Paid Search with Google Ads: Driving Immediate Results Through Strategic
Google Ads (paid search) allow companies to pay to display their ads at the very top of search engine results immediately, eliminating the months-long process associated with achieving organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Because paid search campaigns produce qualified traffic to your site in a matter of hours after launch, the speed of Google Ads makes it a key element of overall Digital Marketing Strategy; Paid Search complements Organic SEO efforts as well as provides immediate campaign performance and quantifiable Return On Investment (ROI).
Understanding Google Ads
Fundamentals
Google ads is based on pay per click (ppc). You only pay when a person really does click on your ad. Your ads will be in search results if a user searches for keywords you have bid on. The ranking of ads is determined by ad rank, which is calculated using your max bid times your quality score. Quality score reflects how relevant and valuable your ad and landing page is to the person searching. Because quality score is part of what determines where ads show up, it is hard for companies to "buy" their way to the top of the list just because they have more money. Google Ads also offers many ways to target who sees your ad besides the keyword(s) you have selected. For example, you can select by geo-location, language, the type of mobile device used to access the web, the time of day, and demographics or interests of a group of people. Therefore, your advertising dollars will be going to the people that are most likely to make a purchase rather than to people that are not likely to make a purchase.
Campaign
Structure and Organization
Organizing your Google Ad accounts into campaigns properly will help you manage them better and improve their performance. Each campaign can be thought of as the top-level organizational unit where all your high-level settings are made (budget, target location, etc.). Inside each campaign, you organize your related keywords and ads into ad groups based on different themes/products.
To illustrate this concept, if a person owns a restaurant they could have two separate campaigns – one for dine-in services, and another for catering services – with multiple ad groups in each campaign for various menu items/services. The dine-in campaign would have an ad group for "Italian Dinners", another for "Weekend Brunches", and another for "Private Dining". All of these ad groups would have related and highly focused keywords that corresponded to the type of ads being run inside those groups. This very structured approach allows you to create highly targeted ads to match very specifically to certain keyword groups, which improves your quality score and your click through rate. Additionally, this structured approach provides much clearer reporting so you can easily see what is performing well, and therefore how to best allocate your budget.
Keyword Strategy for Paid Search
Although organic and paid search use the same underlying principles of keyword research, they differ greatly in their implementation. Paid search is essentially pay-per-click (PPC), therefore it is vital to understand user intent when selecting your keywords. Instead of using information-based keyword selections with paid search, you should focus on keywords that clearly signal users who have high purchase intent.
The match type chosen determines how closely a user's search query must relate to the keyword selected for an advertiser's advertisement to be displayed. The three main match types are:
1) Broad Match: This match type allows advertisers to display their advertisements for search terms that are directly related to the keyword selected; this includes search terms that may contain similar words, or related terms.
2) Phrase Match: This match type will allow advertisers to display their advertisements for searches that include the keyword(s) selected in the exact order required by the advertiser, however, it also allows for additional words to appear before or after the keyword(s).
3) Exact Match: This match type will only allow advertisers to display their advertisements for search terms that are identical to the keyword(s) selected or extremely close variations of the keyword(s).
For most successful paid search campaign strategies, there is a need to implement a combination of the above match types, and generally, start with a more restrictive match type (such as exact or phrase), then expand to broader match types based on performance data collected throughout the duration of the campaign. Generally speaking, advertisers find that exact and phrase match provide them with greater control over where their advertisements appear, and subsequently result in higher conversion rates compared to advertisers who utilize the broad match type. Additionally, advertisers find that utilizing broad match type helps discover potential keyword opportunities that were previously overlooked.
Negative keywords are just as critical as positive keywords in PPC campaigns, since they prevent the display of advertisements for unrelated search terms. For example, if a business owner operates a premium restaurant and wants to keep customers who are searching for cheap restaurants away from his website, he would want to add "cheap", "free", and "job" as negative keywords to ensure his ads do not appear when these keywords are used in a search term.
Creating
Compelling Ad Copy
You need to write ad copy that does multiple things in a limited amount of space. There are limits on how long headlines can be (up to 30 characters) and how many headlines you can have per ad (three). For descriptions, you can have up to two descriptions at 90 characters each. You will need to get a user’s attention, tell them what value you offer, and entice them to click.
If you create ad copy that is effective it will include the search term, identify a user’s needs or pain point, differentiate your product from others, and clearly state a call-to-action. Using numbers, offering special deals, and using emotional appeal may increase your results. You should always make sure that your ad content matches the content of your landing page to ensure quality and prevent wasted money on unhappy clicks.
Ad extensions enhance an ad by providing additional information and links to further enhance an ad’s visibility and click-through rate. Extensions do not cost you anything additional. Extensions to expand on your ad may include sitelink extensions that provide links to different pages on your site; call extensions that provide your telephone number; location extensions that provide your address; and callout extensions that highlight some of the most important features of your product/service. Using the right extensions will help you utilize the full potential of your ad’s real estate and give users more options to interact with your brand.
Bidding Strategies
&
Budget
Management
Google Ads provides a range of bidding options to match the various campaign objectives of users. The manual Cost-per-Click (CPC) option allows for a full amount of control over each individual bid for a keyword — this is best used if you are able to devote a considerable amount of time in order to manually optimize bids in the future.
The enhanced option will automatically increase your bids based on your manual bids to help increase your conversions while allowing you to maintain the control you prefer.
Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), automated bidding, uses machine learning to automatically set bids based on your objective to automatically set bids to get as many conversions as possible at your target cost per acquisition. Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), automated bidding, also uses machine learning to automatically set bids to meet your desired return on ad spend. The Maximize Conversions strategy seeks to get the most conversions possible from your budget. Lastly, the Maximize Clicks strategy seeks to drive the maximum number of clicks possible from your budget.
Your choice of bidding strategy should be based upon how mature your campaign is, what kind of data you can collect regarding your performance, and the objectives of your campaign. Automated bidding will need a significant amount of conversion data to perform well enough, therefore new campaigns will usually begin by using a manual bidding method, followed by transitioning into an automated method.
Strategic planning is required for budgeting and budget allocations. A good starting point would be to test budgets to gain insight into your campaigns' performance, and once you have a basis for comparison, scale up your spending on campaigns and keywords that provide a high Return On Investment (ROI). Budget pacing during the entire month should be monitored to ensure that your campaigns are not exhausting their budgets too quickly, nor missing out on potential revenue due to lack of spending.
Landing Page Optimization
The landing page experience (after a visitor clicks your ad) is an important factor in both your Quality Score and your conversion rate. The landing page is where the visitor expects to receive the same information as presented in the ad. As such, it needs to provide content that matches the ad’s message, have clearly defined next steps, be easy to navigate, and have very little "friction".
A fast loading time, mobile responsiveness, and a headline that clearly communicates the benefits of the ad are all contributors to a positive visitor experience.
To maximize the effectiveness of your ad, ensure that the messaging in your ads is consistent with the messaging on your landing page. For example, if your ad highlights a particular product or offer, this should be the first thing that visitors see when they land on your site. Visitors who become confused about what was promised in the ad will likely leave quickly resulting in lost ad spend and/or wasted impressions.
Clearly define, and communicate to visitors through prominent call-to-actions on the landing page what you want visitors to do (i.e., make a purchase, request a quote, schedule a consultation, sign up for your newsletter etc.). Focus visitors' attention away from distractions and towards the action you desire them to take.
Performance Tracking
& Optimization
There are a number of data points available through Google Ads that help measure how well a campaign is performing. Key performance indicators include CTR (click-through-rate) as well as conversion rate, cost-per-conversion, impression share, and quality score. The combination of these statistics can provide insight into overall campaign performance in addition to areas where there may be opportunity for improvement.
Conversion tracking will allow you to measure return-on-investment (ROI) and optimize your campaigns by installing conversion tracking code on your website; this tracks the actions taken as a result of an ad click such as purchase, submission of a form, or telephone call. If conversion data is unavailable then it would be difficult to determine if specific keywords and ads are producing tangible business results.
Successful campaigns typically require regular optimization while unoptimized campaigns waste resources. Search term reports should be reviewed regularly to uncover potential new keyword opportunities and to add additional negative keywords. Ad copy should be tested to find the best way to increase click-through-rates. Bids should be adjusted using performance data. Keywords that are performing poorly should be paused and more of the budget should be allocated to top performers. Paid search campaigns require ongoing monitoring and fine-tuning as opposed to simply setting up a campaign and forgetting about it.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A large number of advertisers are sending all of their traffic to a home page (the generic site) in lieu of developing a "dedicated" landing page for each campaign. The reason this is less effective is that the generic landing page has lower relevance, which results in lower conversion rates. Failing to utilize "negative keywords" means you're spending money on the wrong people who will never buy anything anyway. Ignoring mobile users is very expensive since mobile search continues to grow. Your ad copy, bid strategy and landing page need to take into consideration what mobile users want and how they behave differently than desktop users. Budgets that are too low prevent your campaigns from collecting enough data to optimize them; failing to track conversions, you can't tell if the campaign was successful or even know where to begin optimizing your campaign.
Conclusion
Paid Search through Google Ads is by far the most effective way to produce instant, measurable results for a business as long as it is used in a strategic manner. To be successful at Paid Search, you have to understand how auctions work, build your campaigns effectively, choose the correct keywords using the right match types, write compelling ads, and continually optimize for performance metrics from your campaigns. With consistent optimization, you will get quality traffic and conversions while getting a positive ROI on your marketing spend. The main ingredient to being successful at Paid Search is not simply starting a campaign; it is the ongoing commitment to continually optimize your campaigns' targeting, messaging and budget distribution based upon your campaigns' actual performance.