Running a Google Ads Campaign – 8 Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make!
Running an AdWords campaign is currently one of the most popular online promotion methods. A skillfully executed AdWords campaign can yield excellent results – primarily in the form of increased sales of products and services. There are countless guides online on how to effectively run an AdWords campaign . Many of them offer truly important tips that, if implemented, can translate into improved campaign performance: lower costs, improve ad quality scores, and ultimately, increase conversions—in other words, profits! No one running a campaign wants to lose their investment. Proper optimization is therefore crucial. Avoiding mistakes that can be costly to advertisers is equally important. Below, I present eight AdWords campaign mistakes that can cost many AdWords practitioners a fortune. Therefore, I recommend analyzing all campaigns for the possible presence of the above errors, fixing any that require it, and in the future, making sure—ideally, double-checking—that everything is working properly.
1. No conversion:
A lack of conversions is one of the cardinal sins of running a Google AdWords campaign , as it prevents full optimization. A campaign without conversions is like a journey without a destination – you don't know where it will lead, what costs it will generate, or whether it will end in a dead end. Conversions demonstrate whether a campaign is achieving its goals. It's also one of the most important elements for campaign optimization. A conversion can be: making a purchase, sending a request for quote, placing a phone call, or downloading a mobile app. Even if the website you're advertising doesn't offer direct measurement of the most important conversion type, it's worth focusing on so-called micro-conversions (time spent on the site, number of tabs visited, or clicking through to a subpage with contact information). Every conversion, even the smallest, provides crucial data. It allows you to determine which ads/keywords/targeting are most effective, and therefore, which ones should be further invested in. No other campaign statistics – even the best ones (clicks, impressions, CTRs, or a quality score of 10/10) will show whether an ad interaction resulted in the most important action. There are several different ways to measure conversions within an AdWords campaign . This allows you to measure conversions even on the most complex or problematic website. To track conversions, you can use: – conversions within your Google AdWords account: >actions taken on the website, which are measured by pasting the AdWords conversion code onto the page, >tracking downloads and actions within mobile apps, >recording the number of phone calls from ads, >importing data from other systems,
– conversions within your Google Analytics account: > e-commerce transactions, which will allow you to check not only the quantity but also the monetary value of conversions, > events and goals, which will allow you to track, among other things, micro conversions, e.g., time spent on the website.
You can learn more about properly setting up goals in your Google Analytics account in this post.
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2. No e-commerce/incorrectly functioning e-commerce module:
The e-commerce module is an essential element for online store promotion campaigns . It shows us not only the number of conversions but also their value:
The lack of a functioning e-commerce module significantly hinders the optimization and management of AdWords campaigns due to the lack of information on generated revenue. Sometimes, despite a high number of conversions, the campaign proves ineffective. Conversions are counted, some might say… Yes, they are – that's great. However, the number of conversions alone isn't always sufficient. Why? Let's assume we're advertising a cosmetics store. In the first case, we have 300 conversions per month with a total value of approximately 5,000 PLN, as we sold a very large number of inexpensive face creams, masks, and scrubs, with an average value of around 16 PLN each. In the second case, the campaign generated only 130 conversions, but their total value was around 30,000 PLN. In this case, the best sellers were dermocosmetics and organic creams, with an average value of around 230 PLN. As you can see, conversions vary. To accurately estimate its value and then optimize the campaign accordingly (e.g., focus on promoting keywords/products that generate higher-value conversions), we MUST use the e-commerce module. Without it, we may end up investing primarily in keywords/products that generate a high number of low-value conversions, rather than those that generate the highest revenue. Most modern e-commerce platforms simply install the appropriate plugin in the store's admin panel. Next, configure e-commerce in your Google Analytics account and make a test purchase (to test its performance).
The final step is to import the transaction as a conversion in your Google AdWords account and import all your website data (which will allow us to track conversion values in your AdWords account).
3. No exclusions:
Negative keywords in an AdWords campaign are all terms for which you don't want your ads to show. Failure to use exclusions primarily results in spending budget on inappropriate (unrelated) keywords or those that generate very high costs over time without generating conversions. Example: a campaign promoting MDF skirting boards
The first exclusions should be added before the campaign launches – it's a good idea to select at least a dozen keywords for which your ad could potentially show but shouldn't. Regularly review your search term report throughout the campaign, analyze the keywords for which your ads have shown, and exclude inappropriate ones. You can learn more about the search term report in this post. Exclusions can be added at both the ad group level and the campaign level. For example, if an ad for MDF skirting boards showed for the search term "white wooden skirting boards," you can exclude the entire phrase at the ad group level and the single word "wooden" at the campaign level to avoid wasting budget on additional inappropriate keywords in the future:
Negative keywords are therefore a crucial element of any campaign. Choosing them correctly can save you a significant portion of your budget. Nobody wants to invest in something they don't offer. However, it's important to be very careful when adding negative keywords – sometimes a single inappropriately excluded word can significantly limit the campaign's reach.
4. Incorrectly implemented conversion:
An incorrectly uploaded conversion usually results from incorrect implementation of the conversion/tracking code on the website. This problem occurs, for example, when the AdWords conversion code is pasted into the wrong tab and counts the wrong actions. This error results in false data, which can result in inadequate campaign optimization and budget investment in ineffective channels/ads/keywords. Ultimately, this can result in financial losses. Therefore, it's worth monitoring conversion performance (preferably "live," immediately after the campaign launch), as well as periodically verifying their number and comparing them with, for example, Google Analytics , the store's administration panel, or CRM. Example: An advertiser selling products online placed the conversion code on every subpage, instead of on the "thank you" page (purchase confirmation page). This error resulted in a very high number of conversions. After reviewing the campaign statistics, the advertiser was very pleased with its results and began considering increasing the budget. However, when he checked the results in his store's administration panel, it turned out that not a single purchase had actually been made.
5. Double counting conversion:
A double-counted conversion – similar to incorrectly implemented code – presents false campaign statistics. Because it shows a higher number of conversions than the actual number, it can be a cause for incorrect campaign optimization. Inadequate campaign optimization is usually a significant expense that ultimately won't translate into an increase in actual conversions or generate increased revenue. A double-counted conversion can occur when AdWords and Analytics conversions are implemented simultaneously:
Therefore, it's important to remember to never add the same conversion categories twice, even if they come from different sources. It's crucial to select only one category, preferably based on the campaign type. As a reminder, the above situation doesn't apply to separate conversion types. There's nothing stopping you from simultaneously measuring things like calls, purchases, or newsletter signups. However, in this case, it's important to remember that the conversion count displayed on the campaign card will be the sum of all conversion types implemented in AdWords. To view individual conversion types, go to the Conversions tab or use the Segment/Conversions tab.
6. Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts not connected:
Failure to connect the above-mentioned accounts results in a lack of access to the vast amount of data provided by the Analytics account. This account allows you to view a wealth of information regarding website traffic. It displays the channels from which traffic originates, shows the time, traffic volume, and bounce rate, and allows you to analyze the behavior of website visitors. Most importantly, it allows you to track e-commerce transactions and verify conversion values. It also shows the number and value of assisted conversions, as well as the most important conversion paths. This data allows you to determine which campaigns are contributing to conversions from other sources. It might seem—in some cases—that campaigns are not converting. However, analyzing the data reveals that selected campaigns are contributing to conversions, and pausing them could negatively impact revenue. Failure to connect Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts is a fundamental mistake, as it prevents full campaign optimization due to a lack of relevant data. Therefore, the account should be connected before the AdWords campaign launches. You can link your AdWords and Analytics accounts in two ways: > from your Google AdWords account, > from your Google Analytics account. For details on linking your accounts, see this post.
7. Destination URL auto-tagging not working:
Auto-tagging allows you to track important data about your Google AdWords campaigns in your Analytics account. It helps optimize campaigns by showing exactly what a visitor does on a website after clicking an ad (including how much time they spend there, how many subpages they visit, and at what point they abandon their shopping cart). After enabling auto-tagging, the gclid parameter is added to the landing page URL:
Source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1034389?hl=pl However, there are cases where websites do not allow the use of this parameter in URLs, and after clicking on a link containing gclid, a 404 error page is displayed instead of the correct website. Until the problem is fixed (e.g., by disabling the automatic tagging function and adding manual link tagging), every click on the ad may result in a view like this:
and the loss of part of the budget, as the user, once engaged with the ad, will be unable to visit the website. Therefore, correct tagging is another element that should be verified immediately after the campaign launch. This should be done by clicking on the live ad and checking whether the landing page opens correctly. If a 404 error occurs or a page opens where no buttons or links can be clicked, disable automatic tagging and configure the appropriate manual tags.
8. Lack of campaign optimization:
For many advertisers, a lack of campaign optimization proves to be a waste of their investment. What else could you call a lack of response to excessively high click rates or ads being displayed for inappropriate keywords? Campaign optimization encompasses many activities that should be performed regularly to fine-tune your ads. You can find out what to optimize and how to optimize it by reviewing our Google AdWords Optimization Checklist. Below is a short list of common mistakes that can "burn up" campaign budgets: > lack of negative keywords – they generate costs but don't lead to conversions, > setting excessively high bids per click – it's not always worth sticking with position 1. It often turns out that ads in position 2 and 3 receive just as much, or sometimes even better, clicks, > too low an ad quality score/lack of work on ad content – requires a higher cost per click than with a high quality score, > budget constraints – can cause the budget to be depleted too quickly in the first half of the day, resulting in no conversions, > failing to exclude long-used ads/keywords that have never converted – generates high costs and statistically has no chance of conversion, > failing to adjust bids for mobile devices – or more precisely, failing to lower the cost per click on a mobile ad if the website isn't mobile-friendly. As you can see, errors and a lack of ad optimization can be very costly for advertisers. Only proper campaign execution, conversions, tagging, and all other settings can lead to good results, or even lower costs than initially anticipated. Therefore, you should check your campaigns very carefully at the very beginning (the guarantee of proper campaign operation is worth much more than a few or a dozen zlotys spent on a few clicks on live ads) and regularly and carefully optimize your ads so as not to waste the funds invested in them.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- This article discusses key mistakes made in Google Ads campaigns that can significantly reduce their effectiveness and lead to unnecessary costs.
