Google Adwords. What the Dickins…? I know. If you suffer with Googlephobia creating high ranking Adword campaigns may seem impossible, but don’t worry, you’ll be pleased to know that Google Adwords isn’t as complicated as it may seem. In fact, with a few tricks up your sleeve, you can be on your way to creating successful Google Adword campaigns before you know it.
Google Adwords
So, the purpose of Google Adwords (if you’re not familiar) is to generate traffic to your website, which in turn will help generate conversions. When key search words are entered by a user on Google, the highest ranking ads that correspond with the search terms will appear at the bottom and the top of the page – the top of the page being the preferred and most beneficial position. When someone clicks on your ad, you pay Google Adwords a fee (your bid).
Google Ad Rank
It’s important to explain Google Ad Rank before we go any further. The position of your company’s ad will depend on your ad rank. This is determined by the combination of your bid (the amount you are willing to pay each time your ad is clicked on) and your quality score (determined by a Google metric based on your ad’s clickthrough rate [CTR], keyword relevance and the quality of your landing page).
Now, it’s fairly easy to create Google Adword campaigns; once you’ve logged in, followed the prompts and entered your billing information, you’re away. The tricky bit (some might say) lies in the ability to create successful Adword campaigns in terms of rankings and clickthrough rates.
Choose the right keywords
Well-chosen keywords and phrases will give your ad the best chance of being displayed to the right people. Your keywords should match the search terms customers would enter into Google to find products or services like yours. Your keywords should also match the keywords on your landing page. Your landing page must then, of course, meet the user’s expectations as expressed via their search query. To get ideas for keywords, you can use Google Keyword Planner. This is a free Adwords tool that helps you choose relevant and high-ranking words for your ads. The Keyword Planner is also useful for selecting the most relevant keywords from your own website – the quality of this will depend, however, on the quality of the content on your website.
Identify Negative Keywords
This might sound weird, but makes sense when you think about it. As a pay per click (PPC) advertiser your objective is to attract traffic that will lead to conversions. It’s therefore important to avoid key words or phrases that are too general as these may lead you to pay for clicks from people who aren’t at all interested in what you have to offer.
Once your Adword campaigns are up and running you can use Adwords to view the search terms that are triggering your ads to be displayed. Search terms that aren’t valuable to you can be added as negative keywords which will prevent your ad from being displayed when those keywords are entered.
Use all relevant ad extensions
Ad extensions are an Adwords feature that enable you to display additional information with your ad. Various ad extensions are available such as sitelinks, callout extensions, location extensions, reviews and more. Use the ad extensions that are relevant to your business to help your business stand out from your competitors.
Optimise your ad text for longer headlines
The most important part of your ad is the headline as this is the part that will most likely grab the viewer’s attention. Google now enables you to place more information in the headline where it’s most likely to be noticed. By doing this, ads have a 6% increase in CTR compared to ads with the standard headline and description. It’s important to note that headlines must be a complete phrase or sentence and end in punctuation such as a full stop or question mark.
Review
As soon as your Adword campaign is running, Adwords will start collecting data regarding the ad’s performance. You can use Adwords to see performance statistics for your campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on this on a regular basis (weekly) to see how well your ad campaign is doing and whether adjustments can be made to your ad based on the data.
Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking is a free AdWords tool that enables you to find out how many ad clicks are turning into actual customers. It can also help you identify which ad campaigns and keywords are proving to be most successful to your business. It’s a great way to review progress and make adjustments where necessary.
Final Thought
Google Adwords can be a great way of driving traffic to your website. It’s not for the fainthearted that’s for sure, but with the right knowledge, Google Adword campaigns can lead to a great return on investment. Kerrrching!