7 lessons of Google Ads (AdWords)

See advertisements of Google Ads (AdWords) now!

Hi! My name is Martyna and I am one of the certified Google AdWords specialists from Verseo agency. One of the largest SEM agencies in Central Europe. Google AdWords (Google Ads) advertising is our bread and butter and we will be happy to invite you to this world!

The lessons are intended to present basic information on Google AdWords campaigns. They will let you find out how to build campaigns, establish their budget as well as how to optimize campaigns.

Please feel free to get familiar with the materials and should you have any questions, please contact Verseo. Google AdWords provides a series of advantages but to make use of them fully, you have to design them carefully. Let’s start!

One more thing to explain. You may wonder why we use the terms Google AdWords and Google Ads interchangeably. This is because about half a year ago the system which had been operating as Google AdWords for many years changed its name into Google Ads. Nevertheless, many people still use the old name to find information, although the proper name is the term – Google Ads.

Google AdWords advertisements – purpose of the campaign and budget.

Every advertising campaign must have a specific goal. Regardless of the business, goal setting is the first step to make your campaign successful. The basic goals you encounter are the following:  

• increased sales/profits in online stores,
• increased number of orders/inquiries in the case of service campaigns,
• raising brand awareness.

These goals may be achieved through: purchases, phone calls, inquiries, applications, newsletter, or website visiting.

If you set a specific goal, you can primarily choose a suitable type of campaign. Additionally, you can estimate the budget required to undertake advertising activities properly, and eventually verify whether the goal has been achieved. Campaign budget estimates differ, depending on whether your goal is to double the number of inquiries about free valuation of window roller-blinds, or to promote information on new dietary supplement brand available in pharmacies.

Example:

> The advertiser sells tailor-made roller-blinds in Cracow. Its goal is to raise the number of inquiries about valuation and customer-winning cost must not exceed PLN 100. It must reach viewers who actively look for roller-blind manufacturing companies. It will therefore use the campaign in the search network where the average cost per click is PLN 2,00 and the average number of inquiries per month is 1500. The advertiser may spend as many as PLN 2 000-3 000 per campaign,

> The advertiser manufactured a totally new dietary supplement. It does not sell it on its website, but in most chain pharmacies throughout Poland. Its goal is to inform Internet users about the existence of its product and encourage them to purchase it in local pharmacies. In this case the advertiser will use the campaign in the display network. It will direct its adverts to the target group of about 10 million members, that is people interested in a healthy lifestyle. It will display advertising banners for them and the cost of 1000 displays is PLN 0,90. It will have to spend at least PLN 10 000  for the campaign of this sort.

As you can see, various campaign goals allow us to use various tools of winning customers. As each of these tools has its price, budgets must be tailor-made to make sure the campaign goal is achieved.

Selection of keywords and Google Ads advert

Choosing proper keywords is a prerequisite for successful Google Ads campaigns. Phrases must be selected on the basis of the following:

• website content – they must correspond to products/services advertised and information on the website. You cannot advertise something you do not have for sale.
  
• target groups which advertisements are intended for – and actually for their expectations and needs and whether the offer is intended for individuals or business entities (e.g. warehouses, B2B, etc.). You need to remember that Internet users do not have to know specialist names, they often rely on associations or make spelling mistakes.
  
• scope of campaign – if you act locally, it is advisable to add a name of the city or region to the group of keywords. This will suggest that you are in the Internet users’ area.
  
• campaign budget – if the budget is limited, it is essential that you use fewer phrases, preferably the ones which generate high but cheap traffic. If you have more funds, however, you can use a larger number of words. Here it is important that you make use of the keywords planner and data on number of queries and suggested price per click.
  
• number of queries – the more frequently a specific phrase is searched per month, the higher the likelihood of reaching a large number of potential customers. And who would not like to reach all or most persons being interested?

Before you choose keywords, you should always conduct a precise marketing analysis, set the goal of the campaign as well as the campaign budget. Another step should be to use the available instruments aimed at selecting phrases – e.g. the aforesaid keywords planner which not only presents relevant words but also shows the average number of inquiries and estimated cost per click. Using the planner, you need to remember that it is just a “machine” which sometimes shows imprecise words. When you get down to choosing phrases, it is advisable to remember about their matching. Keywords matching (exact, broad and phrase) allow controlling whether advertisements are displayed upon our keywords or their modifications.

Selection of phrases should not be a one-time operation. As part of optimizing the campaign, it is crucial that you regularly use the report on words searched and add new words to the campaign in order to develop it.

Keywords exclusions in Google Ads adverts

Excluding keywords are all phrases which should not cause advertisements to be displayed. You should add exclusions on a regular basis as it is one of the basic elements of campaign optimization. By updating the list of excluding words, you inform Google that it should stop displaying adverts in response to specific words.

Assuming you advertise shoes for children and you do not sell shoes for women or men, you should exclude such words as “women”, “men” and any of their modifications. This way you can avoid unnecessary expenses and misinformation.

Benefits of adding exclusions regularly:

• no advertisements in response to undesired keywords,
• more effective advertising (i.a. click-through rate – CTR),
• precise presentation of advertisements to persons who are actually interested in products/services,
• substantial savings on campaign.

Similar to proper keywords, the exclusions can be added in relevant matches (exact, broad, phrase). This way you can specify words which will prevent advertisements from displaying in Google search engine.

The excluding words are used as early as at the beginning of the campaign and later on. First of all you have to exclude words which come to your mind (e.g. names of online stores, price comparison websites, types of products and services you do not have but may be associated with your offer). Next, based on the report on words searched, you must select all missed words and add them as excluding keywords. At the same time you can separate specific phrases and copy them to the list of campaign exclusions – this is how you can exclude specific phrases in every possible configuration with other words.  

Example:

> if you exclude the phrase [women’s high heels], you will stop displaying advertisements in response to one specific query,

> if you exclude the phrase [women], you will stop displaying advertisements in response to all phrases which contain this term.

Content of Google Ads adverts

The task of content of Google AdWords advertisements is to invite potential customers to visit the website and do a specific conversion. To make sure the invitation is accepted, Google AdWords (Google Ads) must encourage Internet users to interact.

Advertising texts must therefore be:

• short, concise and relevant – prepared in a way that the Internet user understands what you want to communicate. Let’s avoid extensive number of abbreviations and taking shortcuts and transferring them to another part of the advert (e.g. from headline to body),
  
• contained in 2-3 lines – this will help you choose more effective advert in the future and allow working on optimizing,
  
• adapted to business and target group – by advertising life insurances for families with children, you will focus on other elements than in the case of extreme journeys for singles,
  
• eye-catching – the purpose of advertisements is to draw attention and be so captivating that the Internet user decides to learn more. Questions, rhymes, exclamation marks will surely come in handy in some cases,
  
• filled with significant offer details – do not be afraid of using numbers and percents. Feel free to include all information on free delivery, valuation and other elements which make your products/services stand out on the market,
  
• include well-adapted calls to action – statistics prove that advertisements which contain the so-called call to action are more effective. It is therefore essential that you show customers what kind of interaction you expect. It is important that you adjust the call to action to the offer. Selling tailor-made furniture, do not forget to add a sentence “Call us to get a free quote” (as long as it is actually free), instead of “Don’t wait, order today!”.

The benefit of content of Google Ads advertisements is the fact that you can modify them at your convenience as well as adapt to current campaigns. With respect to upcoming discounts/sales/special offers, you should think about updating contents of your adverts. Thanks to this, potential customers will find out about your offer and may be more willing to do the shopping.

Ad content optimization is primarily concerned with displaying control. As it is possible to check which advertisements are displayed more often and which of them have the best click-through rate in relation to displays, you can prevent ineffective advertisements and replace them with new and more attractive contents.

Google Ads – Schedule, location, device type

A wide range of settings in the Google Ads (AdWords) advertising campaign allows you to adjust the schedule of displaying ads and price per click depending on days, time, location and devices. Thanks to the possibility of adjusting prices, you can have better control over when, where and which devices display the advert.

Advertising schedule serves to establish days and time of displaying the campaign. It proves to be very useful primarily to all those who render their services only in the specific time range and take orders from Monday until Friday from 9am to 5pm. It performs well with regard to low-budget campaigns too. It allows displaying ads only at peak hours and allows suspending advertising at night when the traffic is considerably lower (and thanks to this, the system does not have to lock the budget).

Thanks to the schedule, you can also adapt prices per click on specific days or at specific times. It allows increasing rates per click in the working hours of the company, when it is possible to make a phone call and talk to a consultant.

Adaptation of price per click by location allows in turn regulating the display of adverts in the specific locations (in countries, regions, cities/towns, districts). As you can raise or lower rates in specific places, you may focus on promotion in the region which converts best. Simultaneously you can exclude areas or lower the price per click in places in which low traffic is detected.

Adapting prices by types of devices lets you optimize costs per click of advert on PC, mobile devices, tablets or even TV sets. It is useful, especially for the campaigns which use conversion in the form of phone calls. It indeed allows raising prices for phones which are the most important advertising medium.

When the specific type of devices generates considerable costs in relation to quantities or value of conversion, the rates may be lowered a little.

Measuring the conversion in Google Ads

Conversion is the most desired result of each Google Ads campaign. It happens when an Internet user interacts with the advert and then undertakes a specific activity (usually being the purpose of the campaign/ business goal of the advertiser).

Depending on the type of products/services advertised, the conversion may be the following:

• online purchases,
• phone call,
• subscription to newsletter,
• sending messages via contact form,
• downloading the application,
• registration of the customer’s account,
• visiting the specific number of subpages on the website.

A specific type of conversion should be set for each campaign, even if it would specify the minimum time spent on the website. In some cases it is advisable to set several different forms of conversion for particular purposes of the campaign and assign them a relevant value. If the website allows so, you can also measure the number of calls as well as inquiries sent through the form.

Measuring the conversion – checking kinds of interaction and their quantity – it allows more precise optimization of the campaign. It allows separating best converting adverts and the one which brings the so-called empty traffic. Thanks to measuring the conversion, you have an opportunity to check if your campaign is successful, concentrate on effective channels and improve the ones which convert the worst or do not convert at all. Measuring lets you check which campaigns/advertisements/keywords should be invested in. Would it be worth investing in the advertisement if you had no feedback on its results?

Adjustment of budget to the campaign and share in displays

The budget invested in the campaign is one of the elements which contribute to its success considerably. The budget issue was discussed in the lesson no. 1. This lesson was supposed to show you how important it is to estimate the funds intended for the campaign on the basis of its purpose. Another element which you have to take into consideration when estimating the budget is the size of the campaign. This phrase means the following:

• number of active types of campaigns – advertisers often use several kinds of campaigns at a time in order to reach various groups of viewers.
  
• number of groups of adverts – chosen depending on the type of campaign, total number of keywords used – in all matches.
  
• average monthly number of queries per word – information on how many times a specific phrase was searched for (presented in the keywords planner).
  
• estimated size of the target group – number of people who may see the advertisement in the display network.
  
• estimated price per click – initial cost per interaction with the ad.

Having analyzed the aforesaid points, it is necessary to consider costs which the entire campaign and its particular components may require. As for limited budget, it is important that you start with low number of targeting/keywords and monitor the following data on a regular basis:

• CTR – click-through rate (too low rate may suggest your position of adverts is too low),
• adverts positions,
• average price per click and its value in relation to maximum rate per click,
• share in displays – it should not be lower than 60% in case of advertisements in the searching network,
• potential notification on budget limits,

If the campaign statistics look promising, you can develop it on the basis of the same budget. Otherwise you should think of raising the budget for the campaign a little and keep on analyzing it.

It is advisable to do a 3-4-month test with higher budget and check which campaign elements prove to be most effective. If necessary, you can go back to previous settings and wonder what other changes may turn out to be beneficial.

Please bear in mind that many inexperienced advertisers opt for a low budget to promote their campaign and follow the rule “half a loaf is better than no bread”. Sadly, too low budget may result in high expense and lack of return on investment. It is therefore necessary that you follow the rule of small steps and develop your campaign gradually. Good results in the form of rising profits will surely encourage many advertisers to invest more in the campaign.

Would you like to activate Google Ads but you need help? See why we stand out and why choosing Verseo is the best thing you can do!