Terms like Google ads or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) are not new for business owners. Everyone invests in paid advertising to achieve different business goals, from small-scale businesses and startups to major brands. Businesses worldwide are expected to spend $ 164.6 billion on paid advertising in the year 2022.
These numbers might seem fascinating, but the process behind paid advertising is more complex than you think. You need strategic planning to achieve your business objectives with Google Ads. Otherwise, you will end up wasting your significant time and money with zero outcomes.
In this article, we will be discussing Google Ads Strategy that can take your business to the next level.
What are Google Ads strategies?
Google Ads is a popular platform used by businesses for running paid online ads to promote and sell products and services. But things are not as simple as we think. There are lots of things that you should know about how google ads work.
To run a successful ad campaign and gain the expected results, you need to follow some practices which are known as strategies. Using the right strategy, you can achieve your business objectives by spending the minimum of your budget.
However, before discussing the Google Ads Strategy, let’s first have a look at 3 core principles of Google Ads that also show the benefits of using the Google Ads platform.
What are Google Ads’ 3 core principles?
☇ Relevance
Google has a clear goal to show the most relevant information about what its user has searched for. A similar principle applies to Google Ads. A Google ad will only appear to the most relevant viewers, who can be your potential customers.
☇ Control
The second principle is about the control you can have on the platform and the ad campaigns you run. Google Ads platform gives you leverage to modify your ad campaigns at any time and your convenience.
☇ Results
With different tools of Google Ads, you can track and analyze the permanence of your ad campaign. Moreover, the ‘pay-per-click’ signifies that you have to pay for the results you get from the Google Ads you run.
How to create Google advertising strategies?
⇒ Define Your Objective
The very first strategy for running an ad campaign that pays back well is to be clear about the goals you want to achieve. Different business objectives require different plans of action, making it crucial for a business owner to define objective/s before starting with the ad campaign.
Depending on different factors, your marketing objective can vary. For example, the marketing objective of a newly established business can be brand awareness and reach, while for an old business it can be sales or leads. The first step for a Google Ad campaign is to choose a suitable marketing objective for your business.
⇒ Select Ads Type
After you define your marketing objective you have to select the type of ad you want to run. Because depending on the marketing objective and your targeted audience, the type of ad may vary. Google Ads provides different ad types –
↳ Search Ads – For running the ad on the search results when someone searches for the product or services you offer.
↳ Performance Max – To run your ad across all the google ads platforms like the web, Gmail, Youtube, shopping, and discovery through a single ad campaign
↳ Display Ads – To run your ads in the form of images and videos on different websites.
↳ Shopping Ads – To display your products when someone searches for them.
↳ Video Ads – To show your ads in video format on Youtube and other web platforms.
↳ Discovery Ads – To show your ads to a wide range of audiences across the Google platforms like email, youtube, and browsers.
↳ App Promotions Ads – To show your ads to a wide range of audiences across the Google platforms like email, youtube, and browsers.
⇒ Create A Budget
The concept of a budget is a bit different in the case of Google Ads. Since you are paying per click, you will have to make changes in your daily budget depending on factors such as your targeted location, keywords, and competition in your industry. However, it does not mean you have to pay more for Google Ads.
Budget creation for Google Ads is a systematic process of deciding how much you should pay to get maximum return on investment (ROI). Since every click you get on your ad can not be converted into a sale. Depending on your industry’s average conversion rate, you can create your budget.
Let’s understand this with an example. Suppose you have a daily budget of $100 and you target a keyword with a cost of $10, you are likely to get only 10 clicks in a day. On the other hand, if you target keywords with a cost of $1, you will get 100 clicks in a day. So the chances of conversion also increase.
⇒ Conduct Keyword Research
One of the crucial factors for a successful Google Ad campaign is the choice of keywords. The keywords you select can make or break your campaign. And as we discussed earlier, keywords also affect your daily budget and the conversion rate.
Now the question is, how can you select the right keywords for your ad? There are several tools for identifying the right keyword, but the Google Ads platform provides an effective tool for keyword research called Keyword Planner. You can find the keyword planner in the tools and settings tab.
By using the Keyword Planner tool, you can research keywords based on average monthly searches, competition, and cost. It helps you find the bunch of the most relevant keywords that can perform best for you.
Small businesses that don’t have much brand awareness are always recommended to use keywords with high search volume, low or medium competition, and lower cost per click.
⇒ Select Bidding Strategy
Selecting a bidding strategy is another crucial factor in Google Ads. Since Google Ads platforms work on the auction system and the campaigns with the best bids are likely to get maximum results.
Depending on the marketing objective and targeted audience, Google provides you with two bidding options –
↳ Manual Bidding – where you can control the cost-per-click (CPC)
Manual bidding includes Manual CPC where the user has control over the CPC for each ad group or individual keywords.
↳ Automated Bidding – where Google controls the cost-per-click (CPC)
To achieve different marketing goals, Google provides different options for automated bidding that include –
- Target CPA
- Target ROAS
- Target CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions)
- Maximize Clicks
- Maximize Conversions
- Maximize Conversion Value
- Maximum CPV (Cost Per View)
- Maximum CPM
- Enhanced CPC
- Viewable CPM
- Portfolio Bid Strategies
⇒ Create Ad Groups
The next thing you have to do after setting a bidding strategy is creating an ad group. An ad group is a collection of one or more ads that has a similar objective. Ad groups also contain different keywords that have a common theme.
Let’s take an example. Consider you are a home remodeling and renovation service provider, and you provide remodeling services for home exterior, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. So you can create different ad groups considering different keywords like kitchen remodeling or bathroom remodeling.
⇒ Create An Ad Copy
This is the most crucial factor of your Google Ad campaign as it is something that will be visible to your viewers and depending on that they will decide whether to take an action or not.
No matter whether you create an ad in text, image, or video format, the content in the ad must be relevant, engaging, and beneficial for the viewer to take the necessary action like call, click, or purchase.
An ad copy must include the targeted keyword, unique headlines and descriptions, benefits, and a clear call-to-action (CTA).
⇒ Design a Landing Page
It is the page where a user is redirected after clicking on your ad. So a landing page must be in its best form. Even though the landing page is a part of the website, it is different from the other pages.
For instance, a homepage includes lots of information and provides different tabs for action. But a landing page is designed with the objective of conversion or sales; so it includes information about a product or service and includes only one CTA tab.
The necessary factors for an attractive landing page are eye-catchy headlines, engaging copy, clear CTA, and appealing design. You can also check the perfect landing page design checklist.
⇒ Include Ad Assets
Assets, formerly known as Ad extensions are something that gives more information about your ad. With the help of different extensions, you attract, engage, and convert viewers. Extensions can make a huge impact on your click-through rate (CTR) Different extensions serve different purposes. Let’s have a look at them one by one.
- Sitelink Extension
- Callout Extension
- Structured Snippet Extension
- Call Extension
- Lead Form Extension
- Location Extension
- Affiliate Location Extension
- Price Extension
- App Extension
- Promotion Extension
⇒ Keep Analyzing The Performance
There is no fixed mantra for an ad campaign that can give you maximum returns. You have to keep analyzing the performance of your campaigns and optimize your campaign accordingly. Because one strategy doesn’t need to work every time for you. With the trial and error method, you can achieve your business objectives.
Based on factors like Clicks, CTR, CPC, Impressions, and Conversions, you can study how your ad campaign is doing. You can compare the actual results with desired results and can optimize your Google ad strategies.
