At OutSearch, we live and breathe PPC. As a specialist Google Ads agency, we know that managing and optimising PPC campaigns takes more than just intuition - it takes the right tools.
Whether it's deep keyword research, ad testing, bid optimisation, or conversion tracking, having a solid eco-system of Tech tooling is a key part of the solution to deliver consistent ROI for our clients. It helps us to be more efficient marketers, leaning on the right technology to deliver up insights and automate repetitive tasks.
In this post, we're pulling back the curtain on the Top 10 Tools we use to manage, optimise, and supercharge clients' PPC campaigns. Whether you're an in-house marketer or part of a digital agency, these tools can help you unlock serious performance gains.
1. Google Ads Editor
Google Ads Editor is our go-to tool for making bulk changes efficiently. Everyone who has tinkered with a PPC campaign is probably familiar with it.
It's a downloadable application that allows offline editing of campaigns, making it ideal for large-scale updates across accounts.
The PPC specialists at OutSearch use Ads Editor to upload new campaigns, restructure ad groups, and implement large-scale changes across large accounts quickly - saving hours of manual work. When onboarding new clients, we often use it to clean up legacy campaign structures and build out our own proven account architecture.
2. Google Keyword Planner
This native Google tool is pivotal for initial campaign planning and ongoing keyword discovery. It gives estimates on search volume, competition, and suggested bids.
Before launching any campaign, our team dives deep into Keyword Planner to ensure keyword targeting aligns with search intent and business goals.
At OutSearch, we also find that it's incredibly useful when expanding campaigns into new regions or languages.
3. SEMRush
SEMRush is our go-to tool for competitor analysis, keyword research, and PPC strategy development. It provides insights into competitor ad copies, keyword gaps, and traffic trends.
We use SEMRush to benchmark clients against their competitors and measure the relative strength of their domains. By identifying what keywords competitors are bidding on and analysing ad copy strategies, we help clients get a competitive advantage. It also informs our keyword expansion and negative keyword strategies.
SEMRush also has a useful site audit feature, which enables us to crawl our Client's site and highlight any technical SEO issues. Fixing these can lead to improved QS (quality scores) for our PPC Campaigns.
4. Optmyzr
Optmyzr automates everyday PPC optimisation tasks such as bid adjustments, keyword pruning, and mini account audits.
It saves time and reduces human error, as well as providing intelligent recommendations for bid adjustments, quality score improvements, and spend rates.
Our team uses Optmyzr to generate account health reports, automate budget burn rates, and flag anomalies before they become a problem. It's especially useful for e-commerce and lead-gen clients with multiple campaigns running simultaneously.
5. Supermetrics Or Google Looker Studio
Supermetrics automates reporting by pulling data from platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Google Analytics directly into Google Sheets or Data Studio.
We build custom dashboards for clients to provide real-time visibility into campaign performance without the need for spreadsheets or manual data 'knifing & forking'. Internally, it also helps us track KPIs and spot trends quickly.
More recently at OutSearch we've used Looker Studio for enhanced reporting and combining multiple data sources, to build our automated reporting as it is fully featured and quick to build out.
6. Google Analytics 4 - GA4
GA4 allows for in-depth conversion tracking and user journey analysis. It provides a broader view of how visitors to a website originating from PPC campaigns interacts with the website beyond the last-click attribution.
It allows for deep insights into post-click behavior, audience segmentation, and multi-channel attribution.
Our PPC specialists use GA4 together with Google Ads to analyse user behavior, improve retargeting strategies, and fine-tune landing pages. Understanding how visitors interact post-click helps us optimise for conversion, not just traffic.
7. SpyFu
SpyFu is a competitive intelligence tool focused on paid and organic search insights. It reveals competitor PPC spend, top-performing keywords, and historical ad data.
At OutSearch, we use SpyFu during client onboarding and strategy development. It helps identify missed opportunities and offers inspiration for ad creatives.
SpuFu helps us to understand a new industry sector fast, and identify keywords and ad copy that will resonate with a client's target audience.
8. Unbounce
Unbounce is a landing page builder designed to help increase conversion rates through A/B testing of different variations, dynamic text replacement, and mobile responsive optimisation.
We often create custom landing pages for PPC campaigns to ensure high relevance and conversion rates, and to test a number of variations and approaches to see which works best.
With A/B testing features, the team can quickly iterate and improve user experience, conversion and lead quality.
9. Google Ads Scripts
Scripts allow more advanced users to automate repetitive tasks, set up alerts, and customise campaign behavior via coding with JavaScript.
The more technical specialists at OutSearch write custom scripts for budget control, broken URL detection, bid adjustments, and anomaly detection.
This helps us to automate more and alert us to problems when managing large accounts, while keeping costs low and without missing crucial signals on accounts.
10. Conversion & E-Commerce Tracking with Google Tag Manager - GTM
Google Tag Manager enables developer-free deployment of conversion tags, remarketing pixels, and event tracking - without having to know how to code the site's tracking scripts directly.
We implement GTM across all client websites where possible to ensure clean, consistent tracking and good data. Pro Tip: Recently, we've been using GTM to transform data in a datalayer before it's sent to GA4. Techniques such as adding a prefix to the item_id number in the data layer means that Google can consume the item_id plus the prefix to match up better with shopping feeds and GA4.
The team at OutSearch set up custom tracking events like button clicks, form completions, and phone number clicks. By feeding this data back into Google Ads we can optimise for high-value goals, not just traffic.
Bonus Extras: Shoptimised & LeadsBridge
Optimising your Google Merchant Centre shopping data feed is essential for successful e-commerce, software solutions such as Shoptimised can help automate this but they can come at a price.
If you're not using feed optimisation software, you can explore the use of supplemental feeds to enhance your shopping data manually through Google Sheets.
Finally, to connect your CRM system and audience to Google, Facebook and other platforms we recommend Leadsbridge. This connector allows you to communicate with your existing customer base not only by email, but across multiple touch points and channels.
Final Thoughts
At OutSearch, we believe that the best campaigns are a blend of human strategy enhanced by technology. These tools are integral to how we work. They help us scale performance, gain insights, and keep clients ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving PPC landscape.
Each client is different, which is why we customise our toolset and strategy to fit your unique business goals. Whether you're looking to improve ROAS or lower CPAs or even break into a new market, the PPC specialists at OutSearch are equipped with the tools and know-how to make it happen.
Need expert help managing your Google Ads campaigns? Let's talk. Our PPC experts are ready to take your performance to the next level - bringing the tools, strategy, and experience to bear.
by PPC Consultant Mike Walker
Mike is a Paid Search expert with over a decade of experience in digital marketing.
Managing PPC budgets of 6-figures per month, Mike is used to structuring and managing large campaigns on a global scale.
Continually developing his knowledge, Mike is at the forefront of trends in the PPC industry.
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