8 Google Ad tips that will generate more money for you
Want to drive more qualified leads to your website? Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a great way to just that.
A strategic PPC campaign can be a skillful way to increase customers and revenue. Your products or services will appear at the top of the first page of Google (or other search engine) on relevant searches.
A poorly defined PPC campaign can cost more than it brings in due to you paying for each click from your ads.
While your target audience and messaging will be unique to your business, there are some basic tactics that work consistently in PPC campaigns, regardless of industry.
Here are eight of the chief fundamentals to enhance PPC campaigns. By incorporating these elements into your PPC campaigns you should see a big gain and ROI (Return on Investment)!
Make Your Landing Page Relevant
The ultimate goal of a PPC marketing is to make a sale, not just to get a click.
A successful PPC ad drives qualified leads to a landing page. It is then the job of that landing page to convert that prospect into a paying customer. You should optimize your landing pages for PPC conversions by making the message of your ads align with your landing page message.
Improve your click-through and conversions by maintaining consistency between your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages. Make more money while also conserving your budget.
Repeat whatever you say in your ad on your landing page. Since you know your customers are interested in your offer and message in your ad, you can increase the conversions by presenting the same message and CTA on your landing page.
Use the Right Keyword Match Types
PPC advertising is a direct attribution marketing channel, and AdWords relies on user intent through keywords. Whenever someone types in a search query into Google, AdWords shows ads based on how relevant the auction system considers the search term and displays an ad accordingly.
The most important piece of a PPC campaign is the keywords you use and the type of modifiers you use for those words. There are four types of keyword matches, including:
- Broad: This is the widest net you can cast and will match searches with any words in any order (including synonyms) that include the target keyword.
- Broad Match Modified: This match type is the second widest net you can cast and is signified by a (+) sign in front of your keywords. This modifier will show your ad that shows the target keyword in the order you specify.
- Phrase Match: Keyword phrases are a string of words contained in quotation marks. This modifier will show your ad only when searchers use the exact phrase you specify.
- Exact Match: This keyword modifier is similar to phrase match, but your ads will only show with the exact search query. This modifier is signified by putting your keyword(s) in brackets.
Each match type is a tradeoff between impressions and relevancy from one another.
If you want the most impressions, then you should choose Broad Match (but don’t do that) for your AdWords marketing campaign. On the other hand, Exact Match will have the lowest impressions but should have higher relevancy and click-through rate.
Optimize Negative Keywords
How do you prevent your ad from showing when you know the audience isn’t interested? By incorporating negative keywords to ensure the integrity of your AdWords campaign. Negative AdWords allows you to specify what keywords are not a good fit for your product or service. By focusing on the needs of qualified customers, it helps you save a lot of money.
When selecting negative keywords for search campaigns, look for search terms that are similar to your keywords, but might attract customers searching for a different product. For example, Let’s say you provide a bagpiper service like one of our long-time clients https://bagpiperlowcountry.com and you have a campaign focused just in the SC/NC area.
You WANT your ad to show up when people in that area search for things like:
- bagpiper service
- hire bagpiper
- Charleston bagpiper
- Lowcountry bagpiper
But you DON’T WANT your ads to show up when a user searches for things like:
- bagpiper jobs South Carolina
- how to become a bagpiper
- bagpiper jobs, etc.
So what’s an advertiser to do? Simple, just add the following negative keywords to the list:
- job
- jobs
- how to
- become
- salary
To ensure they only receive qualified traffic, I excluded general terms like “family” along with “cheap” and other qualifiers to negate traffic from people who were not in their demographic.
It is just as important to tell Google what your product and service is not just as much as it is to tell them what you are.
Adjust Bids for Geotargeting
No matter your market or industry, you can benefit by focusing your marketing dollars on specific geographic locations.
Even if you provide digital products and services, you can benefit by reviewing where your engagement comes from to prioritize media spend in those areas. However, industries like apartments, hotels, and lawyers often qualify their ideal customer by how close they live to their physical offices.
If your products and services do not depend on your customers’ physical location, you can still optimize your PPC campaigns with geotargeted bids based on seasonality, weather, and user needs.
For example, if you sell snow shovels then you should negative bid in warmer areas like Florida and Alabama since people in those states likely won’t need your product and you will be wasting money on each click from those states. However, you should increase geotargeted bids for cities that will experience increased snowfall from an incoming cold front.
Many AdWords beginners forget to consider the needs of their customers and other qualifiers based on the physical location of their audience. You can save a lot of money by preventing ads from showing in some areas while increasing the likelihood of a conversion and increased bid adjustment in other geolocations.
Alter Keyword Match Type Over Time
Whenever I launch an AdWords campaign, I usually start out with several ad groups with strong themes of similar keywords. For the first 30 days of a campaign, I often use Broad Modified match types because they offer a good level of control to qualify when my ads show, but also enough opportunities for the ads to show so I can gather data.
Even though I do a lot of research to understand my competition and the market before I launch an ad, I find that the first month is a great time to learn first-hand what people are searching as it relates to the products and services of my clients.
After 30 days I will usually change my focus to more Phrase and Exact Match words, allowing for the higher performing Broad Modifiers to remain. This means I typically have 12-14 keywords in each ad group, consisting of six Exact, six Phrase, and two Broad Modified.
Fill Out All Available Ad Content
Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) make a significant results on the world of AdWords. By offering additional space for relevant content, ETAs provide PPC managers an excellent way to tell a story about a product or service.
It is important to transition your ads as quickly as possible because you may have the opportunity for your ads to showcase 50% more text than competitors that haven’t made the switch.
If you want your ads to perform better, make sure you fill out all available information fields.
- Final URL: Make this a unique, highly relevant landing page.
- Headline 1: Include the brand name or the primary value proposition in this field.
- Headline 2: Include a supporting value proposition here.
- Path 1: Put the location (city or state depending on the situation) or general category of product/service.
- Path 2: Try to include more information in this field to provide context.
- Description: This is the money-maker section that connects the needs of your customer with the solution of your product or service. Include a strong CTA (Call to Action) at the end of the Description to help tailor the ad to your ideal customer.
Break Out Mobile-Optimized Campaigns
- Mobile-optimized campaigns give you better opportunity to engage your mobile customers in the right format on their preferred device. Separating desktop versus mobile campaigns is an easy way to drive more qualified clicks.
- How do you determine if a campaign should have a mobile-only component? Look at the conversions.
- You can also take advantage of mobile-only campaigns by focusing on click-to-call extensions.
Use Every Relevant Ad Extension
Ad extensions are another essential part of the customer experience and can give your ads a considerable performance boost.
Ad extensions can help offer valuable information to your customers.
There are several ad extensions to choose from, but the most significant ad extensions are:
- Sitelinks Extensions: These are additional links your customers might find valuable that direct to unique landing pages.
- Callout Extensions: Use these to build trust with readers by including entries like “Fast Professional Service” or “Peace of Mind Guarantee.”
- Structured Snippets: Include these to provide more information about features offered. These are based on specific categories, so be sure to choose a relevant category as you build out your ad extensions.
- Review Extensions: Adding this powerful type of extensions can significantly increase engagement. Tip: use reviews from your site so when your audience clicks on the extension, they will be directed to your website.
Google AdWords Is an Investment
A well executed PPC campaign can help make business owners a lot of money. Since Google charges you for each click on your ads, you need to ensure you take all available steps to optimize the entire experience and drive conversions.
Test out the above suggestions for your PPC campaigns and you should be able to make your business more money with qualified traffic and increased sales.
Would love to hear how implementing these tips have affected your ads…
Click here to obtain a list of Universal Negative Adwords!
Talk With Digital Marketing Experts Today
Uncover missed opportunities on your website by signing up with our award-winning digital marketing agency. We’ve increased website ROI for hundreds of businesses in the Charleston, SC-area and beyond. Become the next success story by contacting our online marketing experts today.
Get access to the latest marketing insights (like this one) and more.
