To get answers to our queries or to find out something, we usually head over to Google (mother is helpful too). Google has taken over the search engine market in a way that we do not know any prominent search engine other than Google. With so many search queries performed every second, this huge traffic can be used to flourish businesses. Using the same idea when we sit in front of the television watching ads of delicious chocolates with our mouths full of water. Google ads also drives public attention to products and services. 

Television ads are active or passive?

Television ads are more passive. It means that the television user is just enjoying his favorite TV show and is not looking for some specific product. Google ads on the other hand are active. Google shows specific products to the user who is actively looking for a product and is believed to make a sale. Television ads are useful for building brand identity instead of driving sales. When we hear a brand name over and over, we get comfortable spending bucks for that brand as compared to the one we have never heard of. 

What about social media ads?

Now that you know the difference between passive and active ads, you probably have guessed that social media ads are passive ads (smart readers). In the case of Google ads, you pay only for results. That is why Google ads are included in PPC (Pay Per Click) or CPC (Cost Per Click) ads.

How much should you spend on Google ads?

Google ads is a single great way of getting sales and lead to your online business. If done correctly, Google ads can be effective to get more sales but understanding the platform is a huge problem. Many advertisers waste thousands of dollars doing it the wrong way. 

Be careful as a beginner 

According to WordStream, Big companies spend about $4 million every month on Google ads where small companies spend around $120,000 per month on average. It is not that these guys have extra bucks to spend on ads. When they spend on ads, they make sure that they get X times the amount spent on ads from sales. Today, I am going to start from the basics and uncover all the complexities of Google ads. As a beginner, I would recommend you start from little, experiment on the platform and then raise the amount spent on ads. It is important to experiment ads with different keywords to find out which works the best for you.

Google Ads vs SEO

Google ads help you beat websites having higher domain authority. A higher domain authority means a privilege of ranking higher for brands and big companies which are in the market for years and have solid SEO strategy. For example, there are thousands of websites that write quality content about “iphone”. But if you search for “iphone” in Google search results, apple.com will appear first in the organic list. It is because of the higher domain authority of apple.com. 

Perks of having a brand

With Google ads, you can stand out of the competition easily and you can rank higher than websites having a higher domain authority. People love brands and thus Google loves brands. Google wants to maximize its revenue thus it shows people what exactly they are looking for.

Should we neglect SEO completely?

SEO is a slow process and can easily take from months to even years to show effective results. If you are not on the first page of Google that is a serious concern because 75% of users do not leave the first page of Google. Using Google ads can take you to the top and you can start seeing results in hours. SOUNDS PRETTY EASY! Trust me, it is not that easy.

I do not mean here that you should not care about the SEO of your website. Keeping a balance between SEO and digital marketing can be the best for your business website.

What should be our main goal for Google ads?

In simple words, consider the money spent on Google ads as a sort of investment for which you expect to get more results. In marketing terms, this goal can be achieved through conversions. Conversion means when a user visits your landing page through an ad and performed the action you wanted him to perform. This action can be calling a number, filling some details, subscribing to a newsletter, or making a sale. 

Choice of ads depends on your goals

You will need to use different ad categories to fulfill different goals. For example, if you want to build brand identity PPC ads (I hope you remember that) would not be suitable. Switching to video ads, social media ads and display ads will be more useful in this situation. If you cannot convert the readers, then your ads are useless. At the end of the day, you must get more amount back as compared to the amount you spent on ads. That is the way businesses work by creating a win-win situation.

The two worst cases can cause you to lose nearly all the value of your ads. I am going to cover these two cases in the quality score section so keep reading.

There is competition on Google ads too

Competition does not stop at SEO only. There are hundreds of companies competing for the same keywords. You should choose the keywords that best represent your business and have enough impressions while having a relatively low CPC. Impressions mean the number of times your ad appears in response to the user search query. Impressions are estimated and you do not pay for impressions. CPC specifies the amount that you are paying for a click on the ad.

How quality score of Google ads is determined?

Let us understand how Google ranks ads on its platform. Google uses “Quality Score” to check which ad should appear at which place in search results. The quality score is mainly determined by the relevancy to the landing page. The landing page is the webpage where a user lands after clicking on the ad. If your landing page is not relevant to the keywords used in the ads, you will have a lower quality score. The quality score is further used to compute Ad Rank which is quality score times the maximum bid. Increasing the maximum bid helps you to gain a higher position in the results of the ads.

What is CTR in Google ads?

Another important term that you should know is the CTR (Click-through rate). CTR means the number of clicks divided by impressions. CTR is an important element of checking your ad’s performance. A higher CTR means that more users are clicking on the ads. Google search network ads should have a CTR of at least 8%. CTR helps determine the quality of your ads but that is not all.

Two worst scenarios in Google ads

You need to make tweaks in your ads according to the data obtained after running ads for some time. Two worst scenarios require immediate changing in your search network ads:

1. You have a lower CTR. That means not enough users are clicking on your ads. You may need to change your keywords to be more specific to the user’s needs. You may also need to check the number of impressions for a specific keyword. Increasing the CPC will boost Ad Rank and will improve CTR.
2. You have a good CTR, but you do not have enough conversions. Google ads help you to track conversions by adding a snippet code in the code of the page displayed after the user performs the action you want him to perform. I will cover it later about how to track conversions. This problem of low conversion directly implies that the landing page is either not relevant or is not appealing enough for the user to act.

Starting your advertising campaign on Google ads

Step 1: Signing into Google Ads

Let us start the main part and dive deep to find the best practices to create the best campaigns for your business.

• Go to ads.google.com and create or sign in with your Google account.

• After signing in, click on “Switch to Expert Mode”. The simple interface gives you much control neither on the performance of your ads nor on your budget.

• Leads is usually used for PPC advertising where a user lands on a webpage. Video ads are used for Youtube ads like we commonly see.

At this point, it is important to understand the different ad categories.

• Search Network ads are PPC text and URL based ads. These ads appear above the organic search results. These contain three important elements. Heading, URL, and description.

• Display ads are the banner ads that can appear on any website that has partnered with Google through Google Adsense. These are not PPC ads. In this case, you are paying for impressions, not for clicks.
• The third major category is skippable and non-skippable video ads that are made for YouTube.

Since this guide is for search network ads thus, we are going to select the search option from the types of ads displayed.

We will use the website visit option since we want the traffic to arrive at a landing page of our desired website.

Step 2: Calculating CPC

Calculating CPC (cost per click) is a crucial step for creating a successful campaign and most advertisers miss this step. Consider an example that you are selling shoes online and your profit on each sale is $10. Google has its 30% commission on the amount spent on ads. Consider that the click-through rate is 5%. 

CPC general formula

You can calculate CPC by:

CPC = Profit x Google’s commission x CTR value

CPC = 10 x 0.3 x 0.05 = 0.15$

Thus, you can earn $10 from every sale while spending 0.15$ per click.

Calculating CPC lets you know where you stand and how you should balance out your profit and CTR, so you do not overspend on ads. Without conversions, ads are useless (I hope you remember)

Higher CPC vs Lower CPC

The lower the CPC, the better it is for your budget but make sure that you are not compromising on CTR and Ad Rank. If you are standing at #1 in the Ad position, you can try lowering down your CPC till you find the minimum CPC that lets you stay at #1. If you do not optimize your CPC in this case, then you are overspending for the same position in Google search results.

Step 3: Use Bid modifiers

Using bid modifiers help you to understand the behavior of people in different regions during different days and time. It further optimizes your budget spent on ads. People of different regions have different interests and they respond differently to ads.

Consider you are selling winter clothes then people living in hot regions will be less likely to make sales for winter clothes. The CTR value for cold places and hot places will be different. It will be wise not to waste much budget for showing ads in the hot areas. You can optimize your budget for different areas. 

Three types of Bid modifiers

There are mainly three types of bid modifiers.

• The one we have already discussed is the geographical location. For a better understanding, you should experiment with ads in different regions. Then, you should update the budget of ads according to the results obtained from your earlier experiment. You can also target specific locations by using this technique.
• The second is the list is partitioning based on the user device. The Internet has changed a lot over the years. Today, people prefer using mobile phones for web browsing. Over 51% of web traffic comes from mobile phones. Still, most of the users make sales using a PC. You should keep this thing into consideration before making your ads.
• The third bid modifier is dayparting. People’s behavior changes concerning the days of the week. Also, more purchases are made during business hours. If you made a product for professional users, then it is wise to save money by spending lesser during the night hours.

Step 4: Keyword Selection for Google ads

The most important step is keyword selection. That is where you can apply your SEO knowledge and skills. You should choose unique keywords that describe your business from the customer’s perspective. For this step, think for a second that you are looking to buy your product. 

Which keywords would you use to search for that product? This gives you an idea about the different options you have for keyword selection. You can also think in a way that makes your product unique in the market? Why should the user purchase your product?

Wrong keyword selection can drop your CTR!

Wrong keyword selection can cost you a lot without producing fruitful results. Think of a situation that you are selling “car accessories” in Las Vegas. You selected the term “car” as a keyword for your ad. If someone searches “cars for sale”, “cars for rent” or “car painting”, your ad will still appear for these queries which is irrelevant. It will drop your CTR by a massive mark. Use simple words but be as precise and clear about the services as you can.

“Cheap car accessories in Las Vegas”

This can be a good keyword choice as it shows them the thing they are looking for in an area.

“Cheap” is commonly used by users while searching for some product online and it ensures that they are not overspending for a product.

Best keyword selection tools for Google ads

We are going to spend a little more time on our discussion about keyword selection. You must ensure that you select the right keywords because your whole marketing strategy, CTR, CPC, and impressions depend on keywords. The best tool for keyword selection is Google Keyword Planner. It shows you keyword ideas with CPC and search volume. Give keyword planning a good time so you rock your marketing campaign.

You can head over to spyfu.com and search for your desired keyword. It shows you the expected CTR and the number of advertisers competing for that keyword. It also shows you some other parameters such as monthly searchers and ranks difficulty.

You can also use SEMRUSH. The advantage of SEMRUSH is that you can find the exact ad copy your competitors have written. You can find the keywords they are ranking for. Analyzing your competition is considered good for finding the areas in which your competitors are performing well and the areas where your competitors lack. Thus, you can find out what will work for you and where do you need to work extra to outperform your competitors.

Types of Keyword matches in Google search

For an effective selection of keywords, you must understand the three-match types given as:

• Broad search will look for any word related to the word you chose. Broad search is usually not adopted but the choice of match types varies from category to category. Keywords are written without square brackets and without inverted comma fall into this category.
• The phrase search finds the words when used as a part of the phrase. Phrase match is mostly used by advertisers because it is closer to the way human beings think while performing searches on Google. This statement does not justify that you should always go for phrase search. Writing the keyword inside square brackets indicate a phrase match keyword. For example, “car for rent” comes in the phrase match keyword category.
• An exact search is used when you have absolute confidence that the used keyword is the only description of your business and no variations of keyword should appear in the search results. Keywords inside square brackets indicate the use of an exact search. For example, if you use [cheap pizza in California] as a keyword then your ad will appear in the search results only when the user types the exact keyword in the search query. Mostly, an exact search should be provided because it is nearly impossible to list all the exact keywords for your ad copy.

These are the keyword suggestions given by Google for “create a website”. In this above example, the broad match keyword is used in each line.

Step 5: Enhancing the landing page

That is the part where you should put your maximum effort to bring about conversion. As we previously discussed, money spent on ads should enhance the business through conversions. No or lesser conversions mean that you are losing your money on ads. Your landing page should be simple and should compel the user to perform the action you want him to do. 

The landing page should never be confusing for your readers. Your landing page should work exactly the way a sales funnel works. Keep minimum but catchy information on the landing page.

Add CTA in your landing page 

 Add call to action buttons so that more information can be presented on the next pages. One of the key elements of my marketing strategy is to keep the suspense on the landing page. It works well cause the reader becomes enthusiastic to learn what more can we offer him. Here is a brief guide to improving your landing page for marketing:

• Make short but catchy headings on the landing page. Make sure that the text on the landing page is readable.
• Keep customer’s goals as the top priority on the landing page, not your goals.
• Use stock images in which humans or graphic elements are present. A combination of both will work the best for your landing page.
• Keep details to the minimum. The landing page works as the decisive page where the user decides whether he wants to perform sales on your website or not. Do not confuse your reader with excessive information. Think of the key feature in your services that compels the reader to move towards the sales page.
• Make sure that your landing page is optimized for mobile devices.
• Have minimum code, JavaScript animations, and high-resolution images. These elements can increase the loading time of your website and negatively affects user experience.
• Make sure you have a unique aspect in your offerings Unique offers generally generate more sales but ensure that your offerings match some audience requirements.
• For WordPress websites, you can use Elementor or Beaver Builder to create landing pages. Most of the features are available for free but you will need to buy the premium package to get advanced features.
• You can also use Instapage or lead page to choose a template for your landing page.
• Use call to action buttons on the landing page which makes navigation easy for your readers.

Checking user behavior on landing page

One of the most important things after making a landing page and linking it with your ad is to find out how readers interact with your landing page. You can check the reader’s behavior by using crazy egg. It helps you to find how many times a reader scrolled down the page, clicked on a button, and the time they stayed on the landing page. It works better than Google Analytics to understand user behaviors.

A good example of landing page

Bluehost is a popular domain and hosting provider. I typed “Bluehost” in the Google search tab and clicked on the first Ad that appeared.

Now, check out the amazing landing page of this ad.

Let us analyze this landing page based on the criteria we defined above. The most essential of all, all the text on the landing page is easily readable. Navigations are super easy. Now, check the main headline, “The Best Web Hosting” which gives readers the confidence to make a sale on their website. The user sees that he is getting a free domain, free SSL certificate, 24/7 support all at a cheap price.

 Still, if the user makes a sale and he is not satisfied with the services, he can get his money back. Try to understand how this landing page is giving top priority to their users. None of the text on the landing page is associated with the company’s goals. Scrolling down the page, we find the next section.

In this section, the features user will get after making a purchase are mentioned. Observe that a different CTA (call to action) is used in this section.

Check the remaining sections of the landing page and let me know your views about it in the comment section.

Step 6: Writing your Ad copy for Google Ads

Writing the ad copy is a pretty simple step but you should keep the following points into consideration:

That is the place that lets you write your ad copy. There are three important elements. Headings, Display URL, and descriptions. You can use up to 30 characters for each heading and 90 characters for each description.

• You should be precise with your words. Do not use expressive phrases to create an impression on the user. Be simple and straightforward but be unique.
• Repeat the keywords in your ad copy that you used earlier. In this way, you can increase your keyword density that increases the Quality score.
• The customer is the only person who matters for you. Write your ad copy to directly address customer goals and expectations.
• Make sure to include some words in your headings that you have used on your landing page. More matching words mean a highly relevant landing page and higher relevancy leads to a higher quality score.

Bonus Tips

It has been observed that numbers in headings or descriptions can amazingly improve the CTR.

For example, you are offering a marketing job. You can mention that the marketers at your company make 73,400$ annually. You can also use numbers to express the number of years for which you are in the market.

Here is another example, check this Namecheap Ad, precise and crisp. Uses numbers to attract user’s attention.

Here is another one from influx.com. I hope you got the point.

Another thing, negative headings perform well and serve as clickbait. Negative headings mean the use of dangers or warnings to seek the user’s attention.

For example, you have seen such things in many places like “90% of people do it the wrong way. Give it a read so you do not lose your money.” Pretty catchy, right? Even if the negative headline has nothing to do with the landing page, people would still be curious to give it a read. 

Internet is a place where there is fierce competition, and everyone is looking to get the attention of the users. Negative keywords play a key role in catching the attention of your readers and turn them into customers.

Understand the importance of Display URL for Google ads

Google ads let you add two URLs. One is the URL to the target/landing page. The other one is the display URL that appears under the ad heading in the ads section of Google search results. It is a plus for ranking better in search results. You should use your top priority keywords in the display URL.

Besides the ranking factor, it also has a positive user experience. The user feels more confident clicking on the ad because it looks relevant to his needs. You can make your ad appear in the search results by having a higher Ad rank but for higher clicks, you must persuade your customer that your services are the right choice for him.

Always use CTA in your Google Ad copy

Call to Action phrases works well to improve CTR. It prompts the reader to perform the desired action quickly. Almost 65% of Google Ads have call to action phrases.

For example, you are running a pizza shop and you take your orders from customers on your website. You link the landing page to a Google Ad. You can use the CTA like “Buy now” or “Order now before the offer expires”. These are highly catchy for the readers. People use CTA with discount offerings too so that the consumer does not waste time in making the purchase.

Step 7: Setup Conversions for Google Ads

Now comes the part in which you should have the highest interest. Conversions are associated with sales. The greater the number of conversions, the greater will be your profit. Luckily, Google ads let you track the conversions achieved through your ad.

 You just need to copy a code snippet and then paste it in the body section of the page displayed after a successful sale. Thus, whenever a user lands on that page after making a sale, a conversion is recorded. Follow these steps to set up conversions for your ad:

• Go to the tools tab
• Select conversions
• Select Website
• Add information
• When you hit the save button, a code snippet will appear. Copy this code and paste it in the code of the desired page. You can use the Custom HTML widget on WordPress.

Step 8: Maintenance for Google Ads

If you want to run a successful Google ads campaign, you should be patient with the results. In most cases, it does not work in a way that you chose suitable keywords and boom! If that would be the case, big and even small companies would not hire digital marketers. 

It requires time, patience, expertise, and constant monitoring of ads. Once you run your ads on Google, you should wait for a day or two to see how your ads perform.

Best practices to keep your Google ad campaign alive

 You will need to make changes accordingly. Performing the following steps can help you to increase the performance of your ads:

1. You will need to keep an eye on your existing and new competitors. There are higher chances that someone will try to steal your ad copy by using premium tools. Even if they do not steal the exact ad copy, they can understand the patterns that are working for you and the keywords you are ranking for. You will need to make changes constantly to stay in the competition.
2. You will need to find out the keywords which are not performing well. After identification, you can add these keywords to the negative keywords list. This helps Google to understand that your ad copy should not appear for these keywords.
3. Similarly, you can identify new keywords that can increase your ad reach and you can include those in your keywords list.
4. You should constantly monitor your ad position. If you are lower in the list, you can increase your bid amount to move higher. If you are at the highest position, you can decrease the bid amount to stay at the highest position with minimum expenditure.
5. You should always experiment with different keywords. As I mentioned earlier, it is nearly impossible that you find the perfect keywords in one go. You should experiment with new keywords to find the better ones.
6. Same as with the keywords, you can utilize the technique with bid modifiers. If your ad is under-performing for a specific day or specific hours, you can decrease the bid amount for those days or hours. In this way, you will not overspend for under-performance. You can simply use this budget on the areas that are performing better.

FAQ

 

Is making one ad enough for your Google ads campaign?

According to experts in the industry, you should never create a single copy of ads. You should have an ad group. There is no perfect solution to Google ads. You need to find the one that works best for your business. For this, you need to have a second ad with which you can compare the progress of the first ad. Thus, you can find out what is needed to be changed and what should not be changed. 

The more the number of ads the better is the room for experimentation. But do not create a lot of ads that it becomes difficult for you to track and manage those single ads. You should always have full control over your ads.

Is SKAG beneficial for Google Ads?

That is an important discussion and SKAG (Single Keyword Ad Group) requires a complete article. In simple words, SKAG means that you use the three different search patterns (broad, phrase, and exact) for a single keyword. SKAG can increase your CTR rapidly and can help you to get more impressions. SKAG can give you a greater insight into the performance of keywords.

The downside of SKAG

The downside of using SKAG is that you should have a well-researched keyword in advance, and you put all your amount and confidence on a single keyword. If you are a beginner, I will recommend you not to start with SKAG. Use phrase match pattern with a blend of keywords, get some experience in the way, and then turn to SKAG to do it in a better way.

PPC Advertising or display ads or SMM?

PPC advertising is the boss of making online sales. In the case of Google Ads, for example, the user is actively looking for a product or service. He is not roaming around there like in the case of social media. The main goal of every business is to find potential customers and PPC advertising fulfills it in the best way. Since most of the search queries are performed through Google thus Google stands on top in the case of PPC advertising.

Benefits of social media ads

Display ads and social media marketing help you to achieve your goals indirectly. You have a passive audience there who is not actively looking for your product, but you need to get the attention of your audience. In my opinion, display ads and social media ads are not sales driven. Thus, your ads should not be sales-oriented. 

You should have a different goal while doing social media marketing. One of the primary goals that can be achieved by social media marketing is brand recognition. You can gain your customer’s trust when they see positive reviews on your profile. Your audience will be more confident to make sales on your website if they have heard your name on social media platforms before.

Benefits of Display Ads

Display ads usually appear in the form of banners on sites that have partnered with Google through Adsense. If you make your mind for display ads, you should ensure that the webpages on which your ad appears are relevant to your ad. This significantly increases the change of user’s click on display ads.

It is mainly about the goals which you wish to achieve through advertising. Thus, you need to choose the proper channel for your ads. It is also dependent on your budget as search network ads are more expensive than social media ads.

If you have any query, feel free to ask in the comment section. If you want to add something or have any suggestions, I will be more than happy to hear from you.

Thanks for reading! Have a good day!