With Google Ads, you can push the boundaries of advertising and digital marketing. You may wonder how. Welcome to the all-encompassing Ultimate Guide To Google Ads!
What began as Google Adwords – an online platform that offered advertising under a pay-per-click pricing model, is now a digital marketing must-have. Last year Google Ads generated ad revenue of 209.49 billion US dollars.
Initially launched in 2000, Google’s billion-dollar venture ensures you cover your target audience, enables smooth communication, builds credibility, and helps you pick a strategy that works best for your business or brand. But that’s not all, Google Ads has firmly planted its feet in the advertising world. A glance at the current stats will perhaps make things easier for you.
Key Statistics
• Average conversion rate of 3.75% across all industries.
• The average CTR for Google ads is placed at the top (7.94%)
• People are four times more likely to click on ads by Google (63%) than any other advertising network
• More than 80% of global businesses trust Google Ads for PPC campaigns
• Google shopping ads make up around 76.4% of retail search ad spend.
• Approximately 96% of brands spend money on Google Ads.
• Display ads produce 180 million impressions per month.
Google Ads is a paid advertising platform that falls under the pay-per-click (PPC) marketing channel, in which you (the advertiser) pay per click or impression (CPM) on an ad.
Google Ads is an efficient way to attract relevant traffic, or suitable customers, to your company who are looking for products and services similar to those you provide. Using Google Ads, you may boost website traffic, in-store visits, and phone calls.
Google Ads allows you to design and distribute timely advertisements to your intended demographic across mobile and desktop devices. As a result, your company will appear on SERP (search engine results page) when your ideal customers search for products and services similar to yours on Google Search or Google Maps.
Google Ads will also help you evaluate and improve those ads over time so that your company can meet all of its paid campaign goals.
If you have a limited budget or even a small search volume for the terms in your ad, maximizing clicks is the best solution.
Types Of Google Ads
Google Ads provides eight multiple kinds of ad campaigns:
1. Search – Text ads appear in Google search results.
2. Display – Image advertisements on websites or in Gmail.
3. Video – YouTube video advertisements
4. Shopping – Product listings on Google
5. App – App promotion across multiple channels
6. Smart – Automated and simplistic ads on Google and throughout the web
7. Local – Direct customers to a specific location.
8. Discovery – Displays ads in Google’s feeds when they are open.
Google Ads uses a pay-per-click (PPC) model. That is, marketers focus on a particular keyword on Google and place bids on it, competing with others who are also targeting the keyword.
Your bids are “maximum bids,” or the most you’re willing to pay for an ad.
For instance, if your highest bid is $4 and Google calculates that your cost per click is $2, you will receive that ad placement! You will not receive the ad placement if they establish that it is more than $4.
You can also specify the maximum budget for your ad. You’ll never spend more than a certain amount per day on that ad, giving you a better idea of how much you must budget for your digital ad campaign.
Google Advertisements allows you to realize the benefits of internet advertising by presenting the ads to the appropriate people, at the right time, and in the right location. Google Ads has several advantages. It helps cost-effectively target your ads.
It also offers several tools for you to easily manage and monitor your ad campaigns online. You won’t understand how to improve unless you don’t comprehend what you’re doing incorrectly. Many analytics dashboards make it practically hard to determine what that is.
Fortunately, Google simplifies and simplifies everything. Discover simple information like clicks, keyword budget, impressions, and so forth, or go deeper with a Google Analytics interface. It allows you to observe how visitors interact with your website, what they viewed, where they visited next, and how much time they spent.
Picking the right kind of Google Ads and implementing a solid bid adjustment strategy is critical to lowering your ad costs. If you’re not careful, you could probably waste your overall budget on a few clicks. Furthermore, by making the correct choices, you may take your campaign to the next level.
Merely changing the bidding strategies can result in a 142.86% increase in conversions.
There are currently 11 different types of bidding available on Google Ads for a variety of purposes.
Target CPA bidding is indeed a bidding approach for increasing conversions. If driving conversions is your primary campaign goal, Target CPA bidding will attempt to convert consumers at a particular acquisition cost.
Google Ads will automatically adjust your bids on each campaign focused on your CPA using this method. While some conversions may be more expensive, others may be less expensive to balance out and line up with your acquisition costs.
If you don’t know what your acquisition costs are, target CPA bidding can be difficult. Your CPA is the amount of money you can manage to spend on acquiring a single customer.
For example, if you sell a $50 product, you should not set your target CPA at $50. When the goal is to profit, that would be breaking even.
When you choose this bidding method, you can enter your desired CPA and you’re ready to go!
Target ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)
Target Return on Ad Spend is a bidding strategy that confuses most people.
Why? Because it necessitates some math. Yes, math is the dreaded, horrible subject that most marketers avoid. Unfortunately, math is required for this one.
Target ROAS is a bidding strategy in which Google Ads sets your bids to maximize conversion value according to the return you desire on your ad spend. This figure is a percentage.
Let me provide an example:
You want to start generating $10 for every $2 spent on your next Google Ads campaign. To determine, just use the following formula:
Target ROAS = Sales ad spend x 100%
Maximize Conversions is one of the most basic bidding strategies available in Google Ads.
Google will automate your bidding using the daily maximum budget that you set to get you the most conversions for your payment.
For instance, if your daily budget is $50, Google will allocate it wisely to maximize conversions.
Google will not bid on a single conversion if it costs $50.
Before using this bidding method, make sure you’ve set a reasonable daily budget amount that you’re willing to spend.
Evaluate your return on investment at the end of a campaign to see if increasing conversions lead to profitable sales. You don’t have to enter any information during setup if you use this strategy (aside from your daily budget).
New: Maximize Conversion Value
The maximize conversion value strategy was added in August 2019 and is the platform’s newest bidding strategy.
It works similarly to Target ROAS in that the Google Ads algorithm attempts to maximize the return on your ad spend. The difference is that you don’t have to specify a target ROI; instead, you simply let the algorithm do its best to maximize all of your ads spend.
In a nutshell, it is a cross between manual and intelligent bidding. You specify the starting CPC for your ad groups and keywords, but still, the algorithm optimizes them.
Google reserves the right to adjust your bid amount based on the likelihood of driving the sale. Bids will be averaged at your maximum cost-per-click settings. If a search is overly competitive and CPCs are exorbitantly high, Google may lower your bid to save money due to a lower likelihood of conversion. If increasing bids is an easy way to steal, Google will make the decision.
Both the Search and Display networks support this type of bidding. You can instruct the algorithm to improve your set bids based on a fixed number of conversions or to optimize for conversion value.
This will only work if you’ve set up multiple Google Ads conversions with different values, or if you’ve set up dynamic conversion events that monitor the total value of a sale.
Most eCommerce solutions, such as Shopify or WooCommerce, allow you to set up dynamic conversion tracking.
Maximize Clicks
Maximize Clicks is an automated bidding strategy that is based on your daily maximum budget. With your daily budget, Google Ads will strive to generate however many clicks as possible.
It does not take into account the quality or relevance of the traffic and is not suitable for driving sales or other conversions.
If you have a limited budget or even a small search volume for the terms in your ad, maximizing clicks is the best solution.
Manual CPC Bidding allows you to have better control over your bidding strategy. However, having more control means spending more time tracking costs and making adjustments on your own.
If you aren’t familiar with Google Ads, this strategy isn’t for you.
Manual CPC is when you set your bids for different ad groups or keywords. If certain search terms outperform others, you can adjust quickly the budgets to add or remove money from other campaigns.
Manual CPC is a lot of work if you have a diverse campaign with a lot of ad groups and keywords. You may also find yourself bidding on a large number of clicks that are unlikely to convert.
Google has the enhanced CPC option checked by default, so uncheck it to truly select manual CPC.
There will be a warning that the campaign may result in poor performance, but if you have no data to work with or a very limited budget, it may be the best option.
CPM Bidding (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)
CPM, or Cost per Thousand Impressions, is a bidding strategy that is exclusively based on impressions.
The only available option is on the Display Network and YouTube Ads and cannot be used on the Search Network (for obvious reasons).
vCPM Cost Per Thousand Viewable Impressions
vCPM bidding is a manual bidding strategy that is best suited for brand awareness campaigns.
It is reserved for the Display Network and YouTube Ads, just like CPM bidding.
This bidding type limits your maximum costs to 1,000 viewable impressions. After 2 seconds of a video ad on YouTube or 1 second of a display ad on the Display Network, it counts as a viewable impression.
Cost-per-view Bidding (CPV)
Cost-per-view bidding is only available for video advertising on Google Ads, but it can be used on the YouTube Ads platform as well. CPV bidding allows you to pay for video views or interactions.
Interactions on YouTube can take the following forms:
- Clicks on calls to action
- Clicks on the overlay
- Cards
- Banners for companions
A “view” is determined by the length of time someone watches your video ad, also known as the duration. In this case, with CPV bidding, a view is recorded when someone watches 30 seconds of your ad, your entire ad if less than 30 seconds, or whenever they interact with your ad!
The default bid setting for YouTube Ads is currently CPV.
Let me give you a quick demonstration of how it works. To begin CPV bidding, enter the highest bid you’re willing to pay for a view or interaction. This is referred to as your maximum cost-per-view.
For example, if you set your maximum CPV to $0.25, you’d pay no more than 25 cents when a user watches your ad or clicks on your call to action.
So, how do you decide what your CPV should be?
- Begin slowly and adjust as needed based on your results.
- Prioritize increasing your quality scores and ad rank, as these will lower your cost-per-view, allowing you to pay less for better results.
Target Impression Share Bidding
Target Impression Share is a new bidding strategy introduced by Google Ads in late 2018.
This smart bidding strategy is aimed at increasing brand awareness and reaching as many people as possible.
For instance, if you want to dominate impressions for specific keyword searches, such as basketball shoes. Enter your desired impressions percentage.
Remember that the % impression share is a goal that is influenced not only by your bids but also by the quality score of each Google ad group and ad.
Even if you aim for 90% or 100%, you’re unlikely to achieve that without drastically overpaying for views and clicks.
Impression counts do not guarantee that your ad will be seen or clicked because it may appear in a lower ad position. Target Impression Share is typically used for your own branded search campaigns and a small number of key search terms for your brand.
How To Optimize Landing Page For Google Ads
- Affinity segments: Reach out to people based on their passions, habits, and interests.
- Custom segments: By adding relevant keywords, URLs, and applications, you may target your perfect audience.
- Demographics: Reach out to users based on long-term life facts.
- Life events: Reach out to consumers while they are in the midst of significant life events.
Reach out to users based on their most recent purchase intent. - Your data segments: Reach out to users who have interacted with your company.
- vWebsite and app visitors: Reach out to folks who have visited your website or apps.
- Customer Match: Reach out to your existing customers using CRM data.
Reach out to new individuals who have similar interests to your website visitors or existing clients.
Types Of Ad Targeting In Google Ads
To comprehend Google’s audience targeting capabilities, divide them into four categories:
- Google’s demographics – Demographics, in-market, affinity, and life events are all detailed.
- Your data sections – Similar audiences, remarketing audiences
Individualized segments- Search term, website, and app-based - Other sections – Segments were combined, targeting was optimized, and the audience was expanded.
Best Google Ads Practices For Business Boost
Are you sure that you should start using Google Ads? Good. Starting is straightforward, but there are several stages involved. Here’s how to set up your own Google Ads campaign step by step.
Go to the Google Ads homepage first. Click ‘Start Now’ in the upper right-hand corner. You’ll be told to check in with your Gmail account or build a new one. After signing in, you will be directed to a screen that allows you to submit your brand name and site. Anyone who clicks on your ad will be directed to the URL you provide.
Now create a creative ad that is capable of capturing your audience.
You can decide where you would like your ad to display on the next page. Whether you’re unfamiliar with keyword research, we suggest starting with the ones Google already suggested. After you’ve selected the right keywords, click ‘Next.’ You can decide where you would like your ad to appear on the next page. It could be close to your house or elsewhere. You can also use Google’s budget options or create your own here.
What Are Google Ads Extensions?
Google Ad extensions are extra assets that are added in real-time to your Search ad placements when they show on results pages. They give more information to your ad viewers and aid in the development of your advertising to provide the best audience experience possible.
Google Ads Reports
Google Ad Reports are performance measures that determine the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. The reports may include information about how many people visited your ad and who clicked on it. These analytics then provide insight into what is working well and what isn’t with your ad campaign. The stats might help point up any problems with your marketing efforts. For example, if you are not reaching the correct sort of person, if you are not converting those you are reaching, or if you are just not reaching a large enough number of people.
Contact us for your google Ads or PPC projects
Deepak Wadhwani has over 20 years experience in software/wireless technologies. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Intuit, ESRI, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Nortel, Microsoft and Oracle in over 60 countries. Deepak has worked on Internet marketing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange Country, Denver, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, San Francisco and Huntsville. Deepak has been a founder of technology Startups for one of the first Cityguides, yellow pages online and web based enterprise solutions. He is an internet marketing and technology expert & co-founder for a San Diego Internet marketing company.
