Google
Search Ads

For those of you who have never quite got how it all works, Google Ads is a paid advertising platform, where advertisers bid to display their ads in the form of Pay-Per-Click or (PPC). In simple terms, this means advertisers will pay a particular cost, every time someone clicks on your ‘sponsored’ ads. The price for using a particular phrase or term (key words) will go up or down, according to the competition at any particular time, all of whom bid against each other.

Because the content of Google Ads is contextual, i.e. relevant adverts are displayed for topics being researched by a Googler, they are a highly effective way to attract qualified leads, or customers who want your products, as they’re already searching for the kind of products and services you are offering in your ads.  With highly targeted Google Ads, you can boost your website traffic, receive more phone calls, increase your in-store visits and more. 

Google’s ‘Sponsored Ads’ allow marketers to create perfectly-timed ads among audiences looking for their solutions on their devices. Indeed, you can select whether your ads show up on desktops or mobiles.  So, your business will show up on the search engine results page (SERP) at the very moment your customers are looking for products and services and are ready to buy following their successful Google search.

When customers are searching on Google, they use a variety of search queries, known as keywords; these can be one or two words, or strings of text. Google allows you, as an advertiser, to bid on those keywords that are relevant to your business.  Following your research on the relative prices of different terms and phrases, you then pay to display your relevant ads to your potential customers. Prices for any particular term can vary, but a rule of thumb is the shorter the phrase, the more competition and therefore, potentially less conversions or even presence on pages 1 or 2 of Google’s SERPS, where most of the marketer feeding takes place!

Keywords are the foundation and basis of Google Ads and take time to research, strategies and plan campaigns around.   Be aware, that every search has behind it the intent of the person Googling;  these user intents are categorised into four main categories. To understand what’s at play, let’s have a look at the following keywords:

• • Google – Navigational. The Google search engine user wants to find a specific web-page, site, or location.
  • Google Ads Agency – Commercial. The user wants to investigate brands, products or services.
  • How to Advertise on Google – Informational. The user wants to find an answer to a specific question.
  • Advertise my Business on Google – Transactional. The user wants to complete an action or make a potential purchase (i.e. conversion from clicker to consumer).

As you can see, although all search queries are related to the same topic, Google, the intent of each search might be quite different.

It’s all about the intent now! Google has slowly changed the way the keyword match types work with ‘Intent’ in mind. It’s important to conduct a comprehensive keywords planning process, using many of the free or paid keyword advertising tools available out there, including the Google’s keyword planner. You must identify what your potential customers will be searching for by looking at the words that they use to find what you want to offer them; it’s a kind of psychological profiling based on language.

Finding the right keywords, based on some statistical analysis and sorting into a referral system, is the key to your Google marketing success. Afterall, you might need to bid on your preferred terms against your competitors, in Google ad auctions for a higher SERP ranking.  Some keywords are pricier than others, the value determined by a number of factors, not least of which is popularity among your competition.  There is only so much money you can waste on non-converting search queries, so it’s important you choose carefully.

Depending on your business sector and marketing goals, you have a few strategic options available to you via Google. There are seven marketing campaign goals available through Google search and Google display networks, each relating to a variety of business outcomes, specifically:

Sales Generation

Depending on your business sector and marketing goals, you have a few strategic options available to you via Google. There are seven marketing campaign goals available through Google search and Google display networks, each relating to a variety of business outcomes, specifically:

Leads Generation

Depending on your business sector and marketing goals, you have a few strategic options available to you via Google. There are seven marketing campaign goals available through Google search and Google display networks, each relating to a variety of business outcomes, specifically:

Website Traffic

Website traffic can be improved via search too, increasing visitor numbers to your website, all following users’ searches;  Bring your target audiences to your site via display ads, Google shopping and video ads.

Product and Brand Consideration

Product and brand consideration will encourage browsers to investigate services and products offered through display or video ads.

Brand Awareness and Reach

Product and brand consideration will encourage browsers to investigate services and products offered through display or video ads.

App Promotion

App promotion encourages browsers to instal your app, or take an action while in your app.  Getting your app installed by more people, offers more and improved opportunities for interactions with your business, increasing sales opportunities.  You can also promote pre-registrations for your app, so come launch day, you are maximising reach from day one.

Local Store Visits and Promotions

Local store visits and promotions are an invaluable marketing strategy for increasing footfall to shops, restaurants, sports venues and dealerships in a viewing audience’s locale.

Google Ads works by advertisers bidding against each other in auctions on keywords and phrases. The greatest driver of success, generally speaking, is placing the highest bid for key terms, which more likely wins a more favourable ranking.   However, having deeper pockets is not the only criteria for ranking.  Google Ads shares the spoils for those smaller advertisers who really know how to deliver what ad viewers want too. Success is part budget strength, part art and learning how to reach the absolute top of the search result page, where you want to be takes preparation, savvy and holding your nerve if you are new to the game! Google Ads can get very expensive very quickly and many a marketing budget is blown by newbies to the game, which is why so many companies outsource their Google Ad campaigns, be they larger players or beginners.

Depending upon your budget and what your marketing goals are will determine your strategy choices.  Here’s a quick run through the mechanics…

Manual CPC

As the name suggests, you can set your maximum bid costs per ad click on the ad group, or individually for each product or keyword.  More competitive keywords come at a higher cost per click.

Enhanced CPC

As the name suggests, you can set your maximum bid costs per ad click on the ad group, or individually for each product or keyword.  More competitive keywords come at a higher cost per click.

Maximise Clicks

With this strategy, you’re simply telling Google to get you as many clicks as possible for your budget, without any focus necessarily on conversions. This will be because you want to expand your brand reach, or simply generate more traffic as a priority.

Target CPA

With this strategy, you’re simply telling Google to get you as many clicks as possible for your budget, without any focus necessarily on conversions. This will be because you want to expand your brand reach, or simply generate more traffic as a priority.

Target ROAS

Here is your ROI focus. This is an automated smart bidding strategy where you can bid on the Return On Ad Spend (ROAS), by defining your target value of revenue returns in % terms.

Maximise Converions

This automated bidding strategy will focus on getting you the most number of conversions, without any target cost value in mind. This strategy is, therefore, for businesses with bigger budgets to invest into their marketing campaigns, generating potentially massive sales in return.

Impression Share

If your goal is visibility, you can select impression share based on % of impression shares and where you want your ads to appear, for instance, anywhere on the result page, on top or the absolute top of the page.

It’s often a challenging task to decide on the right bidding strategy for your business with Google ads campaigns’ mind-boggling options. A rule of thumb is that manual bidding strategies tend to give you more control, but it can also become a real challenge as your account grows, however.

Having the right set up and specific goals and monitoring of metrics helps ensure you get the best possible returns for your marketing spend. On the other hand, with automated strategies, you will give up more control and rely on Google’s algorithms, which could work like a charm if put to use correctly. AdsRunner recommends starting with manual bidding initially to test the water early on in campaigns, but if uncertain, seek a second opinion. 

Use Keywords Matches.  There are three keyword match categories: Broad, Phrase, and Exact. If you go with board match types, Google will show your ads to any search query that it thinks is relevant. It means your ads will be seen by more people, but perhaps for the wrong reasons and irrelevant search phrases. Before you know it, your budget will be exhausted and you will waste a lot of money. Hence, we recommend you to stick with exact and phrase match types to have more control over when your ads are shown and against the correct intent.

Add Negative Keywords. As you collect more search queries and data, it’s important to keep your eyes on the irrelevant searched phrases and have them excluded from your campaign. This way, you can block ads from appearing in the wrong kind of search results and cut wasted marketing budget.

Leverage Location Targeting. You have the option to advertise to all countries,  specific countries, states, cities,  neighbourhoods or even down to a postal / zip code. Hence, it’s important to target your customers based on your business’s geographical boundaries and where you can best serve your customers logistically. In fact, you can also exclude locations; for instance, you might want to exclude underperforming cities as you collect data over time.

Utilise Audience Targeting. You can choose from Google’s Affinity and In-market  audiences to reach users based on their interests, habits and purchasing habits. You can also create your custom audiences to target your website, your app visitors, or to target your existing customers based on your CRM data. Custom audiences are great ways for remarketing to your previously engaged audience. 

Experiment with Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). With DSAs you don’t need to identify and target every single keyword. Instead, Google automatically generates the ads based on your website’s contents, your Google Shopping’s product feed and the search queries of users. This way your ads will show up whenever someone searches for a relevant term to your business.

Use Google’s Display Network Ads. You can choose whether to have your Google ads displayed with either search results pages, or on a web page within Google’s Display Network (GDN). GDN is a network of 200 million sites, apps, and videos where your Google ads can appear; it’s a huge reach beyond any networks you may already have established.  Your ads may be text-based, or creative imagery, displayed alongside content  that is related to your target keywords. Audiences will therefore be well targeted and relevant viewers.  GDN deployment is invaluable for building your brand awareness in a highly cost-effective way. It’s also a great advertising solution for ‘remarketing’ to your pre-engaged and warmer audiences.