Our team of Google Ads experts has a combined 30+ years of experience working in the Google Ads platform. As professionals in the space, we’ve discovered countless tips and tricks to make our clients’ ads successful. As a result, we’ve identified six Google Ads best practices that will help produce positive results from your search campaigns.
1. Conduct Thorough Keyword Research Using Google Keyword Planner
One of the most important Google Ads best practices is conducting thorough keyword research. This will determine what words or phrases your desired website visitors and potential clients will be searching for in order to find your website. These keywords should be relevant to your core offerings, and should overall align with your marketing goals. To help conduct our keyword research, we like to use Google Keyword Planner.
Once you’ve developed your keyword list, you can begin to develop your ad groups and campaigns. Not only can you bid on your keywords, but be sure to utilize them in your ads themself. Google will then use these keywords, along with your targeting settings, to determine when the ads should show up for relevant searches. Following Google Ads keyword best practices from the start will help to set you up for success in the long run.
2. Find Negative Keywords & Add Them to Negative Keyword Lists
Speaking of relevant searches, sometimes keywords can be ambiguous. This in turn can cause Google to place your ad in front of unrelated or unwanted searches. If this happens, it may be time to consider adding negative keywords to your campaign.
For example, at Bytes.co, we want to rank for “web developer”. That being said, we don’t want to show up on a search results page of “web developer classes”. Therefore, our team will likely add “class” and “classes” to our negative keyword list so our ads will no longer appear in these irrelevant search results.
You can add negative keywords to your ad group or campaign using Google’s three negative keyword match types – either on broad match, phrase match, or exact match. Use broad or phrase match negatives to exclude a broader range of keywords, or use exact match negatives to sculpt out your ad groups.
3. Write Effective & Engaging Google Ads Copy
You’ve already learned that it’s important to incorporate your keywords into your ad copy to improve your Google Ads quality score. Another very important aspect to ad creation is remaining on brand. When a potential customer clicks on your ad, the last thing you want is to confuse that visitor when they arrive on your website. Your ad should remain consistent with your website and branding guidelines to let visitors know that they’re in the right place.
Second, your ad copy should be short, specific, and to the point. Headlines and descriptions in Google Ads both have character limits, so it’s important to make the most of your limited space. Third, your ad copy should include calls to action that encourage users to click on your ad. By following these Google Ads copy best practices, you’ll ensure that your ad copy is both effective and engaging.
4. Follow Google Ads Landing Page Best Practices
Now that you’ve created ads with strong quality scores and that are consistent with your brand, your visitor will know they’re on the right website upon first glance. The next thing your visitor will pay attention to is the content on the page they’ve landed on. A good landing page experience can generate leads or lose them.
Creating a relevant landing page is essential to retaining your website visitors and eventually driving them to convert. Integrating your keywords onto your landing page will indicate that it has the answer your visitor is looking for.
That being said, don’t make the common mistake of keyword stuffing. Google’s algorithm is averse to content that is stuffed with keywords. Place the keywords in areas of your content that make sense, and don’t overdo it.
Lastly, make sure you have calls to action on your landing page. Don’t make your website visitor go looking for ways to buy, donate, or sign up for your service or product. Ensure that calls to action (CTAs) are placed directly on your landing page so your visitors can’t miss them. All in all, following Google Ads landing page best practices will help improve user experience on your website as well as boost conversions.
5. Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking
Unfortunately, Google Ads isn’t free. The price of your ad spend completely depends on your business or industry. Regardless of the cost, it’s essential to have the data that shows your ads are bringing you a positive ROI.
In order to gather that data, it’s imperative to set up conversion tracking, particularly on your calls to action. Whether your CTA is a phone number, a form, purchasing a product, or subscribing to a newsletter, there is a way to set up tracking so you can identify where the lead came from.
This data will not only show if your Google Ads are providing you with a positive ROI, but they can also help you determine if it’s time to start allocating more funds to your campaigns as a result of their success.
To take it a step further, your Google Ads account can be linked to your Google Analytics account. Linking Google Ads to Google Analytics will not only allow you to measure conversion data at a deeper level, but to also see how Google Ads compares to other website traffic sources.
6. Optimize Your Google Ads Campaigns After Gathering Data
Now that you’ve set up tracking and gathered your data, it’s time to determine what’s working and what adjustments you can make to your campaigns to improve your results.
Are your negative keywords taking away visitors you weren’t expecting? Do your keywords pull in relevant visitors to your landing page? Maybe visitors are landing on your website and leaving immediately after. Can you revamp your landing page design and content?
There are endless improvements one can make to their website and Google Ads campaign to get the desired results. There really is no such thing as “done” when it comes to Google Ads, so make sure you have a dedicated agency or employee who is constantly making adjustments and analyzing the data.
What’s Next?
Our digital marketing team understands Google Ads through and through. Each of our digital marketing specialists is well versed in Google Ads best practices, and our team always works collaboratively to achieve the best results for our clients.
If you need help managing your Google Ads campaigns, contact our sales team for a free consultation today. We want to see your campaigns and business receive a positive ROI, so we pride ourselves in offering fair pricing. We would love to work with you and help your business grow!
About the Author
Abby graduated from Saint Michael’s College in 2016 with a degree in Psychology. After graduating, she spent a year working back home in South Shore Massachusetts. It didn’t take long for Abby to figure out that she belonged back in Green Mountain State.
She began working for Bytes.co in September 2017. Abby has worn a few different hats since starting at Bytes.co. Initially her role began in the billing and administration department, but has since transitioned to sales and internal marketing. You will likely find yourself speaking with Abby when you call the Bytes.co office phone.
Outside of work, Abby spends her time in the great outdoors playing soccer, going on runs on the Burlington bike path, skiing, and playing yard games with friends. While Vermont feels like home now, she visits her friends and family back in Massachusetts as often as she can.
