Google Ads are a great way to attract traffic to your website, but badly set up Ads can result in expensive clicks from people who are never going to engage with you or buy from you.
So, how do you get your message to more of the right people at the right time?
Optimization is the key.
8 tips for optimizing your Google Ads
1. Set your goals
When people see your Ad, what do you want them to do?
Consider your calls to action, and how you want to fulfil the promise you’ve made when they click on your Ad.
2. Craft your message
You have less than 1 second to grab a reader’s attention, so keep your content brief, powerful, and where appropriate, visual.
Consider if your message is aiming at the emotional or logical part of the brain.
People scan read. Will your message grab attention?
3. Don’t cause distraction
Clicking through to a site Home Page usually gives a reader lots more content to distract them from their original intention.
Create a landing page that fulfils the promise in your Ad, and which moves the client to the next step of your process.
4. Do your keyword research
Keywords will help you to align your Ad with the phrases people are using when they are looking for a product or service like yours.
There are a number of keyword types available within Google Ads, so consider carefully where to use “Broad match”, “Exact match” or “Phrase match” phrases to fine tune your targeting based on your goals.
5. Let Google help!
Google assigns Ad accounts with online and offline optimization advice.
Their tips are based on your goals, and how your account is performing, and where they can see potential for improvement. You can choose to accept or dismiss the advice.
6. Monitor and control your budget
Google will help you here too.
You can set an average daily budget for your campaign, and Google will provide reporting that shows what you actually spent, and how quickly you spent it so that you can make informed decisions about your spend.
Google search is auction based, so it’s important to understand the bidding process – there are 2 core types – automated bidding (smart pricing) and manual bidding which you can choose between based on your campaign goals.
7. Consider the user journey
When you are advertising, consider the difference between Brand awareness and Sales campaigns. Your tone of voice, calls to action and landing pages will be different depending on your goals.
For Brand Awareness, your reader is researching, so is looking for inspiration and advice to help them narrow down choices. For Sales, it’s about why your product, from you, right now.
8. Don’t over-do it
Google has a tool called frequency capping, which limits the number of times a given video or display ad is shown to an individual. Whilst repetition re-enforces your message to a certain extent, there is a point at which it becomes so familiar it gets ignored.
Consider the campaign options you have for each Ad Group so that you keep it fresh.
Don’t forget that you can also use negative keywords to block phrases that may sound similar that you don’t want to be found for.
Summary
Optimization is an ongoing process – remember that you are advertising in an ever changing environment. Never set and forget your Ads – a great campaign is always monitored and nurtured.
If you are interested in online advertising, and would like some professional help getting it set up and managed, we can help. Contact us to find out more.
