Assuming you already have a Google Ads account set up and are looking for some tips of getting the most performance from your Google Ad campaigns, here are a few tips you might find useful.
Keyword Research
With your existing shortlist of keywords head over to Keyword Planner (you can find in your Tools section in your Google Ads account), select the ‘Discover new keywords’ box, and type in your search terms to discover a range of related terms and their monthly search volumes.
Think about the user intent for these terms.
A search term could be Informational, Navigational, or Transactional.
Informational search terms would be used for news and content based sites; transational search terms for e-commerce websites.
Also think about the coverage you want to achieve (and your budgets). You can enter your terms in to Google as Broad Match, Phrase Match and/or Exact Match. Broad Match will cast a wide net but may mean a low overall conversion rate. Exact Match will be more budget efficient but may miss out on terms people use to convert.
You should really start with keywords set to Broad Match then after a few weeks of running your campaigns check what people have actually typed in to see your ad and refine your keyword list with Exact Match terms. You can see the list of terms used by going to Insights & Reports > Search Terms.
| Broad Match | Phrase Match | Exact Match |
|---|---|---|
| Eg: Home decor | Eg: Cheap furniture stores | Eg: Furniture store |
| Ads may show on searches that relate to your keyword. | Ads may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword. | Ads may show on searches that are the same meaning as your keyword |
| Input as keyword | Input as “keyword” | Input as [keyword] |
Other things to consider regarding keywords are:
- Using Negative Keywords. Entering these ensures you are not including these for your ads, especially useful if you are using Broad Match
- Using Long Tail Keywords. These are more specific search terms which can be a lot cheaper to buy and potentially more convertible to sales
- Using Local Keywords. If you want to attract people in a specific location
- Use the search tool to see user search terms
Engaging ad copy
Look to write copy that is concise and adapts well to different screen sizes.
Add testimonials and reviews to add social proof.
Focus more on the benefits than the features – remember these ads are looked over in just seconds.
Use attention grabbing words like ‘exclusive’, ‘limited time offer’ and ‘ground breaking’.
Remember to use the ad extensions facility – not only good as eye catching parts to your ad, but also mean your ad occupies more of the page, pushing out your competitors.
Landing pages
Landing pages are one of the most important elements to ad campaigns. Landing pages focus the user on taking one single action. If written well they also provide a smooth transition from the ad to your website, using similar language and expanding points made in your ads. And the more relevant (and less abandoned) the pages the better your Quality Score.
Let’s talk about Quality Score. This is Google’s way of showing you how good the quality of your ads are compared to other advertisers.
Essentially it is seeing how well your ad and landing page are in terms of relevance to your keywords, compared to other advertisers bidding on these keywords.
Use the Quality Score diagnostic tool to identify where to improve your ads, landing pages or keywords.
The Quality Score is calculated by measuring Click Through Rate (CTR) of your ads, Ad relevance (how well your ad related to the search term being used, and also the user’s actual search term used), and the relevance of the content on your landing page. The score is based on a comparison with other competing advertisers, over the last 90 days.
You can view these Quality Scores by going to the Audiences, keywords and content section of your account and clicking Search keywords.
A well designed landing page can lead to higher CTRs, conversions, lower bounce rates and build trust and credibility with your audience.
Let’s talk about bounce rates. You can view your page bounce rates in GA4 by going to Reports > Life Cycle > Engagement > Landing Page. If you customise the report to add a column for Bounce Rate you can then see Bounce Rate by landing page. (Bounce Rate being the percentage of sessions where the user only sees this one page, no others on your site.)
A few tips on landing pages:
- Emphasise keys parts of your page with font size, colour etc. Key parts being the main headline and the Call To Action (CTA) (e.g. ‘Shop Now’, ‘Find Out More’)
- Make sure your page is responsive
- Include Dynamic Search Ads in your campaign to auto create ad headlines and landing pages based on your website’s content (although be mindful of some loss of control)
- Make sure your images and videos are high quality and work well with your page’s messaging
Using AI and Automation
Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a simpler way of tracking your website performance. Instead of all the different tracking codes you need to add in to the site header section, now you can simply place a single tracking code and then via your GTM account, add a number of different tags. The code on your site is simply a container to provide an interface between your site’s performance metrics and the various tags in your GTM account, measuring things like website performance (GA4), Google ads performance, Facebook performance, etc.
Enhanced conversions
Enhanced conversions is a way you can improve the tracking accuracy of your Google Ads by using first-party data.
When a user purchases on your site certain data on the user is sent to Google (data like email address and phone number). It’s encrypted and securely held at Google but helps Google understand the user’s behaviour across its different networks and websites to deliver better ad performances for you going forward.
Smart Bidding
Smart Bidding used AI and Machine Learning optimises your campaigns in real time based on a range of inputs such as location, device and audience behaviour. It basically uses historical data to predict the likelihood of a conversion going forward. You can select the Smart Bidding strategy when you set up a campaign – choose between Target CPA (Cost per Acquisition), Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), Maximise Conversions or Maximise Conversion Value.
After you have set up, allow 2 weeks for Google to gather data and optimise.
And make sure your conversion tracking is all set up right with GTM.
Geo Targeting
Remember to geo target your campaigns if needed.
Go to Campaigns > Audiences, keywords, and content > Locations.
Remember to localise the content to the area you are targeting (local slangs, reference to local landmarks and events, etc)
Audience Segmentation
Use the Audience Segmentation function to narrow down your ads to specific groups.
- Demographics (age, sex, income brackets, education levels, etc)
- Interest and behaviours (people’s hobbies, shopping behavious and choices, purchase behaviour, etc)
- Location
- Past visits to your site (past visits, purchases, interaction with past ads, etc)
Explore the range Campaign Types
Explore Search Ads (as above), Display Ads (Using the Google Display Network), Shopping Ads (promoting your ecommerce range), Video Ads (on YouTube) and App Ads.
Remarketing
A personal favourite. This is where through the GTM tags Google can track a user after they have visited your site, displaying your ads on other sites.
Some important work for this:
- Build different lists for different user behaviours (e.g., those who viewed a product vs. those who abandoned a cart)
- Build specific ads for these different lists (specific to behaviours, but also to products viewed)
- Be careful to limit the number of times your ads are shown to the same person
- Have Remarketing as a constant part of your portfolio of campaigns. So acquisition campaigns to drive traffic and conversions, remarketing campaigns to follow up bounces, abandoned carts, etc
AB Testing
Ensure you set up ongoing AB testing to maximise the performance of all elements of your campaigns.
Test images used, headlines, landing pages, CTAs,
Make sure to only test one thing at a time to avoid mixing results, but also to ensure you have sufficient traffic to perform an accurate and conclusive test.
Use GA4 exhaustively
You can never use Google Analytics too much for optimising your digital channels.
First make sure you have linked your your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts. See below.
Linking Google Ads and GA4 accounts
Follow these steps:
Click the “Admin” icon at the bottom left of your Google Analytics account’s homepage.
Scroll down and under Property settings > Product links > Google Ads links.
Here click on the blue “Link” button at the top right of your screen and create a new link between your Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts.
Click Choose Google Ads accounts to open a list of Google Ads accounts you manage. Select the account and confirm and follow the steps to complete.
Benefits of linking Google Ads and GA4 accounts?
Access to Metrics
By linking your Google Ads account with GA4, you can see how users interact with your website, which pages they visit, how long etc, and which lead to conversions.
Accurate conversion data
Data accuracy is improved, and you can build remarketing lists inside GA4.
Improved ROI data
With access to detailed website metrics and conversion tracking, you can see which campaigns are bringing in the most revenue and adjust your spending accordingly.