You’re spending a lot of money to get results from your PPC campaigns. But sometimes you need a helping hand to optimize your ads, campaign settings, keywords, and landing pages for success.
PPC tools are the answer. These digital tools help you overcome the technical and often messy world of PPC. But many PPC tools come with expensive monthly costs that cut into your ROI. If you’re running a lean operation, these costs will cripple your revenue.
Instead, keep your costs low by working with these 10 free PPC tools. Let us know in the comments if we missed any!
10 free PPC tools for advertisers
Whether you’re bootstrapping your ads from the ground-up or need to watch your spending, these PPC tools will help you get more results for less ad spend.
1. Google Ads Performance Grader
As it turns out, report cards didn’t stop with grade school. Wordstream put out a quick Google Ads Performance Grader that analyzes your campaign health and assigns a grade. You’ll need to enter your email to access the report, but it’s worth getting new suggestions to improve your account.
This report not only looks at keyword efficacy, but also important metrics like click-throughs and wasted ad spend. It’s good for a high-level view of your ads. We recommend you pull this report quarterly to get easy wins and recommended fixes.
2. Google Ads Editor
This is a free tool provided by Google that allows you to download your Google Ads account and work on it offline. It includes useful features like:
- Bulk changes
- Ad creation
- Ad editing
- High-level performance metrics
- Access to multiple accounts
What’s great about this tool is that you can adjust your Google Ads on the go in an offline environment. It’s ideal for working on your ads on an iPad while you’re waiting for a flight, for example. If you need to keep your finger constantly on the pulse of your campaigns, this free tool is for you.
3. Spyfu
Spyfu limits the features it gives away for free, but even then, you can use this tool to get a basic understanding of your competitors’ PPC campaigns. This tool is ideal if you’re advertising in a hyper-competitive PPC environment with high costs-per-click.
Spyfu allows you to see which keywords your competitors are targeting and how much they’re bidding. With the paid $40/mo option, you get access to your competitors’ historical bidding data, dating back up to 9 years. It’s the perfect way to reverse-engineer your competitors’ strategies to get ahead.
4. Canva
While there’s nothing wrong with hiring a graphic designer to build your display creative, it can get expensive. If you lack the skills or expensive software to do graphic design, it can have a big impact on the quality of your ads.
Instead of trying to learn Photoshop, use Canva. This free tool comes in both a web-based format and an app. It allows you to build custom graphics in an intuitive, drag-and-drop environment that requires zero technical knowledge.
The free version does limit your use of templates, images, and some features, but for most advertisers, the free version is more than enough. If you do need to pay for a piece of creative, they often sell for $1, which is still budget-friendly.
5. PPC Certifications
You need a trained pro at the helm to get the most results from your PPC campaigns. Instead of paying for an expensive course, you can get PPC certified for free. These certification courses educate you on PPC best practices and also give you a certification, which is a great selling point for your business.
If you use Google Ads, consider becoming a Google Ads Certified Professional. The course is difficult, but Google provides all the free resources you need to pass. Since Google is the gold standard for all things PPC, taking this course will get you up to speed on the latest and greatest PPC practices.
6. Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner is another tool from Google that’s free for Google Ads customers. Keyword Planner helps advertisers find keyword traffic estimates, discover new keyword ideas, and even estimate bids for your desired keywords.
If you’re having trouble narrowing down which keywords will perform the best, give Keyword Planner a try. Its data can help you choose more competitive keywords that move the needle without overwhelming your budget.
7. Scripts
Do you need Google Ads to do something very specific? You don’t need to hire a developer to make your dream a reality. Instead, use a Google Ads script. These scripts are snippets of JavaScript that you can paste into your Google Ads account to customize account settings, bids, and a lot more.
Some advertisers have the resources to write their own scripts, but there are also plenty of free scripts available to you online. Here’s a list of scripts to get you started.
8. Google Trends
For some businesses, timely advertising is key. If your business needs to know what topics are hot right now, use Google Trends. This free tool shows you what keywords customers are searching for. It can even display the popularity of a particular keyword over a period of time.
Not every advertiser will need Google Trends, but it’s still worth exploring. For example, if you have an identity protection company, Google Trends would have helped you uncover users’ frantic searches during the Experian leak. By monitoring trends, you can adjust your PPC campaigns to address what users are searching for right now.
9. Google Optimize
Your PPC campaign is just one half of the equation. What do people experience when they click on your ad and land on your website? Advertisers have to make sure that their landing pages are also optimized for PPC, and that’s where Google Optimize comes in.
This tool helps you split test certain components of your site and measure the results in Google Analytics. You can see which headlines, calls to action, buttons, images, and more are effective for PPC success.
10. Audience Input Tools
There’s a variety of audience input tools advertisers can use to inform their campaign strategy. This includes tools like:
- Quora: This Q&A site lets users ask questions and crowdsource answers. It’s a great way to see what questions people are asking.
- Answer The Public: Simply enter a subject and Answer The Public will pull commonly-searched questions related to that subject.
Don’t neglect audience input. This is often the key to identifying low-hanging fruit for keywords and ad copy direction.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need to spend $1,000 a month on PPC tools. Keep your campaigns ROI-positive by minimizing costs and maximizing results. In a pinch, use these 10 free tools to get the results you need from your advertising campaign.
But what if these free tools aren’t cutting it? No worries. Reach out to Logical Media Group’s experts now for a free PPC brainstorming session.
