The 4 Most Common Mistakes Estate Agents Make Running Google Ads

Inside this short article, my goal is to simply highlight the four most common mistakes l see from reviewing agents' Google Ad Accounts.

Being ex-agents ourselves, we understand the nuances that running a PPC (pay per click) brings. You see that not all clients are worth the same value.  

If you're not running any pay per click advertising then I'd like to just give you some stats that may change your thinking.

There are over 300,000 monthly searches for "properties for sale near me" across the UK so there are people in your area right now looking to solve their housing problem

There are over 70,000 monthly searches for people looking to find out "how much their home is worth?" across the UK

Around 40% of the daily Google searches result in a click on ads, so yes, people do click on those ads at the top of the search results that, in turn, increase opportunities very quickly for millions of businesses across the world just like you, Small business owners and large ones, too.

The remaining 60% of searches tend to click across the map links and organic search results, so if your website isn't found anywhere on page 1, l would bet that you're missing leads without knowing it. (SHOCK HORROR!)

With so much competition on the platform, we often come across the strategy of 'let's throw it up against the wall and see what we get, which is not a strategy to win, which then results in frustration that Google hasn't worked).

The key benefit to advertising with Google is you don't pay for the impression but the click, hence the term Pay Per Click advertising (PPC)

But how can you avoid what we call the "Google Tax?" or overspending in your account?

There are a lot of things behind the scenes to running a successful campaign, but these are the most common four mistakes estate agents make that, when found, can be fixed and help you on the way to building a successful campaign.

How many of these have you found in your own account?

Common Mistake 1:

No Negative Keywords:

Without negative keywords, you'll get clicks from people who are not looking for what you need - which is sales valuations, am l correct?

The fix: build a list of words you don't want to pay Google for, for example: for sale, tax, area, road, street, etc.

Common Mistake 2:

Sending clicks to the homepage of your website.

When investing resource with Google or even social media ads, it's a very targeted method, so you need to drive those people to a webpage (we call these a landing page that answers that person's problem).

The fix: Once you know which customer you want to help (again focus on one group per ad), build landing pages that gets that person to reach out and become an opportunity for you to make a sale.

Common Mistake 3

No conversion tag placed in the website

Without conversion tracking on the landing page (the page where we send people to when they've clicked on your advert), you will not be able to see your results, which will cause you to believe it's not working.

The fix: place a simple code/pixel on the backend of your webpage that tracks activity and results from your marketing budget. This can be a bit techy so you may need a website developer to install this code on your webpage. (This conversion code is supplied by Google Ads and is unique to your account so you should never share pixels with other webpages).

Live Case Study story 

We've recently worked on a campaign for a local estate agent, who had invested 7,000 over the last 12 months. We found the agent was flying blind (with no data), which led to bad business decisions and turned the ads off.

After taking over the campaign, we found out that that initial £7,124.59 invested had brought in over £18,700 worth of exchange commission. With conversion tracking now installed, we turned the ads back on and made some simple changes to the webpage to improve leads from what is a great campaign.

By simply installing this magical conversion tracking code, you will make those informed decisions to getting even higher returns on investment. Win win.

Common Mistake 4

Not using the Google Display Network (GDN) or and YouTube.

YouTube is owned by Google, so they allow you to reach people who are searching for inspiration on areas to live in your area, etc. It's also the world's second search engine with 500 hours of video uploaded every minute. 

Google Display Network allows you to advertise your brand on over two million websites for a fraction of the cost of search ads. You can appear on local, regional and national websites like: the Liverpool Echo, the Evening Standard, Gumtree and many more.

You can reach people in an area as low as one kilometre from your office or by postcode.

Bonus 1 - Common Mistake 5:

Not separating campaigns into groups:

The Fix: Seperate your ads to target each group and don't hope and pray it works. It may do, but 100% you'll overspend getting the results

Bonus 2 (it's a special one so it's a must)

Knowing your maths:
By not doing the business maths, you'll overspend and crash.

The Fix: Understand how much you make per sale, this will give you clarity on how much you can invest to get that landlord or homeowner who is looking to sell, if you make £1, 000 or £5,000. Knowing that will dictate to you how much we can spend on CPC (cost per click) and ultimately CPL (cost per lead)

We have put together further resources here if you'd like to read more insights from someone who does it, not just writes about it. Click here to download your special guide.

*Pete Butler is a Pay Per Click Coach at Boost Your Agency