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Get better results from your Google Ads campaigns? Discover our 13 tips!
Google Ads, like Facebook Ads, is a widely discussed form of online advertising. Supporters highlight the power and reach of Google’s search engine, while critics point to the higher cost.
However, by mastering a few tricks and applying some tips, you can transform your Google Ads campaign into a highly profitable communication channel. Here is a collection of 13 tips that will significantly increase your chances of running a successful Google Ads campaign.
1. Assign a Value to Your Conversions
Which conversion is the most valuable for your business? As a company, you have your own specific commercial objectives, as well as long-term corporate goals. Not all conversions are equal. Some conversions are worth more, and you want to optimize them accordingly.
Therefore, define the different types of conversions you get from your Google Ads and assign a value to each one. Based on the total value that your ads generate (ROAS – Return on Advertising Spend), you will get a clear insight into the performance of your campaigns. This serves as a solid foundation to further optimize your current and future campaigns.
2. Avoid Internal Competition Between Ad Groups
Make sure that Ad A doesn’t negatively impact Ad B. Be sure to use negative keywords so that your ad groups do not compete with each other. Otherwise, you will unnecessarily increase your bids, and your return on investment will significantly decrease.
3. Define the Right Target Audience
“We want to conquer the world with our product” is a noble ambition, but don’t take it too literally when defining the target audience for your Google Ads campaign. The more specific the audience, the higher the quality of the conversions will be.
Google Ads offers many parameters to make your audience targeting as specific as possible. You can target specific provinces, regions, or cities to reach the most relevant audience for your business.
4. Don’t Switch to an Automated Bidding Strategy Too Soon
With an automated bidding strategy, you set a daily budget, and Google manages the budget to maximize clicks or conversions based on your objective.
Our advice is to wait before switching to automated bidding. Start with a manual bidding strategy where you set bids for each keyword and placement. This way, you retain full control over the CPC/CPA and can make adjustments as needed. Once you’ve gathered enough results, data, and insights about your campaign’s performance, you can consider switching to an automated bidding strategy.
5. Add Extensions
With extensions in Google Ads, you have the opportunity to add extra information to your ad. This increases visibility in Google and provides your ad with more substantive quality. Additionally, Google rewards you with an extra bonus in Ad Rank, which means you’ll automatically pay less for the same position.
You can choose from various types of extensions: link, location, call, price, message, promotion, highlight, and more. There are no additional costs; you simply pay per click on the extension.
6. Improve Your Quality Score
The quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages is expressed through a quality score. It’s crucial to pay attention to this when optimizing your ads.
The quality score has a significant impact on Ad Rank. An ad with a low quality score will result in a higher cost-per-click (CPC) and a lower ad position. Simply bidding more doesn’t always guarantee a better position.
How to improve your quality score?
- Ensure relevant ads: What do you like reading online? Make sure your ads are directly relevant to the keywords.
- Choose the most specific keywords: Opt for a group of two or three words (long-tail keywords) rather than a single broad term.
Example: “Buy white T-shirt” and “White T-shirt medium” have higher purchase intent than just “White T-shirt.” - Send users to the correct landing page: Avoid sending them to the homepage.
- Use a strong call-to-action (CTA): This helps increase the click-through rate (CTR).
- Make your ads appealing: Highlight the unique selling points (USPs) of your product or service.
7. Add Remarketing Audiences (RLSA) to Your Google Ads Campaign
In Google Ads, you can create remarketing audiences and add them to specific campaigns. For example, you can target visitors to your website from the past 180 days. If visitors leave your site without making a purchase, this allows you to re-engage with them.
With RLSA ads (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads), you can increase the bid for a specific keyword when a visitor belongs to that particular audience. Thanks to RLSA, you can continuously shift the focus of your campaign based on your visitors and their potential interest.
From this perspective, RLSA is only relevant with a manual bidding strategy. However, you can also add RLSA lists to an automatic bidding strategy. Google will use this data to quickly learn and provide additional information to improve the automatic bidding strategy.
8. Add Negative Keyword Lists in Google Ads
Just as there are keywords that are relevant to your business, there are also keywords that can be harmful to your products or services. For example, if you’re selling handmade, artisanal design tables from a higher-end segment, you probably don’t want to be found by people searching for second-hand or free tables.
You can exclude these keywords individually at the ad group or campaign level, but you can also create a list of negative keywords. You can then add these lists to the relevant campaigns. This way, you make your campaigns more targeted and cost-effective.
9. Advertise on Your Own Brand Name
Advertising on products and specific promotions targets individuals who are interested in those particular items. However, don’t forget to also advertise on your own brand name.
Advertising on your own brand name is not expensive and can boost your account’s quality score. This allows you to stay ahead of your competitors.
10. Increase Your Ad’s Impression Share
Impression share is the percentage that indicates how often your ad is shown when a specific keyword is searched.
Especially for the keywords with the lowest conversion costs, you should ensure that your impression share is as high as possible. Aim for an impression share of 100% to ensure you fully capitalize on the potential.
11. Make the Copy of Your Google Ads Ads Contentually Relevant
The copy of your ad plays a key role in how successfully your message resonates with the audience. Tailor the content, tone of voice, and writing style to your target audience, but also to the goal of your communication. Are you aiming to inform your audience about upcoming launches, or do you want to generate immediate sales? In the latter case, your call to action (CTA) will be crucial in your copy. If necessary, use extensions to add USPs, additional messages, keywords, and/or links.
12. Build Your Google Ads Campaign Logically
Clearly define your naming conventions. These help you organize your campaigns thematically, distinguish between terms and product categories, and implement your own account structure. With a well-structured account, for example, it will be easier to define your target audience.
Such a clear (internal) campaign structure also helps to maintain an overview when multiple people are working on the Ads campaign.
13. Continuously Test and Optimize Your Google Ads Campaigns
Creating an ad, defining the target audience, and calling it a day? Not quite. A good Google Ads campaign is like raising a child—it needs constant attention. Continuously monitor the results, adjust budgets based on performance, review search terms, and regularly tweak your bids. Ensure that all your keywords show up on the first page and turn off underperforming campaigns in time. This will free up your budget for campaigns that are delivering the desired conversions and are running at their daily budget limit.
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