How do you know if your Google Ad campaign is performing well? A great way to gauge the effectiveness of your advertising efforts is to track the return on investment (ROI) of your efforts. There are many ways to measure ROI, but they all hinge on two key components—the cost of acquiring each customer and what that customer brings to your business in the long run. If you’re just starting out with Google Ads, it can be tricky to figure out which metrics you should be paying attention to and what makes a great Google Ad.
Choose high-value keywords
A big part of creating a great Google ad is choosing high-value keywords. The keywords you choose will have a direct impact on how much you pay per click and how many clicks your ad will receive. When choosing keywords, think about what kind of people would search for these terms and what they’re looking for. That way, you can develop an ad that not only generates clicks but also helps users find what they need quickly and efficiently.
Use ad extensions
An ad extension is a piece of additional information that appears below your text ads, on Google Search and Google Display Network (GDN) websites. These extensions are called Google ad extensions because they help make ads more useful by showing people more relevant information, increasing click-through rate (CTR), improving user experience and allowing advertisers to increase their campaign’s exposure. Good ad extensions for most campaigns are: Sitelinks, Structured Snippets, Callout Extensions and Location Extensions.
Ensure high-quality landing pages
The second component of an effective Google ad is a high-quality landing page. On your landing page, it should be clear what you want users to do, and you shouldn’t ask them for more information than they need. If they don’t give up their email address or offer something in return, they should at least be able to download an asset that makes sense for them to have (like a white paper).
Add relevant images
Adding relevant images can increase engagement and make your ads stand out from all of those that are lacking visuals. Each image should have an alt tag (alternative text, which helps screen readers interpret what’s being conveyed in images). Once you upload a photo, look for a small icon in its upper-right corner. Click it, type a title for your image, and then add a description below it.
Target new users
Before you begin, do some research into who your target market is and where they spend their time online. In many cases, companies will be looking for new users with a particular industry focus or job title (such as HR Director). Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences can make it easier to reach people with similar interests. These types of tools are what we call ad optimisation; they allow you to more effectively advertise on platforms such as Facebook.
Consider your ad competition
Paid ads are a great way to ensure that your business gets seen. However, you need to be careful that you’re not going head-to-head with some of your biggest competitors. What you really want is for those potential customers interested in what you’re selling to actually land on your landing page, and not on your competitors site.
Focus on quality score
In recent years, Google has taken measures to improve ad quality across its network. One of these means for improving quality is called Quality Score. Essentially, Quality Score measures how relevant your ad’s content is compared with your keywords and landing page.
A/B test ad copy, headlines, and placement
Running an A/B test on your ad copy, headlines, and placement can help determine what is most effective at getting clicks. When you run an A/B test, you serve two different versions of your ad simultaneously and see which one performs better over a specific period of time. If you don’t know where to start or are worried about how much extra work it might add, take advantage of automatic ad optimisation.
Understanding how running Google ads can help your business is just the first step, it can still be hard to get started and integrate Google ads into your strategy. Try a free demo of GrowMOFO’s automated digital marketing platform to put our advice into action and automate your ads.
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