Google’s search engine is the most popular with an estimate of 5.4 billion searches per day. Its mission is to provide users with the best possible experience when searching for products and services online. To accomplish this goal, Google constantly updates its Search algorithm to ensure that the search results displayed are the most relevant ones available.
Let’s start by covering some basic concepts about Google Ads before diving into the more advanced topics.
What is a Google Ad?
Essentially, Google ads is a paid online advertising system offered by Google. Every time you see an ad promoting a webpage ranking as the top search result, it’s usually because there was some sort of paid advertising campaign involved. There are many reasons why this happens. For example, a company may be running a Google Ads campaign to promote it, or they could have hired someone to build out a PPC (Pay-Per-Click) account and set up ads that drive traffic to their site. PPC campaigns are generally flexible as you’re only paying when a user clicks on your ad so you can test a few before deciding on the best one.
Several components help determine Google Ad’s Success.
As you will see, most of the ads appear right above the organic search results. That’s not surprising considering how popular Google AdWords has become. But what may surprise you is just how similar these ads look to those found in organic search results. In fact, the only difference between the two types of listings is the “Ad” label at the top of each result.
Where to begin?
Before deciding which kind of Google Ad you want to create, you first need to figure out what your business’ SMART goals are for proper strategic planning.
For instance:
Do you want to generate high-quality leads?
Increase your brand awareness?
Drive more traffic to your website?
After you have set your goal, you’ll then determine which type of audience you want to target before you go ahead and choose the right types of Google ad campaigns for them.
Campaign types
Search Campaign
These are text advertisements that appear on the top of SERPs( Search engine results page) which can be found by inserting the keyword. These ads also appear on multiple Google search partner sites such as YouTube and Google Shopping to help your business grow significantly.
Since digital advertising has evolved over the years, Responsive search ads are one of the many examples of this as it is now the default in search campaigns. These show which type of ads work best for your company by providing you with different variants of headlines, descriptions, and more to choose from.
Display Campaign
With a display network campaign, you can get visually engaging ads in front of people who use certain products.
You could advertise to people who have Gmail accounts, or you can do it through a Third-party website/app.
Creative Google Display Ad examples:
One of the ways how a display ad can drive marketing results is due to its massive reach through Gmail, Youtube, and other websites. That means your ad could potentially show up in front of nearly everyone who uses the internet. However, sometimes it appears in irrelevant locations that could negatively impact your brand image, so you must be careful.
Shopping Ads
By 2022, 98% of global consumers choose to shop online. (Social Shephard,2022)
Shopping ads are another effective way created by using the data you entered into the Google Merchant Center. These ads appear on the SERPS and provide detailed product information such as pricing and product images.
Shopping ads work by using the product listings on your site to similar other ones and then displaying them in Google Shopping. This means that your product can be discovered by people who are searching for similar products.
Nevertheless, the biggest benefit of this ad is that it allows you to target specific keywords. For example, if you sell kitchen appliances, you might advertise as “buy new dishwasher” or “replace broken refrigerator”.
Video Ads
Have you ever watched a YouTube video and then got an ad mid‐stream? These video ad units appear on the search results page when searching for videos on YouTube and are highly interactive.
App Ads
This campaign has become increasingly important as of today, 61.9% of Google Ad clicks come from mobile devices. You can promote your mobile apps as paid advertisements on Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, or Google Display Network.
You can also increase your successful conversion rates by encouraging users with a call-to-action for them to install your app.
How effective are Google Ads?
According to Google statistics, Google Ads deliver an ROI of 8:1.
Pay per click (PPC) has been generating more traffic than organic search for years now.
Conversion rates for Search Ads on average are up to 3%.
Click-through Rate for Google ads ranks first with 7.94%.(websiterating,2022)
So, what is this secret technique? To get a high return on investment (ROI), you’ll need to know how to use these ads properly.
Best practices for Google Ads
You’ve probably seen lots of different methods for optimizing your ads and all about Conversion tracking, but at the core, there are just three things you need to remember:
-
Improve your landing page.
When you optimize your landing page, you’ll get higher bounce rates in the 26%-40% range and possibly generate a high-quality lead! Check out this blog on how to measure your page’s performance using Core Web Vitals.
-
Use long-tail keywords.
This specifies your message to attract the right target audience.
-
Include an Ad extension
like contact details of your company so potential customers can make phone calls and thereby improve your brand visibility.
So, there, you have it. The 3 ways to successfully improve your Google Ad’s performance.
Final thoughts
For most of the time, Google ads are highly efficient in lead generation and allow you to target your niche accordingly. For instance, you can target people by their location or choose the type of Google device they’re using such as Google Maps, YouTube etc.,
Nonetheless, you will have to keep in mind the costs incurred with Google Ads. One of the ways to reduce such costs is to maximize your conversion rate by using automated SMART Bidding platforms to increase or reduce bids depending on your chance of success. Another tip is to integrate Google Analytics, that way you can track what ads do well, which keywords rank the most, and then weigh up on that.
Keep in mind the Quality Score of your Ad too. This is the most influential factor because it determines your Ad Rank. Your Quality Score is calculated by measuring your CTR(Click-through-rate), so the more clicks you receive, the better your Quality Score. Once you have established a baseline Quality Score, you can then adjust your bids accordingly.
By utilizing these tips, you’ll be on the road to driving more traffic and impressions to your ads so you can earn more revenue and stand out from the competition.