The Ultimate Google Ads Guide for ROI Success

Types of Google Ads and When to Use Them

Google Ads has evolved over the years, now offering a wide array of ad types to help businesses reach their audience effectively. Each ad type is designed with specific goals and audiences in mind, allowing advertisers to tailor their approach based on campaign objectives. Here’s a breakdown of the most popular types of Google Ads and when they’re best used.

1. Search Ads

Search ads are among the most common types of Google Ads, appearing at the top of search engine results pages with a bold “Sponsored” label. These text-based ads target keywords relevant to the user’s search intent, making them ideal for reaching users who are actively searching for products or services. Responsive search ads, a popular option within search ads, allow you to input multiple headline options and descriptions. Google’s AI then assembles these into the best combination for each search, maximising relevance.

• Best for: Businesses targeting users with high purchase intent.
• Specs: Include up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for optimal flexibility.

2. Performance Max Ads

Performance Max campaigns utilise Google’s AI to deliver ads across multiple Google platforms, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Gmail. These ads combine various formats and data inputs, such as audience insights and custom assets, to reach a broad yet targeted audience. Performance Max campaigns are ideal for advertisers with a clear goal, like driving conversions or store visits, and can even include automatic Performance Max Shopping ads for e-commerce.

• Best for: Campaigns focused on maximising conversions or e-commerce sales.
• Specs: Include a range of assets, like graphics, HTML5 assets, and videos, for enhanced flexibility.

3. Display Ads

Display ads are image or video-based ads that appear across Google’s Display Network, which includes millions of websites, YouTube, and Gmail. Display ads are perfect for creating visual interest and brand awareness. Through Smart Display campaigns, you can leverage Google’s AI to determine the best combination of assets, such as product images, videos, and logos, for your audience.

• Best for: Retargeting existing customers or generating brand awareness.
• Specs: Choose from static images, video, or a mix of visuals.

4. Shopping Ads

Shopping ads feature product listings in a visually appealing, e-commerce-style format that displays product details, images, and pricing information. This ad type allows retailers to showcase their inventory directly within Google’s search results. Automatic Performance Max Shopping ads simplify the setup for e-commerce stores using platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, making it easy to showcase products in search results and increase conversions.

• Best for: E-commerce businesses aiming to drive sales directly from search results.
• Specs: Product image, title, price, and store name.

5. Discovery Ads

Discovery ads are designed to reach users who are in the exploratory phase of shopping. These ads appear on the Google Discover feed, YouTube’s homepage, and Gmail promotions tab, often alongside product recommendations and reviews. Discovery ads combine elements of display and shopping ads, using a variety of visual formats to engage users browsing for inspiration.

• Best for: Brands looking to introduce products to potential customers who may not yet be searching actively.
• Specs: Flexible ad formats, including text, graphics, and video.

6. YouTube Ads

YouTube ads are video-based ads that can appear before, during, or after YouTube videos. YouTube ads offer a range of formats, including skippable ads, non-skippable ads, and out-stream ads (which play on Google’s video ad partners outside of YouTube). These ads are highly effective for building brand awareness and launching new products.

• Best for: Video-centric campaigns aiming to drive engagement or brand recall.
• Specs: Video content with options for skippable or non-skippable placements.

7. App Ads

App ads are specifically designed to promote app downloads and engagement. Using assets from your app’s listing on Google Play or the App Store, Google creates ads that can appear across Google’s network, including YouTube, Search, and Display. App campaigns can target specific audiences based on interests or behaviour, making it easy to reach users likely to download or interact with your app.

• Best for: Businesses with iOS or Android apps aiming to increase downloads.
• Specs: Ads draw from app store assets, or you can upload custom images and videos.

8. Smart Campaigns

Smart campaigns automate ad creation, targeting, and bidding, leveraging Google’s AI to reach audiences with minimal setup. This option is particularly useful for small businesses or those new to Google Ads, as Google manages most of the heavy lifting. You can specify a goal, such as website visits or store calls, and Google will optimise the campaign for that outcome.

• Best for: Advertisers looking for a simple, hands-off approach to ads.
• Specs: Campaigns are structured around goals with headlines, descriptions, and optional location or call information.

Now, With a clear understanding of the types of Google Ads available, let’s dive into setting up your account and creating targeted campaigns that maximise your ROI.

Chapter 1: The Nuts and Bolts of Google Ads

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is Google’s advertising platform where businesses can pay to have their ads appear prominently on search results, YouTube, the Display Network, and other Google-affiliated sites. This pay-per-click advertising model allows companies to bid on keywords that match the intent of potential customers, to drive traffic, boost brand awareness, or increase sales.

The Google Ads system operates on an auction system that balances both bid amounts and ad relevance. Simply put, Google doesn't always show the ad from the highest bidder; it also prioritises ads that are more relevant to the user's search. This combination ensures that users see ads tailored to their interests, which keeps them returning to Google for quality information and trusted results.

How Google Ads Works

When a user searches for a term relevant to your business, Google Ads can display your ad at the top of the Search Network results, in the form of search ads. This is ideal for targeting users actively searching for your product or service. Similarly, display ads appear on websites and apps within Google’s extensive Display Network, offering a visual way to capture attention. Google’s Shopping campaigns and YouTube ads also provide businesses with opportunities to showcase products and engage potential customers on different platforms.

Each time someone clicks on your ad, you’re charged a cost per click (CPC), which is determined by factors such as demand for the keyword, competition, and your ad’s relevance. You’re also billed based on impressions, or how often your ad is shown. The goal is to achieve an optimal balance between impressions and clicks, ensuring that your ad reaches the right audience while keeping costs under control.

Benefits of Google Ads for Your Business

Google Ads is versatile enough to support various business objectives, whether it’s generating immediate sales, building brand awareness, or guiding users along the purchasing journey.

For instance, keywords help connect your ads with high-intent users, while data and insights from Google Ads reports allow you to refine your campaigns to better suit your audience. With the right setup, Google Ads provides the data-driven insights needed to adjust strategies, maximise ROI, and grow your business effectively.

How Google Ads Works: The Basics of Ad Placement and Ranking

Google Ads operates as a powerful, performance-based advertising platform, helping businesses connect with potential customers who are actively searching for products, services, or information. Google Ads uses an ad auction to determine which ads appear for any given search, considering both bid amounts and ad quality to ensure relevance for the user.

Intent and Ad Relevance

A key component of Google Ads’ effectiveness is intent. People using Google are often searching with a specific purpose in mind—whether transactional (looking to buy a product) or informational (seeking knowledge about a topic). Google’s ad system is designed to match ads to user intent, so the more relevant your ad is, the better it will perform.

When creating an ad, Google assesses the relevancy between your ad content, keywords, and the search terms people are using. To improve this relevancy, Google relies on keywords that align with user intent, showing your ad to people more likely to click and take action.

The Google Ads Auction System

Google Ads operates on an auction system, which begins every time someone enters a search query. Advertisers bid on keywords, setting a maximum bid (the most they’re willing to pay for a click). However, the auction isn’t based solely on who bids the highest. Instead, Google combines your bid with a quality factor, prioritising ads that are relevant to the user’s search over those that simply have higher bids.

The auction process determines an Ad Rank based on your Quality Score and maximum bid. Quality Score is Google’s measure of your ad’s quality, which includes factors like ad relevance, expected click-through rate (CTR), and landing page experience. An ad with a high-quality Score can achieve a better position on the search results page, often at a lower cost-per-click (CPC) than lower-quality ads. This ensures that users see relevant, high-quality ads, regardless of budget.

Understanding Ad Rank and Quality Score

Your Ad Rank, which influences where your ad appears, is calculated as follows:

Ad Rank = Quality Score x Maximum Bid

This formula emphasises that quality matters as much as budget. For instance, an ad with a lower bid but a high-Quality Score may rank higher than an ad with a high bid but a low-Quality Score. Google’s goal is to prioritise ads that enhance user experience.

Several factors contribute to Quality Score:

• Relevancy of the ad to the keywords
• Expected CTR based on past ad performance
• Landing page quality, which should provide a smooth, informative experience

These factors help Google determine not only if your ad is relevant but also if it’s likely to engage users positively. A well-optimised landing page can improve your Quality Score and, consequently, your Ad Rank.

Types of Ads and Their Placements

Google Ads offers several ad formats, each optimised for specific platforms and user journeys:

• Search Network: Text ads that appear on Google’s search results page when users search for related keywords.
• Display Ads: Visually driven ads (images, HTML5 assets) that show up across Google’s Display Network, which includes millions of websites.
• Shopping Campaigns: Product-based ads that showcase items with images, prices, and store names, appearing on the search results page.
• YouTube Ads: Video ads that appear on YouTube, targeting users with interests matching your products or services.

These ad formats allow you to reach users at different stages of the buying journey, whether they’re just discovering a product or ready to make a purchase.

Tracking Impressions, Clicks, and Cost-Per-Click

As your ad runs, Google provides data and insights into impressions (how often your ad is shown) and clicks. Cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount you pay when someone clicks your ad, and it’s determined by the outcome of the auction. Monitoring these metrics gives you insight into how well your ads are performing, allowing you to adjust bids, improve quality, and better align with user intent.

In summary, Google Ads leverages both an auction-based system and quality metrics to serve ads that are relevant to users’ searches. By balancing budget, relevancy, and user experience, Google Ads can be a highly effective tool for businesses looking to reach specific audiences and drive results.

The Challenges of Google Ads Management: Time, Cost, and Efficiency

If you ask anyone who’s ever managed a PPC campaign about the biggest challenge they have faced, they will most likely point out Google Ads Management. Not only does it eat up lots of your time, but it also stops you from focusing on other key aspects of an advertisement. Ineffective ad management is the main reason why businesses waste tons of money every year.

It’s essential that you think of Google Ads Management as a learning process. This laid-back approach will help you go a long way in an advertising landscape that is marked by constant changes. Unless you keep yourself up to speed with changes, you will never get to manage your ads properly.

Note: Keep in mind that Google ads run across all types of platforms such as Blogs, Youtube and Display Networks. So you need to consider them when creating and monitoring ads.

By the end of this chapter, you will have a clear understanding of how Google Ads works and what to expect from the platform. We will also discuss the different advertising networks and provide key tips for gaining an edge over your competitors. Before diving into the details of Google Ads Management, however, there are some important points to remember, including the various advertising networks and options, and explaining how to rank your ads against competitors.

Moreover, you will learn some practical tips for managing ads more effectively.

Making Sense of the Google Network

Since this is a complete guide to Google Ads Management, let’s start by talking about the two core aspects of Ads, namely, the Search Network and the Display Network. Google Ads can be classified into these options which are selected based on specific marketing goals.

Search Network

The Search Network includes various Google platforms such as Google Search Results, Google Shopping, and Google Maps. Essentially, these platforms display text-based advertisements at the top of Google's search engine results page when you search for a specific product or service.

See the screenshot below:

Google's advertising policies restrict the number of top ads to a maximum of 3 results, and there can be up to 4 ads shown below the organic search results, totalling 7. However, Google may also display "Shopping ads" at the top and/or bottom of the search results page, which allows for more ads to be displayed.

To give you a better idea of how that would look, if you search for a specific product, for instance, Beyerdynamic DT 990, you will be delivered results as shown in the image below:

The product-image-based ads in the above image are called shopping ads, a different advertising feature in Google’s Search Network. Here’s another example to give you an idea of how Google’s Search Network operates. Search for “Fishing Rods” and you’ll be served different ads related to the topic. See the image below:

Next thing you know, based on various factors like compelling ad copy and affordable pricing, you click on one ad. Now you’re on the landing page of “Total Fishing Tackle”. Well, this is how Google Ads work and it’s all about enhancing the curiosity of searchers and persuading them to visit your landing page.

Display Network

Display Network basically refers to advertising techniques that aren’t text-driven like the ones you see on Search Network. These ads feature exclusively on Display Network platforms like Gmail, Youtube and hundreds of other Google-partnered websites.

For instance, any ads you may have come across on Youtube belong to Display Network. Similarly, you may have also seen ads in your Gmail account.

Now, you have probably seen image-based ads on the sidebars of websites you’re randomly visiting. Well, yes, you’ve probably guessed it already. Those ads are found specifically on Google Partnered websites.

In short, Google Ads give you the means of targeting your audience based on relevant keywords and driving them to a landing page to take profitable action. So what happens if they don’t convert after visiting your landing page?

Well, Google ads give you a retargeting option.

Google Ads Retargeting

Retargeting is when Google gives you a second chance to get your advertising right. It means reaching out again to someone who already clicked on your ad but did not buy anything. The goal is to show that person different messages and try to turn them into a customer. Google Ads can help you do this with its remarketing feature. We will explain how in the next chapters.

Top Tip: For now, let’s familiarise you with some essential Google Ads glossary terms before we dive into different aspects of ads management.

• Ad Rank – It is a term used to refer to the position where your Google Ad is featured on a paid search results page. For instance, if your Ad is displayed in the first position, your ad carries the number 1 rank value. Whether or not your ad appears in search results depends on the rank value of your ad.
• Campaign Type – Understanding and selecting the right campaign type is the first step to running effective Google ads. You need to choose a campaign type based on your specific goal, be it leads, sales, web traffic, or brand awareness. You’ve got various campaign types including search campaigns, display campaigns, and shopping campaigns to choose from.
• Click-Through Rate – Clickthrough rate gives you insights into how well your Google ads are performing. For instance, if you had an ad campaign that generated 50 clicks after 1000 impressions, your click-through rate would be 5%.
• Conversion Rate – Take the total number of conversions on your landing page and divide it by the total number of interactions your ad had over time. For instance, if your landing page had 50 conversions from 1,000 interactions, your conversion rate would be 5%.
• Ad Extensions – Extensions are the additional bits of information you can include in your ad text, thus further optimising your text for conversion. When implemented effectively, it can improve the click-through rate. Extensions come in various formats such as call buttons, location details, and landing page links.
• Keywords – Keywords are essentially the words that determine where you want your ads to appear. You need to choose the most relevant keywords to reach an audience who are truly interested in whatever you’re trying to promote.
• PPC – You conduct search ad campaigns to drive traffic to your landing page. With Pay Per Click search ads, you pay every time a person clicks on your ad to check out your landing page or website.
• Quality Score – The Quality Score is a value assigned to ads based on the level of experience it offers users. It’s essentially a combination of three factors: landing page experience, click-through rate, and ad relevance.

It’s good to learn about the workings of Google Ads before you get into the practical side of things.

Chapter 2: Setting up Your Google Ads Account

If you are new to Google Ads, we will guide you through the process of creating a Google Ads account for free and launching your first campaign. By the end of this chapter, you will have learned how to set up your Google Ads Account for all your business needs.

First, let’s put to bed the number one beginner question: Should I choose Google Ads or Smart Campaign?

This is perhaps the most common question faced by first-time Google Ads users everywhere. You can either create your account on Smart Campaign Mode or switch to expert mode. So which one should you choose as a beginner who’s new to the platform? Are they both the same thing? Smart campaign is a simplified version of Google Ads aimed at helping first-time users. Think of it as a laid-back version of the platform where Google does most of the legwork for you. It’s exclusively designed for online stores and e-commerce shops.

Since Google Ads take up lots of time, Smart Campaign is the go-to platform for local businesses with little to no technical knowledge of how Google Ads work. However, the platform’s simplicity is part of its problem.

After a while, you will start to see the platform’s limits on improving ad performance. This is where people switch to Google Ads to use the advanced features so they can take their advertising to the next level. Experienced PPC marketers would confirm that advanced Google Ads are superior to basic Smart Campaigns.

Step-By-Step Guide to Create Your First Google Ads Account

From setting your ad budget, and discovering relevant keywords to targeting the right audience and creating compelling ad copy, we take you through it all, step by step. Now, if you don’t have an account, head over to Google Ads to sign up for a brand-new account with your email and site URL.

Now you will see a whole range of options as in the screenshot below:

What are you trying to achieve from your ad campaign? Is it leads, website traffic, brand awareness or app promotion? Whichever your goal may be, select it from the list above and click continue.

Next up you need to select the campaign type. Will it be display, search, shopping, or something else? Choose the campaign type that suits your business objective and clicks continue. See the screenshot below:

Now, simply select the specific way in which you would like to reach the goal:

Next up, name your campaign and select the network where you’d like the ads to appear. Ask yourself, is it going to be Search Network or Display Network?

Of course, both these options are unique in their way, so you can try them out based on your business goals. As someone starting, it’s good to opt for a Search Network first. However, keep in mind that you may want to advertise in the Display Network for retargeting purposes.

Check out the screenshot below:

Are you specifically selling a product or service in your locality, for instance, Liverpool? Choose that specific location. If you’re selling your products Globally, choose “All Countries and Territories. Choose the preferred language of your target audience.

When choosing your target audience for your Google Ads, it's important to select the appropriate locations where you want your ad to appear. Google Ads offers various audience targeting options that you can use to expand or narrow down your audience. Please refer to the screenshot below:

It’s always good to start on a small budget and then work your way upward. Enter the amount you would like to spend each day and choose a bidding type. (Clicks, Conversions, Impressions, etc) Check the screenshot below:

Next up, it’s time to write your ad extensions.

As mentioned earlier, each of these extensions, namely site link extensions, call-out extensions, and call extensions can really improve the click-worthiness of your ad copy.

Now, name your Ad Group. Enter your website URL and dial-in keywords related to the products or services that you want to promote. Check the screenshot below:

Hold on, we’re almost there. We just need to write the headlines and descriptions for your ad. This is an area that requires your undivided attention and creativity. See the screenshot below:

Make sure to read our chapter on “Creating Powerful Ad Copy” to get your creative juices flowing and learn how to write effectively.

Chapter 3: How to Do Keyword Research for Your First Ads Campaign

To make Google Ads work, you need to use the most relevant keywords that will resonate with your audience. For instance, if you’re trying to sell shoes online, you need to target keywords that people would use while trying to look up shoes online.

The big idea is to find the right keyword for your ad campaign without necessarily leaving a dent in your budget.

Keyword research is not an easy task because you have to compete with other advertisers who may be bidding higher than you. That said, we will teach you the necessary steps for successful keyword research so that you can start your campaign effectively.

How to Use Google’s Keyword Planner

For conducting keyword research for your first campaign, you don’t have to go to a third party to get the job done. Google’s keyword planner will help you conduct keyword research effectively. This easy-to-use keyword research tool gives you a diverse range of keyword ideas to hit the ground running. If you’ve never done keyword research, we will show you how to get started. See the screenshot below:

Now simply enter the keyword related to your business and the tool will bring you a set of relevant keywords to work with. It’s Google Ad’s way of helping you discover what’s right for you.

Once you click enter, you will be delivered a long list of closely related keywords. This list may appear huge and you may find it a bit too overwhelming at first. Your goal is to delve into the list and discover the most relevant keywords for your ad campaign.

Also, you want to keep an eye on the two top right columns of your page, namely, "Top of Page Bid (low range)" and "Top of Page Bid (high range)". Take a look at the screenshot below:

These two metrics will tell you exactly how much money you need to bid to feature on top of the first page or bottom of the first page. When you are just starting, these figures will help you understand what it costs to run your ads effectively. If you want your ads to feature in the first position, you need to pay attention to “Top of the Page Bid”.

Select your keyword based on monthly search volume and specific competition level. You need to have a perfect mix of high and low-search volume keywords to get the best out of your Google Ads campaign.

Keyword and Competition Analysis: Identifying Opportunities and Gaps

Effective keyword and competition analysis are at the core of any successful Google Ads campaign. By selecting high-value keywords and understanding competitor strategies, you can maximise your ad performance and return on investment. Here’s how to identify “money-making” keywords and leverage competitor intelligence to improve your campaigns.

1. Conducting PPC Keyword Research

The goal of PPC keyword research is to find terms that align with user intent and have the potential to drive conversions. Start with tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or WordStream’s free keyword tool to gather insights on search volume, cost-per-click data, and competition level for each keyword. By analysing search volume and cost per click (CPC), you can prioritise high-intent keywords that fit your budget and ad objectives.

To enhance targeting, group keywords based on different stages of the buying funnel, and identify custom audience segments that match your offerings. For example, Performance Max campaigns can help you target audiences more effectively by combining keyword insights with data-driven targeting.

2. Leveraging Competitor Intelligence

Understanding what works for competitors can provide valuable insights for refining your campaigns. With competitor intelligence tools like SEMrush or WordStream, you can see which keywords competitors are bidding on, their ad copy strategies, and their overall approach to high-value keywords. Observing the competition level for each keyword helps you pinpoint gaps and uncover opportunities.

Look specifically for keywords with high conversion potential, often referred to as “money-making keywords”. These are terms that consistently drive results for similar businesses. Additionally, reviewing competitors' ad performance can help you improve your Quality Score by tailoring ads to better match keywords and user intent.

3. Monitoring Keyword Performance and Refinement

Once your campaign is live, monitor each keyword’s performance closely. Adjust bids based on cost-per-click data. Use Quality Score as a guide to make your ads more relevant. High-performing keywords can also inform your broader content and SEO strategy, giving you valuable insights into what resonates with your target audience.

In summary, combining targeted keyword research with competitor insights enables you to create a more effective and competitive Google Ads strategy. By focusing on high-intent keywords and refining your approach based on performance data, you can drive better results and optimise ad spend. Now that you know how to identify potential keywords, let’s explore how to refine your list by analysing keyword performance and competition, ensuring you focus on the most valuable terms.

Classify Your Keywords into Different Funnels

If you put your keywords into a funnel according to specific goals, you can see them about their marketing goal. What does this mean?

Let’s look at some examples:

The following are different types of keywords used for a PlayStation Product at 3 stages of the funnel:

Top Of The Funnel Keywords For Playstation

• PlayStation Reviews
• Which PlayStation is best
• PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2

Mid-Level Funnel Keywords For PlayStation

• PlayStation discounts
• PlayStations on sale
• Best store to buy PlayStation

Lower-funnel keywords for PlayStation

• Buy PlayStation
• Where to buy PlayStation 3

The keywords that lie at the bottom of this funnel are more conversion-ready compared to the ones at the top and mid-level funnels. On the other hand, keywords like “PlayStation review” and “PlayStation discounts” are not exactly ready for conversion yet.

It’s worth noting that keywords at the bottom of the funnel will drive more landing page conversions, eliminating the need for retargeting your audience. Additionally, while selecting the keywords, make sure that they are aligned with your business goals.

Ask yourself these straightforward questions:

• What are you trying to achieve with this campaign?
• Is this campaign supposed to generate sales?
• Are you building brand awareness so you can turn the audience into customers?

Try to learn more about the search intent behind every keyword before you include it in your campaign. Remember, if you want to sell more PlayStations, you should target keywords in the lower funnel. If your goal is to educate people about your product, then by all means use top-of-the-funnel keywords.

Once you’ve got a decent grasp of keywords, you can expand your industry knowledge by analysing your competitors. We will show you just how to spy on your competitors’ advertising techniques to your advantage.

Using SEranking To Spy On Competitor’s Ads

The keyword planner has hopefully laid the foundation for all types of research. Do you know what would be even better? Spying on competitors and reverse-engineering their tactics. If you don’t know how to go about it, simply run a basic search on Google around the keywords you found using the Keyword Planner.

See the screenshot below:

You can probably see various companies competing and bidding for the keyword you looked up. You’re most probably looking at your competitors whom you should learn from. There are tools you can use to tap into their Google Ads techniques and find out what makes them tick.

SE Ranking is a powerful tool most advertisers use to gain insights into ads created and managed by competitors in the past. You also get key performance metrics to help you see which keywords worked best for them and how. This should give you a clear-cut idea about which keywords to focus on and how much to spend. See the screenshot below:

All you need to do is enter the website URL of your competitor. Next up the toll will reveal versions of your competitor’s ads giving you metrics such as ad position and coverage. Use this data as a starting point for finding keywords and CTAs that you can incorporate into your own ad. This will help you improve your ad’s performance and remove the guesswork for you.

Start Bidding on Your Branded Terms

Google Ads has a confusing area regarding branded keywords, with varying answers from different sources. Branded keywords contain your brand name. You may have seen many instances where brands like Adidas and Sony run ads for their brand name. See the screenshot below:

You may be wondering, why do they want to run ads for keywords that are already ranking organically. Well, there’s actually more to it than you may think. Simply perform brand-name-specific research on any brands you know of. You will see that their competitors are breathing down their necks to capture potential leads away from them. This is where running ads for branded terms can help them out.

The best part about these branded terms is that they are pretty cheap. Also, because your branded terms are directly linked to your website, you shouldn’t have any problem getting a decent quality score for your ads.

Alright, now that you know how to conduct keyword research, let’s look at some ways to improve your Google Ads copywriting skills.

Chapter 4: Setting up Ad Groups and Writing Ads Copy

Setting up your Google Ads Group is a time-consuming process that demands your attention. Various performance metrics including CTR and quality score are determined by how well you set up your ads group and write your ad copy. If your ads are not set up and maintained systematically, they can become difficult to manage. Now, creating Google ads copy is an art of its own, especially given the character limits.

Things can get quite tricky for someone who is new to ad copywriting. Don’t worry!

In this chapter, we’ll take you through the step-by-step process of setting up your first ads group and writing powerful ad copy.

Creating a Single Keyword Ad Group

Google Ads suggests starting your ads group with 10-20 keywords, which can be a difficult task for beginners. As a result, many newbies make this mistake. The main problem with this is that it goes against the purpose of creating an Ad Group, which is to achieve specificity. When you include too many keywords in your Ad Group, it can reduce specificity and make your campaign less effective.

To avoid irrelevant ads, it's important not to include multiple similar keywords in your Ad Group. For example, if someone is looking for running shoes, it wouldn't be helpful for them to see an ad for trekking shoes. While these two keywords may be related in general, they shouldn't be grouped together for advertising purposes. Only include keywords that are closely related and specifically cater to a certain search intent.

So, how do you ensure maximum engagement for ad groups?

Well, you can’t go wrong with a single keyword ad group. It essentially simplifies ad groups and helps you retain their specificity. See the screenshot below:

Choose a single keyword and use different match types on it.

Phrase Match keyword – “SEO Agency London”
Exact Match keyword – [ SEO Agency London ]

If you’re not confident about using both match types in your ad group, start by using just one match type.

Of course, we will leave this bit to you as techniques work differently for different people. But the idea is to experiment with different options and settle for what works best for you. Sometimes, these two matches can combine to deliver the desired results.

How to Write Google Ads Copy

Writing ads on Google Ads is a tiring process. You have character limits and writing anything compelling in a short limit can feel next to impossible. Due to this, most people write a single ad and then move on. After all, all you need is one great ad, right? I wish.

When creating ad copy, it can be difficult to come up with something attention-grabbing, especially when you have to work within a limited character count. As a result, many people end up only writing one ad copy. Let's turn to Google to see what advice they have on the matter.

Google has come out suggesting that for an ad group to run effectively you need to create a minimum of three ads. Now you may ask why you need multiple ads for a single ad group. Well, you need multiple ads because an ad group rotates your ads and displays the one that performs well.

You can think of this feature as Google Ads' own in-built A/B testing capability. Based on various metrics you can reshape your ads just the way you want. Let’s say your first ad copy generated 10% CTR, well, using the new ads insights you can further improve the CTR. This is a proven technique to generate the best out of your ads and create high-performing ads in the long run.

Here are a bunch of features you need to be aware of while creating your ad copy:

Final URL: the landing page where people will be taken to when they click on your ads.

Headline 1: First headline field
Headline 2: Second headline field
Display Path: Customise how you want your URL to appear for searchers (15 characters)
Description: Describe what you’re trying to promote (80 characters)
Keeping things simple is the key to writing high-converting ad copy.

It’s absolutely vital that you include keywords in your ad text as they will make your ads appear more relevant. See the screenshot below:

Benefits are a great way to entice users to keep reading and clicking through. Showing off benefits to searchers is a great way to persuade them to take a profitable action on your landing page. Make changes to your call to action and benefits to find out what resonates better with your target audience.

Experiment with different types of benefits or discounts. Once you’re done creating your ads, you can start adding ad extensions to improve your CTR.

Adding Extensions to Your Ads

An official study from Google revealed that including ad extensions increases CTR by 10-20%. When deployed correctly, these ads can certainly improve your ad’s performance by delivering different options that searchers can relate to. With the extension’s additional links on display, you will get a chance to re-engage even those who were not particularly interested in your ad at first.

Ad extensions come in a variety of formats and are used to achieve different goals. See the screenshots below:

Now let’s look at some common extensions offered by businesses:

• Location extensions: This extension is used to display the address of your business. This type is used to drive footfall in your store.
• Callouts: Use this extension to add texts such as coupons, discount offers and CTAs.
• Calls: Display your phone number to drive direct phone calls
• Message: This extension lets users send you text messages through ads
• Sitelinks: Include links to other pages on your website
• Price:Display the price of your product or service on the ad
• App: If you have an application for download, insert it here.

Top Tip: Review extensions are a powerful option you can use to display review ratings of your product or services. This can work as great social proof and increase the credibility of what you’re promoting. Once you’ve written an ad copy and included the right extensions, you can hit save and push it live.

Creating Effective Ads: Crafting High-Performing Ad Copy and Setup

Creating effective ads is essential for Google Ads' success. This chapter delves into the details of structuring ad groups, crafting compelling ad copy, and leveraging ad attributes to boost performance. By maximising your ad’s potential with thoughtful copy and A/B testing, you can improve click-through rates and conversions, making every ad dollar count.

Step 1: Maximise Your Ad Group Setup

A well-organised ad group setup is crucial for maintaining relevance and targeting accuracy. By grouping ads that share similar keywords and goals, you can ensure that your message aligns with user intent. Each ad group should target a specific theme or product, which helps you deliver a focused message and keeps ad performance metrics consistent. This approach also makes it easier to measure performance and improve over time.

Pro Tip: Keep ad groups tight in focus with around 5-10 keywords each to maintain relevance. This setup prevents wasted spend on unrelated searches and maximises the impact of each ad.

Step 2: Crafting Compelling Headlines and Descriptions

Your headlines and descriptions are the first elements users notice, making them key to capturing attention. Google Ads allows up to 15 different headline options per ad and up to 4 descriptions. Use this variety to experiment with different approaches:

• Headline Options: Try different headline types, including positive and negative headlines, to see which resonates best. A negative-based headline, such as “Avoid Costly PPC Mistakes,” can attract attention by addressing user pain points, while positive statements like “Get More Leads for Less” emphasise benefits.
• Call-to-Action (CTA): A clear and persuasive CTA is essential to drive clicks. Use CTAs that prompt action, such as “Shop Now,” “Get a Free Quote,” or “Try It Today.”
• Value Proposition: Highlight the unique value your product or service offers. Focus on aspects that solve a problem or fulfil a need, like “Save Time with Automated Reports” or “Increase ROI with Our Proven Strategies.”

Character Space Limitations: Remember, Google Ads enforces strict character limits, so use space efficiently. Keep headlines concise yet impactful, and make descriptions easy to read.

Step 3: Test Ad Copy Variations and Attributes

Testing is fundamental to creating ads that convert. Using A/B testing, you can experiment with different ad copy variations, CTAs, and visuals to see what works best with your audience. Run tests frequently to refine your approach:

• Ad Copy Variations: Create multiple versions of your ad copy for each ad group to test performance. Try different tones, CTAs, and messaging styles to identify what resonates most. Pausing low-performing variations quickly ensures they don’t drain your budget.
• Ad Attributes and Extensions: Take full advantage of ad attributes and extensions, including site links, call buttons, and structured snippets. Adding relevant extensions boosts ad visibility and provides users with additional touchpoints for engagement. For example, a product rating or callout for a special discount can make your ad more compelling.

Step 4: Elicit an Emotional Response

Emotional elicitation is a powerful tool in ad copywriting. Words that evoke curiosity, excitement, or urgency can increase the likelihood of clicks. Incorporate emotional triggers by addressing common user pain points, desires, or challenges directly in your headlines and descriptions. For instance, “Take the Guesswork Out of PPC” or “Save Hours with Automated Reports” are statements that solve user needs and inspire action.

Step 5: Optimise Visual Elements and Landing Page Relevance

Visuals like product images and brand logos can enhance ad appeal, particularly in display ads or image-based ad formats. For text ads, carefully consider the alignment between your ad copy and landing page content. Landing page optimisation ensures a smooth user journey and positively impacts ad Quality Score. When your ad and landing page deliver a cohesive message, users are more likely to take the desired action.

Chapter 5: Guide to Google Ads Bidding

Effective Google Ads campaigns rely on clear budgeting and well-chosen bidding strategies. Let’s explore how to set an initial budget and select the right bidding approach to maximise your ad spend.

Budgeting and Bidding Strategies: Optimising Costs for Maximum ROI

Effectively managing your budget and choosing the right bidding strategies are essential to maximising the return on your Google Ads investment. Setting a clear budget and selecting an appropriate bidding approach can help control advertising spend while improving performance. Here’s a quick guide to budgeting basics and popular bidding strategies.

1. Setting Your Initial Budget

Start by setting a fixed daily budget, even if it’s as low as $25 or $50. This keeps your spending predictable and provides a baseline to test your ads’ effectiveness. Using cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-conversion (CPA) metrics, you can calculate a budget that aligns with your product margins and profitability goals.

For example, if you aim to earn $100 per sale, you might allocate up to $30 per sale as advertising spend. By tracking conversion rates, you can estimate an effective budget that still brings in profits.

2. Choosing the Right Bidding Strategy

Google Ads offers several bidding strategies to match specific goals. Here’s a breakdown of the most common types:

• Manual CPC Bidding: Manual CPC gives you complete control over each keyword’s bid. It’s ideal for beginners or those on tight budgets, as it prevents bids from automatically fluctuating. You can manually adjust bids based on performance, though it may be time-consuming with larger campaigns.
• Automatic CPC Bidding: With automatic CPC, Google adjusts bids within your set budget to help you achieve the best possible results. For instance, bids may increase during high-performing times and decrease when results slow down. This can help maximise clicks but reduce your control over individual keyword bids.
• CPM Bidding: CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding is exclusive to Display ads and charges per thousand ad impressions, rather than per click. This approach is best for campaigns focused on brand awareness rather than conversions, as it targets visibility rather than specific actions.
• Performance Max Campaigns: Performance Max uses AI to optimise bidding across Google’s networks, including search, display, YouTube, and more. It’s ideal for businesses seeking a hands-off approach to managing campaigns across multiple platforms, particularly for e-commerce or broad audience targeting.

3. Advanced Bidding Tactics with Bid Modifiers

Google Ads provides bid modifiers that allow you to fine-tune bids based on factors like geographic location, device, and time of day (dayparting). Here’s how each can enhance your campaigns:

• Geographic Location: Adjust bids based on where users are searching from. For instance, if certain regions generate higher conversion rates, increase bids for those locations to capture more traffic.
• Device Targeting: Modify bids depending on the device, such as prioritising mobile for brand awareness and desktop for conversions. Mobile bids can be optimised to reach users on the go, while desktop targeting can drive conversions from users with higher purchasing intent.
• Dayparting: Control the days and times your ads are shown by adjusting bids. If conversions peak during certain hours, increase bids to capture more traffic. Conversely, reduce bids during off-hours to minimise wasted ad spend.

4. Tracking Results and Adjusting for Cost Efficiency

Monitoring key metrics like conversion rate, Quality Score, and CPC helps you gauge whether your bidding strategy is effective. For instance, if Quality Scores are low, optimising your ad copy and landing page could improve ad rank and reduce costs. As your campaign progresses, use these insights to refine your budget and bidding tactics, ensuring you stay aligned with your goals.

In summary, aligning your budget with an effective bidding strategy can significantly improve your Google Ads performance. By implementing these budgeting basics and advanced bidding techniques, you can control costs while maximising results.

Selecting the right bidding strategy can make or break your ad campaign. From improving your quality score to cutting down on ad spend and increasing your engagement rate, bidding strategy plays a massive role in getting things right.

Google offers multiple bidding options you select based on your specific goal, whether it is driving website traffic, generating sales or building brand awareness. Most common bidding options are driven by cost-per-click features and focus on generating more clicks for your Google ads.

1. Automated Bidding
2. Manual Bidding

Automated Bidding

If advertisers drop out and costs reduce, your bid will adjust accordingly to generate more clicks. Automated bidding is all about taking the legwork out of advertisers. That’s right Google will do the guesswork for you. All you need to do is set up a daily budget and Google will make changes to your Cost Per Click bidding based on marketing metrics. For instance, if competing advertisers pull themselves out of the ads race, the Automated bidding system will take over to help you generate more clicks.

However, the manual bidding option can save lots of time, especially if you’re managing a large account.

Manual Bidding

As the title suggests, the manual bidding option gives you greater control over your bidding game. Make adjustments to your bids either at the group level or keyword level. More importantly, select bids on your high-performing ads and cut down on underperforming ones. You can choose bids on specific sets of keywords using match types that really work.

Of course, manual bidding will equip you with the necessary practical experience to handle more complex bidding techniques. However, manual bidding becomes trickier as your ad campaigns multiply and your ad account grows.

How to Choose the Right Bidding for Your Campaign

Upon launching your new campaign, you are greeted with this question: Automated Bidding or Manual Bidding? Now, most beginners tend to opt for the automated because they would much rather let Google Ads get the work done for them. After all, who in their right mind would want to spend their time managing bids for various campaigns?

Although it may seem harmless, giving Google ads unrestricted access to your ad spending can actually have negative consequences. But don't worry, we will guide you through a variety of bidding strategies so you can select the one that is most appropriate for your business.

Target Cost Per Acquisition

If your main objective is to improve conversion rates, you can use the Target Cost Per Acquisition bidding strategy. This approach enables you to achieve conversions at a set cost. This is an automated bidding method that Google Ads uses to regulate campaign bids based on the specific cost per acquisition you specify. However, if you don't understand CPA, you might find this option puzzling. CPA refers to the amount of money you're willing to spend to get a conversion.

For instance, if you’re selling a product or service for £70, you don’t want to set your CPA at £70. That really defeats the purpose of running a campaign as you wouldn’t make any profit out of the acquisition. When setting up your ad, all you need to do is set your target CPA.

Maximise Your Conversions

The easiest bidding strategy provided by Google Ads is probably maximising conversions. This strategy allows Google to manage your bidding based on your daily budget and helps you generate the most amount of conversions possible. For instance, if you set a budget of £100, Google will spend it wisely to find the most conversions within your budget range. However, it is important to make sure that you have set an adequate budget for Google Ads to work with before utilising this strategy. Screenshot below:

Top Tip: When the campaign ends, evaluate your ROI to see if this bidding strategy is actually bringing in conversions at a profitable rate.

Maximise Conversion Value

Google Ads has had a conversion tracking feature for many years, which allows advertisers to track the actions and behaviours of users who click on their ads.

However, in 2018, Google introduced a new feature called "Conversion Value" that enables advertisers to assign a monetary value to specific actions or conversions that occur on their website after a user clicks on an ad. With Conversion Value, advertisers can measure the return on their advertising investment more accurately and optimise their campaigns accordingly. Screenshot below:

Enhanced Cost Per Click

Enhanced Cost Per Click strategy lets you enjoy the best of both worlds in that it combines manual and smart bidding. Once you set CPC for your ad campaign, Google Ad’s algorithm will take over and optimise it for you.

You’re giving Google the control to tweak your bid rates based on the possibility of conversion. If a search term is too competitive and CPC too high, Google ads will reduce your bid accordingly. You can use this bidding strategy on Search and Display Network. See the screenshot below:

Maximise Clicks

This is another automatic bidding strategy set up based on your daily budget. It is aimed at generating as many clicks as possible with your daily budget. This might not be the ideal option for those who want to focus exclusively on conversions as it doesn’t really take into account the relevance of the clicks. Advertisers operating on a limited budget mostly prefer maximising clicks. See the screenshot below:

Manual CPC Bidding

If you’re particular about how your ad spend is managed, Manual CPC bidding might just be what you need. Of course with greater control over bidding strategy comes great attention to detail, meaning that you will be spending lots of time managing your ad. It might not be the best option if you don’t know your way around the technical aspects of Google Ads.

This is the strategy where you set bids for campaigns or keywords all on your own. You will do a manual review of search terms and select the ones that performed better. You will also have the freedom to increase or decrease the budget at the campaign level.

For instance, if you are running a campaign consisting of multiple ad groups and keywords, then selecting manual CPC would mean a lot of work. Mind you, if you’re not completely confident about what you’re doing, you may end up wasting your money on clicks with very little chance of converting.

Now, Google check marks “Enhanced CPC” by default, meaning that you should uncheck it to start using manual CPC. While setting it up, you may receive a warning saying that your ad may perform poorly. However, if you’re low on budget, then this might just be the right step forward. See the screenshot below:

Cost Per Thousand Impressions

This bidding strategy is based on the number of impressions your ad generates. This bidding option is available just for the Display Network and YouTube.

Cost Per View Bidding

This is a bidding strategy selected for running brand awareness campaigns. Just like Cost Per Impression bidding, this strategy is exclusively used for display network and YouTube ads. Using this bidding strategy you can set your maximum cost to 1000 impressions. As for YouTube ads, specifically for TrueView ads on YouTube, advertisers are typically charged based on the cost-per-view (CPV) bidding model.

This means that advertisers are only charged when someone views their video ad for a certain amount of time or interacts with their ad in some way. For example, they may be charged when a viewer watches their ad for at least 30 seconds or when they interact with a call-to-action button on the ad.

However, the exact amount of time a viewer needs to watch a video ad for it to count as a view can vary. Google Ads defines a view as an impression when at least 50% of the ad's pixels are visible on the screen for at least 2 seconds.

How to Choose Between Manual Bidding and Smart Bidding

Should you trust Google with automated bidding or manage ads manually to achieve your specific marketing goal? Now, Google ads don’t offer a one-size-fits-all solution for advertisers. Your choice of bidding type will be influenced by these factors:

• The quality of the conversion data you gathered
• Traffic and conversion data from your campaign

Google’s smart bidding options are dependent on conversion-specific metrics. So, it is essential that you set up conversion tracking effectively. For instance, if you accidentally apply conversion tags on irrelevant pages, it could really mess up your tracking. In fact, this could result in you wasting tons of money.

Top Tip: Because it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the variety of bidding techniques out there, we’re bringing you an easy automation tip to scale your ad campaigns.

Adjust Bidding Automation Rules for Effective Management

We all wish there was an easier means of taking constant monitoring and guesswork out of the Google ads campaign. Actually, Google offers wonderful automation tools to help you achieve just that. Follow this series of tips so you automate your ad campaign without having to spend all day. See the screenshot below:

How would you like to be notified every time your CPCs get out of control? Automation will let you do that. What about the time when your CPAs are running low and you want to increase your bid? You can simply use Google Ads rules to automate your bidding.

By the rule of thumb, if your ad is converting at a great value, you should raise your daily budget. Here’s how you can create a rule and get started. Click on the blue plus icon. Screenshot below:

Create a name for your campaign. Select the campaign you want to automate and set up the action. For the sake of example, you want to raise the budget and maintain a maximum limit you’re comfortable working with. Screenshot below:

Next up you need to set a condition. You want the conversion cost to be lower than X. Now click on conversions, and then on the menu. Screenshot below:

Now you set a value that offers a good conversion value for your campaign. Before you click save, you need to set the action, campaign limit, and conversion cost.

With your campaigns set up and bidding strategy selected, it’s important to regularly maintain and evaluate your Google Ads account. This ensures that you’re continuously improving performance and maximising the return on your ad spend.

Account Maintenance and Evaluation

Maintaining and evaluating your Google Ads account ensures that every dollar spent drives meaningful results. Regularly checking in on your campaign’s health, testing ad variations, and staying current with Google Ads updates can boost performance and make your ad spend go further. Here are the key steps to effective account maintenance and evaluation.

1. Evaluate Your Account History and Campaign Health

Your account’s history plays a role in how Google views your brand’s credibility and reliability. A strong account history, showing consistent ad performance and reasonable spending habits, can help your ads rank well. To keep campaigns healthy, regularly review past performance to see what’s working and identify areas that need attention. Consider using a tool like a Google Ads performance grader to spot any issues that could be holding back your account’s potential.

2. Test and Refine Ad Variations and Extensions

A good click-through rate (CTR) is often a sign that your ad copy is resonating with your audience. To maintain a high CTR and cut back on wasted ad spend, test a few different ad variations within each ad group. Ideally, aim for a CTR of around 8% or higher by experimenting with multiple ad copies. Be quick to pause ads that aren’t performing well so they don’t pull the budget from your top ads.

Adding ad extensions, like phone numbers, product ratings, or location details, can also help boost an ad’s appeal and increase CTR. Extensions make it easy for users to interact with your ad in multiple ways, which can ultimately lead to better performance.

3. Keep an Eye on Key PPC Metrics and Fine-Tune Bids

Tracking metrics like CTR, conversion rate, and cost-per-click (CPC) helps you gauge campaign effectiveness and make adjustments where needed. By regularly monitoring these key metrics, you can identify trends and optimise your bids accordingly. Consider using automated rules or reporting tools to keep an eye on ad spend, detect CPC spikes, and adjust bids in real-time to maximise ROI.

4. Stay Informed on Google Ads Updates

Google Ads is constantly evolving, with new ad formats, targeting options, and updates rolling out regularly. Staying informed on these updates allows you to adapt quickly and make sure your campaigns are aligned with the latest best practices. Use reporting tools to help track platform changes and ensure your campaigns stay competitive and relevant.

5. Schedule Regular Account Check-ins

Set up a routine schedule for account reviews, ideally on a weekly or monthly basis, to assess campaign health and identify any changes in performance. This should include reviewing ad performance, checking click-through rates, and experimenting with new ad variations. These routine check-ins ensure your campaigns stay optimised and in line with your advertising goals, helping you get the most out of your Google Ads investment.

Chapter 6: How to Optimise Your Landing Page

The landing page is an integral part of your advertising campaign. A landing page can directly influence the quality score of your ad campaign which can in turn affect the overall performance of your campaign. A landing page is significantly more different from a typical site home page in that the former is designed with two specific goals in mind:

• To persuade visitors to take profitable action on the landing page
• To collect visitor information

Landing pages need to be simple in style and form. Mostly landing pages are stripped down to bare details necessary to drive the desired user action. We will show you the best practices deployed by experts to create high-converting landing pages. By the end of this chapter, you will learn to not only build a landing page but optimise it for the best results.

Before you learn more on the subject, here’s what a no-nonsense simple landing page looks like. Screenshot below:

What’s so special about the landing page above, you may be asking. Well, for one thing, it’s got no distracting elements like extra links and navigation. Rather, just a good old landing page with an effective CTA.

The Best Landing Page Practices for Google Ads

Matching Messages on Ads and Landing Pages

Let’s say you clicked on an ad upon seeing a special discount in the copy, then when you visit the landing page there is no mention of the specific offer anywhere. This will really frustrate you, won’t it? Well, imagine what it would mean for Google. This disconnect between your ad copy and landing page content will send bad user signals to Google, resulting in a poor quality score for your ads.

This mistake comes from a poor understanding of how keywords work. When users look up a specific keyword, they are searching with a certain level of expectation. For example, if someone is looking up the keyword “Email marketing guide”, they need a guide to help them in their email marketing initiative, not a marketing agency to launch their campaign. Do you see what we’re getting at?

We cannot stress enough the importance of looking at the landing page from the users’ standpoint. The idea is to deliver a matching offer on your landing just like in the ad copy. It’s a terrible idea to trick users into visiting your page, only to offer them what they never asked for.

Display Your Social Proof on the Landing Page

Social proof is essentially the number of social media followers, testimonials purchases, shares or tweets your brand carries. You need to feature these somewhere prominently on your landing page. The research conducted by Hubspot revealed, “71% of Millennials buy online based on the recommendation they find online”.

Now if you’re not exactly huge on social media, you can still feature your client testimonials to earn the trust of your landing page visitors.

The social proof offered by industry influencers for instance can certainly resonate with visitors and urge them to buy your products or services. Take a look at how a brand used customer testimonials as social proof to drive conversion. Check out the screenshot below:

Focus on Keeping Your Design Unfussy

The high-converting landing pages always make a point of keeping the key elements on a single page while getting rid of the unwanted. It’s a call you need to make. If you make your visitors leave your landing for any reason, it will certainly affect the outcome of your campaign. In essence, you need to include everything from product/service explanations, and benefits to testimonials and CTA on your landing page itself.

Of course, you don’t have to lay out these elements in a structured order. You can always make changes to the style to better suit your landing page’s flow. Check the example set by the music app Spotify. How cool and clean is that? A landing page doesn’t get more simple and more basic than that.

A/B Test Your Landing Page

A landing page is the last point of contact with a potential customer before the sales. So you can’t afford to compromise the quality of testing you do on the landing page. Just like you constantly monitor and test your ad copy, A/B tests your landing using effective tools.

Find out how visitors are behaving once they land on your page. Are they spending time interacting with specific elements on the page or are the same elements causing them to leave the site for reasons? Use the behaviour data you gathered through A/B testing to better shape your body text, images headlines and CTA.

For understanding the user behaviour or your landing page use the Microsoft Clarity tool to analyse the user data in detail. Go through the metrics to find out what’s working and what’s not quite working.

You should closely observe the heat maps and recording sessions to see if there’s any room for improvement. Check out the screenshot below:

Optimise Your Landing Page for Mobile

If you’ve run a Google Ads campaign, you may have engaged in a bidding war for the mobile version of your ad. Google is super insistent on delivering consistent user experience across all types of devices. From mobile-first indexing to Accelerated Mobile Page, Google is taking the right step towards the mobile revolution. And Google wants you in on it.

Research suggests that 30% of users will instantly leave your site for another site or app if it doesn’t satisfy their real needs. As the stats suggest mobile users tend to leave your site as soon as they find the navigation too confusing or form a submission complex. Your goal should be to deliver a great user experience that does not in any way interfere with the browsing experience irrespective of the mobile device you’re using.

Here’s an example of a mobile-optimised landing page:

From low engagement rate to shopping cart abandonment and poor conversion rate, if your landing page is not mobile optimised, your campaign will turn out to be a complete dud.

• First up, run a test using page speed insights to find out how well-optimised the mobile version of your landing page is.
• Minimise the CSS and HTML of your page. Next up, compress the images and get rid of render-blocking JavaScript. If you can optimise the mobile version of your site, you can enhance a user’s conversion journey.
• While you’re optimising your landing page, make sure to incorporate the right amount of white space in your design. The white space helps your landing page break with the monotony and gives it a sophisticated look. White space can make for easier site navigation and eliminates the risk of accidental clicks. See the screenshot below:

For a comprehensive understanding of Landing page optimisation, make sure to check out our go-to guide on Landing Page Optimisation.

Chapter 7: How to Track Conversions Effectively

Conversion tracking forms an essential part of Google Ads. From tracking ad clicks to conversions, implementing conversion traffic correctly is key to measuring the effectiveness of your Google ads campaign.

So you’ve got your first campaign up and running and clicks are being generated. But do you have proper conversion tracking in place to track which clicks lead to eventual sales? Conversion tracking will help you understand the key metrics of your campaign so you can optimise to improve sales. From managing your bids effectively to finalising ad copy and selecting relevant keywords, conversion tracking will let you stay in control of your ad campaign at all times.

Your conversion goals depend on whatever action the visitor takes on your landing page, whether it is an enquiry submission, newsletter or contact form submission.

What’s important is that you get the tracking tested and ready for your campaign. If you have never done it, no worries, we will give you a step-by-step guide to implementing and getting the best conversion tracking for your Google ads. Keep reading!

Setting up Google’s Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking starts by simply placing an HTML code on a landing page. This straightforward process involves creating a conversion tracking code in Google ads and copying and pasting it onto your website. The code will track all conversion-based actions you define on your landing page. A conversion, in the traditional sense of the word, takes place every time a visitor reaches a thank you page or order confirmation page. Of course, there are a host of conversion types you can deploy on your website . But let’s start with the most basic one and work our way forward.

First up, to create a conversion tracking code, go to the Tools tab and head to the measurement section to click on “conversion”. Screenshot below:

Next up, you will be asked to create a conversion type for your specific need. This is where you need to select one from the types of conversions available. Screenshot below:

Now, give a name for your conversion goal and select a category (Purchase, Sales, Page View, etc) Screenshot below:

This is where you set up a value for your specific conversion. You can either dial in the same value for each conversion or customise different values for them to track the ROI just the way you want. Screenshot below:

Depending on the number of services or products you offer, you may assign different values for conversions. Simply edit the conversion tag to define transaction-based values. Now before we show you how to install conversion tracking code on your website, let’s quickly go through the different types of conversion and their uses:

Webpage

Once you have chosen the category from the drop-down menu (sale, signup, Lead, page view) Head to select the relevant markup language. Ideally, you want to select the HTML Code. Screenshot below:

Now you will receive a tracking code that you need to publish on your landing page. We will show you how to do that later.

Call-on Site Conversions

If you are giving visitors an option to call your business from the landing page, you can track the number of calls. Now you can track this conversion in different ways but it’s vital that you set up the right option for tracking. Here’s the screenshot of the three different options:

Now, this is a crucial part of the set-up where people mess things up. As you can see there are three different options and you can only select one of them. Generally, you want to track the number of phone calls that come through the website with phone options made available in the ad extension, landing page, and mobile page. However, most advertisers make the mistake of tracking just the number of calls on the website, meaning that they miss out on tracking tons of calls. The big idea is to track each of those conversion elements.

Using Third-Party Tools to Track Your Conversion

If you find the conversion tracking data gathered by Google too limited, you can choose from many third-party tools for improved call tracking.

Using call tracking tools you can avail of various benefits including:

• Tracking calls based on keywords
• Tracking the pages a user visited before making the phone call
• Recording call sessions to see if they have converted
• Tracking the location, name and number of the caller

CallRail is a powerful call-tracking tool that helps you track your conversions effectively.

Top Tip: Oftentimes people start freaking out when their conversion column is not showing any data in Google ads. It’s worth noting that it can take up to 24 hours before conversion data can start appearing in your Google ads. If there’s still no data after 24 hours, perhaps, your target audience has not converted yet.

One proven way to test this is by clicking your ad to trigger a conversion on your landing page. If there’s still no conversion being tracked after 24 hours, you need to see if there’s anything wrong with the way you installed the HTML code. Based on the diagnosis, you may want to place your tag on a different side of your page.

While implementing conversion tracking, you must at all stages make sure that you’re tracking all the right metrics, not the vanity metrics.

There you have it! You can use the practical tips in these seven chapters to take your Google ads to the next level. Irrespective of where you’re at with your advertising, no matter what type of struggles you have faced along the way, take in these ideas and implement them effectively for long-term Google ads success.