13 Ways To Transform Your Google ADs Campaigns From Lame Duck To Runaway Winner

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   Check Those Quality Scores

Contrary to common belief, the #1 spot doesn't go to the highest bidder. It's a complicated formula, of which Quality Score plays a vital part, and it is possible to be in the #1 slot and yet spend half as much as your competitors.

Google gives every keyword in your account score from 1 -10. This is based on many factors including the relevancy of the keyword to the add, the relevancy of the destination webpage and the click through rate of the corresponding ad.

This score is then used in conjunction with your bid, to determine a)your position and b)how much you pay.

Here's an example of how better quality score, gives an advertiser the top position at a lower price:

It's clear a higher Quality Score is extremely advantageous . . no, hold on . . .essential !

Go to your account, list all keywords, activate the Quality Score column and find those lower than a 7. They are the ones that need work.

Many of the tips in this guide will help improve Quality Score, but probably the one with most weight is getting a higher click through rate on your ads. Write better ads that get clicked. Test at least two at a time, and kill off the “loser” after both have had at least 100 impressions. Then write another ad. Rinse & repeat.

   Write Better Ads

The ad is what triggers the click. So make it count.

It is an art into itself, squeezing a great marketing message into 95 characters of a Google Ad. But it must be done.

The headline needs to contain the keyword, as this will draw the attention of the reader. You then have just a couple of lines to make an impact and get that click.

Conveying benefits and feeding the customers desire is the key. You have to get inside their head a little.

Look at this example. The first ad is a typical small business ad. The second taps into that desire for a beautiful lawn, and has a call to action.

   Get On Top Of Negative Keywords

Everyone types something different into Google, even when looking for the same thing. Look at your search term report and you will see most of that info. Google tries it's hardest to match these with your keywords, but many keyword phrases will be of no interest to you.

You can instruct Google not to show your ad, when certain words or phrases are typed in. These are your negative keywords.

For example, “jobs” “vacancies” “careers” : Add these as negative keywords, unless you are actively recruiting and don't mind job seekers clicking your ads.

“how to”, “how do I” , “how can I” are others we often add as negative keywords, as they generally don't convert well, as they are usually people looking for information rather than buying.

And then there are words specific to your business that you are not interested in.

e.g you're selling home security such as alarms but you don't sell security lights, fences or grilles.

Add “grilles”, “lights”, “lighting”, “fences” , “fencing” as negative keywords.

   Adjust Mobile Device Bids

Google allows you to adjust your bids for mobile devices, with a percentage uplift or downlift.

If your website isn't yet fully mobile friendly, you might want to consider entering -100% to ensure your ad doesn't show on mobile devices. If you find you get some sales from mobile users, but not that many, then it might be a good idea to reduce your bid by say -50%

   Use Extensions

Extensions are little add ons to your advert, that convey additional information.

In some cases, only the top placed ad will have them, but the advantage is they take up more room, and therefore give you a better chance of getting your ad clicked.

This ad features the following extensions: sitelinks, call(phone), call outs & review.

   Geo-Targetted Campaigns

If you work in a defined area (like the lawn mowing service) then you need to ensure your ad only shows for that area. That's basic Adwords.

But if you cover a wider area – perhaps a whole county or even the whole country, you can use Geographic targeting to get an advantage.

On the basis that all other things considered equal, people prefer to use local businesses, by emphasising this in your ads you can get the click.

Just set up a separate campaign for that area, with ads that emphasise your location.

In this example, the second ad subconsciously implies better service and prices because the company is local.

Note: While you can use bid adjustments (like we did with mobile) to bid more for local searches, you can't apply specific ads so we create a new campaign instead.

   Use Specific Offers

Everyone likes a deal. Making a specific offer in your ad will get you more clicks than a generic ad.

Consider what promotions, discounts or special deals you can offer to first time customers and include it in your ad.

   Retargetting

Each visitor costs you money right? So why waste them.

Retargetting allows you to show ads across Google's partner websites, after they've left your website.

Yes, I know – they are a little “stalker-ish”. Creepy maybe.

But look: they work like gangbusters.

They are extremely cost effective and they get those “lost” visitors back to your site and turn them into customers.

For most businesses, branded image ads work well. The visitor will probably not even realise they are retargetting ads (they'll just think you advertised on the Internet anyway and they are only now noticing your ads because they've recently visited your site).

   Adjust Budgets

The great thing about Google Ads is the ability to set a daily spending limit by setting a budget.

However, this can raise a problem. A low budget can affect impressions (the amount of times your ad is shown) and if your ad is shown less then it can't get so many clicks.

This can especially happen when you are new to Adwords, so play about with a larger budget initially to get the clicks coming in, then adjust it down gradually.

   Keep Adgroups Tight

An adgroup should be a tight collection of very similar keywords. This is so the ads can be very relevant to the keyword, and result in a good clickthrough rate and – you've guessed it -Quality Score!

Some say 20 keywords per ad group. Some say 10. I say as long as they are very similar keywords you'll be fine.

   Don't Let Google Touch It

At some stage you'll get a call from Google. Being ever so nice and offering to optimise, tweak and adjust your campaigns for free.

What could possibly be better than getting “inside” help, straight from the horses mouth?

No. Don't. For the love of bacon sandwiches and a frothy cappucino, don't.

Here's why:

They have some very skilled Google Ads specialists working for them. They know their stuff. But they won't ever be assigned to your account unless you're spending £10 000 per month or more.

No. You'll get an intern. Or someone who's had a months training. (Or worse, a third party, call centre employed by Google)

And while they mean well, and think they can help, they will lack understanding of your business. Not to mention advanced Google Ads skills.

I've seen businesses go from doing OK on Google Ads to spending three times as much and no enquiries. Thanks to the advice of a Google employee. (Thankfully, once I was called in, I quickly reversed the error and their phone was soon ringing off the hook).

   Track your Conversions

If there's any way you can track your sales, you must do it. This information is essential to really supercharging Google Adsfor your business. Without it you are blind.

There are many ways to achieve this. Some are easy, such as installing tracking code on ecommerce sites, some are more tricky such as recording the unique identifier variable (Gclid ) and cross referencing with new customers.

If tracking is really not possible, the fall back is to at least integrate Google Analytics data into Adwords, and import the “Time on Site (TOS)” figure. This shows the average time spent on site and can be cross referenced to each Keyword so you know which ones are resulting in customer interest and which ones are clearly not relevant.

Once you track conversions (or at least interest), you open up a treasure trove of valuable data into which we can dive and find hugely profitable revelations, such as the time of day people are more likely to become a customer, what sort of device (desktop, mobile or tablet) gets you the most customers etc.

   Let the winners run and cut your losses

Every keyword has it's own unique persona. Special characteristics.

For most people it might represent an intention to buy. Or it might mean they are just researching information. It can be hard to tell, but the data never lies.

So when you have accrued enough conversions data, you can see how expensive each keyword is proving to be, by viewing the “cost per conversion” metric. Taking into account the lifetime value of a customer to you, you can make informed decisions on which ones are just too costly to keep.

Digital Edge is a Certified Google Partner and Qualified Adwords Company.