Learn about Google AdWords (Google Ads)!
Hi! My name is Martyna, and I'm a certified Google AdWords specialist at Verseo , one of the largest SEM agencies in Central Europe. Google AdWords advertising (Google Ads) is our daily life, and we'd love to introduce you to it!
These lessons are designed to present the basics of Google AdWords campaigns. They will teach you how to build campaigns, set budgets, and optimize campaigns.
We encourage you to review these materials, and if you have any questions, please contact Verseo. Google AdWords ads have many advantages , but to fully utilize them, you need to be diligent in their design. Let's get started!
Finally, a clarification. 🙂 You might be wondering why we use the name Google AdWords interchangeably with Google Ads. We do this because about six months ago, the system that operated under the name Google AdWords changed its name to Google Ads. Nevertheless, many people still search for information by the old name, even though the correct one is, of course, the new one—Google Ads.
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Campaign objective and budget
Every advertising campaign should have a clearly defined goal. Regardless of the industry, establishing a goal is the first step to campaign success. The basic goals we encounter every day are:
> increasing sales/profits in online stores,
> increasing the number of orders/inquiries in the case of service campaigns,
> building brand awareness.
These goals can be achieved through: purchases, telephone calls, sent inquiries, downloaded applications, newsletter subscriptions, or website visits.
Defining your goals allows you to select the right type of campaign. It also allows you to accurately estimate the budget required for your advertising efforts, and ultimately, allows you to verify whether your goals have been achieved.
The budget will be estimated differently for a campaign aimed at doubling the number of inquiries about a free quote for window blinds than for a campaign aimed at promoting information about a new brand of dietary supplements available in pharmacies.
Example:
> An advertiser sells custom-made blinds in Krakow. Their goal is to increase the number of quote requests and ensure the customer acquisition cost is no more than PLN 100. They must reach people who are actively searching for blinds manufacturers. Therefore, they will use a search campaign, where the average cost per click is PLN 2,00 and the average number of monthly requests is 1500. They can allocate PLN 2,000-3,000 for the campaign.
> An advertiser has produced a brand new dietary supplement. They don't sell it on their website, but in most chain pharmacies across Poland. Their goal is to inform internet users about the product and encourage them to purchase it at local pharmacies. In this case, they will use a display network campaign. They will target their ads to a target group of approximately 10 million people interested in a healthy lifestyle. They will display banner ads at a cost of PLN 0,90 per 1000 impressions. They will need to allocate a minimum of PLN 10,000 for this type of campaign.
As the examples above show, different campaign goals allow us to utilize different customer acquisition tools. Since each of these tools has a price, budgets must be tailored to meet the campaign's objectives.
Keywords and Google AdWords
Selecting the right keywords is the foundation of an effective Google Ads campaign. Phrases should be chosen primarily based on:
> website content – must correspond to the advertised products/services and information contained on the website. We cannot advertise what we do not offer,
> the target audience for the advertisements – or rather, their expectations and needs, as well as whether the offer is aimed at individual or business customers (e.g., wholesalers, B2B, etc.). It's important to remember that internet users don't need to know the technical terms, often using associations or making spelling mistakes,
> campaign reach – for local businesses, it's worth adding the name of the city or region to your keywords. This will show internet users that you're "in" that area,
> campaign budget – with a limited budget, it's worth using a smaller number of phrases, preferably those that will generate a lot of cheap traffic. With a larger budget, however, you can use a larger number of keywords. Here, the help of a keyword planner will be invaluable, as well as data on the number of queries and the suggested cost per click,
> number of search queries – the higher the monthly search volume for a given phrase, the greater the chance of reaching a large number of potential customers. And who wouldn't want to reach all, or at least most, of those interested?
Keyword selection should always be preceded by a thorough marketing analysis, establishing campaign goals and budgets. The next step should be utilizing available tools for keyword selection, such as the aforementioned keyword planner, which not only presents relevant keywords but also displays the average number of queries and estimated cost per click. When using the planner, remember that it's only a "machine," sometimes displaying words that are only loosely related to the ones you're searching for.
When selecting keywords, it's also worth remembering their appropriate matches. Keyword matching (exact, broad, and phrase) allows you to control whether your ads will display only for the keywords you use, or for variations of them.
Selecting keywords shouldn't be a one-time effort. As part of campaign optimization, it's worth regularly using the search term report and adding new keywords to your campaign to grow it.
Keyword exclusions
Negative keywords are phrases for which ads should NOT be displayed. Regularly adding exclusions is a fundamental element of campaign optimization. By updating the negative keyword list, we signal Google to stop displaying ads for the specified terms.
Assuming we're advertising children's shoes and don't offer women's or men's shoes, the words "women's," "men's," and any variations thereof should be included in the exclusions. This will help us avoid unnecessary expenses and misleading potential customers.
Advantages of adding exclusions regularly:
> no display of ads for unwanted keywords,
> increasing the effectiveness of advertising (including click-through rate – CTR),
> precise display of advertisements to people actually interested in products/services,
> significant savings in campaign costs.
Exclusions, just like actual keywords, can be added with specific matches (exact, broad, and phrase). This allows you to precisely specify the terms for which your ad will not appear in Google searches.
We use negative keywords from the very beginning of a campaign. First, we exclude terms that come to mind (e.g., names of online shopping platforms, price comparison sites, types of products and services we don't stock but might be associated with our offerings). Next, based on the search term report, we highlight all irrelevant terms and add them as negative keywords. At this point, we extract the selected phrases and copy them to the campaign-wide exclusion list – this allows us to exclude specific phrases in every possible combination with other words.
Example:
> by excluding the phrase [women's high heels] we will stop displaying ads for this one specific query,
> by excluding the phrase women, we will stop displaying ads for all phrases that contain this keyword in one fell swoop.
Treści Google AdWords ads
The purpose of advertising content is to "invite" a potential customer to visit a website and complete a desired conversion. For this invitation to be accepted, Google AdWords ads (Google Ads) must encourage internet users to interact.
Advertising texts should therefore be:
> short, concise, and to the point – written so that the internet user understands what we want to convey. Avoid excessive abbreviations, cutting off sentences, and moving on to the next part of the ad (e.g., from the headline to the body text),
> written in 2-3 versions – this will help you choose a more effective ad in the future and enable you to work on its optimization,
> tailored to the industry and target group – when advertising life insurance for families with children, we will focus on different elements than when promoting extreme trips for singles,
> catchy – the purpose of ads is to attract attention, to pique the interest of the internet user so much that they want to learn more. Questions, rhymes, exclamations – these will certainly work in some cases,
> saturated with the most important features of the offer – don't be afraid to use numbers and percentages. Any information about free shipping, pricing, and other elements that distinguish products/services from the competition is welcome,
> with a tailored call to action – statistics show that ads with a call to action are more effective. Therefore, it's worth showing customers what type of interaction you expect from them. It's crucial to match the call to action to the offer. When selling custom-made furniture, it's worth writing "Call for a free quote" (if it's actually free), instead of "Don't wait, order today!"
The advantage of Google AdWords ad content is that it can be modified at any time and adapted to the current campaign situation. It's worth updating ad content for upcoming promotions, sales, or special offers. This will help potential customers learn about the offer and potentially be more willing to take advantage of it.
Optimizing ad content primarily involves controlling how ads are displayed. By knowing which ads are displayed most frequently and which ones have the best click-to-view ratio (CTR), you can pause ineffective ads and replace them with new, more engaging content.
Schedule, location, device type
Google AdWords (Google Ads) offers a wide range of campaign settings, allowing you to customize your ad schedule and click rates based on days, hours, locations, and devices. These bid adjustments provide greater control over when, where, and on which devices your ads appear.
Ad scheduling allows you to set the days and times your campaign will run. It's especially useful for those who only offer their services during a specific timeframe, for example, accepting applications Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m. It's also perfect for campaigns with smaller budgets, allowing you to display ads only during peak hours or pause them at night when traffic is significantly lower (thus preventing the system from having to block your budget).
Scheduling also allows you to adjust your per-click rates on specific days or times. It allows you to increase your cost-per-click during business hours when a phone call (conversion) with a consultant is available.
Adjusting your cost-per-click by location allows you to control the display of your ads in specific geographic areas (countries, regions, cities, neighborhoods). The ability to raise or lower bids in specific locations allows you to focus your promotion on the areas that convert best. At the same time, you can exclude areas or lower your cost-per-click in locations that receive poor-quality traffic.
Adjusting bids based on device type allows you to optimize your cost-per-click for ads displayed on computers, mobile devices, tablets, and even TVs. This is especially useful for campaigns that rely on phone call conversions, as it allows you to increase bids on phones, which will be the most important advertising medium in this case.
In a situation where a specific type of device generates too high costs in relation to the number or value of conversions, the rates can be slightly lowered (without giving up on displaying ads).
Measuring conversions in Google AdWords ads
Conversion is the most desirable outcome of any Google Ads campaign. It occurs when a user interacts with an ad and then takes a specific action (usually the campaign goal/business objective of the advertiser).
Depending on the type of products/services being advertised, a conversion may be:
> online purchase,
> making a phone call,
> newsletter subscription,
> sending a message via the contact form,
> downloading the application,
> customer account registration,
> visiting a specific number of subpages on the website.
The appropriate conversion type should be set for each campaign, even if it's just a minimum time spent on the page. In some situations, it's worth setting several different conversion types for specific campaign goals and assigning them an appropriate value. If your website allows it, you can, for example, simultaneously measure the number of calls made and inquiries submitted via a form.
Measuring conversions—checking the types and volume of interactions—allows for more precise campaign optimization. It allows us to identify the best-converting ads and those generating so-called empty traffic. By measuring conversions, we can assess campaign effectiveness, focus on effective channels, and improve those that convert less well or not at all. By measuring conversions, we can easily determine which campaigns/ads/keywords are worth investing in.
What would be the point of investing in advertising without feedback on the advertising's effects?
Budget adjustment and impression share
The budget invested in a campaign is one of the key elements that has a key impact on its effectiveness. The topic of budgeting was addressed in Lesson 1. This lesson was intended to demonstrate the importance of estimating the amount of funds allocated to a campaign based on its objectives.
Another element to consider when estimating your budget is campaign size. This primarily encompasses:
> number of active campaign types – advertisers often use several types of campaigns at once to reach different target groups,
> number of ad groups/targeting – selected depending on the campaign type,
total number of keywords used – in all used matches,
> average monthly number of queries for a given phrase – information on the number of searches for a given phrase (presented in the keyword planner),
> estimated audience size – the number of people to whom an ad may be displayed in the advertising network,
> estimated cost per click – the initial cost per interaction with the ad.
After analyzing the above points, you should consider the costs that may be incurred by both the entire planned campaign and its individual elements.
If you have a limited budget, it is worth starting with a smaller number of targets/keywords and monitoring the following data on an ongoing basis:
> CTR – the ratio of clicks to ad impressions (too low may indicate too low an ad position),
> ad positions,
> average cost per click and its amount relative to the established maximum rate per click,
> impression share – should be no less than 60% in the case of search network ads,
> possible notification of budget constraints.
If your campaign stats look good, you can start expanding it while maintaining the same budget. Otherwise, it's worth slightly increasing your campaign budget and analyzing it further.
It's worth conducting a 3-4-month test with an increased budget and monitoring which elements of the campaign are yielding the best results. If necessary, you can always revert to the previous settings and consider what other changes might yield better results.
It's worth noting that many less experienced advertisers start their promotions with too small a budget, believing that "something is better than nothing." Unfortunately, too small a budget can result in large expenses and no return on investment.
It's therefore worth following the principle of small steps and regularly developing the campaign. Positive results in the form of increasing revenue will undoubtedly encourage many advertisers to invest more in the campaign.
Want to get started with Google AdWords but need help? Find out what sets us apart and why choosing Verseo is the best choice!
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Introduction to Google AdWords Advertising (Google Ads)
- Defining the goal of an advertising campaign and matching it to the appropriate budget
- Keyword selection as the foundation of an effective Google Ads campaign
- Keyword exclusions to optimize ad costs and accuracy
- Creating effective ad content that encourages interaction
- Display schedule settings by location and device type
- Measuring conversions as a campaign optimization tool
- Budget adjustment and ad impression share control
