Businesses have been generating massive revenue through Google Ads. And it’s time you make your way into the club. You already know what Google Ads are and how they work. However, you might not have experience running a Google Ads account or ad campaign. To help you get your feet in, we have created an extensive beginner guide to Google Ads. Stay with us till the very end to learn the basics of Google Ads and take the first step toward online success.

 

Creating a Google Ads account

Thankfully, Google Ads has a guided setup that helps beginners create their accounts super quick. Just go through the setup and answer simple questions related to your email address and website. You will also get to enter your current location, time zone, and currency. Such information is crucial for Google Ads to send the right traffic at the right time to your website. You will find the setup to be quite straightforward.

Make sure you go through the options and extensions with a little more consideration, especially when the setup takes you through the Advanced settings. Anyway, you will need a website or landing page, keywords, and ad copy/headlines to begin using your Google ads account.

 

Shortlisting target keywords

The next task to successfully use Google Ads is shortlisting your target keywords. Google ads are keyword-centric. Therefore, you are required to see ‘keywords’ in relation to the ads Google will push when your target audience searches something in the search engine. The idea is to use keywords that will help your ad appear as a potential solution. Keywords can also be referred to as the building blocks of any Google Ads campaign.

Therefore, you will have to pay extra attention while researching them. As you dive deeper into Google Ads, you will learn to create keyword strategies (intermediate to advanced) for all your short-term and long-term ad campaigns. Let’s learn about keywords through an example, shall we? For a company that sells water bottles, the possible keyword choices will be:

  • 5-liter water bottles
  • Buy water bottles
  • Water bottles for cold water
  • Water bottles for hot water

The idea is to learn how a human searches on Google. You can’t just list your product names as keywords and expect the ad campaign to run successfully. People in a target audience make different Google searches. Focus on creating a wider net through your keywords so that your Google Ads show up against suitable web searches.

 

Understanding keyword match types

Continuing with the above example, you saw how we suggested you use different types of keywords to create a wider net. To help you give your keyword research some structure, we have divided keywords into different match types. This is quite helpful because people make so many Google searches every day that it is practically an impossible job to cater to each and every one of them. Here are the different keyword match types that will help you strengthen your keyword strategy.

Exact match

These are the keywords that match exactly what your target audience might type in on a Google search. In other words, these keywords should match the searches made using the same phrases. Moreover, the words have to stay in the same order as the keywords and should not have additional phrases before or after them. For example, an ad formed for the keyword ‘5-liter water bottle’ should show up for a search query made for ‘5-liter water bottle.’ The exact match type also returns your ads for close variants that include misspellings.

 

Phrase match

These are the keywords that ensure the phrase stays together as you enter it. The phrase in the keyword should stay in order but can accept words before or after them. Taking the same example, Google will return the ad for ‘buy 5-liter water bottle best quality.’

 

Broad match

A broad match pretty much works like an exact match, but the only difference is that these will return for variations too! There are no limitations to words or phrases coming before or after the keyword.

Modified broad match

Lastly, we have modified broad match that gives a touch more control on your keyword strategy. Quite comparable to broad match, this match type helps Google return ads on variations like misspellings, plurals, stems, and abbreviations.

 

Creating an ad campaign

Google Ads function when you set up campaigns. The campaigns give advertisers an opportunity to fix the target audience, target location, keywords, products, website URL, and schedule. PPC campaigns on Google Ads give you the benefits of demographic targeting, click-to-call, optimized ad rotation, and more. Let’s learn about them in brief:

Demographic targeting

The ad campaign works efficiently when you have a target audience. The idea is to have a finite target since Google finds it easier to push ads to a niche audience to generate more conversions. Take the help of targeting attributes like target income, parental status, gender, age, sex, and more.

 

Click-to-call

Although this type of ad campaign might take some time to set up, you will fall in love with the benefits it has to offer. Click-to-call campaigns allow advertisers to add call extensions to their ads. This encourages people to engage with the ad and make a phone call straight away to the seller or brand.

Optimized ad rotation

Then you have the power of ad rotation! This feature allows advertisers to test the different ads and find the one that performs the best. Optimized ad rotation is automated and helps create a wide range of successful advertisements.

 

Writing a compelling ad copy

The ad copy is the soul of a Google Ads campaign. You must follow the best practices for writing the best headlines and ad copies, especially the ones that convert. Here are the most crucial aspects of an ad:

Headlines

You only have 25 characters to make a solid impression on your target audience. Your headline should capture the users’ imagination without being misleading. Stay relevant and clear to encourage them to click and read the next line. The best headlines are often the ones that are made with the actual searches in mind.

Ad body

The ad body should be enticing enough to make users wish for more. Again, generate curiosity within the audiences’ minds but don’t mislead them. You only have 35 characters to describe what you have to offer.

Landing page

A landing page is where the users will jump on once they click your ad on the search engine. Create a strong and relevant landing page that caters to the promises made in the ads. Also remember to reuse the ad headline for maximum conversion.

 

Playing with ad settings

One might go with the default settings available on Google Ads. But accepting the default settings isn’t always in your campaign’s best interests. Not just that, the default settings might even cost you a lot of money. Therefore, we suggest you toggle through the default settings to launch a profitable ad campaign.

 

  • Figure out what you want more – search or display advertising. Once you have the answer, switch off the combo/package deal, as it might eat through your marketing budget.
  • Go for ‘All Features’ when creating an ad campaign. This will give you enough options to work with at the initial stage.
  • Check the advanced settings like ad scheduling, ad delivery/rotation, dynamic search ads, responsive search ads, campaign URL options, and more.

 

Understanding ad delivery/ad rotation

Ad rotation and ad delivery are crucial to business success. However, you must use this feature carefully throughout your campaign. We suggest you avoid using the ad delivery/rotation feature if you intend to run short-term campaigns. This is important because you are looking to consolidate objective data that helps determine the ad performance. Your ad campaigns will go nowhere if you don’t test the ads. Keep rotating the ads until you have tangible data and feedback. Keep an eye on performance metrics like CTR, conversions, and costs to choose a winning ad.

 

Targeting a specific location

Here’s another reason why we don’t recommend marketers to go forward without playing with the default settings. The default setting is set to capture a broader focus group. Meaning, that an ad campaign that needs to sell location-based products and services will not perform well since a broader location might attract irrelevant search queries. Make sure you tick the right boxes and enter the right location-specific information to NOT show your ads outside of your geographic coverage area.

 

Using Google Analytics for measurement

You will also want to connect your Google Analytics account to your Google Ads account. This simple step will open you to a whole new world of data and insights which will significantly improve your ad performance. You can easily import performance metrics for all your landing pages and even give you the data to run effective remarketing campaigns.

Improving the Quality Score

Lastly, you will have to work your way to improve the campaigns’ Quality Score. The Quality Score has a major impact on your campaign’s CPC. This is a score assigned by Google that helps advertisers determine the relevance of their ads and whether or not users will click on them. Moreover, the score helps calculate the cost of paying for the clicks. A quality Score is a number from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score, and 10 is the highest. Google factors in ad relevance, landing page experience, CTR, and other elements to calculate the Quality Score.

 

Key takeaways!

There you have it. We have shared the fundamentals of running ad campaigns through Google Ads. Although we only have touched on the most crucial elements of running Google Ads, you will get to work on many other minor elements and features that will boost your ad performance. So, what are you waiting for? Create a Google Ads account today and get started! Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments.