The Ultimate PPC Marketing Checklist (2022)

Even though Q1 is almost over, it’s never too late to check in on your digital marketing best practices. 

And when we say check in on, we actually mean check off. As in a series of checkmarks. As in a checklist.

That’s right! Prepare yourself for yet another digital marketing checklist à la PSM. In case you missed them, we’ve already made to-dos for your site’s content and technical SEO. 

Now, let’s talk about PPC!

2022’s Complete PPC Marketing Checklist

1. Balance Your Budget

New year, new spend.

If you haven’t had a 1:1 with your monthly PPC budget yet, consider that your first priority. This is especially true if you’re working on client accounts or across multiple channels. After that, hold weekly reviews to make sure your ad spend won’t go under or over its limits by the end of the month. 

2. Keep an Eye on Your Keywords

The key to keyword success? Giving them monthly, weekly, and daily audits. 

Are you winning your long-tail phrases? Is your portfolio an array of match types? Have you been keeping your ad groups cohesive? Did you deploy negative keywords? Are you pausing keywords that are underperforming and boosting ones that aren’t?

Asking yourself these questions and any others you can think of will help you stay on top of your ads and their capabilities.

3. Scope Out Your Schedule

As any seasoned PPC will tell you, sticking to last year’s schedule is a big no-no. 

In 2022, trends come and go, people and their behaviors will change, and paid advertising will be just as fickle. That said, take some time to revisit your KPIs to figure out when, where, and how you should organize ads for their best performance. 

4. Get Intel on Your Inventory

Are you keeping tabs on your or your client’s inventory? 

If not, we highly suggest doing that—and literally, too. Keeping a tab on your browser that links back to a product catalog will help you keep your paid advertising consistent. 

In other words, it ensures you won’t a). have ads for non-existent, discontinued, or out-of-stock items and b). miss out on advertising for popular, on-sale, or brand new items.

5. Check Out the Competition

An ad is only as good as its competition—until it needs to be better than its competition.

Check out what others are doing with their paid strategy whenever you have time. If you see opportunities where you can make some tweaks to your own ads, do that! Better yet, see where you can top your performance (and their own, too). 

6. Revisit Retargeting

Don’t let the ones who bounce get away. 

If you haven’t considered retargeting before, now is definitely the time. When you give prospects more opportunities to see what your brand is all about, it can also help you get your CTR and conversions back on track. 

7. Assess Your Ads

Yes, we’re talking about testing ads here. (We had this whole alliteration thing going in the H3s and wanted to be consistent.)

In paid advertising, there are no ol’ reliables. Testing your ads frequently is essential if you really want to learn what characteristics work and don’t work. Ad testing also leads to higher-quality ads in the long run, which is a major plus for you and your spend.

Put simply: test, test, test ad infinitum.

8. Learn More on Loop

If there’s one thing you should absolutely do this year, it’s learn how to do all of the above better. 

Whether that’s keeping up with industry news or even reading up on all sorts of paid advertising guides, stay on the pulse for new ways to boost your PPC efforts.

Not Sure About Your PPC Marketing? 

Let us do the hard work for you. Request an audit from our Perfect Team of SEO and content experts to get started.