Google is the most used search engine in the world. Because of that, if you are considering a way to target customers that are outside of your network, Google Ads are an excellent way to do that.
Placing Google Ads, formerly called Google AdWords, is a form of Search Engine Marketing. Search engine marketing is a powerful way to increase your website traffic and sales. When you place an ad directly into the Google search engine, if a user makes a search related to your ad, the ad will appear with their results.
The benefit of search engine marketing is that the person making a related search is already interested in your product or service. This makes them a warm-to-hot lead of someone ready to buy, and your ad may point them to exactly where they can get what they need.
Here are 10 things to know about Google Ads:
1. To place a Google Ad, you do so through a Google Ads account connected to your Gmail account. This is free to set up. Here is the link.
2. Placing an ad is all about finding and using the correct keywords or phrases that are related to your product or service. When a user makes a search on Google that matches one of your chosen terms, it will serve them your ad at the top or bottom of the search results, on the side of their screen, or on a website that allows Google Ads to use their site.
3. You decide your budget. There is no minimum. When you choose your budget, you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad. This is called Cost Per Click. Once your clicks equal your defined budget, Google stops serving your ads.
4. When you place your ad, if there is a day that for some reason your keywords are receiving a lot of hits, Google may serve your ad up to 2x more on that day than on your average day. Then, it will serve it up less on another day. This keeps the ad running for the time you want, within your budget, when it is best to deliver it based on consumer behavior.
5. You can track performance results from your ad in real time. This means if you want to look every day and see which keywords are working best, you can. Then, you can refine the words and phrases while your ad is running to capitalize on what you learn about user interaction. Because of this, it is recommended you (or someone you hire) monitor the engagement to maximize your budget and impact.
6. The cost for chosen keywords can vary based on the quality of the word, meaning how popular Google thinks it will be. The words and phrases you choose for your ad should match words and phrases used on your ad’s landing page. This means the content on your website, blog, or store you are sending people to should use words consistent to the keywords in your ad.
7. You can choose “negative” keywords. These are excluded terms that you don’t want attached to your ad in an effort to save your budget for more targeted words. For example, if you sell a book on Yellowstone, the word “Yellowstone” might be a good exclusion so that people searching for a cabin in Yellowstone don’t get your ad. Instead, you might try “books on Yellowstone” or “books about Yellowstone” as keywords. This saves your budget for people that want to read about Yellowstone, not just visit it.
8. Keywords of 2-3 words tend to be most effective. The more specific you can be, the better. Using single words or general terms that might be included in thousands of unrelated searches can suck your budget and bring people not really interested in your product or service to your ad.
9. The Call to Action in your ad – the thing you want people to do – should be immediately recognizable on the page someone will land on. Move the action you want people to take to the top of your site so they see it right away. You spent the money to get them there, so make it obvious and easy for them to complete the call to action.
10. Part of the “quality score” your ad campaign is given has a few factors. One of which is the integrity of the website and Google Ad account you are linking it to. This includes the completeness of your information (phone number, address, social inks, etc.). Make sure your profiles and information are up to date so that Google sees you as legitimate and is more likely to deliver your ad.
BONUS: If you have a Google Ad that you want a performance grade on, click here. Google will give you immediate feedback on how well you did targeting it.
To learn 5 ways you can launch your business into the Googlesphere for free, click here..