Google Ads is the advertising platform offered by Google. Advertisers use it to bid on keywords and phrases that will show their ads in Google searches. It’s often called PPC (pay per click) advertising as advertisers pay for each click on their ads. You can think of Google Ads as a cake, and Google Ads Extensions, Ad Groups and Ad Texts are individual slices that makes up a part of it.
If done right, it is an effective advertising method that could return high returns on investment (ROI). All Google Ad campaigns are structured the same way, from top to bottom:
Each account can have multiple campaigns that can be separated and managed simultaneously. Every campaign can be set up differently in terms of budget, placement, and so on. Within every campaign, advertisers can set up different ad groups for that same campaign.
Those ad groups include keywords and messages that are set up specifically for different kinds of targeting. An ad group in Google Ads can only be used for one campaign, but a campaign can have multiple groups. Simply put, there are many things to consider when creating your campaign.
It’s about optimising your approach constantly to fine-tune your campaigns, and we will help guide you through that process.
Contents
Ad Groups consist of a set of keywords, different ads, and landing pages relevant for a specific campaign. A single group can have multiple ads and keywords. PPC advertising starts by creating an account, setting up a campaign, and adding various ad groups for that campaign.
Simply put, ad groups let you organise your campaign more efficiently, get better results, and test out different options.
Creating a match type duplicate group or performing match type mirroring is the practice of adding single match type terms in each group. These groups don’t need negatives with special adjustments, and they offer great results.
In most cases, Broad and Phrase Match groups offer lower results, and they are generally used for negative keyword matching. Group your keywords properly – you will have to use the Exact Match positive keywords as negative keywords and put them in Broad and Phrase groups.
This practice is also cost-effective. When your match types are separated into different groups, you can find the ones that are performing worse and turn them off.
At the same time, if you are creating a campaign that requires a lot of ad volume, you can control costs by mirroring different match types by the campaign. That’s why every campaign will have terms and groups of a single match type.
Group by Audience Targeting
Using audience targeting, you can clone groups to target different types of behaviour and different user groups. You can set audience targeting for different groups, but you can also set it for the whole campaign. This practice is usually used for high-level campaigns.
You can also use labels and filters for targeting. They allow you to report quickly on different aspects of your campaign or account in a simple way. In the end, remember that structure is not static. Make periodical reviews, especially if your website has been updated.
You should add a minimum of 3 quality ads for each ad group. Google suggest to create 3 or more to optimise ad rotation. The benefit of having multiple ads in an ad group is to allow the program to analyse your performance data and see what kind of messages work best with your target audience. To ensure great results on your whole account, you need to create ad groups that are very specific.
For example, in case you are selling sports gear and clothing, you can create different ad groups for the type of products you sell. A single group can be specialised for running shoes. Another one can be set up for tracksuits, and so on.
Adding details and specificity to your ads makes them more relevant. The more relevant they are, the better they will perform and ultimately lead to more conversions.
Establish a system on which you create your landing pages, ad text, and keyword groups. It is important for your landing pages and ad texts to be properly integrated, which will result in consistent messaging. All the landing pages and ad text should be relevant to the searches that are being made.
Text ads are a suitable marketing option for promoting services and products via Google’s Search and Display Network. The Google Network includes all of the places where your ads can be displayed, including:
The Search Network lets you display your ads on many of Google’s partner sites and Google SERP results.
All the partner websites need to meet the desired quality standards set by Google before they can get the partnership. They are reviewed thoroughly before approved. These sites are valuable marketing placements that will bring results.
Use the Search Network to boost sales because it lets you target customers who are proactively looking for services and products similar to yours.
The Display Network gives you access to over 2 million apps, videos, and websites. It lets you target potential customers based on their buying habits or location. This option is ideal for boosting brand awareness or driving more traffic to your site.
It’s also good for targeting keywords that have a lower search volume. It automatically displays ads on pages that are relevant to your products or services. However, keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the customers are actively looking for those kinds of products and services.
The headline is located at the top of your ad, and it’s the first thing potential customers see. A single ad can have up to three different headlines. The maximum length of a headline is 30 characters.
The address of your website. It also has an optional field in which you can add the name of your URL so that viewers can get a better idea of where your URL will lead them.
The description of your ad is a good place to add more detail about what you are promoting. It’s also generally a good idea to add a call to action.
Add the keywords (phrases) customers might be using in their searches. Your ad description, display URL, and headline should all include your main keyword for that ad. Be as specific as you can, and make sure to add a CTA message to convince people to check out your services/products.
Take a look at this ad example for the Grammarly writing tool:
In this case, the main keyword is “Grammarly,” and it’s highlighted within the body. However, it’s also included in the main heading and two others. The whole description gives clear information about what the tool does, and the extension headlines show the core services that are offered.
As we mentioned earlier, the headline is what people see first in your ad. In a lot of cases, it’s the only thing they see. That’s why it needs to be your punchline that gives a solution to the problem, invokes trust, and is memorable.
It should consist of two essential elements:
The headline should be as short as possible so that people can read it in a single instant, no matter what device they are using. Make sure to use numbers in your headlines. Research by WordStream has shown that headlines with numbers improve the click-through ratio by 217%.
Your offer should be new and unique. Don’t copy descriptions or headlines from your competitors. However, use them as a reference to create successful ads.
Google doesn’t like it when advertisers copy things, and they will penalise your ad by giving you a poor ad quality score. Furthermore, each unique description with your keywords lets you boost your SEO results.
When targeting different locations, make sure to create separate ads and adjust them. Your headings should also be relevant to that location. The easiest way to do this is to mention that location or the city you’re targeting.
You might offer the same services in different areas, but this doesn’t mean your ads should be the same. Each location gives you the chance to be specific and give further relevance to the ad. This is how your ads will yield better results.
To improve performance, make sure to add countdown timers. They are basically timers that show the viewer how much time they have to get a special offer. This creates a sense of urgency and lets potential customers know that they can take advantage of big discounts.
Google ads extensions are different types of add-ons that you can use to give additional information about your company. They give more relevance when used properly; by combining the right types of Google Ads extensions, your ads will perform better.
This extension can be set up to appear above or underneath your ad search. It lets you add additional pages on your site that people can visit directly from your ad. You can add these to the ad group, campaign, or account level.
They can also be quickly updated if you are adding special offers or having sales. Sitelink extensions can be scheduled with accurate dates so that they display whenever you want them to. They can be customised for mobile devices, ensuring a consistent user experience.
Google Ads also offers analytics and tracking specific to these extensions. You can see how many people have converted on your landing pages when visiting through these Google Ads extensions.
Google Ads location extension lets you add the business address of your business in your ads. That way, people don’t have to search for your location manually. You can also add a clickable phone number for mobile device searches.
They are great for local targeting as people would want to visit you right away. AdWords will also display the link of your location based on the customer’s location and search, making it great for targeting different locations if you have multiple stores.
Structured snippet extensions let your highlight the best features of products/services. They are displayed automatically by Google based on your keyword. You can add them to the ad group, campaign, or account level.
Google Ads offers several predefined headers for this purpose, along with specific details to improve results. These predefined headers include:
Make sure that your headers and values match. Example: The United States = Destination, Apple = Brand.
Make sure that your values have enough information. Snippets should be shorter so that mobile users can see them as well. Use multiple sets of headers and values to increase the chance of showing relevant extensions within your ads. The added information on snippets can increase relevance and boost your ROI.
Google Ads call extension lets you add your business phone number to ads. Customers can simply click on the number and dial you right away. Google also counts these clicks as marketing clicks. They cost the same as headline clicks.
The extension also lets you add your business hours and help customers quickly see if they can call you right away. Calls are counted as conversions with the call reporting option on the account.
Like call extensions, they allow people to send messages directly to your business when clicking on the ad. Many people don’t prefer talking over the phone, especially millennials. They prefer sending messages to ask about products or services.
These extensions are specifically designed for mobile ads. You can include a call to action to encourage people to send you a message and learn more. It’s a simple contact option for mobile users that can increase conversions.
On top of that, they are a completely free option to gain more exposure. Furthermore, these extensions can be shared across other campaigns and ad groups so that you can quickly start reaping the benefits.
These kinds of ads are displayed to mobile users. It lets them visit their mobile app through the app with your location, which is ideal for businesses looking to increase their app downloads.
At the same time, the links of the Apple Store and Google Play are automatically displayed by Google for Android and iOS devices. Apart from being able to add them to ad groups, campaigns, and accounts, these ads offer detailed reporting. A single text ad can contain a maximum of one app extension.
Also known as AdWords Highlights extension because it’s used to highlight the best offers within the ad. For example, if you have a 50% discount on buying more than two products, you can highlight this offer with the callout extension. It’s a good option for promoting your USP.
Callout extensions are free, but they are counted as clicks. You can update them without changing the ad, and there’s a lot of flexibility in terms of scheduling the updates.
These extensions also come in the form of snippets in which you can display prices that are relevant to your ads. When people are looking for products or services, they generally have a budget in mind. If they see what your prices are in the ad, they can instantly know if they want to check out your store.
Naturally, it’s best to present your best prices. This way, people will want to click on the ad, and from there on, your site can take care of the conversions.
These extensions are similar to callout extensions as they display deals within the ad. However, they are designed explicitly for promotions and deals that last for a limited amount of time. If you have a holiday season discount that lasts until the end of the month, you can use these kinds of ads.
They can be updated easily from a pre-populated list that meets almost all of the needs. You can choose if you want these ads to be displayed primarily on mobile devices or desktop.
Google Ads offers equal opportunities for everyone and maximum transparency. When you Google for your products or service, chances are you can see the ads of your competitors. However, this doesn’t mean that you should try and get your ad above theirs.
That is because you don’t know if their campaigns are successful and how much ROI they are getting from them. The first thing you need to do is learn how much traffic they are getting from their paid ads.
There are a variety of tools that let you analyse any site online. Consider SEMRush, Alexa Ranking, SimilarWeb, Ahrefs, and so on. On the other hand, since you are using Google Ads, you can also use the Google Ads Auction Insights Report to learn more about your competitors.
With this report, you can learn how you are faring against other advertisers based on an ad group, campaign, or the whole account. Here you can check essential metrics like outranking share, impression share, average position, top of page rate, and so on.
With this information, you can look for flaws in the campaigns of your competitors and create similar but improved campaigns to beat them. On the other hand, you can find untapped keywords that don’t have a lot of competition and generate results.
Learn more about tools for competitor analysis here.
Google automatically adds the Seller Rating Extension. It’s a rating snippet that’s given by Google for your service, product, or website that you are promoting with your ad. Google uses various sources to produce the rating, and if your page doesn’t qualify for it, it won’t be displayed.
Seller ratings can improve the overall performance of the campaign if you get great reviews. They do this by:
For your business to qualify for this extension, you need to have at least 150 reviews that give you a minimum rating of 3.5 stars (out of 5). Some of the sites that Google collects reviews from are:
Google Ads is a powerful tool that can reach many places and locations. Even though this is a good thing, having a too broad ad campaign won’t give you desirable results. A lot of advertisers think that setting a broad search will give better results as more people will see the ad.
Yes, this is true, but the conversion rates will be much lower, so you’ll have to pay a lot of money on your clicks without the desired returns. In your campaign setting, find the location button click on “edit” to set up better location targeting.
There are three ways you can edit location targeting:
You will notice a search bar where you can look for locations you want to target. This search will find matches of that location that include cities, postal codes, regions, and countries. From that point, you can choose to add that location, exclude it, and find nearby locations that might be relevant for your targeting.
You can choose as many locations as you want to include or exclude. Bear in mind that if you add a double location and exclude it, the previous one will not be excluded.
The radius option lets you set a radius of the location you decide to target. You need to add the distance you want to cover.
In the “Bulk locations” tab, you can add a maximum of 1000 locations within a single country to remove, exclude, or add.
Find out more on how accurate targeting can help your campaign with our in-depth guide.
Many people forget about negative keywords when using Google Ads. That’s a huge mistake because negative keywords are as important as the regular ones. But what do they do? Simply put, these keywords are the ones you don’t want your ads to show for.
After you’ve finished choosing your keywords, you should create a list of negative keywords before launching the PPC campaign. It will ensure that you pay for as least empty clicks as possible, so you will pay less for your campaign.
Add keywords during your campaign constantly. While analysing your campaign, you can spot irrelevant searches and remove them by adding the keywords they contain. Similarly to positive keywords, creating a negative keyword is an ongoing process.
They can be set up on campaign-level or ad group level. Like traditional keywords, negative keywords come in different types:
Exact Match: with exact match keywords, ads that have precisely the same phrase will be excluded. If there is the same phrase in the search, along with other words, the ad will still show.
Phrase Match: these keywords exclude searches that have an exact match phrase within them. However, they will also include searches that have any additional words.
Broad Match: all the searches that have a keywords phrase regardless of its order are excluded. Simply put, if the search has the keywords you added in any order, it won’t display your ads.
Learn more about creating negative keywords lists and boost your results instantly.
Quality Score is an important thing to look at, as it influences the effectiveness and overall cost of your campaigns. It’s a quality measurement of your ads and keywords. More specifically, it determines what the cost per click of your ads will be.
The better your score is, the more relevant and useful your ads are. For this, Google rewards you with lover CPC and ranks your ad better. At the same time, it encourages you to create quality ads instead of merely spamming people online with irrelevant ads.
There isn’t any exact information on how Google rates ads, but overall, experienced marketers suggest chasing these things:
It’s important to work on improving your quality score constantly. This will impact the level of success for all your future and current campaigns.
A/B testing is essential for an effective PPC campaign. However, many advertisers forget about their ad extensions and their relevance to the performance of the ad. Similarly to the way you should A/B test typical ads, you should do it with extensions as well.
Luckily, Google Ads offers analytics and tracking specific to each extension, making it easy to compare them when switched. Simultaneously, you can change all the extensions instantly without changing the whole ad or removing the past results.
The critical thing to remember is that you should test your ads and extension performance separately. For example, when you change the whole ad, do A/B testing without updating the extension. When you want to test extensions, make changes to them only, and wait to see how the results have changed.
Google Ads is a great paid marketing strategy. You can effectively gain reach, improve SEO, and make sales. Use the knowledge we shared about Google Ads extensions today to optimise your campaigns and improve your ROI. But remember, you have to refine your ads constantly to get the most out of them.
Don't hesitate to contact Heroes of Digital if you need help setting up your campaign, or simply want to find out more on how your business can benefit from Google adwords.
Good luck!
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