Google Advertising Tips

Intro

Google Advertising is a PPC method of marketing, where you, the marketer, pay per click or per impression for ads you create. It is an effective way to drive traffic to your website as they would likely have clicked on your link as a result of a search for a product similar to your own. Here are a few helpful tips that should help you put your ads to good use!

4 Best Practices for advertising on Google

Here are some common Google Ads best practices. Don't worry if your ads haven't been effective yet, these tips may cover some of the possible issues you could be having.

1. Use specific keyword terms: You need to find the best keywords for your business, if you don't you could lose a lot of money. This is why iterative testing (A/B testing) is your best friend in this instance. It will help you decide which keywords to roll with. Choose keywords that are as specific as possible. These should have lower competition than more general terms and avoid Google placing your ads in front of an unintended audience, leading to few clicks yet high ad spend.
2. Only run relevant ads: Even if you have a lot of income at your disposal, running irrelevant ads on searches that aren't relevant to your product will only hurt you. You may be thinking that it's good to get your ads in front of as many eyes as possible, however, you don't want your ad to not match the searcher's intent. You will not get any clicks and be wasting money. Instead, think about the searches you want your product to show up for. Strategic ad placement will get you more clicks from people actually interested and more willing to make a purchase.
3. Increase your Quality Score (QS): QS is Google's method for deciding how high or low your ad should rank. The higher your QS, the higher your ad will rank, meaning that it will be one of the top searches for that particular keyword. Google will let you know what your quality score is but won't necessarily tell you how to improve it. Keeping your ads keyword-relevant should help with increasing your QS.
4. Optimize landing pages: Even if your ads are great, the user experience doesn't stop with a potential customer looking at your ad. The page they are transferred to after clicking on the ad is super important. This is their first impression of your business, make it a good one! Your ad should serve a purpose, whatever it is, your landing page should be relevant to the ad. If you created an ad advertising a free trial, don't send them to your blog. Instead, create a landing page that has a way to sign up for a free trial. This way friction is reduced and customers will not drop off too quickly, hopefully completing a purchase.

7 tips for writing the best Google Ads

Now that you know a bit about Google advertising, it's time to write your ads. Here are a few tips that hopefully help you write successful ad content!

1. Make your ad match your customer's goals: As a marketing agency, you'll likely face a lot of competition. So many people claim to be the "Best Ad agency" and it is easy to get lost in the clutter. Instead, try to stand out. Think about what your customers' end goals are, what does your product help them accomplish? Use your ad to communicate that to them!
2. Use Countdown Timers strategically: While you may not have a seasonal product offering, you can still make use of countdown timers. Perhaps you have a free trial or a beta version of a new product or service. People are highly motivated by FOMO or the fear of missing out. Losing something is a more powerful motivator than gaining something. Use this to your advantage! Something like "X more days remaining for a free consultation" or "X days until our new product launches" should do the trick. This should help you set up your very own timer.
3. Keep ads up-to-date: People tend to find things that happened recently more exciting. Try testing an ad copy with information about how many customers you serviced in the last month or year. February is almost over, maybe test an ad that states how much ROI you got your clients this month. This way customers can be sure that you can help them now.
4. Be as specific as possible: One of the best practices was making your keywords as specific as possible. The same is true for the content you write in your advertisement. Experiments have found that including numbers in your ad increases click-through-rate. This doesn't mean you should put your phone number in every ad, though that would be pretty funny! Suppose that you create numerous engaging marketing presentations for your clients. Stating that your the "best at making marketing presentations" doesn't help. Instead, use numbers. Try stating "1500+ unique presentation templates" or another similar statistic. This is very specific and can help differentiate you from what the competition is saying.
5. Keep things personal: I hate it when ads are all about the company. Stop patting yourself on the back and make things about the consumer! The same way successful email marketing campaigns keep things personal by using your name, successful Google ads use "You" instead of "Me, Us, We, or I". I want to know what you can do for me. If three ads show up and your ad is the only one that mentions "you", it will likely be the most successful even if it's not the topmost ad.
6. Make your ads super localized: Even if you service people across the nation, make it seem like you are local to the people you are servicing. Did you know that "800 numbers" are less effective than localized ones? Research has shown that having phone numbers in the same geographic region as your clients can double your conversion rate! I understand that it's not feasible to have hundreds of phone numbers that are monitored daily. Nonetheless, if you service people mainly in the Greater Minnesota region, use a phone number with a localized area code. This makes you seem personable and local.
7. Test, Test, Test: Lastly, keep testing! Running the same ad forever won't work. Keep iterating and only use what works. This does cost money, so be sure to stick to a budget. Running the best-performing versions of your ads will help you get the most value for your money.

Conclusion

Advertising can be challenging. It takes time and money. The more effort you spend on making your ads the best in the game, the more money you put in your pocket and take away from the competition. Hopefully, these tips help you set up and execute effective Google Advertising campaigns. Good luck!

About the Author

Nikith Deo is the Digital Marketing intern for Sparrow Marketing. He is a senior marketing student at San Jose State University.