After creating a Google ads account, when it comes to running successful Google Ads campaigns, one of the key metrics that advertisers focus on is the return on investment (ROI). Maximising ROI means getting the most value from your ad spend and generating a positive impact on your bottom line.
In this article, we’ll explore various strategies and best practices on how to improve Google Ads ROI, ranging from keyword research and ad copy optimisation to campaign tracking.
Why do businesses spend billions of dollars on Google ads marketing campaigns?
Increased Visibility
Google ads provide businesses with the opportunity to increase their online visibility by appearing at the top of Google search results. This helps businesses reach a larger audience and drive more traffic to a landing page, and websites, potentially leading to increased sales and revenue.
Targeted Advertising
Google ads search campaigns allow businesses to target their ads to specific keywords, locations, demographics, and interests, ensuring that their ads are shown to the most relevant audience. This helps marketers optimise their cost of advertising by reaching potential customers who are more likely to be interested in their products or services.
Cost-effective Advertising
Google ads operate on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, where businesses only pay when someone clicks on their ads. This digital marketing channel allows businesses to have better control over their advertising budget and ensures that they only pay per actual click, making it a cost-effective advertising option.
Measurable Results
With Google ads, businesses get detailed analytics and reporting, allowing them to measure the performance of their ads and make data-driven decisions to optimise their campaigns. This helps businesses track where their ROI is heading and understand the effectiveness of their advertising efforts. Both the platform for Google ads campaigns and Google analytics offer an abundance of information regarding the search campaign metrics. Knowing how to use the tools available in the Google ads system will elevate the net profit of your ad campaigns!
Flexibility and Customisation
Google ads offer businesses flexibility in terms of ad formats, ad placements, ad groups and budgeting options which allows you to customise your ads based on marketing goals, target audience, and budget.
The very first step? Yes, you guessed it right! Use highly targeted keywords in the Google ads
Using the keywords that are highly targeted is a crucial strategy to improve Google Ads ROI in your search campaigns. By focusing on specific, relevant keywords that are highly relevant to your business and target audience, you can attract high-quality traffic that is more likely to convert into customers while keeping your advertising costs at bay!
Which types of keywords do you need to put in the ads?
When selecting your keywords, consider the intent behind the search queries to ensure you’ll target the potential audience in Google ads. Look for the keywords that reflect a strong intent to purchase or take a desired action, such as “buy,” “best,” “review,” “near me,” and “free shipping.”
These keywords are more likely to attract users who are actively looking to make a purchase or take a specific action, such as clicking on a link to your landing pages, making them more valuable in terms of driving conversions. Make sure to use Google analytics and the keyword explorer tool prior, to understand what keywords are popular. Keep in mind that while some keywords are favoured by the users, others are favoured by the Google algorithm. There is also a difference between keywords for desktop and mobile traffic, Google determines what works best where.
Create compelling ad copy to increase conversion rates
Writing compelling ad copy that is both relevant to the user’s search query and attention-grabbing is a crucial strategy to increase your Google Ads ROI. Your ad copy serves as the first impression for potential customers and plays a vital role in enticing them to click on your ad over competitors’ ads. High quality ad text that includes both actual search terms and a target keyword, also helps to boost your ad rank.
How to pull off a great ad copywriting job?
To create effective ad copy for any digital marketing channel, it’s important to understand the intent behind the user’s search query. What are they looking for? What problem are they trying to solve? Incorporate relevant keywords into your ad copy and into a landing page that directly relates to the user’s search query. This helps to maximise relevance and shows users that your ad is directly addressing their needs.
Moreover, use persuasive language, highlight the unique selling proposition (USP) of your products or services, and provide clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage users to take the desired action, whether it’s clicking on your ad, making a purchase, or filling out a form.
Using negative keywords is one of the most effective ways to avoid wasted ad spend
Negative keywords are search terms that you specify to prevent the ads from appearing for irrelevant searches. By excluding these irrelevant searches, you’ll be able to improve your quality score and save money on clicks that are unlikely to result in conversions. This transforms your marketing campaigns, and focus your ad spend on more relevant and profitable searches.
One of the key benefits of using negative keywords is that they allow you to refine your targeting and ensure that your ads are only shown to users who are actively searching for what you offer. The results is reduced advertising costs and overall improved search campaign metrics.
For example, if you run a campaign to sell luxury watches, you may want to exclude searches for “cheap watches” or “used watches” as they are not likely to convert into sales for your high-end products. Check out the search terms to get an understanding of when your ads are shown, and exclude irrelevant word, and add the keywords relevant to your business.
Another advantage of using negative keywords is that they help you to improve the relevancy and quality of the ads. Irrelevant clicks not only waste your budget but also negatively impact your ad performance metrics, such as click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate.
Besides that, data shows that Google advertising has an average CTR of 2%. With accurate targeting, and well defined ad groups, 10% is within reach as well. A higher CTR often leads to better conversion rates (if your landing page content keep same high standard), better ad relevance and ultimately increased net profit.
Set realistic bids to get a significant number of conversions
Bidding is the process of setting the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. By being strategic with your bids, you can optimise your ad spend and achieve a better ROI in your ad campaigns.
One of the key factors to consider when setting bids is finding the right balance between competitiveness and cost-effectiveness. Bidding too low may result in the ads not getting enough visibility and clicks while bidding too high can quickly eat up your budget without necessarily translating into better results. It’s important to maximise clicks or conversions within your budget.
Google Ads offers several bidding strategies
Manual Bidding
Manual bidding enables you to set bids manually for each keyword, ad group, or campaign, giving you full control over your budget.
Automated Bidding
Automatic bidding uses machine learning to adjust bids based on historical data and campaign goals, allowing for more efficient bidding.
Target Bidding CPA
Target CPA bidding sets bids based on your desired cost-per-acquisition, allowing you to improve your ROI by getting conversions at a specific target cost.
Test and refine to deliver high-performing ads
One of the most important aspects of optimising your Google Ads performance is regularly testing and refining the ads. Therefore, you should experiment with different ad formats, headlines, descriptions, and CTA to ensure which variations perform best. According to Hubspot, personalised CTAs Outperform Standard CTAs by 202%.
Leverage A/B testing
A/B testing, where you create multiple versions of an ad and compare their performance, can be especially valuable in identifying winning ad copy that resonates with your target audience. By continuously refining the ads based on performance data, you can improve their relevancy, click-through rates (CTR), and ultimately, conversions, leading to a higher ROI.
Moreover, Google estimates that for every $1 an organisation spends on advertising, they make $8 in profit. This indicates that they think their advertising system yields an 8:1 ROI.
Similarly, testing and refining your keywords is crucial to increasing your Google Ads ROI. Regularly review the keyword performance metrics, such as click volume, conversion rate, and cost-per-click (CPC), to identify underperforming or irrelevant keywords that may drain your budget without delivering results.
Consider adding new, more relevant keywords and removing low-performing or irrelevant keywords to optimise your keyword targeting.
Ensure your landing pages are relevant, compelling, and optimised for conversions. Continuously test different landing page elements, such as headlines, calls-to-action, forms, and overall design.
Use exact match keywords in order to improve Google ads ROI
Exact match keywords are a type of keyword match type that allows the ads to be triggered only when someone searches for the exact keyword phrase you’re targeting, without any additional words or variations. This can be a powerful tactic to attract highly targeted traffic and avoid spending money on irrelevant clicks.
By using exact match keywords, you can also avoid wasting your budget on clicks that are unlikely to convert. When using broader match types, such as broad match or phrase match, the ads may be triggered by a wide range of search queries that are loosely related to your target keywords. This can result in clicks from users who may not be interested in your product or service, leading to a wasted budget and lower ROI.
Use ad extensions if you want your ads to appear on top with Google ads
Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that can be displayed with your ads, such as phone numbers, location details, and other relevant information about your business. Utilising ad extensions is one of the efficient ways to increase click-through rates (CTR), conversions, and ultimately ROI.
In addition to providing valuable information, ad extensions can also increase the visibility and prominence of the ads on the search results page. Ads with ad extensions typically take up more space on the search results page, pushing down your competitors’ ads and making the ads more prominent. This increased visibility can lead to higher click-through rates and more opportunities for conversions, resulting in a higher ROI.
Optimise ad scheduling for your Google ads is essential
One important aspect to look at is the timing of your ads, as it can greatly influence the effectiveness of your campaigns. By reviewing your campaign performance data and identifying the times of day and days of the week when the ads perform best, you can make strategic adjustments to improve your return on investment by ad scheduling.
Moreover, this allows you to gain insights into when your ads are generating the most clicks, conversions, and other key metrics. Analysing this data can help you identify patterns and trends in the performance of the ads over different times, allowing you to make data-driven decisions on when to schedule the ads for optimal results. All you need is to invest some time on Google ads to measure the performance of your landing page, and your quality score,
It’s easy to use remarketing if you want to target each one of your potential previous visitors/buyers
It allows you to show targeted ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your brand in some way, such as interacting with your social media accounts or signing up for your newsletter.
What is the benefit of using remarketing for any digital marketing channel?
Remarketing can help you stay top-of-mind with potential customers who have already shown an interest in your business, and increase the likelihood of converting them into paying customers.
With remarketing, you can create custom audiences based on different criteria, such as your landing page or website visitors, app users, or past purchasers. You can then create tailored ads specifically designed for these audiences, delivering highly relevant and personalised messages to potential customers.
By segmenting your remarketing audiences based on their behaviour, you can deliver highly relevant ads that are aligned with their specific interests and needs, increasing the chances of conversion and lower costs per click.
Test different ad formats to increase your Google ads ROI
Google Ads offers various ad formats, including text ads, image ads, and video ads, each with its unique benefits and characteristics. By testing different ad formats and creative elements, you can identify the ones that resonate best with your target audience and drive higher engagement and conversions. These are the top Google ads formats you need to know:
Text Ads
Text ads are the most common ad format in Google Ads and allow you to create concise, compelling ad copy that appears in search results. They are effective for capturing users’ attention and driving click-throughs to your website. However, text ads may have limitations in terms of visual appeal and storytelling.
Image Ads
Image ads, on the other hand, provide the opportunity to convey your brand message through compelling visuals. You can use images, graphics, and other visual elements to create visually appealing and attention-grabbing ads.
Video Ads
Video ads are another powerful ad format that allows you to tell a story and engage users through sight, sound, and motion. You can create engaging video ads that showcase your products or services, tell a story, or evoke emotions.
Use bid adjustments
By optimising your bids for specific segments of your audience, you can maximise your ad spend and achieve better results from your campaigns.
One key factor to determine when adjusting digital marketing bids is the device. Users may have different behaviours and preferences depending on whether they are searching on desktop, mobile, or tablet devices. Analysing the performance data of your campaigns can reveal insights into which devices are driving the most clicks, conversions, and revenue for your business.
No need to remind you that location is important!
Location is another important factor you should determine when adjusting bids. Different geographic locations may have varying levels of competition and customer value for your business. You can review the performance data of your campaigns by location to identify regions or areas that are driving better results.
For instance, if you find that a specific city or region is generating high-quality leads or conversions, you can increase bids for that location to capture more of that valuable traffic.
Don’t neglect the time of the day
Time of day is another crucial factor to focus on when adjusting bids. Analysing the performance data of your campaigns by the time of day and day of the week can reveal patterns and trends in user behaviour.
You may notice that certain times of the day or days of the week drive higher engagement, clicks, or conversions for your ads. Based on these insights, adjust your bids to control your ad spend during those high-performing time periods.
If you serve B2B businesses, here’s the ultimate B2B growth marketing guide!
Lastly, when it comes to optimising your Google Ads ROI, one crucial factor to determine is the cost of goods sold (COGS). COGS refers to the direct expenses incurred in producing or acquiring the goods or services that a business sells. Managing and optimising your COGS can have a significant impact on your overall profitability and, consequently, the Ads ROI.
PRO TIP: Create top-notch landing pages
The Quality Score, a metric used by Google to assess the relevance and quality of ads and landing pages, plays a significant role in determining the cost and effectiveness of Google ads. By creating better landing pages, marketers can improve Quality Score and can get higher ad rankings, lower costs per click, and a higher ROI.
The factor that impacts Quality Score is the relevance of the landing page to the ad and the user’s search query. Businesses should ensure that the landing page aligns closely with the ad text and the keywords being targeted. Naturally, the better the landing page, the more conversions you will get! Also don’t forget to track conversions so you have a clear image of what is working, and what’s not. In order for Google’s algorithm for conversion optimisation to work, and to calcuate ROI, use a GTM container to set up tracking.
Conclusion
In an ideal world, every Google Ads campaign would generate sky-high conversions and money. However, in reality, how much ROI is desired and achieved depends on strategic planning and continuous optimisation.
In conclusion, Google Ads is a dynamic and ever-evolving platform, and staying on top of your campaign performance is crucial for maximising your ROI. Treating Google Ads as a living organism that requires constant attention and optimisation will lead to better performance and results.
With the right strategies, it’s possible to fix every performance gap and improve your campaign results
Regularly analysing data, such as performance metrics, user behaviour, and market trends, every few days can provide valuable insights and help you identify areas that need improvement. In most cases professional paid media optimisation pays for itself in terms of better ad performance.
