Given Google’s expansive use worldwide, almost everyone has come across Google ads and clicked on them at least once. On average, 99,000 Google searches take place every second. So, if you leverage Google AdWords to promote your business, you will witness tremendous benefits.
To learn more about how to set up Google AdWords and its best practices, read the article below:
Google Adwords is a PPC (Pay-per-click) advertisement platform where advertisers display their ads and only pay for the number of clicks or impressions a particular ad has received. Since you only need to pay when your ad gets an impression, it is a cost-effective solution for business owners, offering great ROI if done correctly.
Moreover, it enables you to attract qualified traffic to your website since these users are searching for similar products and services. Additionally, it helps spread awareness about your business. Over time, you can also analyze the performance of the ads, optimize them, and understand what is working in your favor and what is not.
Yes, Google Ads and AdWords are the same and often used interchangeably. In 2018, Google rebranded this part of its services and changed Google AdWords to Google Ads. Now, even though Google Ads have undergone some minor changes since the rebranding, both terms ideally mean the same thing, and one can use any of the two terms to describe Google’s advertising platform.
Google ads are shown to your target audience based on your bid and the quality score of the advertisement. Moreover, the user’s search intent and alignment with their interests and needs are also considered before the ads are displayed. To understand how Google AdWord works, one needs to know about the following concepts:
Types of Google Ads:Â
Ad Auction:Â
When you visit a site that is part of the Google display network, an auction appears in the background based on your preset settings. In this auction, you and other advertisers bid for their respective advertisements to be displayed.
On your Google Adwords account, you need to put a maximum limit on how much you are willing to pay per click. Based on your bid, Google decides at what position your advertisement will be displayed.
Remember that the position of your advertisement doesn’t only depend on the amount of money you are bidding but also on the quality and relevance of the ad to user search intent.
Relevance and quality of the ad:
An ad’s relevance means how closely it is related to the user’s search intent. So, if someone searches for hair care products, an ad about skincare products will not be relevant to the search intent.
In terms of evaluating the quality of the ad, numerous factors are taken into consideration.
Based on these criteria, your ad will appear on the Google search results page.
Ad rank:
Ad rank refers to the position at which your ad will be displayed. Several factors determine the ad rank, including bid amount, quality of the ad, relevance, and competition of the bid. All the factors collectively decide how and where your ad will be displayed on the search engine results page.
Location:Â
When you plan to start a Google ads campaign, you may also want to specify the location where you want your ad to be displayed. Specifying this will help you get more physical traffic to your store.
For instance, if you have a store in Boston, displaying your ads to someone living in Atlanta is not very beneficial. In this case, you can specify the location where you want your ad to appear to make your ad campaign more cost-effective.
Match type:Â
Match type specifies how you want your ad to appear in search engines. For example, do you want your ad to appear specifically when someone searches for the exact keywords you are targeting, or are you okay with a broader match type, meaning your ad appears when people search for something closely related to your ad?
Ad copy:
The ad copy is the type of content you are adding to your advertisement. Remember that your ad copy should be compelling and unique to grab the attention of your target audience.
Ad extension:Â
Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that expand your ad and make it more useful for users. This feature can improve your ad’s visibility and provide more value by offering extra details about your business.
Yields faster results:Â
If you are tired of trying search engine optimization to make your website grow, you can opt for Google AdWords. SEO is a lengthy process that requires keyword optimization, building a backlink profile, publishing high-quality content, and ensuring your website runs optimally and ranks well.
However, Google AdWords is a shortcut that helps attract relevant traffic to your website in a short period. Since your website is always on the top of the search engine result page, you will always experience high website traffic. This, however, doesn’t mean that SEO is not necessary. Several factors, including landing page experience, are considered when deciding where your website will be displayed.
Reach the right audience:Â
Google AdWords helps you target an audience based on their location, keywords used during a Google search, and interests. Moreover, it also enables you to display your ads to people who have previously visited your website or shown interest, which helps you stay on top of the minds of relevant users. So, instead of spending thousands of dollars on other digital marketing strategies, you spend your money in the right place with Google ads.
Monitor and measure your ad campaigns:Â
This platform provides every metric you need to measure the success of your ad campaign, including traffic, clicks, conversions, and impressions. You can also track where the maximum leads are coming from and what keywords they used to search. This way, you can discontinue the campaigns that are not producing the desired results.
Increase brand awareness and recognition:Â
For most people, Google is the first place they go when they search for a product, service, or other information. This is why displaying your ads on Google AdWords dramatically increases brand awareness and recognition. Since most people rely on Google as their ultimate source of information, displaying your ads on this platform will help you gain the proper attention from the right people.
Effectively control your ad budget:Â
With Google ads, you can fine-tune your ad budget. You must begin by finding keywords relevant to your products and services. Along with this, you also need to specify the bid amount that you are most comfortable with. You can also set a daily budget to ensure you do not exceed your limit.
You must first set up your Google Search Console account to start with Google AdWords. Setting up your Google search console account will allow you to see all the analytics. Moreover, you also have to open your Google AdWords account, for which you need to visit the Google Ads website and sign up.
As soon as you sign up, Google will automatically take you through the process of setting up your first Google Ads campaign. Remember that Google runs pay-per-click campaigns, so you will be required to share your credit card details when you set up your account. However, don’t worry because you won’t be charged anything until you have set up your campaign and get clicks.
Your goals are the sole factor that determines the entire route of your Google Adwords campaign. Your goal will decide whether the budget is viable and which path you must take.
Your goals for Google AdWords consist of the following:
Remember to choose an option that is closely tied to the results you want to achieve from your campaign.
Determining your budget is one of the most important things you must do if you want your Google Adwords strategy to succeed. When you are setting up your AdWords account, you need to consider how many website visitors you can convert into customers. If your website is new and you don’t have proper data on this metric, you can also take out an average and work on that.
Studies show that conversion rates for many websites are less than 2.3%. Therefore, spending too much money on Google ads may not be a good idea. Set your budget based on your landing page’s average conversion rate. Additionally, consider the cost per acquisition when setting a budget for your ads.
Keyword research is fundamental when it comes to finding keywords for which you want your ads to rank. To discover the keywords, you need to start thinking like your customers. You need to think about how your customers would think about a product or service and search for it.
One of the best things about signing up for your Google Ads account is that Google will automatically suggest some keywords based on the content of your website. This is a great starting point for determining which keywords will be the best for you. However, remember that you can use these keywords as a base, but you are competing with hundreds of other competitors, so you need to spend as much time as you can determining which keywords will be the best fit.
For instance, if you run a clothing store, instead of targeting keywords such as best t-shirts for summer, you can be as specific as white cotton t-shirts for summer. Targeting this keyword ensures that most customers who use this keyword to search for t-shirts are most likely to make a purchase as soon as they come across your ad. Since the users are not using a generic keyword and being as specific as possible, the likelihood of them making a purchase is the maximum.
To write an ad for your AdWords campaign, you need to ensure that the copy is compelling and genuine. To write a persuasive ad, your ad copy must focus on the benefits that your users can enjoy when they avail of your products and services rather than on what you offer.
You must also include a specific call to action so that people know what to do after they see your ad.
Moreover, your ad heading and description must be as unique as possible to grab the attention of your target audience and encourage them to take the desired action.
There are three essential components of A Google Ad:
Google divides the headline into three parts, each of 30 characters. Therefore, make every character count!
Once you have completed all the steps mentioned above, it is time to launch your ad campaign. Remember that you need to be patient to see positive results from your campaigns. Usually, advertisers must wait at least three months to see how the campaign is performing and the ROI it is generating. When you launch your ad campaign, it is also important to identify the KPIs that are important for your business and constantly monitor them to gauge an idea about your marketing efforts.
A landing page is a website page that encourages visitors to take a desired action, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading trial software, or registering for a webinar. When using Google AdWords, ensure that you have a strong landing page that maintains consistency between the ads and the content on the landing page.
Users who click on an ad have certain expectations from the resulting landing page. Make sure that you live up to that expectation and ensure the user finds all the relevant information.
Using a broad match for your Google AdWords means that the search terms are general and unspecific. Even though these keywords often attract a broad audience, many of them might not be interested in your products and services. This leads to low click-through rates and poor ad relevance, which negatively affects your quality score.
Moreover, broad keywords cost more due to increased competition. However, since they have lower relevancy, you may end up paying for clicks from users who are not likely to convert, thus wasting your advertisement budget.
Google always wants to ensure that its users are provided with the most relevant information based on their search intent. Therefore, when using Google AdWords to promote your business, your ads must match the search intent to increase the likelihood of increased click-through rates and conversions. As you must know by now, the quality score of your ads, which determines the ranking of your ad, highly depends on the quality and reliance of the ads. The higher the relevance between your ad content and user search intent, the better the quality score. Moreover, when the ad matches the search intent, you also increase the chances of attracting users who are ready to take action, whether it is making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or completing any other desired action.
Google ads aim to increase click-through rates and conversion rates. Matching the search intent with the ads’ content increases conversion rates.
One way to ensure that the ad and search intent are a close match is to use negative keywords. Negative keywords in Google Ads are words or phrases that you specify to prevent your ads from being shown in irrelevant searches. By adding these keywords, you can filter out traffic that is not relevant to your business, helping ensure that your ads are shown to only those people who are more likely to be interested in your products and services.
Digital marketing requires continuous efforts and monitoring of the latest trends to stay current. Therefore, as a business owner, you must also work to constantly monitor and improve the quality score of your ads.
Improving the quality score of your Google ads has numerous benefits, including:
Better ad positioning:Â
Ads with higher quality scores will most likely appear in top positions on the search result’s page. This increased visibility can lead to more clicks and a higher conversion rate.
Higher conversion rates:
A high-quality score is a byproduct of relevant ads and landing pages, which in turn increases the chances of conversion. A high-quality score is often correlated with higher conversion rates, and users find what they are looking for efficiently.
Google Adwords is a powerful digital marketing tool that will help you achieve fruitful results. This strategy has helped numerous small businesses to compete with giant enterprises and establish a strong presence in the online world.
However, remember that many businesses similar to yours will utilize Google ads, and the competition is steep. Hence, you need to be very careful and strategic about moving forward with your Google Ads campaigns and ensure that every dollar you spend is worth it.