When you’re attempting to grow your business you need to be able to generate a consistent stream of high quality traffic to your website that can be converted into leads and sales. One of the best ways to do this is through using Google Ads, Google’s very own advertising platform that lets you show adverts for your company when people are searching for keywords tat are directly related to the products and services you sell.
Getting the most out of your Google Ad spend can be tricky though, which is why we’ve put together 10 nest practices that you need to follow if you want to get the best results out of your Google Ads budget.
- Use specific keywords
Keywords form the basis of any Google Ads campaign. Your ads will appear when people search for the keywords that you tell Google you want appear for. This seems simple, but if you’re not careful you can end up wasting your time and budget by bidding on keywords that seem correct but actually aren’t worth bidding on.
For example, the key term “Jeans” has a lot pf search volume behind it as jeans are a very popular item of clothing for both men and women. If you’re an eCommerce store that sells womens clothes though, appearing for mens searches isn’t worthwhile and could end up with you waiting your budget. Rather than bid on the largest search term, you’d want to appear for key terms that were clearly searched by women such as “ women’s jeans” or perhaps certain styles of jeans that are associated with women rather than men.
When trying to target specific key terms you may also come across Google’s own recommendations pushing you towards bidding on keywords that are very broad. This is because Google’s primary objective is to get you to maximise traffic to your website, and its recommendations can often reflect that. So don’t be afraid to ignore keyword advice from Google if it doesn’t feel right.
- Create compelling ads
Once your ad appears in the search results it will be just one element among many on the page competing for the attention of the user. You need to stand out from the crowd in some way, and high quality Ad copy is one oft he easiest ways to do this.
Think about it, your ads are the first impression a searcher has about your business, so being able to highlight the offers, deals or USP of your products will encourage people to pay more attention to you.
Compelling ad copy isn’t just about having good deals or offers though. It’s about looking at what else is on the search results page and having something different. If you’re searching for a product nad everything is 25% off, then there’s no reason to visit one site over the others. Understanding your competitors ads will help you create ad copy that stands out so make sure you take the time to do some analysis.
- Use Asset extensions
One other way top stand out in the search engine results is to use asset extensions ( previously known as ad extensions). Asset extensions will allow you to highlight additional pages on your website that the user might be interested in as part of your advert. This will not only increase the size of your ad, making it stand out more visually, but it will provide more room for you to be able to provide additional areas that can help persuade an individual to click on your ad.
- Use negative keywords
Negative keywords are a great way to elevate your google Ad campaigns. They allow you to tell Google that there are certain key terms that don’t fit what you’re after and to not appear for them in future. For example, if you’re a vegan restaurant, you might want to add “meat” and “steak” as negative keywords to avoid showing your ads to people who are searching for non-vegan options.
- Use geographic targeting
The internet is a global phenomenon, with users searching for products all over the world. That means someone from the USA is searching for the same things as in the UK. Wich si greta if you’re able to serve the US and the UK at the same time. A lot of businesses can’t though, which makes bidding on key terms in the US a waste of money. Thankfully you can use geographic targeting to limit what country your ads appear in.
Geographic targeting can even be used in a regional or local areas as well. If your business is in Birmingham and only serves Brimingham you can make sure you ads are only appearing to people in the area you’re able to serve.
- Use ad scheduling
Does you business only operate at certain times? Then by using ad scheduling you can ensure that your ads only appear when you’re open for business. You can select what times, and days the ads should be available to be seen. You can also use this feature to increase your bids during certain hours that could be peak business times.
- Use conversion tracking:
Knowing that the traffic from your adverts is going to your website is all well and good, but unless you understand what’s happening to that traffic once they’re on your site you’ll potentially be wasting money on keywords that aren’t leading to conversions. To alleviate this issue you should make sure you’ve set up conversion tracking. This will allow you to better optimise for your campaigns for better conversions and sales as you’ll have visibility of exactly how much money you’re making from each of the campaigns you’re running.
- Use remarketing:
One of the most powerful campaigns types you can use in Google Adsare remarketing campaigns. These sorts of campaigns show adverts to people who have already visited your website, allowing you to attract them back to your site with offers and deals. This way you’re not having to invest in attracting new customers, your just bringing back people who are already familiar with your brand.
- Monitor your campaigns regularly
Monitoring your campaigns regularly is essential for identifying any areas that you may be able to improve. Using your conversion tracking and your analytics data you’ll be able to monitor your performance and make changes to help deliver stronger results over time.
- Work with a Premier Google Partner
If all of this sounds like a lot of work and hassle, that’s because it can be difficult to get all this done properly. That’s why many businesses work with a specialist PPC agency. If you’re looking to work with one, make sure you work wit a Premier Google Partner as these agencies are specifically chosen by Google themselves as being the best at helping their clients grow by effectively managing their PPC campaigns.