Have you ever heard of a little thing called Google advertising?
Or as we call it in the industry, Google Ads.
Sorry for the slang but those last 3 syllables make a difference you know.
Anyway, Google Ads is an advanced platform that utilises automation, machine learning and AI.
Therefore, a strong strategy with a clear idea of objectives and foundation is essential to set yourself and your business up for success if you choose this platform as part of your digital marketing strategy.
Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of how you can set your business up for success on Google Ads.
Understanding The Why
This might sound silly but this is vital in the success of performing well on Google and can be overlooked.
What do we mean by this?
Well, do you:
- Understand your product or service.
- Know what your USPs are? What makes you stand out over your competitors?
- Know who your customers are, and what the problems are that they are trying to solve?
This should be the first thing you should find the answers for, then from here you can start building your Google ads strategy.
Check out 15 benefits of Google Ads for your business here.
Stay On Top Of Never Ending Updates
Google Ads is known for its never ending releases and updates with new features that are released throughout the year.
Those guys over at Google HQ sure are busy bees!
We have gone from having high control of campaigns to Google favouring more automated campaigns.
For veterans of Google Ads it would be beneficial to keep control of your campaigns because you’ll know exactly where you have seen the best results.
However, one thing to note is that algorithms change more times than the British weather…and Google would like you to adapt to these changes.
You might want to try and beat the algorithm, however, you can use it to find ways to leverage it and make it beneficial for you and your campaigns.
Audit Your Google Account
Regular auditing of the account is an opportunity to discover any issues that may arise when launching campaigns.
It’s a good way to effectively spring-clean the account and improve performance in return.
Some areas to audit would be:
Account structure
This is a top down look at the whole account so it makes sense to you.
Identify areas of wasted spend and use a consistent approach so that you can manage it effectively.
To do this, you will want to organise your campaigns which we will explain below.
Account Settings
This can be campaign specific but ensuring the right locations are being targeted.
Look at your location’s report and see which ones take up so much budget yet don’t convert.
Then make decisions on whether it’s worth keeping that location on or if you want to decrease the budget there.
Explore budgets and whether they are spread correctly across your campaigns.
Finally, check whether your bidding strategies align with your business goals.
Ad Groups
Identify best performers and make a decision on whether to move the budget, to try and benefit the campaign.
Also look at the poor performers and identify optimisations to try and improve them…or you might find it more beneficial to pause them.
One way to look at this is by recognising if your ad groups are in single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) or grouped keywords as this will help you improve the relevancy of your campaigns.
Keywords
Scour your search term reports as routinely as a drill sergeant.
This will help you discover new keywords that you may have not thought of which can help increase the intent of your campaigns.
Add keywords that are irrelevant to the negative keyword list, which will improve the relevancy of your campaigns.
Individual ads
Delve into the quality scores.
Ask what you can do to improve them?
You can also leverage ad assets and rewrite copy if needed too.
Landing Pages
This is an important part of your campaign and is an extension of your campaign.
Identify how you can make the landing page more conversion rate optimised and apply it.
Ensure that your CTAs (Call To Actions) are fit for purpose and are attention grabbing.
Just don’t click bait, that ain’t cool.
You will also want to consider if your contact form is concise and is generating leads.
If you run an Ecom store, you’ll want your checkout process to be as quick and simple as possible, so that you can make the customer journey easy and improve conversion rates.
If there’s one thing any PPC specialist can tell you from experience across multiple accounts it’s that there is no one size fits all strategy.
No One Size Fits All Strategy
Each client will need their own planning and structure, because in PPC you can find that something that does work for one business won’t work for another – even if they’re in the same industry.
The best thing to do is align your strategy with your business goals, this will then give you a blueprint as to how to move forward effectively.
You should also regularly review your strategy to ensure it’s not being fatigued.
As the industry and technology evolves, leverage any new features or updates to ensure your campaigns perform at the best of their ability.
If you want to see more tips for running paid ads, take a look at our free PDF.
Google Is Only One Piece Of The Marketing Chessboard
One thing to remember is that Google Ads is only one part of your broader marketing strategy, so to have the best possible results look beyond Google.
Use multiple channels such as Meta, organic social media, SEO and email marketing.
By doing this, you’ll be able to unlock the attention of different audiences that would otherwise not interact with you on Google.
Resulting in bigger wins for you, Yay!
It goes without saying that improving your performance on Google is vital to succeed, however, when synergizing with other channels you are setting yourself up for greater success.
As a digital marketing agency, we know a few things about running successful Google campaigns.
We’ve run campaigns for a variety of clients across many different sectors.
So if you’re a business owner and want to learn more about advertising on Google reach out to us today.