The following was a two-part presentation given by Increaseo consisting of an Introduction to Google AdWords and a Workshop. The topics covered in the presentation were:

  • What is Google AdWords
  • How To Create A Campaign
    • Settings
    • Ad Group
    • Keyword Selection and Match Types
    • Text Ads
    • Ad Extensions
    • Landing page
  • Remarketing
  • Conversions
  • Advantages and Disadvantages with Google AdWords

What is Google AdWords

Google Adwords is an online advertising tool that enables businesses to target a specific audience demographic based on Google Search results.

The process is simple. Create an online ad, define whom you want to reach, and Adwords displays your ad to your chosen target audience.

Google Adwords runs on two primary advertising platforms which enable you to;

  • Run display ads on the Google Search results.
  • Run pre-roll ads on Youtube, before video and in-stream ads, displaying ads at defined intervals of a video presentation.
  • Run display ads across millions of websites across the internet.

No matter what platform you choose, or the combination of platforms, they share the same objective: Connect with your target audience, drive traffic back to your website and increase sales.

Google AdWords Networks

AdWords has two main networks: Search and Display. The networks include Google search and other Google sites as well as non-Google websites that partner with Google to show ads.

  • The Search Network reaches people who are already searching for specific goods or services.
  • The Display Network helps you capture someone’s attention earlier in the buying cycle, generally by using image ads.

Ad Formats

Ad formats let you choose how to communicate your business to your audience. Selecting the correct ad format for your campaign can ensure your ad is the most relevant and actionable for a particular customer at that moment. The different ad formats available are:

  • Text ads – Text ads are the most common kind of Search ad and includes a descriptive headline, website URL, and descriptive text like a call-to-action.
  • Ads with extensions – Ads with extensions provide additional information to your text ad, such as your business’s address or phone number.
  • Shopping ads – Shopping ads contain product and pricing information, users get a strong sense of the product you’re selling before they click your ad. They are ideal for those managing an extensive inventory of products.
  • Image ads – Image ads capture people’s attention as they browse websites in the Google Display Network.
  • Video ads – Video ads are just what they sound like — a standalone video ad or a video ad that runs inside another streaming video.
  • App promotion ads – App promotion ads send your customers to an app store to download your app or include a deep link directly to your app.
  • Call-only ads – Call-only ads allow your customers to call your business directly by clicking on your ad. They’re useful for driving phone calls to your business from devices that can make calls.
  • Dynamic ads – Dynamic ads show personalised content to customers from a feed that you control and add to your campaign.

No matter what campaign format you use, AdWords determines which ads should show with a lightning-fast ad auction, which takes place every time that someone searches on Google or visits a site that shows AdWords ads. Three main factors in the ad auction determine which ads appear, and in what order:

  1. Your bid – When you set your bid, you’re telling AdWords the maximum amount that you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad. How much you end up paying is often less, and you can change your bid at any time.
  2. The quality of your ads – AdWords also looks at how relevant and useful your ad is and the target website. The assessment of your ad is shown in your Quality Score, which you can monitor and work to improve in your AdWords account.
  3. The expected impact from your ad extensions – When you create your ad, you have the option to add additional information, such as a phone number, or more links to specific pages on your site. These are called ad extensions. AdWords estimates how extensions and other ad formats that you use will impact your ad’s performance. So even if your competition has higher bids than yours, you can still win a position higher than your competitor – at a lower price by using highly relevant keywords, ads, and extensions.

Together, these three factors determine when and if your ad will appear to potential customers.

How To Create An AdWords Campaign

Now that we’ve covered the very basics of AdWords let’s dig into how you can create a campaign and organise them to run smoothly and achieve the best results.

Let’s take a closer look at the AdWords account structure.  Each account consists of one or more campaigns, the landing page we drive the traffic to, a set of ad groups, keywords and ad extensions.

Different campaign types help you achieve your business goals, when you have decided which one to use you can then choose a more specific subtype. The different campaign types are:

  • Search Network – In a Search Network campaign, your ads can appear throughout the Google Search Network’s sites, for example, google.com or amazon.com. AdWords uses keywords to display your ads when people search for related terms. If a user searches for “dog kennels”, they will see a text ad regarding dog kennels for sale.
  • Display Network – This campaign type works by matching your ads to related websites and content as well as other placements, like YouTube and mobile apps. It’s useful for advertisers who want to generate awareness of their business and target audiences with specific interests. A user that’s shown interest in products for dogs, or has been browsing pet-related websites, will see banner ads for dog kennels.
  • Search Network with Display Select – This campaign type allows you to show your ads on the search results page of the Google Search Network and suitable placements on the Display Network.  You can also share your budget across both networks combining both text and image ads.
  • Video – A Video campaign allows you run video ads on YouTube. If you have a new series of dog kennels, you can advertise this with a video to users that have previously shown interest in your product or with interest in pet products.
  • Shopping – With a Shopping campaign type it is possible to see your ads across the web in Google Shopping, next to search results, and near text and responsive ads. This campaign type is useful for retailers.
  • Universal App – With a Universal App campaign type, you can quickly promote your app across Search, Display, and YouTube.

Right now let’s focus on setting up a Search only campaign.

Campaign Settings

Once you have selected a campaign type, you will have to look at your campaign settings and make some adjustment, the settings available are;

  • Device – In the device settings you can choose if you want to show your ads to people across all devices or target specific people using a mobile, tablet or computer. E.g. if your target market is predominantly teenagers, mobile and tablets are more relevant to you than desktops.
  • Locations – Location targeting can help focus your advertising in targeted areas and restrict ads in locations you do not.   You can restrict your ads to a country, region, or specific city, or a radius around a location. E.g. If you have a shop in Erina NSW and don’t offer online sales, you can target only Central Coast with your ads.
  • Languages – Allows you to show your ads to customers who speak a particular language, based on the user’s Google interface language settings. E.g. if you are a property developer with a sizeable Chinese customer base, you can show ads specifically to Chinese people. Your landing page can be written in Chinese to make these efforts more effective.
  • Bid strategy – AdWords offers several bid strategies tailored to different types of campaigns.  Depending on which networks your campaign is targeting, and whether you want to focus on getting clicks, impressions or conversions you can determine which strategy is best for you. The bid strategies are Maximise clicks, Cost-Per-Click, Cost-per-Impression, Cost-per-acquisition. The most common bid strategy is Maximise clicks, where AdWords manages your bids to bring you the most clicks possible within your budget.
  • Budget – By setting an average daily budget for each AdWords campaign, the system will show your ads as many times possible until fulfilling the budget. When you reach your budget, your ads will stop and will no longer be displayed that day.
  • Schedule – You can specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your ads to show and set bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bids for specific days and times. The default setting is “show ads all days and hours”. E.g. if you are a B2B company, you might want your ads only to show Monday to Friday between 8 am and 6 pm when people are at work.

Ad group

When people are searching online, and they type a word or phrase, they’re looking for information that’s closely tied to those words. For example, if someone searches for “digital cameras” and sees an ad for film reels, they probably won’t click the ad. To show ads that are relevant to the searches of the audience you are trying to reach, bundle related ads together with related keywords into an ad group. That way, all of your related ads can be shown to customers searching for the similar things.

Keyword selection

Customers take immediate action whenever they want to learn, find, do, or buy something. Let’s take a look at how keywords connect you to interested customers and how to build the right list for your campaign.

Your customers are already out there roaming the web. The trick is to have them find you. That’s where keywords come in. Keywords are words or phrases that help determine where and when your ad can appear. Building a solid keyword list enables you to reach the people who are interested in what you offer and more likely to become your customers.

So how do you create a useful keyword list for AdWords?  Consider the following;

  1. Think like a customer – think about the terms your customer might use when searching on Google. Your ideas will act as the building blocks for your keyword lists. If we use a shoe shop as an example, possible keywords can be “cheap shoes”, “latest shoe trends”, “where to buy cowboy boots”.
  2. Organise by theme – Bundle similar keywords together in one ad group based on a common theme. For example, try separating ad groups into the different product or service types you offer. Hence, don’t group keywords for “latest shoe trends” with “cowboy boots”.
  3. Specific keywords vs general keywords – If you’re targeting customers with an interest in a particular product, select keywords that match your customer’s search or the site they’re visiting. When you use highly specific keywords your ad only appears for terms that apply to your business. An example can be “where to buy cowboy boots on the central coast”, “cowboy boots for sale Gosford” and “cowboy boots for men”. Create more general keywords if you’re aiming to reach as many people as possible but keep in mind that these keywords are less likely to convert. For example, general keywords are “cowboy boots” and “cowboy shoes”, which means your ads can show up for search terms like “boots”.
  4. Keyword intent – Also consider the keyword intent when selecting your keywords. With high keyword intent, we mean words that show strong signals or a want to purchase something. For example, “where to buy cowboy boots” has a higher intent than just “cowboy boots”.
  5. Use negative keywords – Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing in searches that use terms that aren’t relevant to your product or service. Adding negative keywords can help you reduce costs and make your ad appear only for the search terms you want. For example, if you only sell cowboy boots for men, you should add “women” as a negative keyword.
  6. Use the keyword planner – The keyword planner helps you find related keywords and search phrases and helps broaden your original keyword list. It also shows the competition for a particular keyword and a suggested bid.

Keyword Match Types

You can use match types to control which variations of your keywords cause your ad to show to potential customers.

  • Broad match – are keywords and close variations such as synonyms and misspellings. The default setting in AdWords enables you to show ads to a more general audience with the least amount of setup.
  • Broad match modifier – is the same as Broad match but excludes synonyms. Benefit: more targeted, can increase clicks and conversions.
  • Phrase match – is an exact phrase and close variations. Benefit: More targeted
  • Exact match – the exact keywords, you pay only for the words you want.
  • Negative match – Searches that exclude keywords. Benefit: Prevents ad from showing on unrelated searches.

Text Ads

A text ad on Google Search is the simplest online ad that AdWords offers.  We look into how to construct these ads and what you can do to maximise their effectiveness.  Text ads are just that — ads made up of text. They are a simple yet powerful way to get your business in front of customers right when they are searching for products or services like yours. You are probably familiar with the format of the original, standard text ad. They consist of the following elements:

  • Headline – People are most likely to notice your headline text. Consider including at least one of your keywords in the headline to make the ad even more relevant to the customer’s search.
  • URL – The URL shows your website address. It gives people an idea of where they’ll go when they click your ad.
  • Description – ideal for highlighting unique details about your product or service. Be sure to include keywords that match probable search terms.

Here are five tips for effective text ads:

  1. Highlight what makes you unique – Show customers what makes you stand out from the competition. If you offer free shipping, mention it in the ad!
  2. Use a call to action – Use your description field to tell customers what they can do on your site once they click your ad. Buy now, Order today and such.
  3. Include sales terms – If you have a sale, make sure they know. Say it right in the ad.
  4. Match your ad to your keywords – Try to anticipate what customers might be thinking when searching for your products or services? Include those search words as keywords in your ad text.
  5. Match your ad to your landing page – Ensure your ad takes customers right where they can act on it. The easier it is to find, the more likely they are to purchase. If you are advertising washing machines, send the traffic to a washing machine page and not your homepage that includes all of your other products as well.

Ad Extensions

Give customers more reason to click your ad by including extra information about your business by adding ad extensions.  Ad extensions show additional information about your business by “extending” your search text ads and increasing their relevance. They boost an ad’s visibility, which can lead to better click-through rates.  If you fully utilise all of the available ad extensions it is possible your ad will fill the whole mobile screen on the SERP.

Here are some popular ad extensions:

  • Sitelinks – gives customers quick access to multiple pages of your website.
  • Call extensions – let people click a button to call you.
  • Seller rating – showcase customers’ reviews and ratings of their experience with your business.
  • Location extension – share location details – a map, a phone number, or even the distance to your business — so people can find you when they’re searching near you on relevant terms. It’s connected to your Google Business listing.
  • Structured snippets – highlight specific aspects of your products and services.

Your ad extension won’t always show. AdWords factors in a few different criteria before showing your extensions. Extensions also only appear when they’re expected to improve your campaign performance. You don’t need to pay any extra for the Ad Extension and are charged the average CPC if a user clicks on your ad extension.

Landing Page

When it comes to making an effective ad, it’s not all about what’s in the ad itself, but also your landing page experience, the target of your campaign and final destination of your traffic.

The user experience after clicking on your ad and visiting your landing page is important as it affects your Ad Rank, your cost-per-click (CPC) and your position in the ad auction.

If a user has a poor experience when visiting your target page, it can result in your ads being shown less often — or not at all! Work on avoiding that at all costs!

Here are five tips for a good landing page:

  1. Offer relevant, useful, and original content – Be specific when the user wants a particular thing. If someone clicks on an ad for a sports car, he or she should not end up on a general “all car models and makes” page.
  2. Promote transparency and foster trustworthiness on your site – Openly share information about your business and clearly state what your business does. Make it easy to find your contact information and if you request personal information from customers, make it clear why you’re asking for it and what you’ll do with it.
  3. Make mobile and desktop navigation easy – Organise and design your page well, so people don’t have to hunt around for information. Make it quick and easy for people to order the product mentioned in your ad.
  4. Decrease your landing page loading time – Make sure your landing page loads quickly once someone clicks on your ad, whether on a computer or mobile device.
  5. Make your site mobile-friendly – Test you site for mobile-friendliness and speed and find out how to improve it.

Now we have gone through a whole campaign creation. Let’s now look at remarketing and conversion tracking.

Remarketing

Online advertising is all about getting your ad to show where interested people are likely to be. AdWords brings you a rich set of targeting tools to help make this happen. Remarketing is one of them!

Whether you’re looking to drive sales activity, increase registrations or promote awareness of your brand, remarketing can be a strategic component of your advertising. It can drive return on investment (ROI) for all types of advertisers. Some of the most common remarketing strategies are:

  1. Standard remarketing – Show banner ads to your past website visitors.
  2. Remarketing lists for search ads – Show ads to your past website visitors as they do follow-up searches for what they need on Google, after leaving your website.
  3. Video remarketing – Show video ads to people who have interacted with your videos or YouTube channel.

To build a remarketing list in AdWords, you need to install a remarketing tag on your website.

Conversions

A conversion is when someone interacts with your ad and then makes an enquiry, an online purchase or a call to your business. You can then review what ad groups and keywords are generating conversions and optimise the campaign based on that.

  • CTR – Your CTR shows how often people are clicking on your ads, but doesn’t tell you how often they are purchasing from your business.
  • CPC – Cost Per Conversion tells you how much you spend on advertising to get one conversion.
  • Conversion rate – Conversion rate will tell you what percentage of those who clicked on your ad ended up purchasing.

In order to see conversions and the conversion rate, you need to install a conversion tag on your website; you can create a conversion tag in the Tools section of AdWords.

Advantages and Disadvantages with Google AdWords

Like all other things, there are advantages and disadvantages to Google AdWords. We have listed three advantages and three disadvantages below:

Advantages:

  1. Connect with customers when it matters – AdWords has a sophisticated targeting system that helps you show your ads to the right people, in the right place, at the right time.  If the customer is on Google looking for something this suggests their mood is open to purchasing opportunities or offers. Use keywords, location, demographics, and more to better meet the objectives in your campaigns.
  2. Controls the cost – AdWords gives you complete control over your budget. You choose how much you spend per month, per day and per ad.
  3. Improve performance – AdWords shows you how many people see your ads, what percentage of them click to visit your website, and even how clicks result in calls to you.  Tracking tools enable you to view sales generated on your site as a direct result of your ads. If you want to change your strategy, you can tweak your ads, try new keywords, or pause your campaign and restart it whenever you’d like.

Disadvantages:

  1. Every click to the company website is a charge to the company – even if the visitor makes a purchase or not from the site. So make every click count! Depending on the product, sometimes your visitors can be varied ranging from your competition to researchers, too fat thumbs on a mobile device.
  2. Adwords does not share competitor data – As a company policy, Google does not disclose the performance of other companies that may have the same service or product as yours. Which on the other hand can be both good and bad!
  3. Little copy space – At the max, the copy space for Adwords is 155 characters so choose your words carefully to maximise the effect.

Do not draw conclusions on whether or not AdWords is working in haste, understand, it takes time to gauge the effectiveness of a campaign. There is no sense in analysing or changing your campaign after ten clicks.  Exercise patience and wait for feedback from potential visitors and customers based on their interactions with your advertisement.  The suggested minimum for your analysis should be between 100- 200 clicks.  Depending on the keywords you chose, the level of your maximum cost per click or the strength of your competition, it may take some time to obtain your first results, as long as 2-3 weeks.

If you would like help in creating a Google AdWords campaign or would like us to review and optimise an existing campaign, you can find our contact details here.

View presentation.