people looking for answers or solutions to their individual needs. Each company has a unique opportunity to meet these needs, however, all too often their websites are not set up to provide this meaningful connection. Campaign-specific landing pages can fill this gap.
We think it’s best to host these landing pages on a WordPress subdomain specifically designed to support Google search. The purpose of a subdomain is to have many different pages to support many different ads. This will help cast the widest possible net for web traffic.
People look to Google for solutions to their problems
Web traffic can be divided into the so-called “three rings”:
- Ring 1. These are people who are already connected to your organization and visit your site to get the latest information about events, access previous news, etc.
- Ring 2.These are people who don’t know about you yet, but are actively searching for your organization using keywords like “charity.”
- Ring 3. These are people who are looking for answers to their questions or problems, which, as a rule, do not include the keyword “organization” in the search query.
Landing pages on subdomains are needed to engage third ring users. Here’s how they’re directed to your organization using it:
- People search Google for solutions to their problems or questions.
- They search for queries without the word “organization”, for example: “adopt a dog from a shelter”, “where to get humanitarian aid”, “free legal advice”, etc.
- These new people click on your ads found in search results.
- They click on the ad and go to your subdomain with content that answers their question.
- There, they see a motivating call to action on your site, such as “Watch a video presentation”, “Get help”, “Join an organization”.
The conversion goal for ring 3 users is to have 3% of these new visitors actually click on the call to action. To maintain this rate, conversions can be continuously monitored and improved.
It is worth noting that soft calls to action are most appropriate for ring 3 people at this stage of interaction, as they should always be gently led to a result, and not sharply pressured or forced to it.
It’s also worth noting that an organization can use their blog for this type of content without resorting to creating a separate subdomain. However, in this case, some difficulties may arise:
Lack of expertise to integrate conversion goals and other analytics with your Google AdWords account.
Large volumes of raw content needed to cover Google search or Google Grant Ads volume that is hard to keep up with.
The call to action is not soft enough. Usually, the main site contains very direct calls to action, such as “schedule a visit”. Whereas a subdomain with pages on topics that answer user questions allows you to use softer calls to action, such as “watch a video” or “ask a question.”
Low bounce rate and high conversion rate
Bounce rate is a measure of website performance commonly used in web traffic analysis. This is the percentage of visitors who visit your organization’s website and then immediately leave (or “bounce”) instead of staying and browsing other pages.”Conversion rate” is a digital marketing term that represents the percentage of visitors to your website that reach your desired goal (or “conversion”), out of the total number of visitors. A high conversion rate is associated with a successful web page design.
Here are the best practices for maintaining low bounce rates and high conversion rates for your Google Ad Grant campaigns. Landing pages on subdomains should:
- include relevant keywords in the text and SEO metadata to target relevant specific keywords in the advertisement;
- match the searcher’s intentions and actually answer his questions to minimize the bounce rate;
- contain interesting internal links so that the visitor is more likely to stay on the site and continue to explore other pages, instead of “giving up”;
- offer an irresistible call to action to motivate user engagement and generate as many conversions as possible.
Again, the goal of landing pages is to maintain low bounce rates and high conversion rates. Ideally, keep bounce rates below 40% and conversion rates above 3%.
Next, we will continue to discuss why you should choose landing pages with specific answers to user questions hosted on a subdomain.
Landing pages on WordPress subdomains
A subdomain, while somewhat considered a separate site, is still part of an organization’s overall web presence. Google considers it related to your main domain.
Creating a subdomain on WordPress specifically to support Google Ads has 5 important advantages:
- It’s faster and easier to add new required pages as new keyword campaigns are added to Google Ad Grant campaigns.
- Page layouts are designed specifically to minimize bounce rates and maximize conversion rates because they are not constrained by the basic design of your site.
- Google Analytics data related to Google Ad Grant and search campaigns can be viewed from the same account.
- The subdomain serves as a transition page between Google advertising and the company’s main domain.
- It is much easier to use content from similar pages that have been written for other organizations in their subdomains. This really helps to minimize the cost of the organization to create such a large amount of content.
For convenience and cost savings, we offer companies the development of subdomains specially created to increase the effectiveness of Google Ad Grant. Our goal is to save you money by making landing page deployment quick and easy, and at an affordable price.
Maximizing Google Quality Score
To help monitor user engagement with search, Google assigns a Quality Score to each targeted keyword within your Google Ad Grant.
This indicator is a number from 1 to 10.Unsurprisingly, the higher the score, the better, while low scores will result in your ads no longer being served. There are several factors that affect Google’s Quality Score:
- Relevance of the ad text
- The click rate of your ad
- Relevance of keywords in the ad group
- User experience and relevance of landing pages on subdomains.
Google Quality Score optimization sets you up for better performance and a higher return on investment (ROI). Higher quality scores lead to lower cost per click and cost per conversion!
Relevance of the search purpose
To succeed in Google Ads and organic search, your organization needs landing pages on subdomains with content that is relevant to the searcher’s needs. Google’s goal is always to provide its users (searchers) with the best possible experience, which means providing them with search results that best match their queries.
Begin by entering your first and last name to establish your identity. The next crucial step is providing your email address; remember, it must be a business, branded, or corporate email, as generic email addresses are not accepted. This is to ensure a professional level of communication and to filter out non-serious inquiries.
You are also required to include your website’s URL. This is vital as it gives context and allows for a preliminary assessment of your online presence, which is integral to the audit process. Furthermore, you must clarify your status regarding NGO registration or your interest in Google Ad Grants. This information is essential for tailoring the audit to your specific needs and circumstances.
After you have filled in all these details with precision and care, review them to ensure accuracy and completeness. Submitting accurate and comprehensive information is crucial for a meaningful audit.