Google Ads are what the “pizza move” is to online marketing to beginner skiers. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll start seeing results (and probably want to learn more, more). But that initial learning curve can be daunting. Especially if you’re still learning about online marketing and all the tactics, tools, and strategies that go with it.
Google Ads are worth getting friendly with because Google is synonymous with the internet. Not only do they expose your business product or offer many more of the right eyeballs, but they can help build good credit within the Google ecosystem to boost your organic ranking efforts.
But you’ve got to crawl before you can walk, so I’ve compiled a step-by-step guide to creating and setting up your first Google Ads. Full disclosure: I’m new to setting up Google Ads myself, and I’m interested in taking a real, no-fooling beginner’s approach. I’ve also included all the great resources I used in my research at the end of the post so that you can explore more advanced strategies at your leisure. Now, let’s tackle this bunny hill together.
Why would I want to use Google Ads?
Google Ads puts your business in front of a highly targeted audience. They’re often actively searching for exactly what you’re selling. Google Ads can be your gateway to building a quality reputation that reflects on your business, beyond the pay-to-play power of promoting your business on the world’s most used search engine.
A quality score measures relevance based on click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. It helps Google determine which advertisers are creating honest, targeted, and useful ads and which are not.
Have you seen those clickbaity, keyword-heavy ads that send you to some mysterious website or page with a million different products? Their quality scores are probably in the crapper, and this crap has consequences, such as:
- What ads can I run?
- How eligible ads are displayed and ranked
- CPC (cost per click) paid by the advertiser
The experience you provide to people searching for those keywords is what Google looks at. The more relevant your keywords are to what you offer, the more targeted your ad messaging, and the better your landing page matches your ad, the better your quality score will be. So when people click through, they’ll get exactly what they expect. This also translates into more ad opportunities, higher ad rankings, lower cost per click, and a greater return on your ad spend.
Expert tip
“Ad relevance is significant. But don’t underestimate the visitor experience on landing pages. Advertisers can improve quality scores by creating landing pages that load quickly, look great on mobile, and give users confidence that their data is protected.
To speed things up, I recommend running all landing pages through Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. To ensure that all visitors can get what they need, test your landing pages and website on various devices and operating systems. Finally, make your privacy policy transparent and visible.”
Terms you need to know
- Pay-per-click (PPC): The general term for paid online advertising, where you pay for the number of clicks your ad receives.
- AdRank: A value assigned to your ad’s position relative to other ads. This is where you appear in the queue when several ads are at the top of a search engine results page.
- Bidding: The highest amount you’re willing to pay for a click on an ad.
- Click-through rate (CTR): The number of times your ad is clicked on, divided by the number of times your ad is shown, expressed as a percentage.
- Cost-per-click (CPC): The cost of each ad click.
- Conversion rate: The average percentage of your ads converting. A conversion is the action you’d like people to take after clicking on your ad—buying, calling, registering, etc.
- Keywords: The words or phrases you choose to help determine when and where your ad may appear that describe your product or service.
- Quality score: How Google evaluates the quality of your ads, keywords and landing pages.
- Search volume: The number of searches you expect for a keyword in a given period.
What types of ads can I display with Google?
In the spirit of starting with the basics, we will only cover the Search Network ads in this post. However, you can explore several other options in the world of Google advertising.
- Search Network: Text ads appear next to search results when you type a query into Google.
- Display Network: Within the Google Display Network, visual ads are shown to potential customers wherever they are on the web (relevant websites, blogs, etc.).
- Video: YouTube and other video partner sites display video ads.
- Search Network with Display: A combination of search and display advertising.
- Shopping: These ads appear at the top of search results, provide a detailed description of your item, and are designed for physical products.
- Universal App: Promote your app on Google Play, YouTube, Google Display Network, and Google Search.
- Ad Extensions: A feature that displays additional information about your business, such as a phone number, address, store rating, or links to your website.
- Remarketing: Use cookies to show your ad to people who’ve already visited your site, wherever they are – like the Display Network.
Which keywords should I be bidding on?
You can research keywords, discover new ones, and get estimated bids for the ones you’re considering using Google’s Keyword Planner. You’ll need a Google Ads account to access the Keyword Planner. However, you don’t need to have any ads running yet.
One of the leading SEO experts, Brian Dean, wrote an excellent beginner’s guide to using the Keyword Planner. Check it out. It’s a thorough, step-by-step guide to getting the most out of your keywords. But there are a few things to bear in mind during the selection process:
What you need to know about the billing process
- Think about the intent of the search, not just the description. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes—what would they be searching for that your product or service could help solve? For example, if you’re selling grass skirts for cats, you might want to explore terms like “funny cat outfits” or “novelty cat clothing” (or “nearest hospital” for the possible consequences).
- The more specific you want to sell, and the more exact your customers are, the more specific you need to be. Suppose you have a surplus of women’s size eight Nike running shoes. You need to sell them. Nike running shoes for sale”. Note that being too specific can limit your search options. You’ll need to find the right balance between being super-targeted and using terms with enough search volume to get in front of people.
- Bid on broader keywords if you aim to reach more people. If your ad is wider, it may apply to more people and be relevant to broader searches. However, higher-volume keywords have stiffer competition and can be more expensive to bid for, so play around with broad keywords that are both relevant and give your ad a good chance of being noticed.
- Google offers a tool called Smart Bidding, which uses machine learning to bid on keywords and optimise your ads for conversion if you’re into outsourcing to robots.
How to set up your first ad
Fortunately, Google makes this a fairly straightforward process. You may have already completed some of these steps when you signed up for access to the Keyword Planner.
Step One
Log in to Google Ads and enter the name of your business and the landing page to which you would like to send visitors to your ad. For this example, I’ve created an ad for the video summary page of our recent Call to Action Conference. (Shameless plug: the videos are free and full of marketing advice!)
The reason that Google (and Unbounce, of course) emphasises using a landing page as a PPC ad target rather than your home page or website is that they’re inherently more targeted. They offer visitors a more focused and relevant experience with a single call to action and can be fully customised for each ad. And at its core, what makes Google happy—and increases your QoS and ad ROI—is relevance.
If you don’t have a landing page yet, we offer free use of the Unbounce platform to those in critical services such as healthcare, education, non-profits, and government for three months from your initial sign-up date. Learn how to build, design, and publish a professional landing page quickly. For more tips, check out Landing Page Basics and the Conversion Resources Library for everything you need to know to create a high-converting page.
Step Two
Choose your conversion goal based on the call to action you’ve added to your landing page. In this case, we ask you to register to access the CTAConf 2019 videos. The conversion goal is how you measure the success of your ad.
Step Three
Choose the location(s) where you want to display your ad. The audience counter in the right corner will automatically adjust as you add and remove location options, allowing you to gauge whether your audience is too small to bother with or too large to make an impact.
The landing page I’m advertising doesn’t just apply to British Columbians and Albertans. Still, for this particular ad, I want to keep the audience to a manageable size and not get so broad that it shows up to 50 million people at once and eats up my budget like a 2 am Big Mac.
If you’re looking to enhance your geographical strategy, WordStream’s Erin Bell has written a comprehensive guide to Google AdWords geotargeting.
Step Four
Start adding the keywords and terms that you would like to target. Just as it did with the size of the audience location, Google will adjust your potential monthly reach as you add and subtract keywords. It’ll also suggest related keywords to help boost your efforts if you need them.
Step Five
Write what you want to advertise! The copy should mirror the messaging on your landing page to create the most cohesive ad experience possible, score those precious relevance points with the overlords at Google, and, most importantly, get more click-throughs. Get tips on writing the best, most compelling Google Ad copy.
Step Six
Set your budget—or bid. This tells Google how much you’re willing to spend daily to get your ads clicked on. The number of clicks you get depends on your cost per click. This depends on your keywords, audience size, and ad quality. After you’ve received enough clicks to reach your daily spend limit, Google will stop showing your ad until the next day. You can use Google’s suggestions or enter a custom amount based on your budget allocation.
Once you click ‘Continue’, you’ll be taken to a page to review your Google Ads and campaign parameters. You’ll then be asked to enter your payment details before submitting your ad.
Because Google doesn’t know how much your ad costs until all click-throughs are accounted for, you won’t be billed until after your ad has run. You can be billed automatically when the campaign ends or billed monthly. And be sure to grab your $150 first-time ad credit.
Now you’ve done it and well, I’m almost done. After you submit your ad, Google will process it and tell you whether it’s approved or rejected. Don’t worry if it doesn’t go through the first time. You’ll be told exactly what needs to be fixed, and you’ll be able to resubmit.
How to optimise your Google ads.
Marketing never sleeps. There are always ways to tweak and experiment with ads to get the most conversions. Be sure to review your campaigns and look for ways to optimise your ads and their respective PPC landing pages. This will help you plug any conversion leaks and maximise your ad spend.
A/B testing—running multiple pages within the same campaign to test different messages, layouts, and calls to action—is one of the most effective ways to see what resonates with your audience (and what doesn’t).
If you’re building Unbounce landing pages, Smart Traffic can also run these experiments for you, using machine learning to send visitors to the most relevant page variant based on their attributes. Learn more about how you can use smart traffic to convert more clicks with the all-powerful power of robots.
Expert tip:
“Making your ad stand out from the crowd is one of the biggest wins. Here are a few simple ways you can dress it up a little bit:
- Use as many ad extensions as possible to make your text ads stand out on a search results page. The most common ad extensions are click-to-call buttons/links, location/map information, and site links that highlight other content on your website. Be sure to test as many as possible, as several others exist.
- Create mobile-specific ads to customise the experience for users on the move. These ads can include different calls to action or offers. For example, offer driving directions or click-to-call/text options. This minimises the number of clicks required to engage with users.
- Promote a compelling offer. Make your ad stand out from the crowd. Consumers are conditioned to be on the lookout for discounts, free shipping and fast delivery.”
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