How to get the most out of your Google Search Ads account

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not new to Google Search Ads. You may have even had some success with a campaign, but you’re wondering how you can get more from your ads?

Whether you’ve had some success, or you’ve been striking out, this guide is for you! In this helpful resource, we’ll share how you can get the most out of your Google Search Ads account and create ads that perform!

What are Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising tool that allows businesses to place ads on Google and its partner websites. Ads are displayed when users search for terms related to the advertiser’s business, products, or services.

Here are a few of the benefits of advertising on Google:

• Massive reach: Google processes over 3.5 billion daily searches, allowing your business to reach a large audience.
• Targeted traffic: Google Ads allows you to target your ads to people who are interested in what you have to offer. For instance, Google will only display your ad on the search engine results page (SERP) if a user’s search query matches your product.
• Flexible budget: You can set a daily budget for your Google Ads campaigns. Google charges on a pay-per-click (PPC) model whereby you only pay if people click on your ads.
• Measurable results: Google Ads provides detailed reports showing metrics on how your campaigns perform so that you can make informed decisions about your digital marketing strategy.

Before we dive into how you can get the most out of your Google Search Ads performance, it’s important you understand why it’s necessary to spend some time optimizing your account.

Why do i need to optimize my Google Ads account?

No matter how experienced you are with Google Ads, there’s always room for improvement. Optimizing your account is the best way to improve your results and get more out of your search campaigns.

When we say optimizing, we mean making changes to your account to improve your results. This can be anything from doing bid adjustments to adding keywords, but here’s a few reasons why this is so important:

• It improves your results: By continuously optimizing your account, you can gradually improve your results over time by identifying high-performing ads, and repeating the tactics that work best.
• You can spend less on ads: Optimizing your account can help you reduce your average cost per conversion (CPA), which means you can get more conversions (or new customers) for your budget. 
• It can help you stay ahead of the competition: If you don’t optimize your account, your competitors will. And if they’re doing it better than you, they can be getting more potential eyes on their business, then you are.

8 ways to optimize your Google Search Ads account

Now that you know the benefits of using Google Ads, and why it’s important to optimize your account if you want to grow your small business, here are eight ways to get started.

#1. Make sure you’re using the right keywords for your business

The right keywords, that are relevant to your offerings and match what your target customers are looking for online, will generate the most qualified traffic. Here’s why. 

• It can improve your quality score: The relevance of your keywords helps to determine your quality score, which is a factor in how often and where your ad is shown. A high quality score can lead to lower costs per click and higher ad positions.
• It can improve your conversion rate: Relevant keywords are more likely to result in conversions (i.e. a potential customer books an appointment) because they attract people who are actually searching for your products and services.

Get started with keyword research by brainstorming a list of terms that are relevant to your products or services. You can also use Google’s Keyword Planner to get ideas and see how often people search for certain terms. This tool can also help you create a negative keyword list if you see keywords that aren’t relevant to your business.

#2. Define your target demographics

By creating ads for your target audience, you will find people who are most likely to be interested in your business. This way, you can improve your results and get more bang for your buck.

When defining your target demographics, there are a few factors to consider:

• Location: Where are your ideal customers located? Target ads to people in your service area zipcodes.
• Language: What language do your ideal customers speak? You can target ads to people who speak a specific language.
• Device: What type of device do your ideal customers use? You can target ads to people using particular types of devices, such as smartphones or tablets (if you have that data).

#3. Target specific audiences

In addition to demographics, Google Ads has additional features to target specific audiences. This is done by creating audience lists in Google Analytics and then targeting those lists with your ads.

There are a few different types of audiences you can target:

• Remarketing: This is a list of people who have visited your website before, subscribed to your newsletter or made a purchase. You can show them ads for products or services they’ve viewed on your site, or you can show them general ads for your business.
• Similar audiences: This is a list of people who resemble your remarketing list. Google uses data from your remarketing list to find other people who have similar characteristics.
• In-market audiences: This is a list of people actively researching or considering products or services in your industry.
• Custom intent audiences: This is a list of people who have shown interest in topics related to your business.

Create as many audience lists as you want and target them with specific ad campaigns.

#4. Be sure to match customer intent with your ad CTA

People who see your ad should know immediately what you want them to do. Your call-to-action (CTA) should match the intent of your customer. For example, if you’re an auto repair shop, your CTA could be “Book an appointment.” If you’re promoting a service, your CTA could also be “Learn more.”

Your CTA should be clear and stand out from the rest of your ad. It should also match the landing page you’re sending people to. For example, if your CTA is “Sign up now,” the landing page should be a sign-up form.

#5. Utilize SKAGs to control your account

Single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) are a type of ad group that contains only one keyword. This might seem like a strange way to organize your ad groups, but it can be very effective.

The main advantage of SKAGs is that they allow you to tightly control your match types. This means you can show your ad to people searching for your exact keyword and exclude people searching for similar keywords that are not an exact match. 

SKAGs also allow you to write more targeted ad copy. Since each ad group contains only one keyword, you can tailor your ad copy to that keyword. This can improve your click-through rate (CTR) and quality score.

#6. Focus on metrics that translate to your business goals

When looking at your Google Ads account, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details. There are a lot of metrics to choose from, and it can be tough to know where to focus your energy.

The best way to approach this is to start with your business goals. What do you want to achieve with your Google Ads account? Do you want to increase sales, generate leads, or raise awareness of your brand?

Once you know your goals, you can start identifying the metrics that will help you achieve them. For example, if you want to increase sales, you might focus on metrics like conversion rate and cost per conversion. 

If you’re going to generate leads, you might focus on metrics like click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC). And if you want to raise brand awareness, you might focus on metrics like impressions and reach.

#7 Always test your ads so you can see what performs best

One of the best things about Google Ads is that it’s easy to test different versions of your ads. You can create multiple ads for each ad group, and then Google will rotate them evenly. After a certain period of time, you can see which ads performed the best and then pause the other ones.

This technique is known as a/b testing. Testing various versions of your ads is a great way to check ad performance and improve your results. You can try different ad copy, messaging,  images, offers, and even change up the landing pages. Testing it for yourself is the only way to know what works best.

#8 Put your money where people are looking with geolocation targeting

Google has a “geolocation targeting” feature that allows you to target your ads to people in specific locations. This is a great way to ensure your ads are seen by people who are interested in what you offer.

For example, if you’re a local business, you can use geolocation targeting to show your ads to people searching for businesses like yours in your city. Or, if you’re selling a product only available in certain states or countries, you can use geolocation targeting to ensure your ad is only being shown to people in those locations.

BONUS: A checklist for improving your Google Search Ads account

For your convenience, we’ve put together a checklist of what you can do to improve your Google Search Ads account. Use this guide to ensure you cover your bases and get the most out of your account.

Do Once 

• Create ads that align with your business goals and objectives
• Identify the metrics that will help you achieve those goals
• Set up conversion tracking
• Create separate ad groups for each product or service you offer
• Write targeted ad copy for each ad group

Do Daily

• Check your account for any errors or warnings
• Pause any underperforming ad groups or ads
• Add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches
• Test new ads and landing pages

Do Weekly

• Analyze your results and identify areas for improvement
• Make changes to your account based on your analysis

Do Monthly 

• Check your ad spend and tweak your bidding strategy
• Analyze your competition and adjust your bids
• Review search terms reports and experiment with new keywords

• Re-evaluate your business goals and objectives, and change your ads accordingly

Do Quarterly

Take a step back and look at your account from a high level. Are you on track to achieve your goals? If not, what changes do you need to make? Quarterly updates can also be an excellent time to test new strategies or experiment with new features.

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