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How to optimize PPC forms and follow-ups for lead gen in 2025

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How to optimize PPC forms and follow-ups for lead gen in 2025

No matter how perfectly crafted your PPC ads are, their success hinges on what happens after the click. 

In 2025, optimizing your forms and follow-up processes is the key to turning traffic into high-quality leads and ensuring your campaigns deliver real results.

Why optimizing forms and follow-ups is essential

Google’s mantra, “Focus on the user, and all else will follow,” rings especially true in lead generation. 

While PPC marketers often focus on perfecting ad copy, audience targeting, and bidding strategies, many overlook a crucial element: the post-click experience. 

No matter how strong your campaigns are, they won’t deliver their full potential if your forms and follow-up processes aren’t optimized.

Google estimates that businesses earn an average of $8 in profit for every $1 spent on Google Ads. 

Still, this kind of return is only achievable when the entire user journey – from click to conversion – is seamless and user-centric. 

PPC success doesn’t end when a user clicks on your ad; it starts there.

Lead forms offer valuable data, and small tweaks to their design, functionality, and follow-up strategy can make all the difference. 

In 2025, it’s time to shift focus from experimental PPC strategies and invest in:

Refining these touchpoints will be key to attracting higher-quality leads and boosting your campaign results this year.

With optimized forms and strategic follow-ups, every click from your PPC campaign delivers value. 

Whether you’re collecting leads through forms or other tools like chatbots or call tracking, the goal remains the same: guide future customers smoothly through your lead-gen funnel.

Here are the five key methods to perfect in 2025: 

1. Crafting PPC forms for maximum conversions

The era of a one-size-fits-all approach is over.

Forms must be tailored to the specific needs of each industry, customer segment, and sales process to effectively serve both the user experience and the sales team’s ability to close deals.

It’s common knowledge that every additional field in a form introduces potential friction. Reducing the number of fields can significantly boost conversions. 

However, simplicity must be balanced with the data necessary to qualify a prospect. 

Different industries and businesses require varying levels of personalization.

Real estate or local services 

  • The “sweet spot” for most industries is between 3 to 5 fields. However, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule. Simplified forms may overlook key insights needed to move leads down the funnel. 
  • A/B testing a basic form (name, email, ZIP code) against a more detailed one (asking about intent and timeline) can help determine whether complexity improves or hinders conversions. 
  • Another approach is using a multi-step funnel, where initial engagement leads to deeper qualification questions.

B2B SaaS or high-ticket services

  • These industries require more nuanced testing. 
  • If a single landing page form doesn’t deliver quality leads, try multi-step forms to gather detailed information over time without overwhelming users.

Pest control service

  • A single-field form asking for a ZIP code to generate instant quotes works well, as users in urgent situations prioritize speed and simplicity over additional questions.

Education SaaS campaign

  • For an ebook offer like “How to double campaign ROI with automated email workflows,” a form asking only for a name and email maximizes conversions. 
  • The user is in the early stages of the funnel, so simplicity reduces friction and captures basic contact info for future nurturing.

Higher education

  • Universities may require more flexibility in how they present questions. 
  • Multi-step forms, broken into smaller sections on different landing pages (e.g., Step 1: Contact Information, Step 2: Program Interest), can help guide users without overwhelming them.

In addition, dynamic forms that adapt based on user input can also enhance engagement and personalization. 

For example, tailoring follow-up questions when users select “Undergraduate” or “MBA” ensures that the form remains relevant to their needs, providing a more customized experience.

Finally, A/B testing different landing page strategies (i.e., comparing multi-step forms to single-step forms) helps determine which approach works best for your audience. 

Platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, and LinkedIn Ads offer built-in experimentation tools to make testing easier. 

By leveraging these tools, marketers can refine their forms and landing pages to create a seamless, user-friendly experience that drives higher conversion rates.

Dig deeper: Paid search for lead gen: Tips for new accounts with limited budgets

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2. Personalizing follow-ups with AI automation

Personalization is no longer a “nice-to-have” in CRO; it’s an expectation. 

AI tools allow businesses to automate follow-ups by using the data collected from forms to deliver highly targeted actions, moving leads from marketing-qualified to sales-qualified. 

Below are best practices for AI-powered follow-ups.

Instant responses

  • Outside of ensuring your webpage speed is optimized, try implementing AI-driven chatbots or automated emails to engage with leads immediately after form submission. 
  • This prompt engagement can significantly enhance user experience and conversion rates.

Multi-channel outreach

  • Combine email automation with SMS or social media follow-ups to increase touchpoints and meet leads where they are most active. 
  • This diversified approach can improve engagement rates and lead to nurturing effectiveness.

Hyper-personalization

  • Use AI to analyze user behaviors, preferences, and contexts.
  • This enables the delivery of highly personalized content and offers by leveraging tools such as heatmaps, live user tracking, and funnel analysis. 

Behavior-based sequencing

  • If a user doesn’t engage with the first follow-up, AI can trigger tailored messages based on their behavior. 
  • Use multi-channel outreach with AI automation to email follow-ups with SMS.

Dig deeper: Hyper-personalization in PPC: Using data to deliver tailored ad experiences

3. Beyond forms: Lead gen strategies without traditional forms

Not all lead gen businesses rely solely on forms.

Many companies operate in industries where forms aren’t the primary conversion tool.

Here’s how to optimize other lead collection methods:

  • Click-to-call campaigns: They are typically best for service-based businesses with clear “call now” CTAs in the ads and landing pages that use call tracking numbers to analyze ad performance. 
  • Chatbots and conversational ads: Chatbots could be a supplemental move for ecommerce where a user may have quick questions in real time before making a purchase. 
  • Paid social ads: Industries like education or business consulting, where simplicity is valued, can benefit from social ads on Meta or LinkedIn. These platforms allow users to submit their information without leaving the site, reducing lead friction. For international leads, click-to-WhatsApp messaging can minimize friction further.

While optimizing your forms and follow-ups is crucial, ongoing analysis of your campaigns is equally important. 

This helps refine A/B testing strategies and continuously improve lead quality through:

  • Offline conversion tracking: Integrate CRM data into Google Ads to identify campaigns and keywords generating high-quality leads. 
  • Qualifying fields: Add fields like budget or timeline to filter unqualified leads.
  • A/B testing: Test variations of form fields, layouts, and CTAs to improve conversion rates without sacrificing lead quality.

Dig deeper: Lead gen advertising in the automation era: How any brand can succeed

Final thoughts

PPC success requires more than strong ads. You need a strategy that goes beyond Google or Microsoft Bing.

By optimizing forms, using AI for personalized follow-ups, and exploring new lead-gen tactics, you can turn every click into real results.

This year, focus on refining your campaigns to generate leads that make an impact, not just traffic.

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How to create an effective SEO roadmap

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The start of the year is always a good moment to start or update your SEO roadmap. This is a structured collection of tasks you plan to do to enhance your site’s performance. If you already have one, great! If not, read this article to find out what you can do and why you need an SEO strategy.

Table of contents

What is an SEO roadmap?

An SEO roadmap is a strategic outline for enhancing a website’s visibility in search engines. It consists of all the SEO tasks you wish to perform in a given period of time. These tasks encompass keyword research, content strategy, and technical SEO.

We need a plan showing how people find our product or business. Once we know that, we’ll need to write content strategically targeting these people. At the same time, we’ll find a way to improve our website’s technical aspects to ensure it performs flawlessly.

The goal is to connect your SEO plan to the broader business goals. This will help you focus on the right things for the desired results. Of course, this isn’t just about performing better and properly managing your resources. It helps allocate time and budget effectively to areas with the most impact.

Setting up and managing an SEO strategy has many benefits. It provides a solid framework for tracking performance and fine-tuning it where necessary, helping you target the right people and stay ahead of the competition.

Why do you need an SEO roadmap for that?

While it’s easy to jump right into the SEO work you need to do, it’s better to have a roadmap. An SEO roadmap helps your decision-making process. It helps you prioritize the activities that drive the most value. And it gives you a sense of direction.

Setting up such an SEO roadmap will help you increase your website’s visibility in search. It will also help you target the right audiences and reduce costs by focusing on high-impact areas.

Your new strategy should support the overarching business goals. Often, that’s increasing sales. By increasing organic traffic, you can boost sales and revenue. It could also support brand awareness. Enhancing your brand’s presence in search engines makes it more recognizable. Plus, you’ll want to engage customers.

Building a solid, holistic SEO strategy also keeps you agile. You’re much more on top of things and able to respond to changes in search history trends or market conditions. This is another thing that gives you a leg up over a slightly less well-prepared competitor.

How to create an SEO roadmap

Before creating an SEO plan, you need to collect some insights. Clearly define what you want to achieve, and audit your site to get a feel for the issues you must fix. Then, the budget and availability of resources must be figured out to get the updates done. When you have everything, you can build out your SEO roadmap.

Define your goals and priorities

Creating a successful SEO roadmap begins with setting clear goals and establishing priorities. This step helps focus all efforts and align them with broader business objectives.

Set SMART goals

The most important thing is to work in a structured manner. You need a framework to verify if the work you’re planning is feasible and measurable. Here’s how to effectively define your goals and priorities using SMART criteria.

  • Set SMART goals: Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework ensures clarity and direction.
  • Specific: Clearly describe what you want to achieve. For instance, instead of saying “increase traffic,” specify “increase organic traffic by 20%.”
  • Measurable: Use metrics to track progress and evaluate success. Example: “Reach 50,000 monthly page views by the end of Q2.”
  • Achievable: Make sure the goals are realistic. Think about your resources and constraints. Consider current performance as a baseline.
  • Relevant: Align goals with business objectives. If brand awareness is your number one goal, focus on increasing visibility in search engine results.
  • Time-bound: Set a deadline to create urgency. Example: “Achieve a top 3 ranking for targeted keywords within six months.”

Of course, there are many other options. Consider frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks by urgency and importance. This method helps you prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, sorting them into four categories: do first, schedule, delegate, and don’t do. Use this matrix to categorize SEO tasks, focusing first on urgent and important ones, like fixing critical site errors.

Align with business objectives

Your SEO goals should fall in line with your overall business strategy. This way, SEO efforts will help your company achieve its goals. For example, if your company wants to grow its market share in a particular area, you should focus on local SEO. This means targeting local keywords and directories.

Not all tasks are created equal, so determine which ones will have the biggest impact and put them on your SEO roadmap first. Look for tasks that are easy to do and give you quick results, like fixing high-traffic pages. Also, focus on projects that match your main business goals, even if they take more time and resources.

Remember to meet with all the important people to ensure that your SEO goals are what they want and that they fit with the whole company’s goals. Talk to the marketing, sales, and product teams to understand what they want and how SEO can help them achieve it.

Audit your website

Conducting a thorough website audit is critical in creating an effective SEO roadmap. This process helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. You can add the audit findings as improvement tasks to your roadmap.

Do a content audit

Most of the time, people find your website through your content. As such, it’s an essential part of your SEO strategy. But your content might have become a tangled mess if you’ve been at it for a while. A content audit can help inform your SEO roadmap and help you untangle that mess.

Review your existing content and see if it (still) meets user needs and aligns with your goals. Then, look for content gaps to determine whether your audience is interested in a topic you haven’t discussed on your site yet. If you find these or other opportunities, add them as tasks on your roadmap. Don’t forget to check the on-page SEO of your key pages.

You can do a proper content audit by hand, but tools like Semrush and Ahrefs make this process much more manageable.

Do a technical SEO audit

A technical audit will help uncover performance issues with the site. These issues might prevent search engines or users from properly accessing your site.

First, crawl your website using tools like Screaming Frog to see if it can be accessed properly. Uncover crawl errors and find out what’s happening on pages that are not available — accidental or not. Check for broken links or 404 errors and add these to your task list.

Evaluate and improve page load times, as speed affects user experience and rankings. Don’t forget Google’s core web vitals. Also, check that your site is responsive and functions well on mobile devices.

You should add those tasks to the roadmap if you find technical issues on your site that you want or need to fix.

Check the user experience

Every year, user experience is getting more important if you want to perform well in search engines. Make sure that your site is easy to navigate. It should have a logical structure that helps users find information quickly. Analyze site bounce rates and time to identify pages needing improvement. Again, if you find improvements to be made, add them to your SEO roadmap as tasks so you can work on them in a structured way.

Analyze the backlink profile

The web is built around links, and while links have become slightly less important over the years, they’re still an important topic for search engines. In your audit, please look at your backlinks and see if you can acquire high-quality, relevant backlinks. Unless you have a manual action for spam from Google, it probably isn’t worth your time to disavow all the toxic links pointing to your site.

Estimate time and resources

Before you fill out your SEO roadmap, you need to estimate accurately the time and resources you have available to you. Doing so helps set realistic timelines to achieve your SEO goals.

Evaluate team strengths and capabilities

When working with a team, assess the skills available to determine who can handle specific SEO tasks. Also, understand the workload your team can handle alongside other responsibilities.

Budget planning

While you need enough people for your project, you also need a budget. Find the tools and technologies you need for SEO and budget accordingly. Also, decide if you need additional expertise, such as hiring freelancers or an SEO agency.

Set realistic timelines

It’s important to set realistic goals and timelines for the project. Give each task in your SEO roadmap a deadline. If you’ve looked at your tasks in detail, you know how long it would take. Do consider delays, as things will likely have a different duration than you thought before — even if you thought it through. Don’t forget to plan work for different teams in advance so they know when to come in.

Prioritize tasks based on resources

Look ahead and see if you can mix quick wins with long-term projects. It’s good to have successful moments during the project, not only at the end. Focus on optimizing existing high-traffic pages first while planning a longer-term content strategy. Make sure that the most critical tasks receive proper attention and resources.

Review and adjust

Your SEO roadmap is never set and done — there are always things to adjust for whatever reason. It’s important to review and adjust your strategy regularly. This helps you refine your plans and jump on new opportunities. Or, you can finally fix that pesky new thing that keeps popping up.

Schedule regular reviews

Don’t just wait for reviews to happen — plan them in advance. Conduct in-depth reviews every quarter to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your SEO strategy. In addition, you should hold monthly meetings to discuss ongoing tasks, recent results, and anything that needs priority.

Analyze performance data

Analyze all data thoroughly before making decisions. Examine all relevant data, including traffic, keyword rankings, and conversion rates, to get a complete picture of performance. From that data, identify your successes and failures. Determine which strategies are working well and which need reevaluation.

Get feedback from stakeholders

Ask your teammates for their views on what’s working and what’s not. If possible, hold feedback sessions to develop new solutions for issues. When necessary, ask customers or executives for insights on how you can make sure that the SEO plan supports overarching goals.

Refine goals and strategy

For all your research, refine your goals to reflect the necessary changes. If you performed better than you thought, why not take those goals up a notch? If not, see what you can do to improve. Also, don’t forget to place manhours in areas that need the most help.

Implement changes and track impact

When you’ve collected all your insights and know what you need to do, you should develop a plan to implement them. For example, you could update your content strategy or invest in different platforms to compete. Of course, you need to monitor the effect of the changes you made to your SEO strategy — and adjust if necessary!

A roadmap is the groundwork for SEO success

This guide provides the steps needed to develop an effective SEO plan. It helps you find long-term success for your roadmap while aligning it with broader business objectives. Be sure to work diligently on the tasks in your strategy and analyze and adjust if needed.

Do you need help keeping up with SEO? Be sure to sign up for one of our SEO webinars!

The post How to create an effective SEO roadmap appeared first on Yoast.

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Like Lin-Manuel Miranda or Gene Kelly; Marketers can now be triple threats by Optimove

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Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of “Hamilton” and “In the Heights,” excels in acting, singing and dancing. Gene Kelly was a master of acting, singing and dancing, best known for films like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “An American in Paris.”

These artists are triple threats — literally one in a million. In fact, Miranda has talent that exceeds a triple threat as he is also a songwriter and producer, making him a quintuple threat.

Full stop.

Think about marketing and marketers. How many marketers do you know that are “triple threats?” These versatile professionals combine: 1) Data mastery, 2) Creative brilliance and 3) Optimization expertise. Many of us know very few triple threats. And it may have seemed impossible to do that – until now. 

Powered by AI and genAI, marketers are no longer confined by traditional job descriptions or siloed responsibilities. Instead, they seamlessly transition between strategy, execution and analysis, embodying a new era of marketing leadership. We call these marketers Positionless.

Their triple-threat capabilities are being made possible by AI and genAI technology. Here’s the composite of the Positionless Marketer:

1. Data Power: The analyst extraordinaire

Positionless Marketers wield data like an actor commands the stage. They analyze customer behavior in real time, using predictive insights to improve audience segmentation and tailor messaging. No longer reliant on specialized data teams, these marketers harness AI to make data-driven decisions on the fly, ensuring every campaign resonates with the right audience at the right moment.

2. Creative Power: The visionary artist

Creativity is no longer limited to design teams or copywriters. Positionless Marketers leverage tools like genAI to generate campaign assets — whether it’s stunning graphics, personalized emails or dynamic website content. They can ideate and execute creative concepts instantly, ensuring brand messaging is always fresh, relevant and aligned with customer preferences.

3. Optimization Power: The real-time director

Like a director refining a performance in real time, Positionless Marketers use AI to optimize campaigns on the go. Self-optimizing capabilities allow them to adjust messaging, offers and channels dynamically based on customer interactions. This ensures that campaigns remain agile, relevant and impactful, driving exceptional results without manual intervention.

Why it’s critical to be a Positionless Marketer in 2025

To meet the expectations and demands of consumers, marketers need to respond in real time. Essentially, they need to emulate a great in-person sales associate in a digital world. 

Customers demand hyper-personalization, real-time engagement and seamless omnichannel experiences. Only the Positionless Marketer can thrive in this environment, mastering the tools and technologies that make such experiences possible.

Key trends like AI-driven hyper-personalization, zero-party data strategies and accelerated marketing execution are driving this transformation. The Positionless Marketer is uniquely equipped to leverage these trends, balancing creativity with data insights and operational efficiency.

Just as the “triple threat” sets the gold standard in entertainment, the Positionless Marketer is becoming the benchmark for marketing excellence. They are versatile, adaptive and empowered by cutting-edge technologies, unlocking new levels of impact and efficiency.

This isn’t just about doing more; it’s about doing better—delivering campaigns that are not only effective, but also meaningful. The Positionless Marketer can move at the speed of a customer’s interaction with the brand ensuring that marketing remains a human-centered, value-driven discipline.

The future belongs to the Positionless Marketer

The Positionless Marketer embodies the future of marketing—one where data, creativity and optimization work in perfect harmony.

In this new era, the Positionless Marketer isn’t just a role; it’s a trend. And just like the most celebrated actors who can captivate audiences with their versatility, these marketers are redefining what’s possible, creating a world where marketing not only meets expectations but exceeds them.

The new great marketers have stepped into the spotlight as Positionless Marketers. 

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Google Ads Search Max – new match type spotted

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Google Ads (Credit: Shutterstock)

Google could soon launch a new feature in Google Ads called “Search Max,” designed to deliver smarter, more adaptable ad performance in response to the evolving search landscape.

What’s happening:

  • A Search Max option has appeared in the match type report for some advertisers, hinting at an upcoming rollout.
  • Lars Thoning Dybro first spotted the update, with Adriaan Dekker sharing additional details and a screenshot on LinkedIn.

What we know. We know little so far, as Google has not commented on this update. However, ecommerce expert Mike Ryan speculated that it’s an iteration of a “Smart Matching” match type test that he saw in 2021:

Why we care. Given Google’s track record with automated solutions like Performance Max, Search Max could indicate a major shift in how search advertising is conducted, potentially requiring advertisers to adapt their strategies and prepare for match types working in a brand new way.

Between the lines. While official details are sparse, this move aligns with Google’s trend toward automation and AI-driven advertising solutions, like Performance Max.

What’s next. Keep an eye on your Google Ads account for updates as this feature continues to surface. If Search Max is widely implemented, it could reshape search campaign strategies by streamlining ad creation and targeting.

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Google introduces ‘Source’ column in Performance Max search terms insights

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Optimizing your Performance Max campaigns with Google Ads, GA4 data

Google rolled out an update to Performance Max campaigns, introducing a new “Source” column in the Search Terms Insights. This enhancement aims to provide advertisers with greater transparency about why their ads are triggered for specific search categories.

What’s new:

  • The “Source” column explains Google’s reasoning for triggering ads for a particular search category, offering insights into ad performance and targeting logic.
  • Advertisers can use this data to better understand how search categories align with their campaign goals and audience targeting strategies.

How to access it. Check if the new column is available in your account by navigating:

  • Campaign > Insights and Reports > Insights > Search Terms Insights > Search Category

Why we care. The new “Source” column helps you understand the logic behind Google’s ad-serving decisions, enabling better optimization of campaign targeting and budget allocation.

First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Natasha Kaurra on LinkedIn:

Zoom out. This update follows Google’s ongoing updates to provide advertisers with better tools to optimize campaigns and demystify ad triggers in Performance Max. By offering clearer insights into search term associations, Google aims to enhance campaign precision and advertiser confidence.

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7 Best SERP Tracking Tools for 2025 [In-Depth Review]

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How do you track movement in the SERPs?

Do you keep a manual spreadsheet that you update diligently every day? Maybe you only have access to weekly data?

Neither option is ideal, especially when you want to track a large volume of keywords, competitors and SERP features across multiple clients and different search engines.

SERP tracking tools allow you to enter all the keywords you want to monitor, along with their respective SERP features.

No more manual (and probably inaccurate) spreadsheets. And no more waiting for fresh data.

In this post, we’ll explore the key features to look for in SERP tracking software, and look at a shortlist of tools to consider and how they stack up against each other.

The best SERP Trackers:

  1. AccuRanker – fastest and most accurate standalone daily SERP tracker, but more expensive.
  2. Semrush Position Tracker is an accurate daily SERP tracker that’s part of a leading all-in-one SEO platform. The SERP Gap Analyzer app can analyze multiple data points across thousands of SERPs to identify existing and new content opportunities and provide actionable recommendations for improving rankings. 
  3. ProRankTracker – cost-effective standalone SERP tracking solution with solid reporting capabilities.
  4. Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) – advanced standalone SERP tracker with excellent white-label reports.
  5. SERPWatcher – affordable SERP checker part of Mangool’s SEO suite.
  6. SE Ranking – cost-effective rank tracker part of an all-in-one SEO toolset.
  7. Nightwatch – accurate and affordable daily rank tracker.

If you want to skip ahead to a specific section in the post, please use the jump links below:

Disclosure: There are some affiliate links in this article. If you decide to purchase a tool through one of those affiliate links, I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support.

Why Should You Invest in SERP Tracking Software?

One of the leading indicators to validate your efforts, and justify an investment in SEO, is the ability to accurately track the movements of your SERP features and positions across different search engines, locations, and devices.

You need to be able to show progress. And the right SERP tracking software can help you do that at a granular level, and tie it back to key business objectives (more on this later).

SERP trackers will enable you to:

  • Monitor rankings across devices, locations, search engines and intent buckets.
  • Notify you when your ranking drops, so you can react quickly and fix any problems.
  • Track competitor performance, so you can identify their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Track where you are gaining and losing visibility across a range of SERP features – featured snippets, carousels, videos and more.  
  • Show the correlation between rankings, traffic, and conversions/ revenue.

And a lot more.

9 Features to Look for in SERP Tracking Software

In this section, we’ll highlight the essential features you need to consider when looking for the best SERP tracking software.

#1. Access accurate on-demand ranking updates

SERP positions change fast, so you’ll need a SERP tracker that’s frequently updated with the latest accurate ranking data. You don’t want to have to wait days for tools to update. You need access to real-time on-demand data.

AccuRanker (aff) is a leader in this category. The software updates your keyword sets automatically every 24-hours, and if you want, you can refresh the rankings data on-demand with the click of a button:

#2. Monitor performance across SERP features

When you’re looking to rank in Position #0 or grab a specific SERP feature – AI Overviews, featured snippets, PAAs, video carousels, knowledge cards, etc – you first need to know which keywords trigger them and then find out which actions are needed to steal them from the competition.

For instance, keywords with existing top 3 rankings often only require minor content updates to grab a SERP feature.

With AccuRanker’s SERP Analysis tool, you can track the movement of 50+ different SERP features across all of your keywords in a single view, so you know exactly where all the opportunities are and how to capitalize on them.

AccurRanker’s dashboard will show you how many SERP features you’ve gained over time, and provide a filterable breakdown of the different types.

#3. Track SERP movement across all major search engines

Many SERP tracking tools will only allow you to track keyword rankings on Google.

But if you want to monitor your SEO correctly, especially if you have clients in countries like China and Russia, then you’ll need to track SERP movement across all the major search engines.

AccuRanker (aff) lets you choose from Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, and YouTube search engines:

#4. Granular tracking (by location and device)

You’ll also need to look for SERP tracking software that offers granular details as well as a high-level dashboard.

For example, you may want to track SERP movements for international or national campaigns, and all the way down to the zip code level so you can serve local clients.

Plus, you’ll also want the option to differentiate between mobile and desktop rankings.

Semrush (aff) lets you track keyword rankings at country, state, or city level, and compare keyword positions for desktop and mobile:

#5. Map SERP movements to traffic and revenue/ conversions

Tracking changes in your SERP positions is absolutely necessary. But how do you correlate higher rankings with traffic, conversions and revenue?

AccuRanker’s Landing Pages report helps you find out which URLs are driving the most traffic and revenue for your business.

AccuRanker integrates with Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics to provide deeper insights into landing page performance.

The Landing Pages report combines AccuRanker data – keywords, search volume, Share of Voice etc – with Google Analytics data – organic visitors, bounce rate, goals, revenue, load time etc – into one report so you get a complete picture of how SERP movements are affecting your bottom line:

#6. View historical rank performance

Most SERP trackers will only provide a “point-in-time” rankings update.

But with a tracker like AccuRanker, you can view the full rank history of a given term to see how performance has been trending over time, and compare rankings against your competitors: 

#7. Run competitor comparisons

Rankings are always fluctuating, so it’s crucial to be able to track where you are gaining and losing ground to your competition to identify threats and opportunities.

Semrush distributes keywords into groups or buckets by position – e.g. 1-3, 4-10, 11–50, etc. – so you can track progress and compare ranking distribution against competitors:

Robbie headshot

Editor’s Note: 
My agency uses Databox to bring in rank distribution data from tools like Semrush to show the impact SERP movements are having on organic traffic and converions:

#8. Tag and segment rankings data

Most SERP tracking tools include keyword tagging functionality. But not all keywords are created equally, so you need to be able to view SERP performance by topic, funnel, content/ asset types, and devices.

AccuRanker allows you to segment and analyze SERP data across a host of metrics, including Share of Voice, Search Engine, Location, Rank Change, and a list of others:

#9. Generate white-label reports

Aside from accessing on-demand SERP data, you’ll also want to be able to put together an easy-to-digest report that clearly shows progress, either natively or through a third-party connection with a tool like Google Data Studio or Databox.

AccuRanker includes native white-label reports that can be scheduled to out to clients:

And also integrates with third-party tools like Google Data Studio:

AccuRanker Google Data Studio integration

“The thing that really got me using them heavily in the last month or two is their Google Data Studio connector.

Combining the tag feature, as well as the Share of Voice metric from AccuRanker has been a big help in making these reports immediately digestible.”

Ian Howells
Co-Founder, Traffic Think Tank

7 Best SERP Tracking Tools to Consider in 2025

There’s countless SERP tracking tools on the market. But we’ve done the research to provide a shortlist of the best SERP trackers that provide most, if not all, the features listed above.

In this section, we’ll take a look at three dedicated SERP trackers, as well as three SERP tracking tools that are part of leading all-in-one SEO platforms, in case you don’t want to pay for a separate SERP tracker. 

#1. AccuRanker

AccuRanker home page

AccuRanker (aff) is a standalone SERP tracking tool
used by SEO agencies and consultants to track rankings, monitor the competition and tie movements back to the traffic and conversions with the fastest and most accurate SERP data.

Over 32,000 companies trust the platform, including HubSpot, IKEA, and Kinsta. 

“It’s by far the best keyword ranking tracker in the market and has a ton of great reporting functions. If you want visibility on large volumes of keywords housed within a nice dashboard – this is for you.”

MATTHEW HOWELLS-BARBY
Co-Founder, TrafficThinkTank

Best SERP Tracking Features

AccuRanker has all the typical SERP tracking features, but it stands out from most other tools, as you can:

  • Run accurate on-demand updates of ranking data.
  • Assess market performance with its Share of Voice (SoV) metric.
  • Track rankings across all major search engines, including Google, Bing, YouTube, Baidu, and Yandex.
  • Track 50+ SERP features available for all of your keywords with the aggregated SERP analysis.
  • View historical rank performance (most just give a point in time snapshot).
  • Integrate with third-party software to allow you to bring traffic, goal, and revenue data into your ranking reports, and then visualize it beautifully in native reports or tools like Google Data Studio. 
  • Check local rankings for any address, city, or state.
  • Filter and segment ranking data with tags, notes, and dates.
  • View desktop and mobile rankings separately.
  • Monitor the rankings of up to 10 competitors per domain.
  • Analyze video ranking performance across different search engines.

Bonus resource: AccuRanker Review

Who is it for?

Agencies, SEO professionals, enterprise businesses and brands who need the most up-to-date and accurate ranking data, competitor monitoring, SERP analysis, and API access across all locations, devices and major search engines. 

Pricing

AccuRanker has a range of subscription plans (aff) based on the number of keywords you want to monitor, starting at $116/month for up to 1,000 tracked keywords.


Start a 14-Day Free Trial

#2. Semrush Position Tracker and SERP Gap Analyzer

Semrush Position Tracker

Semrush (aff) is an all-in-one SEO toolset for digital marketing professionals. Over 10 million users from leading brands such as Samsung, Vodafone and Booking.com use the platform.

Its Position Tracking Tool allows you to monitor SERP movements from an international level down to the local map pack across all device types.

Semrush boasts one of the most accurate daily rank trackers, making it easy to track competitors, monitor which URLs are gaining visibility in the SERPs, and segment ranking performance across tags, devices, location, and different SERP features. 

Best SERP tracking features

The accuracy of Semrush’s Position Tracker rivals all the standalone SERP trackers, which is impressive considering it’s just one of the platform’s many SEM tools.

In fact, 70 SEO experts nominated Semrush as the best rank tracker.

Semrush lets you:

  • Monitor national, regional, and local search engine positions for any keyword.
  • Check the Visibility index (based on the average position of the domain’s ranking pages) to gauge how your target keywords perform.
  • Run side-by-side competitor comparisons.
  • Set a date range of 7, 30, 60, or 90 days to view historical rank changes.
  • Monitor SERP feature movements – videos, reviews, snippets, knowledge panel and more – and quickly spot new opportunities.
  • Collect accurate daily SERP ranking data of domains, subdomains, subfolders, or URLs for any keyword, including desktop and mobile rankings.
  • See the complete list of keywords appearing in the local pack of the SERPs.
  • Analyze your video rankings to instantly spot gains and losses in your YouTube SEO campaigns.
  • Generate branded or white-label SERP tracking reports.

Bonus SERP analysis feature:

SERP Gap Analyzer (aff) can be accessed in the Semrush App Center. The app scans Google’s SERPs for a topic and finds under-optimized content that you can improve on. 

You can also enter your domain and scan thousands of SERPs to quickly uncover keywords that could benefit from optimized content. This can save you hours on manual keyword research and SERP analysis. 

After submitting your domain with a seed topic, the app will return insights related to:

  • Ranking difficulty 
  • Keyword suggestions
  • Weaknesses of competing websites

You can then expand on sections to uncover the specific weaknesses of competitors:

  • Missing keywords
  • Slow load times
  • Poor content depth
  • Low readability scores
  • Outdated content (6+ months old)
Semrush SERP Gap Analyzer

Source

The SERP Gap Analyzer also integrates with Google Search Console to quickly uncover low-hanging fruit keywords and, based on the analysis of multiple SERP data points, provides actionable recommendations for optimizing content to improve rankings. 

Semrush SERP Gap Analyzer Search Console integration

Source

Semrush’s SERP Gap Analyzer is a unique app that goes beyond standard SERP tracking. It will identify areas to improve existing content, add new content, and provide actionable recommendations based on in-depth SERP analysis. This app could save your team hours on tedious manual analysis each month. 

Who is it for?

Digital marketing professionals, SEO agencies, ecommerce brands, and large enterprises looking for a cost-effective all-in-one SEO platform that also provides an accurate, scalable SERP tracking solution.

Pricing

Semrush’ SEO platform has a range of subscription plans (aff), starting at $139.95/month.


Start a 14-Day Free Trial

#3. ProRankTracker

ProRankTracker is a cost-effective standalone SERP tracking, analysis, and reporting tool used by 60,000+ customers.

Best SERP tracking features

  • Get daily automatic updates of rankings, plus on-demand requests (depending on your plan).
  • Track rankings across most major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube and listings on Amazon.
  • Analyze the Top 100 SERP results for any of your keywords.
  • View historical data and assess competitor performance.
  • Track videos on YouTube and Google Videos.
  • Track ecommerce sites/products on Amazon.
  • Generate a variety of reports, including current ranking, progress, comparison, and benchmarks.

Who is it for?

SEM agencies, international companies, ecommerce brands and video marketers who want to get accurate SERP data across any location, across all devices in multiple different languages.

Pricing

ProRankTracker has a selection of pricing plans, starting at $39/month.


Start a 7-Day Free Trial

#4. Advanced Web Ranking (AWR)

Advanced Web Ranking home page

Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) is a standalone SERP tracker used by thousands of SEOs and brands such as Microsft to track SERP movements across devices and locations, plus build customized white-label reports.

Best SERP tracking features

  • Get fresh, accurate keyword rankings across all major search engines – Google, Yandex, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, YouTube and more-  in 170+ countries on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
  • Track SERPs regardless of niche, location, or device.
  • Measure market share and perform in-depth competitor SERP analysis.
  • Monitor the aggregated list of websites you’re competing against for each keyword.
  • Segment data and build in-depth, white-label reports.
  • Integrate SERP data with third-party tools, such as Google Data Studio.

Who is it for?

In-house teams, agencies, and enterprises who want reliable SERP tracking data, competitor rankings, and comprehensive reports use AWR.

Pricing

AWR has a range of subscription plans, starting at $99/month.


Start a 30-Day Free Trial

#5. SERPWatcher

SERPWatcher (affiliate) is the SERP tracking tool from Mangool’s all-in-one SEO platform. It is an affordable, easy-to-use tracker that is trusted by some of the world’s largest brands, including airbnb and adidas. 

Best SERP tracking features

SERPWatcher’s Performance Index shows your website’s organic traffic potential across all tracked keywords, in addition to ranking and volume metrics.

Use SERPWatcher to:

  • Get daily ranking updates and check them in the SERP previews.
  • Track historical data by any time frame, such as weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
  • Get notified of all important rank changes via email alerts.
  • Track rankings in 52,000+ locations (states, cities, counties, DMAs), on any device.
  • Share interactive reports with clients and colleagues, plus schedule reports and set event-based alters via email.
Robbie headshot

Editor’s note:

The Mangools toolset also includes SERPChecker, a SERP analysis tool that helps you:

  • See all strengths and weaknesses of your competitors with 45+ SEO metrics.
  • Evaluate SERP positions.
  • Compare your website with competitors.
  • Scan Local Search results for 50,000 locations.
  • Detect Google SERP features influencing organic search results.

Who is it for?

Agencies, SEO professionals, startups and small business owners who want simplified SERP tracking and other easy-to-use SEO tools in one package use SERPWatcher by Mangools.

Pricing

Mangools has a range of subscription plans starting at $29.90/month.


Create a Free Account

#6. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO toolset with a Position Tracking Tool that monitors keyword rankings in all the major search engines, across all locations and all devices.

Best SERP tracking features

SE Ranking claims to collect and store 100% accurate data by simulating user behaviour in a particular search engine and for a precisely targeted location.

You can use SE Ranking to:

  • Track SERPs in Google, Yahoo, and Bing for any location and device.
  • Track Google SERP features, Maps results, and Google Ads positions.
  • Perform side-by-side comparisons of your rankings with up to 5 competitors.
  • Get a visibility rating with all your search competitors (sorted by visibility score) based on your keywords.
  • Get a retrospective view of the Top 100 search results and features.
  • Share rankings with clients via a custom domain labeled with your brand.

Who is it for?

Digital agencies, SEO professionals, and small business owners who want accurate SERP tracking and other SEO tools in one package use SE Ranking.

Pricing

SE Ranking has a range of subscription plans, starting at $52/month. (Based on daily SERP updates for 500 keywords).


Start a Free Trial

#7. Nightwatch

Nightwatch rank tracker

Nightwatch is one of the most accurate daily SERP trackers and is trusted by companies of all sizes, including Shopify, Scotiabank, and Coinbase. The tool lets you discover your exact search engine rankings from 107,296 locations worldwide.

Best SERP tracking features

  • Track your critical keywords in 107,296 locations worldwide across the search engine results page and map pack.
  • Track local SERP and map pack rankings down to a zip-code level with daily updates.
  • Access any Google Data Center on the planet for accurate local rank tracking.
  • Keep an eye on daily rankings on all the major search engines, including DuckDuckGo and Bing.
  • Track your SERP features and discover placements to rank globally and locally.
  • Identify decaying content and “low-hanging fruit” ranking opportunities using custom segments.
  • Analyze the performance of transactional keywords, groups of pages, and more.
  • Import data from Google Analytics and Search Console to bolster reporting.
  • Create eye-catching, easy-to-interpret white-labeled reports using the drag-and-drop editor.

Who is it for?

Nightwatch has three different plans – Starter, Optimize and Agency – that cater to the needs of companies of all sizes, from freelancers and SMBs to agencies and larger enterprise businesses. 

Pricing

Nightwatch offers a 14-day free trial, and paid plans start at $32/month for up to 250 keywords.


Start a 14-Day Free Trial

Which SERP Tracking Tool is Right for Your Business?

SERP tracking software is essential for monitoring your SEO performance, competitors, and spotting new organic growth opportunities.

We looked at the seven top SERP tracking tools – four standalone trackers, plus three SERP trackers that are part of all-in-one SEO toolsets.

My recommended standalone SERP tracker is AccuRanker (aff). But if you’re looking for a solid tracker that’s part of a leading all-in-one SEO platform, I recommend Semrush (aff).

At a minimum, when you’re evaluating a SERP tracking solution, remember to check for these key features:

  • Access accurate on-demand ranking updates
  • Track SERP movement across all major search engines
  • Granular tracking (by location and device)
  • View historical rank performance
  • Run competitor comparisons
  • Tag and segment rankings data
  • Generate white-label reports

Let us know in the comments which SERP tracker you’re using.

The post 7 Best SERP Tracking Tools for 2025 [In-Depth Review] appeared first on Robbie Richards.

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Marketplace SEO tips to improve product listing visibility

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You can sell your products online in many marketplaces, and all these platforms benefit from SEO. From improving your photos to writing better product descriptions, on-page SEO is key if you want your product listings to rank in search.

Table of contents

What is marketplace SEO?

Marketplace SEO is about making a platform with many sellers — like Airbnb, Etsy, or Amazon — easy to find on search engines. It means improving product details, organizing the site well, and using customer reviews and content. Optimizing the listings on these platforms helps more people find the products and increases sales for everyone involved.

For instance, Etsy gives store owners plenty of options to improve their product listings by writing detailed product descriptions or adding great images. As a result, every well-optimized, handcrafted item ranks in the search results. Similarly, Airbnb allows property owners to update their listings with local keywords so that they appear when users search for accommodations in specific areas.

Effective marketplace SEO means that when someone searches for “vintage leather bags,” Etsy listings are among the top results. Or when a traveler looks for “secluded cabin in Vermont,” Airbnb’s optimized listings pop up. The result, of course, is to quickly connect marketplace buyers and sellers.

an airbnb listing appearing in google search for the term secluded cabin vermont
An Airbnb listing appearing in a Google search for a key term

On-page SEO for marketplaces

You can use on-page SEO as a tool for marketplace SEO. Doing so directly impacts how easily potential customers find your listings. Take the time to optimize elements like titles, descriptions, and images. Ultimately, you’ll find that your marketplace listings will be more visible in search results. This visibility, of course, should hopefully lead to more clicks and more sales.

When each page is optimized correctly, search engines better understand your content, which improves your rankings. This means your marketplace appears in front of the right audience at the right time.

Optimizing images

For marketplace SEO, you need good images to capture attention and show the quality of your products. If possible, make sure that your images are high-resolution and professionally shot. All your images should be relevant and showcase the product from more than one angle to give buyers a good feel for it.

Add clear alt text like “handmade ceramic mug” to make your images more accessible and to help search engines recognize what the image shows. This improves the SEO of your marketplace listings and makes them more appealing to users who use speech-based browsers.

Don’t forget to optimize the image itself. Compress files to maintain quality while reducing load times, as slow-loading images can drive users away. Tools like Squoosh can help with compression without losing quality. Ensure file names are descriptive and include keywords where appropriate, such as “organic-cotton-shirt.jpg,” to boost search visibility further.

Great photography and branding make your products stand out

Create great titles and meta descriptions

Titles and meta descriptions can draw users from search engine results. Crafting an engaging title means more than just adding keywords; it should capture what the page is about. Keep it short but descriptive, like “Elegant Summer Dresses – Affordable Fashion Online.” This approach catches users’ attention and clearly tells them what to expect. Ensure the titles aren’t too long so they appear fully in search results without getting cut off.

Descriptions provide more details about your listing. A good meta description should highlight features and benefits. It should also mention why people should click on your listing instead of your competitors. Here’s a good example: “Discover our range of elegant summer dresses crafted from breathable fabrics for comfort and style. Perfect for any occasion, at prices you’ll love.” This has all the keywords, and it speaks to the customer. Keep it short, accurate and engaging.

Writing great product descriptions

Product descriptions sell your products. If you want to sell your products, you must invest plenty of time in writing great product descriptions. Start by understanding your target audience and use those insights to address their needs and concerns. Write naturally and incorporate all the keywords you want the product to rank for.

Many sellers simply list features, but explaining these in context is better. Here’s an example: “This eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush is designed for comfort and sustainability, reducing your carbon footprint while providing a gentle clean.” By writing this way, you set your products apart from your competitors.

Another way to make your products stand out is through storytelling or vivid language that paints a picture. Here’s one: “Imagine sipping your morning coffee from this handcrafted ceramic mug, its unique glaze reflecting the artisan’s touch.” Instead of simply listing details, you appeal to the buyer’s emotions. This also offers a way to make the shopping experience more personal.

Whatever you do, try to avoid using the text provided by the manufacturer, as these will be used on thousands of sites. Try to make it unique for you and your customers.

An example of a good product description for an Etsy item

Using product specifications properly

You must list specifications to help customers decide if they want to buy this specific product. It’s important to list these product specifications with care. Make sure to present details such as product identifiers, dimensions, materials, weight, and compatibility in a way that’s easy to scan.

This makes it easy for customers to find the information they need quickly. It also helps search engines index your content more effectively. Including specifications can give customers more confidence in buying the product, as they know exactly what they are purchasing.

Additionally, think about the unique features that specifications can highlight. For instance, computer shoppers would love to know what kind of processor a laptop has. Shoppers use these details to compare products based on specific technical attributes. Where applicable, use bullet points to present data clearly and concisely.

Implementing Schema markup

You can’t live without a schema markup if you want to improve your marketplace SEO. Schema markup adds structured data to your products, which helps search engines understand and interpret your products. If you do it well, your products might get rich results, like added star ratings, pricing, and availability.

For instance, an item with a product and reviews markup might show a 4.8-star rating and price directly in Google. These listings appeal to customers and could lead to a better CTR.

If you want to add schema to your products, you need to use specific types of markup relevant to your marketplace, such as Product, Review, and Offer schemas. Tools like Yoast SEO can implement schema code for you automatically. Whatever you do, don’t forget to test your structured data to make sure it’s correctly implemented and up-to-date.

Properly set up products with structured data will get rich results in Google

Use Yoast SEO for Shopify

Working on your online store can be tiresome, but luckily, there are tools to help you. Yoast SEO for Shopify is a great app that makes managing it much easier. It has content optimization features, AI tools for creating awesome titles and meta descriptions, and many schema enhancements. Together, these features help your store’s visibility in search

Conclusion to marketplace SEO

For your marketplace to succeed, you need on-page SEO. Work on product visibility and engagement by improving images, creating clear meta tags, and refining product details. Tools like Yoast SEO for Shopify simplify this process. These methods can attract more visitors and improve your marketplace’s performance.

The post Marketplace SEO tips to improve product listing visibility appeared first on Yoast.

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Start 2025 strong with data-driven strategies for retail success by Edna Chavira

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Join our experts for this live panel discussion.
Join our experts for this live panel discussion.

The new year is the perfect time to sharpen your strategies and set the foundation for success. Join Data-Driven Strategies for Retail Success and learn how to harness the power of data and technology to elevate your marketing efforts.

Learn how leading brands are using cutting-edge techniques to drive results—and how you can apply these insights to your own strategy. Our expert panel will cover:

  • Optimizing shopper journeys with actionable data.
  • Using A/B testing to make impactful decisions.
  • Delivering personalized experiences at scale with AI.
  • Lessons from the past peak season to inform your 2025 plans.

Whether you’re a digital marketer, merchandiser, or executive, this webinar is your chance to start the year with a strategy that drives measurable growth. Save your spot here!

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LTV:CAC explained: Why you shouldn’t rely on this KPI

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LTV:CAC explained: Why it isn't the ultimate KPI

Savvy PPC marketers often praise LTV:CAC as a superior KPI for measuring profitability and guiding budget decisions. 

While insightful, correctly leveraging LTV:CAC is far more complex than it seems – and certainly not as straightforward as ROAS, which itself can be misleading.

To avoid missteps, it’s crucial to understand when LTV:CAC is useful, its limitations, and how a poorly calculated metric can lead you to the wrong north star. 

If your agency recommends increasing your PPC budget based on a “great” LTV:CAC ratio, be cautious. There may be critical nuances (or even conflicts of interest) at play.

This article breaks down the fundamentals of LTV:CAC, including:

  • What LTV:CAC is and why it’s important.
  • Common pitfalls when using the metric.
  • How to refine LTV:CAC, plus alternative KPIs.

What is LTV:CAC?

LTV:CAC (customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost) measures the relationship between the value a customer brings to a business over time and the cost of acquiring that customer. It’s calculated as:

  • LTV:CAC = LTV / CAC

This ratio helps businesses assess whether their customer acquisition efforts are profitable. 

A higher LTV:CAC indicates that customers generate more revenue than their acquisition cost, while a lower ratio could signal inefficiency or unprofitable marketing.

Breaking down the components

LTV (customer lifetime value) represents the total revenue a customer generates throughout their relationship with a business.

Formula: 

  • LTV = (Average order value x Total transactions) / Unique customers

CAC (customer acquisition cost) is the average cost incurred to acquire a new customer within a specific period.

Formula: 

  • CAC = Total marketing costs / Number of new customers

Note: Always calculate both metrics using the same time period to avoid skewed results.

Why is LTV:CAC important – and how can it be dangerous?

LTV:CAC serves one core purpose: ensuring profitability. 

This KPI is critical for a company’s future because it measures whether the value generated from newly acquired customers justifies the cost of acquiring them.

It’s often compared to return on ad spend, or ROAS, (revenue generated by ads / ad costs) but goes a step further. 

While ROAS focuses on immediate returns, LTV:CAC considers the long-term revenue potential of a customer. 

This broader view can encourage marketers to lower ROAS targets and increase budgets, assuming future revenue will balance acquisition costs over time.

For example, imagine a marketer spends $30 to acquire a new customer who generates $30 in immediate revenue (100% ROAS). 

Based on historical data, the finance team predicts that this customer will make three additional purchases of $30 each, totaling $120 in revenue over their lifetime.

  • Total revenue = $30 (initial purchase) + 3 x $30 = $120
  • LTV = $120
  • CAC = $30
  • LTV:CAC = $120 / $30 or 4:1

This 4:1 ratio might suggest strong profitability and justify increased spending.

However, it can be dangerous.

Profitability metrics like LTV:CAC often require deeper financial oversight, yet marketers may lack visibility into key cost components, such as payback periods, retention variability, and operational costs. 

Misunderstanding these factors can lead to overestimations of profitability and misguided budget increases.

Let’s break down some of the common traps that make LTV:CAC a potentially misleading metric.

Dig deeper: 5 KPIs to measure paid media success and 5 to measure business success

7 common pitfalls of using the LTV:CAC ratio

1. Ignoring the impact of customer retention

LTV:CAC is often praised by top marketers as a superior KPI, which might tempt you to adopt it too. 

While it can be valuable in scenarios with high retention and repeat purchase rates (like SaaS), it’s not always reliable.

Before using LTV:CAC, run a retention analysis to answer: “How many times do my customers purchase on average over a set period?”

In ecommerce, customer retention is typically around 30% at best. 

Using the earlier ROAS example, if you spend $30 to generate $120 in revenue (400% ROAS), you might assume retention will increase total revenue by 30%, raising it to $156. This would suggest a higher 520% ROAS.

While appealing, it’s far from transformative enough to justify dramatically increasing your budget. 

2. Overlooking payback period and cash flow

Even if your retention is strong enough to justify using LTV:CAC as your north star metric and your ratio slightly exceeds the standard 3:1, increasing your PPC budget blindly can be risky.

Why? Because LTV:CAC doesn’t account for the payback period – the time required to recover CAC expenses, or how long it takes for revenue to break even with acquisition costs.

If your payback period is 12 months, customers won’t become profitable until the 12-month mark. 

During that time, your balance sheet remains negative, putting strain on cash flow and limiting your ability to reinvest in PPC campaigns or other growth strategies.

To scale faster, you need cash on hand since existing funds are already tied up in customer acquisition. 

Options include raising capital or improving fundamentals (e.g., lowering CAC, raising prices, or encouraging prepayment).

Bottom line: A positive LTV:CAC doesn’t guarantee you can safely scale your budget.

3. Misunderstanding marketing LTV vs. finance LTV

Marketers often calculate LTV using basic metrics like revenue – sometimes even pre-tax figures – resulting in inflated and misleading values. 

Naturally, both LTV and CAC should accurately reflect the balance sheet, but this is where many marketers go wrong.

Finance teams often step in to correct these calculations, which can lead to uncomfortable conversations if marketers lack financial literacy. 

To avoid this, marketers need to understand finance-level metrics and how their stakeholders calculate profitability.

LTV is fundamentally a finance KPI. Some finance teams calculate it using gross profit margin (COGS), while others factor in operating expenses (OPEX), making it closer to an EBIT-based KPI.

Ultimately, it’s not about challenging their process but aligning with it. 

To collaborate effectively, marketers should understand key cost components like:

  • Support.
  • Infrastructure.
  • Materials (for physical products).
  • Sales and marketing expenses.
  • Development costs.
  • Other operational expenses.

By aligning with finance teams and using accurate metrics, LTV:CAC can become a far more reliable KPI.

Dig deeper: 3 PPC KPIs to track and measure success

4. Miscalculating CAC by ignoring non-marketing customer sources

PPC, marketing, and other customer sources are critical when assessing CAC and its impact on LTV:CAC. 

Lowering CAC is an obvious way to improve the LTV:CAC ratio, but it can complicate calculating CAC accurately.

A common issue is calculating CAC by dividing total marketing costs by total new customers, disregarding other customer sources. 

In some businesses, where marketing drives about 95% of customer acquisition, this approach might not significantly affect the LTV:CAC ratio and simplifies the calculation.

However, this often overlooks non-marketing customer sources like word of mouth, viral organic content, or baseline growth.

This inflates the customer count, artificially lowering CAC and boosting LTV:CAC, creating a misleading impression of growth.

In the long run, this can lead to structural issues.

While some argue that word of mouth stems from branding or top-of-funnel campaigns, this is only sometimes true.

Many customer sources, such as referral programs, sales initiatives, or product-driven growth, are independent of traditional marketing or PPC efforts.

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5. Assuming all customers are equal

Assuming all customers are equal can lead to inflated LTV:CAC ratios and dangerous strategies. 

You might attempt to boost LTV and make LTV:CAC look better quickly, but this approach can be misleading.

A common mistake is calculating LTV as total revenue divided by total customers over a period, creating an average that hides differences between customer segments. 

Not all customers contribute equally in terms of revenue and retention.

For instance, if the average LTV is $480, it likely doesn’t reflect the actual distribution of customer value:

  • 60% of customers spend around $280.
  • 30% of customers spend around $600.
  • 10% of customers spend around $1,300.

If you aim for a 3:1 LTV:CAC ratio based on the $480 average LTV, you would set a target CAC of $160. 

However, for 60% of your customers, who only generate $280 in LTV, the sustainable CAC should be $93 ($280/3). 

This highlights a significant gap, as the average target would be too high for most customers.

Additionally, the top 10% of customers with a $1,300 LTV likely aren’t acquired through marketing, which complicates the calculation further.

Bottom line: Targeting a $160 CAC could be harmful. Focus on increasing LTV through targeted PPC efforts.

6. Disregarding changes in LTV fundamentals

The purpose of LTV:CAC is to validate marketing investments, assuming that both CAC and LTV are accurately predictable. 

However, these metrics can fluctuate significantly.

Consider a more advanced formula for LTV:

  • LTV = Monthly recurring revenue x Growth profit margin / Monthly cancellation rate

Each of these components is dynamic and depends on the company’s ability to maintain or improve its fundamentals:

  • MRR: Can you cross-sell or upsell effectively?
  • GPM: Can you enhance overall efficiency?
  • Cancellation rate: Are new competitors entering the market? Is the market shrinking?

For example, HubSpot reportedly tripled its LTV in just 18 months. Now, imagine a smaller company experiencing the opposite trend.

Bottom line: LTV is a forecast, not a certainty. Don’t place too much confidence in LTV or your LTV:CAC ratio.

7. Treating LTV as a strategy

While this might seem slightly off-topic for PPC practitioners, it’s crucial to grasp when collaborating with stakeholders.

Holding the LTV flag high without fully engaging with others can lead to issues.

Imagine you secure additional budget for performance marketing – great news! 

But as spending increases, CAC rises, making the LTV:CAC ratio worse. 

In response, you might raise prices to boost LTV.

Problem solved?

Not quite.

Higher prices may lead to increased monthly cancellations. Even worse, the new customers acquired with that extra budget might be of lower quality, spending less and churning faster.

The customer support team steps in, confident they can resolve these issues by expanding their efforts, which increases costs and strains cash flow.

This scenario highlights how LTV is deeply interconnected with various aspects of the business. 

Mistaking this metric for a stand-alone strategy can lead to missteps. It’s essential to use LTV as a tool, not a strategy in itself, to ensure sustainable growth.

How to ‘fix’ LTV:CAC, plus alternative KPIs

LTV:CAC can be a useful metric, but its complexity and potential for misinterpretation mean it requires careful handling. 

To make the most of this KPI and ensure it accurately reflects your business’s health, consider the following tips.

Low retention? Don’t use LTV:CAC

In ecommerce, if your repeat purchase rate is around 30%, LTV may not be a relevant metric from a marketing perspective. 

Instead, focus on CAC alone and aim to be profitable from the first order. 

This approach, though tougher, is more sustainable and reflective of genuine growth – think ROAS.

Improve retention through upselling, cross-selling, customer support, or product enhancements.

Dig deeper: How to analyze PPC performance metrics

Collaborate with finance

If using LTV makes sense, build a strong relationship with your finance team. 

Understanding their perspective will help you grasp why certain LTV targets are set. 

To achieve this:

  • Learn key financial terms.
  • Schedule regular alignment meetings.
  • Use agreed-upon data sources to avoid conflicts.

Never report on LTV:CAC alone

Because LTV:CAC encompasses multiple variables, it’s not a standalone metric. 

Include core components like cancellation rate and MRR in your reports. 

This clarity will help identify which components have shifted and guide your next steps. 

Remember, LTV and CAC are dynamic, not fixed.

Segment by customer groups

Segmenting your customer base allows you to pinpoint areas for improvement and identify which customers to exclude. Consider:

  • Calculating LTV over different timeframes (30 days, 90 days, 12 months).
  • Segmenting customers by cohorts, behavior, and profitability.
  • Differentiating between PPC, organic, and non-marketing customers.

Use LTV:CAC wisely

LTV:CAC is valuable for comparing PPC channels and marketing programs, but it’s a complex measurement tool. 

To avoid potential pitfalls, make sure to:

  • Conduct a retention analysis before relying on LTV:CAC.
  • Partner with your finance team to align on metrics.
  • Always segment customers, sources, and micro-KPIs.

Dig deeper: The fallacy of CTR as a KPI: Redefining PPC ad success

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Amazon’s 2025 title policy update: Key changes and implementation guide

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Amazon logo on building facade

Amazon recently announced significant changes to its product title policy, set to take effect Jan. 21. This update marks a shift in how sellers approach product listing titles on the Amazon platform. 

Amazon product title requirements

Titles have long been considered the most important piece of structured data on a product detail page for Amazon SEO.

This is especially true as the title appears not only on the search engine results page (SERP) and product detail page but also as the advertising copy for most ad types. 

In the private label Amazon spaces, in particular, title construction has prioritized exact keyword phrase matches in titles, leading to an increase in lengthy and unclear titles as sellers try to squeeze in as many keyword phrases as possible – a practice Amazon now aims to address through these policy changes. 

The policy makes the following changes: 

  • 200-character limit (or less) for titles. 
  • Disallowing special characters. 
  • Keyword repetition restrictions. 

Character length restrictions 

Amazon has progressively tightened character limitations across various listing fields in recent years. 

The new policy establishes a universal 200-character limit for most product categories, with some apparel categories facing even stricter constraints of 125 characters. 

Character length restrictions 

Amazon has always said it wanted concise titles. However, most sellers have found that longer titles can help with indexing and ranking. 

Amazon’s policy limits titles to 80 characters. (We usually recommend 100-200 characters.) 

This new restriction is not entirely unforeseen, as we have seen Amazon more aggressively enforce the existing 200-character title length in several categories in 2024. 

Disallowing special characters

Amazon has never been a fan of emojis in titles or decorative symbols, and they are now getting even stricter by only allowing a handful of special characters. 

“The special characters !, $, ?, _, {, }, ^, ¬, and ¦ are not allowed, unless they are part of the brand name.” 

You can still use pipes “|” and dashes “-” to break up your title, but most other special characters are being restricted with this new policy. 

The exception for this new policy for special characters is if the special character is part of the brand name. 

This will likely mean that the brand used in the Brand Registry and the trademark would include that special character. 

For example, if your brand was trademarked and registered as “TaDa!” Then you could include that in your title as it is part of your brand name. 

Amazon also says that some special characters will only be allowed in specific contexts: 

“Other special characters, such as ~, #, <, >, and *, are allowed only in specific contexts. For example, you may use these symbols as product identifiers (“Style #4301”) or measurements (“<10 lb”).” 

They also make sure to highlight that special characters are not to be used as decoration. 

 “Decorative usage of special characters is not allowed. For example, the title “Paradise Towel Wear Co. Beach Coverup << Size Kids XXS >>” is non-compliant because of the excessive use of symbols around the size.” 

Keyword repetition restrictions 

The most significant change addresses keyword repetition in titles. 

The new policy limits the use of the same word to no more than twice, with exceptions for prepositions, articles, and conjunctions. 

In practice, this means a word can appear twice but not three times. 

This change poses a challenge for sellers with traditionally repeated keywords to incorporate as many keyword phrases as possible into their titles. 

During Amazon’s AMA on Jan. 8, it was clarified that plurals and different forms of the same word will also count as repeated usage.

Amazon AMA - Repeated words
Amazon AMA - Duplicate words

Exceptions for brand names 

The policy makes an important distinction regarding brand names. Words appearing within brand names are treated separately from their use in product descriptions. 

“The brand name is also not allowed more than twice. If part of the brand name appears in the title in different context, then it is not considered a duplicate. For example, in ‘Old Navy and Navy Blue,’ the word ‘Navy’ is not considered a duplicate.”

One issue with this is how Amazon will determine where the line is if a keyword is used in a separate context. 

Amazon has also clarified that they will consider titles that repeat words, such as “loaf pan, muffin pan, baking pan,” to be duplicates. 

It looks like they will be looking for duplicates with a much wider net than anticipated when this was first announced. 

Implementation timeline and process 

Amazon will begin notifying sellers of non-compliant titles after Jan. 21, providing a 14-day window for resolution.

Non-compliant titles can be identified and managed through the Manage All Inventory tab in Seller Central.

If you have a brand with special characters or your primary purpose in your brand name, you will want to check for alerts as soon as the policy goes into effect in Seller Central in the Manage Inventory page. 

If you think you were flagged in error, you should submit a case to Seller Support as quickly as possible. This will allow you time to escalate the issue as needed before your 14-day compliance window is up. 

Changing titles in bulk

If you need to change multiple titles it is always best to do that with a flat file (.csv upload). To do this, you would take the following steps: 

Download category listing reports
  • Use the downloaded file to update titles. You can then use this file to update many listings all at once. You may be able to use find and replace within Excel to speed up title changes. 
  • Upload the files to Amazon. After the file processes, check for errors. It is also a good practice to wait 24 hours and visually check all updated listings to ensure the title changes are reflected in the system. Make sure you understand how flat file updates work and that you have the field that indicates full or partial updates completed correctly. 
  • Schedule time on Jan. 21 to review any recommended changes from Amazon. If you believe you should have an exception or if your listing was flagged in error, you may need to submit a ticket. 

Future implications 

This is a fundamental change in how sellers will approach titles (and, in turn, their ad copy). Amazon changes policies often, so it could be that they relax these requirements. 

However, I think these restrictions could help us enter a new era of more thoughtful and meticulously crafted titles that are ultimately more focused on catering to the customer than search algorithms. 

After all, clear, helpful titles are what turn browsers into buyers. 

Note: Links to Amazon Seller Central pages are generally accessible only to registered sellers who have an active Amazon Seller account.

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