Google Ads, or as it was formerly known, AdWords, is a great way to promote your business and services. With this post, you’ll be able to understand how to run a Google Ads campaign for your business in just a few simple steps.
I’ve been running Google ads campaigns for years and in this post, I will walk you through the process of setting up an account, finding keywords that are relevant to your business, choosing which ads to run and what type of bidding strategy you want to use.
See: What Is Shopify And Why Should You Care?
And most importantly, I’ll show you how to effectively measure the success of your campaign using metrics such as Cost per Click, Cost per Conversion and Quality Score so that you can get the most bang for your buck!
What is Google Ads?
Google Ads is a service that allows businesses to advertise on Google’s search engine, YouTube and other sites. With this program, you can set up an account and create ads that show on different sites when someone searches for specific keywords relevant to your business. It’s easy to use and more affordable than many other ad programs.
Find the right account type
First thing’s first, you will need to decide what type of account you want to run a Google Ads campaign.
There are four different account types:
1) Personal Account: If you only want to run one or two campaigns, a personal account is perfect for you. It’s free and allows you to connect your personal credit card for billing.
2) Business Account: If you plan on running multiple campaigns and have an organization to represent, a business account is the best option. With this type of account, you can manage business expenses like employees and taxes from within the AdWords interface.
3) Express Account: The express account is great if you don’t have much funding available but still want to run a campaign. You can start with an annual spend limit of $10,000 per month and pay as you go until it reaches your max daily limit of $2,000.
4) Shopping Campaigns: A shopping campaign is specifically designed for retail stores who sell products in order to increase traffic by targeting shoppers who are near their location in Google Maps search results.
Determine your budget
First, you need to determine how much money you’ll be willing to spend on your campaign. When it comes to the amount of money you’re willing to spend, think about the time frame and the return on investment that you expect.
If you have a small budget, then this might not be the best way for you to go. But if you have a bigger budget and are looking for a more long-term investment, then this is a great platform for doing so.
Set up your campaign
The first step to running a Google Ads campaign is setting up your Google Ads account. It’s easy to set up an account and all you need is a Gmail or G-Suite account, as well as agreeing to the Terms of Service. Once your email has been verified with your password, you should be able to log in and start exploring the options available.
Once logged in, you can select the type of business you have from the top menu bar. This will display different tabs related to that type of business such as communication, shopping and travel. From here you want to click on “communication” and then “text ads.”
Next, you want to click on the red button highlighted below which will take you through a series of steps needed to create your campaign!
Choose your keywords
When you are running a Google Ads campaign, you need to choose the right keywords. You want to include your company name and other relevant keywords in your ads.
For example, if you are a bakery called “Delectable Pastries”, you may use keywords such as “cake”, “bakery” and “custom cakes”. This will help people find your business when they search for these terms.
To find these keywords, start by looking at what your competitors are advertising and then ask them about their strategies. Once you have found the words that best represent your business, start bidding on them!
You can also use Google’s Keyword Tool to find related keywords that might not be included in your original list.
Keyword match types
Google Ads offers a variety of keyword match types. In order to tell Google which keywords your ads should show up for, you need to choose the right keyword match type.
Broad Match: This is the default keyword matching option. It will show your ads in searches with synonyms and variations of your keyword. For example, if you are advertising for a restaurant called Seaside Grill and you select Broad Match as your keyword matching type, people searching for “Seaside Restaurant” or “Seaside Bar & Grill” will see your ads.
See: Facebook Advertisements Guide for Beginners
Phrase Match: With this match type, it’s more specific than Broad Match because it only shows when the exact phrase matches the search query. If someone searched for “Seaside Grill”, then your Phrase Match Keyword would not be triggered.
Exact Match: With this match type, only search queries that are an exact match with the words in your ad will trigger your ad appearing on the search engine results page (SERP). If someone searched for “Seaside Grille”, then this keyword would trigger your ad to appear on their SERP.
Negative Keywords: Sometimes you don’t want your ad to show up on certain words or phrases on Google AdWords. To avoid triggering these unwanted keywords, you can use negative keywords in your campaign settings.
For example, if I have an advertisement set up for my company’s new product Venti Fresh Water Filters and our competition has an advertisement set
Word order and proximity of words
It’s important to note that you should be strategic in the order of your keywords – the words and phrases that you want to target with your ads. And also, take into consideration how close together these words are on a page.
For example, if you’re selling men’s shoes, you might put “men’s shoes,” “shoes for men,” or “mens shoes” as your keyword phrase. This way Google can understand what type of content you’re looking to advertise.
Google takes into account the proximity and order of keywords on a page and will display ads that it feels are relevant to those keywords in an individual person’s search results. So make sure your keywords are closely grouped together and near each other so that Google can tell which keywords you want to target with your ads.
Keyword research tips
Keyword research is the first step to running a successful Google Ads campaign. It’s important to always be aware of what your competitors are doing and how they are targeting their campaigns.
When you conduct keyword research, you should start by looking at the competition using Google AdWords. Click on the “Tools and Analysis” tab and then click on “Keyword Tool.” You can see a list of keywords that your competitors are targeting, which will give you insight into what people are searching for and what words may work well for your own campaign.
You should also conduct some general keyword research of your own by going to https://adwords.google.com/, clicking “Tools,” selecting “Keyword Tool” and typing in a few words related to your products or services.
This will help you get an idea for search volume for certain words, as well as see which phrases might be relevant to your target audience. You can also use this same tool when setting up a campaign to see the competitiveness of certain keywords or phrases before deciding which ones to use in order to save time in future searches!
How to use keyword lists for campaigns
Google Ads allows you to use a keyword list when creating your campaigns. A keyword list is a list of keywords that are relevant and applicable to your campaign. When you create a campaign and add keywords, Google automatically creates groups of keywords based on relevancy, which then apply to all of the ads in that campaign.
For example, if I’m running an ad for my accounting business, I might put keywords like “tax preparation services” or “accounting services” in the group of relevant keywords. This will then apply this group of related words across all my ads within that same campaign. Using keyword lists in Google Ads saves time and ensures that any relevant word will be targeted within all ads in the campaign.
Choose the best ads for your business
The best ads are the ones that speak to your customers, so before you start setting up your campaign, think about what type of message you want to send. Once you’ve done that, the next step is to choose which ads and keywords you want to run in your Google Ads campaign.
The first thing you’ll need to do is create an account with Google Ads. You can do this by going to https://adwords.google.com/ and hitting Create Account at the top right-hand corner of the page.
Just follow the prompts and fill out your information and set up a payment method. Once your account has been created, it will ask you to choose a service level from Basic or Enhanced.
Ad groups and ad extensions
Once you’ve created your Google Ads account and are logged in, the next step is to create your first ad campaign. The first thing you should do is create an ad group. An ad group is a set of ads that share a similar theme or goal. In this example, we will create an ad group for our gardening business.
See: How To Promote Your Business On Google For Free
Once you’ve decided on what type of ad group to create, it’s time to add extensions. Extensions are additional features that provide you with more control over how your ads are seen online.
Some common extensions include Sitelink Extensions, Location Extensions and Call Extensions. You can also use call extensions to see which extensions work best for your business and remove any that aren’t effective so that your budget gets spent wisely.
Campaigns vs ad groups
Google Ads is made up of campaigns and ad groups. Campaigns are the umbrella of your account where you have all your ad groups in one place. You can create as many campaigns as you want, but it’s best to have a campaign for each major product or service that you offer.
Ad groups are then sub-divided into smaller categories with highly specific keywords and ads. They are like mini trucks that fit into the larger truck of the campaign. The more specific your keywords, the better your ads will be able to target your audience.
Showing ads to certain audiences only
Another reason why digital marketing is important is because you can show ads to audiences that are most likely to buy your product or service. For example, if you’re a hotel and want to reach people who are traveling for business, then you can use Google Ads to show your ads to those people who are searching for hotels in the area. You can also show ads to people who have recently visited your website or looked at reviews of hotels in the area.
You get access to all these features when you use Google Ads. This way, you could be reaching the right audience with effective messages, while not having to spend money on showing ads to people who would never purchase from your company anyway.
Choosing ads and bidding strategy
Once you know your budget, you’ll need to choose which ads to run. There are various types of ads available on Google Ads, but the two most common are text and banner ads. Text ads show up as a short headline with one or two lines of text and links to your website.
Banner ads appear at the top or bottom of search results pages and are typically larger in size than text-ads.
Choosing an ad type that is right for your business is important because it will impact how well your campaign performs. For example, if you are a local service provider that wants more call-in customers, then a banner ad might be best.
If you sell products online and want potential customers to visit your site more often, then a text ad may be better suited for you. Once you choose an ad type, you’ll need to decide how much money per click (CPC) you want to spend each time someone clicks on it (or “impressions” if you would like to pay by the number of times your ad is shown).
There are options for bidding strategy based on the amount of competition related to keywords in specific geographic locations and the estimated volume of monthly searches for those keywords.
Setting up your Google Ads Campaign
Step 1: Create a Google Ads account
When you set up a Google Ads account, you will need to enter your website address and select which country the ads will be targeting. You will also be asked to choose an account name for your ads campaign and a password for your account.
Step 2: Set campaign goals
Next, you’ll need to pick a campaign goal. This is based on how you want your business to grow. There are four different types of campaigns, with two being recommended for most businesses – Search Network Only or Search Network with Display Select Campaigns.
If you are new to Google Ads and don’t have much experience running digital marketing campaigns, then I recommend using the first option: Search Network only. It’s less expensive and easier to get started with this type of campaign.
If this is not the case, then the next best option is Search Network with display selection campaigns because it offers more opportunities for growth in terms of keywords and ad placements.
Choosing the Right Ads for Your Business
The first step in running your Google Ads campaign is to choose the right ads for your business. When you first log in to your account, you’ll see a list of all the different types of ads Google offers.
The most common type of ad is called an “AdWords text ad.” These are banner ads that show up on the top or side of search engine results pages and other websites across the web.
You can also create interactive ads with videos, images, maps and other types of media that people can click on, swipe through, or scroll over.
To set up this type of ad, start by uploading a video or image file and then writing a description that will appear next to it when it shows up in search results pages or on other websites. You can also use these interactive ads to promote a specific product or service by linking directly to your website from them.
The third type of ad is called a “Display Network ad” and these are usually shown on external websites, sometimes before the website loads fully and again after some time has passed. The advertisements you see here are based on how interested Google thinks someone might be in what you have to offer based on their browsing behavior either online or offline.
These ads can include banner ads (similar to AdWords text ads), sponsored stories (ads that appear on Facebook), or video discovery ads (ads that show up as thumbnails when you watch YouTube). You can find out more
Understanding and Tracking Performance Metrics
Google Ads has a lot of tools to help you understand the performance of your campaigns. In order to really succeed with Google Ads, it is important to understand these metrics and how they can affect your campaign.
It’s important to always track your costs in terms of cost per click (CPC) and cost per conversion (CPA). The former helps you understand how much each click on your ads is costing you, while the latter helps you understand how much each conversion is costing you. A low CPC but a high CPA means that although more people are clicking on your ads, not many are converting- so it may be time to reevaluate your ad copy or landing pages.
Quality Score also plays an important role in determining which ads will show up at the top of search results or when someone searches on that keyword you choose. It’s a rating system that Google assigns based on how well relevant and useful the content on the landing page is, including things like content quality, relevance and past user experiences with the website.
Lastly, it’s always helpful to know what keywords are driving traffic to your site because this tells you what keywords have the potential for future campaigns. A key takeaway here is that everyone has different goals for their campaigns; some want to get as many clicks as possible so they can sell more products or services, while others want more conversions so they can make more profit from each customer who finds them through Google Ads.
Setting Up Your Google Ads Account
First, you’ll need to set up your Google Ads account. You can do this by going to Google.com and clicking on the small yellow Adwords text in the top right-hand corner of the page. It will ask you to sign in with your Gmail account or create a new one if you don’t already have an account.
If you are new to Adwords and want more information on how it works, there is a great guide called “Adwords For Dummies” that walks you through everything step by step.
Once you are signed in, you’ll be taken to a screen that says “Ads and Web Search.” Click on the “+ Campaign” button at the bottom of the screen, then select “New Campaign.”
This will take you to a set up screen for your campaign where you will fill out some key information about your business including what your business does and what keywords your ad should be targeting based on what people are searching for related to your business.
Setting Your Bidding Strategy
PPC is a great way to get your business seen by prospective customers, but it’s important to choose the right bidding strategy. There are many different bidding strategies you can use on Google Ads, such as Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Conversion.
When deciding which bidding strategy to use, it’s important to keep these considerations in mind:
- What is your monthly budget?
- What is your conversion rate?
- What type of audience are you targeting?
- How much competition do you have in your niche or industry?
Ultimately, the most important factor in choosing a bidding strategy is how much you are willing and able to spend. Regardless of which bidding strategy you choose, it’s always important that you set a sensible budget so that your ads don’t get cut off before they have a chance to succeed. This will reduce wasted spending and increase potential for success.
Measuring success
When you measure success, it’s important to understand the metrics that make up your budget. You need to understand the Cost per Click and Cost per Conversion so you can figure out how effective your ads are.
Cost per Click is the amount of money you spend for each person who clicks on your ad. This metric measures how much it costs for each person to see your ad. The higher this number, the less effective your campaign is because there’s more money being spent for each user engagement with your ads.
Cost per conversion is the amount of money you spend for every conversion or sale that comes from an ad click. This metric measures how much it costs for a user to purchase something after clicking on an ad. If this number is high, then you may have a good return on investment (ROI) because there’s less money being spent to produce one sale than if Cost per click was high.
Quality Score is Google’s way of ranking ads based on quality and relevancy to search queries. It uses a 1-10 scale with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent. Once Quality Score reaches 5 or higher, then advertisers will see higher conversions and lower cost-per-clicks than those below a 5 score.
A low Quality Score can be fixed by improving the relevancy of keywords in targeting, adjustments in bids, and Negative Keyword Lists.
