Is your paid-search campaign on life support? "Perhaps your spending has spiraled out of control and your conversions haven't budged," says William Leake in an article at MarketingProfs. "Or, like many of us, maybe your performance is fine but your budgets have been slashed, forcing you to produce the same results with less spend." Before you pull the plug, he recommends this course of action:

Eliminate irrelevant traffic. Start by identifying and blocking negative keywords: if you have an upscale product or service, for instance, "free," "cheap" and "discount" might make that list. Then test keyword match types. "If you're overwhelmed," says Leake, "you can try starting with just the keywords that have the most spend and those with the most impressions." Do so, and you can cut your irrelevant traffic in half.

Optimize ad copy. Don't try to grab everyone's attention—instead, appeal specifically to your target audience. Notes Leake, "If your target audience is companies with 50 employees or more, say so. For e-commerce, consider listing prices."

Improve your landing pages. Make sure they're relevant to visitors, and consistent with the ad that brought traffic to your site. "This is the simplest fix, and yet it is often overlooked," he says.

The Po!nt: By going after relevant traffic, you can bring a dying paid-search campaign back to life.

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