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Google Ads Best Practices

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Every second, there are 63,000 searches performed on Google, and the majority of search results pages include Google Ads. Google Ads can be an extremely effective way of driving relevant, qualified traffic to your website exactly when people are searching for the types of products or services your business offers.

What are Google Ads? 

Google Ads are paid advertisements that appear in search results on google.com or that appear on other websites through the Google Display Network. Google Ads can be an effective tool for increasing traffic or conversions, especially if you’re still waiting for organic traffic to build up through your SEO efforts. 

While Google Ads can appear to be pretty simple and straightforward, it takes a lot to build a successful ad. Each one must be precisely built to capture a spot on a Google search, drive conversions, and do it at a reasonable cost per click. 

Google Ads Best Practices 

So what things should you consider when developing and executing your Google Ads strategy? We have a few best practices that can help guide you through the process. 

  • Define your objectives – Clearly identify the product categories, services, and offers that you want to highlight. Think strategically and select the areas which are most likely to yield a positive ROI.
  • Select the best keywords – Sure, Google Ads allows you to pay for improved ranking in a Google search, but you will need to clearly define your offering with the keywords that will allow it to be picked up on effectively. Be sure to make use of negative keywords, as well, to further refine your audience and save money. 
  • Optimize your ads for natural language search – Natural language refers to utilizing everyday language for your search terms. Particularly now that voice search accounts for a greater share of overall search traffic, it is important to create ads that reflect that style of language. Not only does Google actively look to prioritize ads written in natural language, but long-tail keywords—typically written in natural language—convert up to three times more often than regular keywords.
  • Develop effective ads – Oftentimes the first contact between you and a potential customer or client, Google Ads should be specific, relevant, and enticing. 
    • Include keywords in the title of your ad
    • Insert a call-to-action because verbs have been shown to attract more clicks
    • Capitalize important words
    • Play with punctuation
    • Evoke emotion by keeping your prospect’s ideal outcome in mind
  • Create a well-designed landing page – It’s no good having well-qualified prospects click through to a poor landing page. Your landing page should use the same keyword and CTA as your ad and create a similar emotional response.
  • Target your ads – As with your keywords, you need to be selective and study your current customers and ideal audience. Luckily, Google Ads supplies useful information about users’ habits, profiles, history, etc., to help you effectively target those most likely to act on your ad. 
  • Automate your bidding – Combined with a sensible maximum spend, automated bidding gives you the best shot of a well-positioned ad, no matter your budget. 
  • Define your metrics – You can’t start an ad campaign without trying to reach certain KPIs. Define which metrics are important to you, analyze them based on context, and determine how you can gain insights from these metrics. And, of course, adjust your Google Ads based on what your metrics tell you about their performance. 
  • Stay up-to-date – Google is a technology innovator and they regularly make updates to Google Ads offerings and algorithms. Don’t get stuck using outdated tactics because you aren’t aware of updates. 

Need some help developing your Google Ads strategy and executing it? We can help. Contact us and we can help guide you through a successful campaign.