3 Practices to Improve Google Ads Performance

Google Ads is a powerful platform for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising but its many capabilities can often be overlooked. After all, Google rolls out new targeting features on a regular basis which can be hard to keep track of. Whether you’re new to Google Ads or have been using it for years, here are three practices that can improve your campaigns’ performance and increase your return on investment (ROI).

Branded keywords are exactly what they sound like - terms that include your brand’s name or variations of it. When you use branded keywords in your Google Ads campaigns, you’ll find that your cost-per-clicks (CPCs) are lower and ad ranks are higher, culminating in higher Quality Scores. In case you forgot what's a Quality Score, check out Google’s definition.

 

While branded keywords are great on their own, you can increase the visibility of your ad by combining branded with non-branded keywords. How you do this is by adding the + sign to the non-branded keyword to make it a ‘modified broad’ while leaving the branded keyword as broad. That way, your ads will show up when people search combinations of your non-branded keywords regardless if they include your branded keywords or not in their search.

 

Here’s an example: let’s say a foot apparel’s branded keyword is Valencia and their non-branded keywords are red leather shoes. The advertiser would set the target keyword as valencia +red +leather +shoes so the ad would be eligible to appear for search queries that include red, leather, and shoes. Combining branded keywords and broad modified non-branded keywords will yield a higher Quality Score while increasing your ad’s visibility, even if the user’s search query doesn’t include the branded keyword.

It’s important to review your campaigns’ location settings to ensure that you’re actually targeting locations that will give you a higher ROI. Often, advertisers “set and forget” their location settings but doing so can result in missed opportunities. One way to improve your ad targeting is with location-based bid modifiers.

 

Instead of guessing which regions are the most valuable for your business, visit the Dimensions Tab in your Google Ads account and set your view to Geographic. A sortable report will be produced to show your performance metrics by country, region, metro area, city, and “most specific location.” Then, organize by conversions to better understand which regions bring you the most sales.

 

After identifying your most profitable regions, revisit your location settings and set a positive bid adjustment for each of these locations. Having higher bids will increase your ad’s visibility for searchers either located in those locations or searching for products within those locations which means more conversions.

When you have ad groups that aren’t performing as well as you hoped but you’re not ready to give up on targeting those keywords just yet, consider using remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA). An RLSA only displays ads to people who have already visited your site. Since they’re familiar with your brand and have shown interest in your offerings, they’ve moved past the awareness stage in the buyer’s journey and are now in the consideration stage which means they’re more likely to convert. 

Managing Google Ads campaigns takes time and resources that not every business has which is why handing over your PPC management to professionals can get you the results you want to see. At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we have a team of experienced digital marketers who can handle PPC campaigns and budgets of any size.

 

For more information about how PPC advertising can bring your business more sales, give us a call today at 407-682-2222 or fill out our contact form.