It’s safe to say that Google Ads could be the best decision you make as a business owner. With every Google search conducted – and trust us, there’s plenty – businesses are provided an opportunity to convert users on the website.
Google uses Keyword Planner to gain insights into how keywords might perform and the volume of average monthly searches behind them. Using this forecasted data you can create specific ads in answer to these users’ searches.
Are you currently running Google Ads? More importantly, are you utilising your Google Ads campaigns?
What are Google Ads?
Formerly known as Google Adwords, paid search rebranded in 2018 to Google Ads. This is Google’s paid advertising system which allows website owners to bid on certain keywords in order to increase their chances of appearing more prominently in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
The position of your ad is determined by your ad rank and this is graded against several factors including:
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Bid amount
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Ad text quality and relevancy
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Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR)
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Landing page experience
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Intent behind search
If your ads aren’t scored highly for the above requirements, you will be penalised with low quality scores and, therefore, decrease your chances of appearing prominently on the first page of Google. As well as appearing in the top positions for the ad results, there is another reason for wanting a good ad rank; a better ad rank leads to a lower Cost Per Click (CPC), enabling you to acquire more clicks for less money.
Around 40% of users click on the top three ad results in Google and the rest click on the top performing organic results, consequently running ads that don’t appear in the top three paid search results is a waste of time and money.
Whilst it’s relatively easy to set up Google Ads, it takes well thought out campaigns, in-depth keyword research and data analysis to ensure you make the most of every single click.
So, how can I improve ad rank?
In the complex world of Google Ads, it’s good to break down each area of weakness in order to work through it methodically and understand which change has contributed to an improvement in performance. Let’s start with landing pages…
Landing page experience
Traditionally, the main web page a user would land on to start their journey on a website would be the homepage, however as users become more impatient for results, Google’s ranking selection has adapted to rank landing pages on your site that provide the user with an answer in fewer clicks. To the point where featured snippets have taken place as the #1 organic search result and enable the user to find their answer without clicking on a website at all, also known as a zero-click search.
Therefore, it’s important that landing pages are designed and optimised to answer a specific search, enabling for a better user experience and higher conversion rate.
Landing on the homepage or an irrelevant web page may lead to you losing the users attention immediately and them clicking off your website to find the information or product they’re looking for elsewhere. First impressions mean everything.
For example, for our client Anglia House Clearance, we focused on ensuring that the range of locations where their house clearance services are available was prominent when you land on the website via the ads. Because of this, they noticed an increase in enquiries from customers further afield, as well as from those based in Norwich, Norfolk.
Nail your ad text
Next, aligning your ad text to match the content on the landing page and the user’s search should increase your relevancy score and the chances of your ads appearing in front of your competitors.
Any misleading ad text could result in an irrelevant user landing on your website and bouncing back off, wasting your ad budget that could have been spent on a user who would have been more likely to convert. It’s a simple theory, but ensuring you’re getting in front of quality users will transform your conversion rate without having to increase the level of traffic arriving to your site via the ads.
A great example of this is Golf Geeks, leading suppliers of secondhand golf clubs. Ensuring that users were not mislead into thinking the ads would take them to brand new golf clubs was a top priority, primarily to avoid user frustration, but also to decrease the number of users that click on an ad and click straight off the website when they realise the products are used, second hand or ex demo. Highlighting that the products are secondhand from the get-go via the ad text was of the utmost importance.
Choose your budget
Choosing an ad budget requires careful research and planning, and is different for every industry.
You’ll first need to decide on a campaign type;
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Search ads – these are the most common type of paids ads, text ads which sit at the top of the search results page.
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Display ads – image ads which appear on Google Partner sites and the display network.
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Video ads – these work similarly to display ads, you’ll often see these on Youtube.
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Shopping ads – the second most recognisable paid ad format, you will find these either at the top of the search results page or on the right hand side, and these normally comprise of a product image, price and link to the product.
Different campaign types will require more budget for wider exposure.
The rate at which your keywords are searched and the competitiveness of them will also impact the necessary budget required to run your ads throughout the day. You can use Google Keyword Planner to help with your decision on how much budget you need to keep up with the search volumes behind your keywords.
It’s important to remember you pay for each click you receive on an ad, therefore you’ll want to ensure you’re targeting the correct audience in order to prevent wasting budget that could have been spent somewhere else.
Measure your Click Through Rate (CTR)
Understanding Click Through Rate is important when monitoring the success of your ads, this ratio shows how often people who see your ad end up clicking on them. Using this data will allow you to refine your keywords and tweak your ad text to improve CTR and, in turn, your conversion rate.
What’s the intent behind the search?
Knowing your audience and their intent behind a search is key to a successful campaign, without this understanding, you’ll end up wasting important leads because of misguided targeting. Ultimately, losing valuable budget that could have been spent elsewhere.
The questions you should be asking yourself before settling on your keyword list include but are not limited to:
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Why are users likely to use your services over a competitor?
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What answer are they hoping to receive in response to their search?
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Who’s ads currently pull through when searching your chosen keywords?
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Which landing page on your website returns the best answer to your search?
Taking these points into consideration when setting up or managing your ads, you should notice a positive change in performance.
If you’re still bewildered by Google Ads, or intrigued by the prospect of rolling out ads for your business, our team of PPC wizards are always here to help. Contact us today on 01603 859007 or find out more about how our digital marketing services can help you here.
