Netgate Case Study

I scaled Netgate’s monthly revenue from Google Ads from an average of $130,000 to $240,000, and the goal is to keep climbing!

The Account Audit.. Diagnosing problems & Finding Opportunities

On the surface, everything appeared to be in great shape with this account. The ROAS was strong, the click through rates were healthy, and the conversion rate was ok as well. The account looked like it was ready to scale.

I started looking under the hood to understand where we could allocate additional spend. The more I dug in, the more I realized the account was not functioning as it appeared to be.

• From my experience doing audits, I’ve noticed this is extremely common. Poor performance and inefficiency is hidden at the campaign/ad group level; a few high-performing areas of the campaign, pick up the slack, masking huge amounts of wasted spend.

Structurally, the account was broken up into 6 campaigns. Each campaign aligned with a respective product category, and all 6 had a few ad groups with each ad group having anywhere from 20 - 200+ keywords. 

Within each ad group, the keywords were mixed together in unconventional ways, branded terms hiding alongside nonbranded terms, and competitor terms in the mix as well. In most ad groups, only about 10-20% of the keywords being targeted were driving clicks, and an even smaller fraction were driving a meaningful number of conversions. 

Additionally, all of the campaigns were using an unrealistic target ROAS bid strategy. This complicated targeting even further, placing very heavy restrictions on the auctions the account was able to get into. In other words, it limited the Google machine learning algorithm’s ability to find efficient searches. 

In summary, this account had a large opportunity to improve. We just needed to refine the targeting, so that we could get clearer data on what was working and what wasn’t. After that, we’d be able to write copy tailored to the highest volume keywords, and really start optimizing the campaign.

4 Key Changes I Made To The Account + 1 Bonus Tactic

1. Divided the Campaigns By Category, Branded & Nonbranded

As all of the campaigns were essentially functioning the same way, I combined them into one branded campaign. More generalized branded terms, e.g., “brand + product category” are now targeted separately from specific products and all branded terms are targeted separately from non branded terms. 

This allows the account to use separate bidding strategies and unique copy for each group of keywords. This is important, because you don’t want to bid the same way on branded terms as you do on non-branded terms and it also avoids showing an advertisement with general-brand copy to someone searching for a specific product.

2. Scaled Traffic From Non Branded Keywords 

Once the campaigns were better organized, it was easy to see which nonbranded keywords were profitable, and which were burning through ad spend with little-to-no return.

I started cutting the low-performers, scaling spend on the high-performers, and running experiments (like sending traffic to more relevant landing pages) on keywords that fell into a grey area. 

Within a couple of months it was clear which keywords Netgate could advertise on profitably, so I dedicated a bulk of the budget to those and kept only a small portion for testing and trying to find new winners.

3. Scaled Traffic From Non Branded Keywords 

In addition to dialing in the keyword targeting, I ran weekly tests to improve the copy. I tested features against benefits, against reviews, and on and on until we found the messaging that resonated the most with potential customers. 

• Pro tip: Reading customer reviews, Reddit, and other online forums where Netgate’s ICP hangs out was very helpful for integrating customer language into the ad copy. 

• Pro tip 2: It’s low hanging fruit, but taking advantage of all components of the Google Ad, e.g., sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, images, etc., improved Netgate’s ad quality score, tremendously – leading to more impressions and cheaper clicks.
  

*Search campaign performance from Jan - April, 2023 compared to Jan - April, 2022^.

4. Implemented Remarketing Campaign

To re-engage all of our traffic from search, I implemented a remarketing campaign. The campaign targeted anyone who’d viewed a page on the site for at least 5 seconds (this excludes junk traffic and anyone who bounced immediately after page-load).

The remarketing ads displayed testimonials from past customers, features and product stats, and links to 3rd-party reviews on Netgate products.

To date, this campaign has proven to be very effective, generating a ROAS of 20x.

• Pro tip: Remarketing campaigns are a surefire way to increase conversions across all industries, and if you’re not running one, getting one set up is the first thing I’d recommend.