What is Google Ads?

Google Ads (formerly known as Google Adwords) is a platform which allows you to create and show ads to potential customers across Google Search and the Search Partners Network. It’s a way to reach the top of search results without waiting for your site to organically reach the top. By utilising paid search, you can reach potential new customers almost immediately.

Here’s our top ten tips for optimising your Google Ads Campaign

1. Utilise Match Types – We’ve come across it many a time, where a business is the incorrect match type keywords for in their campaign, which is a big no no. Match Types are different ways you can target your ads. Here’s a quick overview of what each match type means;

• Broad Match – A Broad match keyword is the default match type and has the widest reach however, it can also lead to increased unrelated clicks.
• “Phrase Match” – A Phrase match keyword will match your ads with search terms that include all of the text in the quotation marks.
• [Exact Match] – An Exact match keyword will match your ads with search terms that only include your keyword or close variations of it.
• +Broad +Match Modifier – Putting a ‘+’ in front of a keyword will require that keyword to be present in the search query, otherwise the ad won’t show.

2. Set Up Conversions – Conversions are the actions you want potential customer to take once they’ve clicked your ad. For example, you may want them to fill in a form, or click and call your phone number. – Setting up conversions can help monitor how well your campaigns perform and can also enhance automated bidding strategies, such as Maximise Conversions or Target CPA.

3. Configure Rules – Rules are a good way of saving time when it comes to optimising campaigns. They allow you to set a custom rules that can alter your keywords/bids/budgets and much more. For example, if your Click Through Rate for a keyword is less than 5%, you can set up a rule which increases your bid on that keyword by 20%, that can potentially help increase the Click Through Rate. This will run whenever the Click Through Rate for that keyword falls below 5%.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Manual Bidding Strategies – Google will often push you towards using their automated bidding strategies (which do work well in many cases) but sometimes you campaign will require a little personal touch – you’ll understand what you want from your campaign better than anyone else, so don’t be afraid to change your own bids or optimise your campaign the way you see fit.

5. Regularly Analyse the Keywords You’re Targeting – Over time, your keywords may become too expensive for you to bid on, or you might find that they’re costing you money but not producing any return, which is why it’s always beneficial to check your keywords on a regular basis.

6. Make Sure Your Landing Page Is Relevant – We recommend creating a specific page for your Google Ads campaigns, as this way you can control what you want your clickers to do and therefore maximise the number of conversions you receive.

7. Set Up Ad Scheduling – After a bit of analysis, you might find that your campaign’s budget is being drained by someone at 3am clicking your ad and then not making a decision because they were too tired. We often employ ad scheduling on our campaigns to limit the number of wasted clicks we receive.

8. Optimise Your Bid Adjustments – You may find that your campaign is receiving a lot of clicks from users who are 18-24, and they might not be your target audience. You can limit the cost of bids for specific ages, which is a good way of making sure you limit the number of irrelevant clicks you receive.

9. Make Sure Your Landing Pages are Mobile Friendly – As more and more people use mobile to search the web every day, you want to make sure you website and Ad Landing pages are optimised for mobile as a slow loading or poorly designed page will cost you a lot of money.

10. Location Targeting – Target your Ads to specific areas and locations which are local to you and your customers, no one wants to see an Ad for a business which is all the way across the Country.

There are many different ways to optimise and manage your campaigns, so make sure to look at all aspects of PPC Advertising before you get started, as you could rack up a hefty cost if it’s not done correctly.

If you’re looking to start pushing your business more online, whether it be through Google Ads or another one of the many services that we offer – simply get in touch and we’d be happy to help!

Here at Square Media, we have extensive knowledge with managing and optimising Google Ads campaigns as well as building PPC landing pages.  If you’re looking to advertise on Google or to have someone optimise your campaigns, we can help! You can visit our Pay Per Click Management page here, or send us a message directly here.