Google Ads is an advertising platform that allows businesses and individuals to place ads on Google.com and other Google-affiliated websites. Google Ads can be a great way to drive sales, get leads, boost conversion, and increase website visits with the right people. With over 2 billion monthly active users, Google Ads gives you the opportunity to reach a broad audience.
Ads are typically displayed above or below the organic search results and are clearly marked as ads.
How Does Google Ads Work?
Google Ads works by allowing businesses and individuals to create ad campaigns that target specific devices, locations, languages, and budgets. Each campaign can have multiple ad groups, each with its own specific text ad and list of keywords. This gives you more control over your ads and helps you get better results.
Why Use Google Ads?
There are many reasons why you might want to use Google Ads. For example, Google Ads can drive sales, get leads, boost conversion, increase website visits, influence consideration, build brand awareness, or reach a broad audience. Additionally, since google.com is the most visited website in the world, placing ads on google.com can help ensure that your ad is seen by millions of people or by people who are interested in your topic.
How Do I Get Started with Google Ads?
Getting started with Google Ads is easy! First, you’ll need to create a Google Ads account and select your marketing goal. Next, you’ll create a campaign and select your devices, locations, language, budget (for each day), and bid strategy. After that, you’re ready to start advertising on Google!
Types of Google ads campaigns
There are five main types of Google ads campaigns. Depending on your business goals, you can choose one or more of these campaign types to run your ads.
1. Google Search Ads
These are the text ads that appear at the top of the search results page when someone searches for a keyword that’s relevant to your ad. You can use search ads to drive traffic to your website or to a specific landing page.
2. Google Display Ads
These are the banner ads that you see on websites and apps across the internet. With display ads, you can reach people while they’re browsing their favorite websites, and you can target them based on their interests.
3. Google Shopping Ads
These are the product ads that appear in the shopping results when someone searches for a product that’s relevant to your ad. You can use shopping ads to promote your products and drive traffic to your website or online store.
4.Google Video Ads
Google video ads are short video ads that appear before, during, or after YouTube videos. You can use video ads to reach people while they’re watching their favorite videos, and you can target them based on their interests.
5. Google App Ads
App ads are designed to promote your mobile app on the Google Play store. You can use app ads to reach people who are looking for new apps to download, and you can target them based on their interests.
Google Ads principles
Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click model, in which users bid on keywords and pay only for each click on their advertisements. This means that advertisers are not charged for impressions or for views of their ads.
The auction selects the ad with the highest bid and awards it the top spot. Ad positions are then determined based on a combination of factors including the quality and relevance of the ads as well as the bids.
Google Ad Group
Ad group is a collection of ads that share the same keywords and settings. Ads in each group can target different locations, ad schedules, and devices. You can use ad groups to organize your ads by theme, product type, or anything else that you think is relevant to your business. Grouping your ads together makes it easier to manage them and make changes to multiple ads at once.
You can create as many ad groups as you want in your Google Ads account. There’s no limit on the number of ad groups that you can have, but it is recommended keeping things organized by creating a separate ad group for each campaign or topic that you’re targeting. This will make it easier to track your results and make changes to your campaigns later on.
Keywords in Google Ads
Google Ads are a great way to get your website in front of potential customers. But if you’re not using the right keywords, you’re not going to get the most out of your campaign.
Here are some tips for choosing the right keywords for your Google Ads campaign:
1. Identify Your Target Market
The first step in choosing keywords is to identify your target market. Who are you trying to reach with your ads? What are their needs and wants? What kinds of things do they search for online?
Answering these questions will help you narrow down the list of potential keywords.
2. Use Keyword Research Tools
Once you have a list of potential keywords, it’s time to use some keyword research tools. These tools will help you find out how many people are searching for each keyword and how much competition there is for that keyword.
Some great keyword research tools include the Google Keyword Planner and Moz’s Keyword Explorer.
3. Choose Relevant Keywords
It’s important to choose keywords that are relevant to your website and your products or services. If you’re selling women’s shoes, for example, you wouldn’t want to use keywords like “men’s shoes” or “children’s shoes.”
Relevance is important because it helps ensure that the people who see your ad are actually interested in what you’re selling.
4. Use Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are keywords that are more specific and usually have less competition. For example, “women’s black leather boots” is a long-tail keyword.
Long-tail keywords are often more effective than general keywords because they’re more likely to be used by people who are actually looking to buy what you’re selling.
5. Use Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are words or phrases that you don’t want your ad to show up for. For example, if you’re selling women’s shoes, you might want to add “men’s” as a negative keyword so your ad doesn’t show up when someone searches for “men’s shoes.”
Adding negative keywords can help improve the quality of your traffic and reduce your costs.
6. Test, Test, Test
The only way to really know if a keyword is effective is to test it out. Add a few different keywords to your campaign and see how they perform. After a few weeks, you should have a good idea of which keywords are working and which aren’t.
7. Monitor Your Results
Finally, be sure to monitor your results so you can make changes as needed. Keep an eye on your click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and conversion rate. If you see that one of your keywords isn’t performing well, don’t be afraid to replace it with a new one.
Google Ads Keyword Planner
You can use the Google Ads Keyword Planner tool to get estimates for how much it may cost you to bid on certain keywords.
Keyword Planner is a free Google Ads tool that helps you build Search Network campaigns by finding keyword ideas and estimating how they may perform. You can use Keyword Planner to search for keyword and ad group ideas, get historical statistics, see how a list of keywords might perform, and even create a new keyword list by multiplying several lists of keywords together.
To use Keyword Planner, sign in to your Google Ads account. If you don’t have one, you can create one now.
Click the Tools icon in the top right corner of your account. Under “Planning,” click Keyword Planner.
Choose one of these options:
- Get search volume data and trends
- Enter or upload a list of keywords, then click Get started. You can enter up to 10,000 keywords at a time. If you have a large number of keywords, you can upload them with a .csv file.
Keyword Ideas
Enter or upload a list of seed keywords, then click Get ideas. You’ll get keyword ideas related to your seed keywords.
You can also enter or upload a list of keyword ideas, then click Get metrics. You’ll get search volume and other data for your keyword ideas.
If you want to research keywords for multiple countries, languages, or devices, you can do so in the “Targeting” section.
After you’ve chosen your settings, click Continue.
On the “Results” page, you can see how often people have searched for your keyword ideas in the past month, as well as other data like suggested bids and competition.
You can use this data to help you decide which keywords to target in your Google Ads campaigns.
Google Ads Bid Amount
Ads bid amount is the amount you’re willing to spend for a click on your ad. The amount you set is only used to calculate your ad rank in the auction. It doesn’t mean that you’ll always be charged that amount.
You can set a manual bid or let Google automatically set a bid for you. If you let Google automatically set your bid, your bid will be based on your daily budget and target CPA (click-per-acquisition).
When setting your bid, consider how much it will cost you to acquire a new customer. Factor in your margins and the lifetime value of a customer when determining your max CPC (click-per-cost) bid.
The average CPC varies by industry and time of year, but the global average CPC is $2.32. Keep in mind that your actual CPC may be different based on your targeting, device and ad format.
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA)
Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) are a type of Google Ads campaign that doesn’t require keywords. Instead, they use your website’s existing structure and content to determine what searches to show your ads for and then show your ad using the headline (generated dynamically by Google) and landing page URL from your website (chosen by Google) that is most relevant to the person’s search.
DSAs can be a great way to complement your other Google Ads campaigns or to run a stand-alone campaign if you don’t have the time or resources to manage keyword-based campaigns.
To get started with DSAs, you’ll need to create a new DSA campaign in your Google Ads account. Then, you’ll need to set up your campaign’s ad group, website targeting, daily budget, and ad template.
Responsive Search Ads (RSA)
Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) are a new type of Google Ads ad that allows you to create an ad that is responsive to different searches. RSAs use machine learning to show the best possible combination of your headlines and descriptions based on what people are searching for.
To get started with RSAs, you’ll need to create a new RSA campaign in your Google Ads account. Then, you’ll need to set up your campaign’s ad group, website targeting, daily budget, and ad template.
Google Ads is an effective way to reach potential customers who are searching for products or services that you offer. When used correctly, Google Ads can be a powerful tool to drive traffic to your website and generate leads and sales.