Ultimate Guide to Google Ads

Google Ads is the undisputed champion of online advertising. With a tailored Google Ads campaign having the power to attract tremendous website clicks and conversions from your ideal target audience, it’s hardly surprising that millions of businesses continue to invest big.

Using Google Ads to reach customers in some of the most visited online destinations, you have the best chance to build your brand’s reputation while converting an engaged audience. 

If you’re still learning how Google Ads works, we’ve put together this practical guide to ensure this unmatched advertising marketing platform grows your business and appeals to your target market. 

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is a pay-per-click advertising marketing platform. With these advertisements targeted based on specific keywords and audience characteristics, businesses pay for each click or impression created by their campaign. 

Although the premise behind Google Ads is simple enough, brands must develop a precise strategy to reach their customers for the lowest possible price. With Google Ads displayed to users across countless websites, videos, and apps, the rewards can be massive for those who get it right.

Backed by a carefully defined objective, in-depth keyword research, and audience insights, producing a highly effective campaign that outperforms the competition becomes increasingly possible.

Types of Google Ads Campaigns

If you’re ready to use a Google Ads campaign to boost your success, you need to consider how the platform allows businesses to reach their customers using various formats. With five main avenues to explore, the right one for your business will depend on your target market and goals.

Search

Google processes billions of search requests every day. Your business can use Google Search Ads to engage its audience on the search engine results page (SERP) with a targeted message that convinces them to visit your website.

With these text-based ads displayed in prominent positions and looking much the same as regular search results, crafting an effective campaign that motivates your target audience is key to success.

Display

Google Display Ads are another hugely viable option for businesses big and small. With these visually engaging ads served on over two million websites, Google claims this network can reach over 90% of internet users.

From landing pages to articles, these advertisements promote your business with eye-catching images, videos, and interactive content. Although you can manually create these ads, Google’s responsive display ads automatically change size, appearance, and format to suit your needs.

Video

As everyday consumers now have rapid-fast internet and powerful devices, video marketing has become one of the smartest ways to attract your target audience. With Google also owning YouTube – the second-most visited website on the internet – serving ads here will level up your success.

So, how does it work? Google Ads can appear before, during, and after YouTube content, giving you plenty of opportunities to reach your customer base. But you’ll need to research the perfect keywords, topics, and audience demographics to generate a stellar ROI.

App

Does your company have an app? Running a Google App Ads campaign is a great way to promote your service to relevant consumers. Whether you’re looking to increase installs or generate more engagement from existing users, these ads are exceptional for your needs.

To create these ads, Google automatically takes the information from your app store listing to produce ads for various formats and networks. Not only does this save you time, but it also means your ads look perfect on Google Search, Google Play, and YouTube.

Shopping

Google Shopping has become an essential platform for e-commerce operations. Why? Your products appear in relevant search results alongside high-quality images, price and sales information, meaning consumers know what to expect when they click.

For example, if someone searches for ‘buy Nike shoes’ on Google, they receive a series of paid Shopping Ads at the top of the page. With a compelling offer that skyrockets consumer attention, you can drive incredible traffic to your website.

How to Optimize Google Ads

Google Ads can be incredibly powerful with the right approach. However, producing an effective campaign that delivers hundreds of leads requires careful planning and consideration. Here, we cover some quick tips to optimize your strategy for success.

Use Keyword Research Tools

Keywords are one of the most crucial aspects of your Google Ads campaign. By clearly understanding what your ideal customers type into the search engine, you can use these same phrases to target ads for your products and services.

Keyword research tools have become hugely popular for brands that want to identify excellent terms for their campaigns. The Google Keyword Planner is a great resource, while paid options like Semrush and Ahrefs also include extra features that enhance your performance.

Target for Intent

Generating the most success from your Google Ads campaign requires an in-depth understanding of consumer intent. For example, some customers are ready to purchase immediately, while others simply want to find more information. 

To reach sales-ready customers, you can target long-tail keywords like “buy black hiking boots” or “best MacBook price”. This way, you’ll entice consumers actively searching for products and services that provide a suitable solution.

Optimize Your Landing Pages

Producing Google Ads that convince relevant users to click is only part of the battle. As these ads must be linked to a landing page, optimizing these destinations to achieve your goals is also hugely important.

These landing pages must load fast and remain easy to read. However, these pages must also be highly relevant to your original ad copy, as this can impact your Quality Score and overall campaign performance.

Track Your Google Ads Metrics

The work doesn’t stop once you’ve launched your Google Ads campaign. As you generate vast amounts of data, delving into this information offers everything you need to produce even better results in the future.

So, what Google Ads metrics should you track? Ad impressions reveal whether you’re reaching enough people, while clicks signal that your message inspires your audience. If you aren’t getting the desired response, consider A/B testing your campaign to enhance your results. 

Chat with the Experts

Ready to strike gold with your Google Ads campaign? The digital marketing experts at First Page work closely with the world’s leading companies to create PPC strategies that soar above their expectations. 

Supported by our cutting-edge Google AdWords campaign management, this highly effective advertising marketing platform can become one of the principal ways you reach and convert your target market. Get in touch to learn more.