Businesses are extremely effective when it comes to driving qualified and relevant traffic to your website – especially when people type in specific keywords related to your business.
What are Google ads?
Google offers businesses the opportunity to advertise on their search pages. This is Google's exclusive advertising platform where advertisers bid on specific keywords in order for their ads to appear in the search results when people type them in.
Since advertisers pay for these clicks, Google makes money from these campaigns – known as pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Depending on the relevancy of the keywords to conversions for your business (and the competitiveness of the keywords), this type of campaign may need to be tweaked to suit your specific needs, ensuring that you don't spend money on the wrong content and keywords.
How do Google ads appear?
Google ads typically appear once an auction is completely focused on specific keywords. How do Google ads appear?
- Advertisers choose a list of words and phrases relevant to their business based on the terms people are most likely to use when searching for related products and services.
- Advertisers then bid on these keywords covering how much they are willing to pay for users to click on their ads.
- Google combines a quality score along with the bid to determine which ads appear on the search engine.
- Once the user clicks on your ad, you will need to pay a specific cost based on Google's cost per click for that particular ad.
AdWords typically work on an auction system. This system takes place during every keyword search undertaken by users.
What affects a quality score on Google?
In order to win AdWords on Google and have your ad appear in relation to specific keywords, you'll need to ensure that your quality score is high. A higher score and good bid amount will put you in a better position to get your ad placed on a Google SERP. The following factors make a difference to your quality score:
- Relevance of the search query to your Google ad and ad group
- Relevance of your ad to your landing page
- Historical data covering the click-through rate for the ad and ad group
- Historical account performance
What are the benefits of a higher quality score on Google?
Apart from getting your ad placed for certain keywords, there are additional benefits for your business if you have a higher quality score, such as:
- Lower costs. Google tends to reward advertisers who have high quality scores in the form of lower costs per click, which ultimately helps enhance their return on investment.
- Greater exposure. With higher quality scores, you will notice your ads displaying more often in the search engine and in more prominent positions than others, which enables you to get more conversions and clicks without having to change your bid.
Businesses looking to build successful ad campaigns on Google should always try to get a higher quality score for their long-term benefits.
How to make your Google Ad campaign successful
Certain actions will help make your Google ad campaign more successful, so make sure you follow them in your quest to build the online reputation of your business.
Keep track of customer demand
One of the key ingredients of a successful Google ad campaign is customer demand. If people aren't searching for relevant products and services, then your efforts in Google are hardly going to work. Before starting any online campaign, check the following:
- Ensure adequate search volume to target the market you're going after
- Research what consumers are looking for and tailor your ad solutions accordingly
- Create products and services that are in demand.
Once you're able to keep track of customer demand, you'll be in a better position to deliver a successful Google ad campaign.
Always have a clear goal in mind
Any SEM campaign must have a goal and the desired outcome in mind in order to be successful. You will likely run an AdWords campaign in your quest to grow sales or win followers for your business, in addition to creating more brand awareness. Consider the following:
- What is the outcome you're looking to achieve from your ad campaign?
- Who are you looking to target?
- What kind of keywords are being searched for that may be relevant to your business?
- How can you make your ad relevant to the keywords typed into the search engine?
- What action do you want to drive for readers?
You must always be aware of the specific call to action you are trying to get your targets to perform so that you can create a clear ad campaign that directly reflects your goals. Never go live with any campaign until you've identified your goals clearly and know what you need to measure results.
Write for your target customer
Any ad you write must be relevant to your specific target audience, so your tone, language and call to action must be adjusted accordingly. What do your ads need to do for your target?
- Attract attention with the right tone and context
- Raise customer interest
- Convince customers to perform your desired call to action
- Lead customers into taking that action
When you write ads that resonate with your target audience, your ad campaign will have stronger results.
Be clear with your keyword targeting
When you implement an ad campaign, you should have all types of keyword targeting included in your overall strategy for the best results. Your keyword targeting strategy should include:
- Broad match. Google shows your ad when a similar phrase or keyword is used but has a higher chance of irrelevant traffic being driven to your website. You should ideally bid lowest for broad match keywords.
- Phrase match. Google displays your ad when a user types in the specific phrase your ad is optimized for, giving you more control over who sees your ad. Bid a higher amount than broad match keywords.
- Exact match. Google will only display your ad when the user types in the exact keyword or keyword phrase, which is why this gives you the most control over who sees your ad and has the least bounce rate. If possible, bid the highest for exact match keywords.
Keep your ad groups separate according to keyword type in order to ensure the campaign remains well organized.
Create a strong selling proposition
Having a clear and unique selling proposition is key when you're looking to cut through the clutter and come up on top with your Google AdWords campaign. Customers should be well aware of why they are choosing you over your competition, which is why you need to have a strong unique selling proposition. Here are some benefits to creating a strong selling proposition:
- A strong USP generates more traffic while keeping away unwanted leads – ensuring more quality leads to your website.
- It boosts conversion rates.
- It can reduce the time customers spend on price comparisons, especially if you're offering something unique.
The best way to create a strong USP is to understand your customers more intimately, so you solve problems and give them what want. When you pay attention to their shopping behavior and patterns, you're in a better position to create something that adds value to their needs.
Optimize your Google AdWords campaign
You can never create the perfect AdWords campaign from the start. So you will need to optimize it midway to ensure that you're getting the best results. Consider the following:
- Keyword bids. From the time you start generating clicks to your website, you should consider optimizing your keyword bids. You can raise the bid for keywords bringing in good sales. If the keywords are not generating the results you want, lower the bids or switch to other keywords.
- Landing page conversion rates. Landing pages should always offer what is being promised in the ad or else you run the risk of the customer bouncing off. Landing pages that stick to the ad content usually result in higher conversion rates and greater profit for the brand.
- Click-through rates. Any quality score for a website is determined directly by the click-through rate of a particular Google ad. Test different campaigns simultaneously, if possible, to see which ones get you the most number of clicks.
Once you're able to optimize your Google AdWords campaign, you'll start to see greater traction for your desired call to action – which, in turn, is beneficial for your business in the long haul.
Be aware of what your competition is up to
Knowledge of what your competition is up to will help you make more informed decisions about your specific Google Adwords campaign. Here's what you need to know:
- Use keywords your direct competition is optimizing for
- Create call to actions that generate the best results from your target audience
- Thoroughly examine the look and feel of landing pages
Once you have knowledge of these factors, you can optimize your Adwords campaign effectively to ensure that it is structured and well organized.
Effective Google Adwords campaigns can help you boost the profitability of your business, but you must build them around powerful concepts in order to be successful. Consider working with online marketing experts who can help you take your business to the next level.
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