You can turn Google Ads as a major driving force in your business, but only if you’ve set it up properly and regularly optimize it. Fortunately, you can fix these mistakes with a little tender loving care. This post will cover one of the most common mistakes that you can avoid when setting up Google Ads.
You have to be patient, as you won’t be seeing rewards overnight. Usually, it would take weeks (or even months!) for search engines like Google to consider these best practices, and you’ll be able to see the benefits of these changes.
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ToggleWhat is Google Ads?
Before we move on, let’s first define what Google Ads is. In a nutshell, it’s just the advertising system of Google wherein advertisers tend to bid on certain keywords to make these clickable ads appear on Google’s search results. Because you have to pay for these clicks, this is how Google makes revenue from these searches.
Overall, it’s an extremely effective lead generation machine that offers a variety of features, targeting, and customization options. Work with the best Ads management services here.
Now, by learning and identifying certain Google Ads mistakes, you’ll get closer to your main goal, and that is to drive highly targeted traffic to your site, boost your marketing efforts, and ROI.
Here are the eight Google mistakes that you need to avoid:
1. Not checking for duplicate keywords
Regularly checking your search query report is a constant part of your ongoing paid search maintenance. Over time, you’ll find hidden gems there- search terms that look relevant to how they are matched.
But if you’re quite liberal with your matching, you’ll see the same keyword matching to various groups. The best way to look for duplicate keywords is to use the search query report of Ads to “Find Duplicate Keywords” underneath the “Tools” section.
Moreover, pulling in performance data will help you decide where to keep it running, or where you can pause it to place it in either location.
2. Bidding on the wrong keywords
Just because you found it in the keyword tool of Google doesn’t mean that users who search for that particular keyword want to do business with you. Because you’re paying for every click, the keywords you pick must resonate well with someone’s search intentions.
Make sure that your website delivers solutions to their problems. For instance, if you’re bidding for household items, make sure you’re selling household items.
3. Testing bidding strategies
With so many bidding strategies available out there, finding the right one for you might be challenging. However, you need to be testing a few to find something that is most suitable for your needs.
While more advanced advertisers want to utilize manual CPC, some will still prefer to utilize maximum conversions or an enhanced CPC.
There are two bidding strategies that you might want to target – target ROAS and target CPA. Both of these strategies will allow you to bid depending on your cost per action, or your return on ad spend.
This enables you to spend the right ad amount to reach your ROI and, therefore, maximize your investment.
4. No multiple Ad Variations
It could be easy to think that all it takes is just one ad to crush your competition. But the reality is, just like with any field of marketing, testing is still key. Creating different ad variations will give you more chances to “get things right.”
For instance, you can create three ad variations per ad group:
- General
- Product category
- Product-specific
After creating these ad variations, run them for about four weeks, and after gathering enough data, you can revisit these ads which help you determine which are performing the best.
By doing these steps, you’ll accomplish two things:
- Weed out those ad-variations that are low-performing.
- Create high-performing ad variations through subtle changes.
5. Directing users To Site’s Home Page
Another mistake that you can commit when it comes to post-click landing page relevance is directing users to your site’s home page, rather than a more specific webpage.
Although that webpage could still be navigated from your homepage, directing users to your homepage could hurt your quality score. So, always link your ads to extremely relevant pages.
6. Not Considering The Competitors
The thing is, Google Ads works like an auction system. Your results could be impacted by what your competitors are doing on the sidelines.
So, if you’re making campaigns in a bubble, and you’re not aware of what your competitors are doing, you’ll be missing out on a huge piece of the puzzle.
Market research will always be important. Ideally, look for bid ranges inside your campaigns, know the competition, and what they’re doing to rank first. Look on the keywords they’re utilizing in their ads, and what they’re bidding on.
7. Underestimating Negative Keywords
Negative keywords will help your account become more productive no matter what type of industry you’re in. For example, if your business is selling shoes, then the word “red” will be a great addition to your current keyword list.
You can also check out Ads’ “Search Terms” Report to gain some insight into user queries that are considered worthwhile and determine which ones are not.
8. Not measuring your ROI Or Return On Investment
You must know the ROI of your PPC campaign. This shows you how many paid clicks, prospective customers, in a particular area that were converted into sales.
Measuring your ROI helps you refine your campaigns, especially when it comes to ad groups and keywords that are kept or discarded.
Final Thoughts
As we’ve mentioned, a successful Google campaign takes time, patience, and a lot of testing in your part. By spending some time trying to set up your campaign initially, you can avoid committing these most common Google Ads mistakes (think of keywords, numerous ad variations, keyword mix, narrowly focused ad groups, and so on.)
All of this could go a long way in generating leads in a more cost-effective and sustainable level.