The last PPC campaign I analysed in the ‘Analyse A Real PPC Campaign’ series was from Postcode Scratch, who had a generally good campaign with the one exception that I felt that they could have included their brand name more through the PPC search advert. In this article, I will be looking into the housing market to see what type of campaigns appear. For this reason, here is an analysis of a PPC campaign from OnTheMarket.com.
To view OnTheMarket.com’s PPC search advert, I had to type into Google search UK, ‘houses to rent in london’:
Straight away, the first thing I notice is the fact OnTheMarket.com are the only advert showing for such a search phrase. It is a specific keyword search phrase which could explain why competition is low. However, considering houses in London are worth millions, I would have thought there would have been at least some level of competition for such a search phrase.
Looking at the advert itself, it is a very well designed search advert. The title addresses what I searched for and includes the URL of OnTheMarket and and brand name twice. The description is a long personalised call to action with the second line outlining some of the reasons to use OnTheMarket.com. Lastly, the ad extension used is the site link extension which includes some useful links the web user could potentially be interested in clicking on. On the whole, this is a very good search advert.
After clicking on the above advert, I came to the following landing page:
As a landing page goes, this is a relatively good one for the following reasons:
- The complete top section is dedicated to allowing web users to find the specific type of house they want – this is a must when searching for houses simply because of the range of different houses and prices there are on the housing market. Drop downs makes this process easy for the web user to do.
- The central area of the landing page is taken up with the results list of the houses. It is extremely effective to have the houses laid out with images and prices (just below the fold) so the web user can get a glance at lots of houses at once.
- The colour theme of the landing page is quite minimalist, which is a good thing since it gives the images of the houses more emphasis and exposure.
Ultimately, I would say this PPC campaign is a success. The search advert gains traffic for a critical search phrase for which OnTheMarket.com do not appear on the first page of organic results. The search advert is packed with their brand name to solidify OnTheMarket as a website to look for housing. The landing page is fluid to use enabling the web user to quickly scroll through many houses at once, removing any incentive of the web user clicking and exiting away from the landing page.
