Google Paid Search ads are a highly effective method of digital advertising for targeting individuals actively searching for the products or services your business offers. However, if you’re unfamiliar with Google Ads, you may find that your budget quickly depletes without yielding significant results. To help our readers achieve better performance from their Google PPC ads, we have prepared a comprehensive guide outlining quick and easy strategies that often lead to improved outcomes.
1. Location Options
When creating a new Google Ads campaign, one of the initial steps is selecting your target locations. You enter your location, choose whether to target the specific location or a radius around it, and save your settings. It may seem simple, but there is a critical aspect that many overlook. This can be found in the blue dropdown button beneath your location settings, labeled “Location options”. By pressing this button, you will discover three different options for refining how your defined locations are targeted:
– Presence or interest
– Presence
– Search interest
By default, location settings are set to target by “Presence or interest”, which means your ads will be shown to individuals in, regularly in, or who have expressed interest in your targeted locations. The issue arises with the inclusion of individuals who have merely shown interest in your targeted location, even if they don’t reside or visit there regularly. For example, someone who has searched for travel plans to your target location may be classified as having “shown interest”. This can lead to your ads being displayed to a person in a different location, despite their search query being related to your target area. For most advertisers, this is not desirable. However, there are cases where targeting by “interest” is beneficial, such as in the hospitality or travel industry. For most local businesses, it is advisable to change your target setting to “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations”.
2. Quality Score
Google’s ultimate goal is to deliver the best search results, ensuring the optimal user experience. For search ads, this means having ads that are relevant and useful to search queries, directing users to pertinent and user-friendly landing pages. To measure ad performance in relation to these factors, Google developed the “Quality Score” metric. While a comprehensive understanding of quality score and its calculation is available in our guide, it is crucial to be aware that having strong quality scores is vital. There are several reasons why quality scores are important:
– Keywords with higher quality scores receive increased visibility in search results.
– Ads with higher quality scores result in lower costs per click.
Achieving high quality scores is essential for improving the overall performance of your Google ads. To assess your quality scores, navigate to Keywords-> Search Keywords in Google Ads and click on Columns > Modify Columns. Under the Quality Score dropdown, select Quality Score and press Apply. This will display a quality score column next to your keywords. Numerous resources provide strategies for improving quality scores, but there is one underutilized tip worth mentioning. Click Through Rate (CTR), the percentage of how many times your ad was clicked on when viewed, is argued to be the most crucial factor influencing quality score. By optimizing your ad copy to maximize the likelihood of clicks, you can bolster your CTR and ultimately improve your quality scores. When creating a Responsive Search Ad (the current standard for creating search ads), avoid being led astray by the Ad Strength score. This score evaluates whether your targeted keywords are mentioned in your ad copy, which may result in generic and unremarkable headlines and descriptions. Instead, focus on crafting engaging ad copy that entices clicks while still incorporating relevant keywords.
Keep in mind that these are just two strategies to enhance your Google Paid Search ads. Implementing these tactics will help you target effectively and improve your performance.