Creating an effective Google Ads account requires a deep understanding of the platform, strategic planning, and continuous optimization. In this blog post, we'll dive into 10 essential aspects of managing Google Ads campaigns, from keyword research to landing page optimization.
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research is the foundation of any successful Google Ads campaign. Utilizing Google's Keyword Planner, advertisers can discover high-quality keywords relevant to their business. This tool allows for the forecasting of expenses and helps in identifying the most effective keywords to target.
Additionally, third-party tools like SpyFu and SEMRush provide deeper insights into competitors' keyword strategies, enabling advertisers to refine their own keyword lists for maximum effectiveness.
2. Negative Keyword Research
Negative keyword research is essential to ensure that ads are not displayed for irrelevant search terms.
By carefully selecting negative keywords, advertisers can improve the efficiency of their campaigns, ensuring that their ads reach the most relevant audience. Utilizing negative keywords also enables advertisers to strategically avoid appearing in searches for competitor names or competitor products, further honing the focus of their ad spend on genuinely interested audiences.
Incorporating tools like ChatGPT and the Google Ads Keyword Planner can assist in identifying potential competitor names and related product terms you can make as negative keywords. Another 3rd party tool, ClickCease, can help in identifying and blocking bot clicks, which can waste ad spend on non-productive views. This comprehensive approach ensures that advertising efforts are as effective and efficient as possible.
3. Account Structure (Campaigns, Ad Groups)
The structure of a Google Ads account plays a crucial role in its success. Organizing campaigns and ad groups logically allows for more targeted ads and better budget allocation.
Each campaign should be designed to achieve specific business goals, with ad groups further refining the targeting based on specific products, services, or themes. Separating ad groups by services, themes, or products enables advertisers to tailor the ad copy more closely to the user's search, making it more personalized and relevant.
This structured approach not only facilitates easier management and optimization of the ads but also enhances the effectiveness of the ad content by ensuring it resonates more deeply with the intended audience.
4. Ad Creation
Creating compelling ads is key to attracting clicks. Responsive Search Ads (RSA) and Call Only Ads are two formats that can significantly improve engagement. RSAs adapt to show more relevant messages to users, and advertisers should aim for an "Excellent" ad strength rating by crafting relevant and compelling ad copy.
Call Only Ads, on the other hand, are designed to encourage immediate phone calls, making them ideal for businesses where direct contact leads to conversions.
5. Bidding Set Up
Setting up the bidding strategy correctly is vital for campaign success. When starting a campaign, using Max Clicks bidding allows the account to gather valuable data by maximizing the number of clicks within the budget. This data collection phase is critical for informing future bidding strategies and optimizing ad performance.
6. Bidding Optimization
After the initial data collection phase, it's important to optimize bidding strategies to focus on conversions. Switching from Max Clicks to Max Conversions after 2 weeks, then to Target Cost Per Acquisition (TCPA) after 2-4 weeks, helps in aligning ad spend with the goal of maximizing ROI.
With each change of the bidding strategy, it pushes the campaign in the right direction to focus on getting more conversions. This ensures that the bidding evolves in a manner that increasingly concentrates on enhancing the campaign's effectiveness in driving conversions.
7. Conversion Setup
Tracking conversions is key to measuring the success of a Google Ads campaign. Tools like CallRail are invaluable for tracking phone calls, while providing insights into the quality of leads generated. Listening to phone calls in CallRail helps advertisers understand which ads are driving high-quality leads, allowing for further refinement of the campaign.
Additionally, tracking form submissions on a website can significantly enhance the ability to measure the success of an ad campaign. By setting up conversion tracking for form submissions, advertisers can pinpoint exactly which ads are not only driving traffic but are also compelling users to take meaningful actions, such as requesting more information or making a purchase.
8. Search Term Optimization
Continuous search term optimization is crucial for maintaining the relevance and efficiency of a Google Ads campaign.
Auditing your campaigns search terms can uncover new, valuable keywords to target and identify irrelevant terms to add to your negative keywords list. This ongoing process ensures ads remain focused on high-quality searches, significantly improving campaign performance by reducing wasted ad spend and enhancing ROI.
By regularly refining targeted and negative keywords, advertisers can adapt to changes in search trends and user intent, keeping the campaign aligned with its objectives and focusing efforts on searches with a higher potential for conversion.
9. Quality Score
The Quality Score of your keywords significantly impacts the campaign's success. Ad relevance to the search query, the quality of the landing page, and achieving a high Click-Through Rate (CTR) are all factors that contribute to the ad's Quality Score.
Higher Quality Scores lead to better ad positions and lower costs per click. This underscores the critical importance of tailoring your ads to be as personalized as possible to the user.
10. Landing Page Optimization
Finally, optimizing the landing page is critical for converting clicks into leads.
A well-designed landing page with a clear call-to-action (CTA), engaging content, and a user-friendly layout can dramatically increase conversion rates. Regular testing and tweaking of the landing page ensure that it remains effective in capturing and converting leads.
Conclusion
In conclusion, managing a Google Ads campaign is an ongoing process that requires attention to detail across multiple aspects. From initial keyword research to continuous landing page optimization, each step involves strategic decision-making and regular adjustments. By focusing on these 10 key areas, advertisers can create more effective campaigns that drive higher ROI and achieve their business objectives.
If you need help with your Google Ads management, setup, or tracking, check out our hands-off Google Ads Service. If you still have questions, schedule a call with our team to learn more about it and see if your business is a good fit!
