6 steps to master Google ads!

Even complex Google Ads accounts need a good cleanup every once in a while. The start of a new year is a great time to clean up.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through all the steps you need to take to quickly update your Google Ads account.

1. Create a KPI list (if you don’t have one already)

Google Ads key performance indicators, or KPIs, are the metrics used to determine the success of your Google Ads campaign. Every business has different KPIs, depending on what they want to achieve from Google Ads. For example, if your main goal is to get website traffic, then your KPIs might include clicks and click-through rate (CTR). If your priority is content downloads, then KPIs might include number of conversions, conversion rate, and cost per acquisition (CPA).

So, once you know what your Google Ads goals are, you can list your KPIs.

Pro Tip: You can create a set of saved columns that display the KPIs you care about most. When viewing any set of data (campaigns, ad groups, ads, etc.), you’ll see a “columns” button in the upper left corner of the chart. Click that button and select Modify columns.

Here, make sure you select the KPIs and other metrics that are important to you.

Once you have configured the columns you want, save the column set and give it a name.

2. Identify poorly performing KPIs

To achieve your goals, you need to consider the value of a particular action to the business. For example, if someone downloaded your content, what value would that bring to your business? How much are you willing to pay for it? This number is your cost per acquisition (CPA).

In addition to CPA, other common KPIs include quality score, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and impression share. Instead of continually setting a specific goal, you can continually improve some of these metrics based on historical data.

It’s important to remember that depending on what you’re promoting, your benchmark may be different. For example, if one campaign’s goal is to promote content downloads and another campaign’s goal is to promote demo requests, the campaign with the demo requests is likely to be more valuable and have a higher average CPA. Both of these actions can be considered “conversions,” so it’s helpful to track these KPIs on a campaign-by-campaign basis.

The following articles will walk you through actions you can take to improve your account’s overall performance. There are specific ways to improve specific pain points in your account.

If your CPC is low, you need to work on your ad copy

If everything seems to be going well in your account but your CPC is low, it’s likely because your ad copy isn’t resonating with your audience.

For lower conversion rates, optimize your landing page

If a user clicks on your ad and lands on your landing page, but does not complete the conversion. Then you may need to re-optimize your landing page.

3. Try manual bidding

There are two main types of bidding strategies in Google Ads: manual bidding and automatic bidding. If you have been using automatic bidding, you can try manual bidding.

Bidding strategies are controlled at the campaign level. To switch, click Settings under any campaign. Under Bidding, click Change bid strategy.

Once clicked, you will see the following options:

Automatic bidding and manual bidding each have their pros and cons, and you don’t have to use the same bidding strategy for all campaigns in your account.

Automated bidding requires less effort, but it also gives you less control over your bids. The benefit of using a manual bidding strategy is the ability to adjust bids based on the performance of your ad groups and keywords. As you analyze the performance of your ads and keywords, you can control your bids to influence performance. There are several factors to be aware of when switching to manual bidding, and if you’ve been using automated bidding, this strategy could significantly improve your account’s overall performance.

4. Add some negative keywords

Adding negative keywords is one of the simple ways to avoid wasting time in your Google Ads account. The search terms that appear in your ads are constantly changing, so be sure to look through them carefully, pick out keywords that are not working, and add them as negative keywords. You may want to set up negative keyword lists for each campaign, as well as keyword lists for your entire account.

Pro Tip: If a specific topic appears frequently in your search terms and isn’t relevant to the ads that are showing, but is relevant to your business, consider creating a new campaign or ad group for that topic.

5. Add Retargeting Audiences

As long as your website is tagged with the Google tracking pixel and your website gets enough traffic to satisfy Google’s requirements, you can refresh your Google Ads account by adding retargeting audiences.

Retargeting audiences will show your ads to people who have previously visited your website. These audiences are configured at the campaign level.

It’s a good idea to come up with creative ways to retarget your website visitors so you can reach those who are interested in your brand, products, or services. Remarketing campaigns typically work well with display ads, but it’s also great to try this strategy with search campaigns.

6. Make bid adjustments on devices

A good way to control your bids is to adjust them based on the performance of the device. This is controlled at the campaign or ad group level. Device settings can be adjusted by navigating to your campaign and clicking on 'Devices'.

Make sure to configure your columns to display KPIs and compare performance data for each device. Then, increase or decrease your bid accordingly. For example, if mobile devices have lower CPCs and higher conversion rates than computers, you could bid more on mobile devices or less on computers.

summary

By following these 6 steps, you can start the new year off right with a high-performing Google Ads account that helps you reach your business goals!

Starting with a few campaigns will allow you to evaluate whether your new strategy is working and make adjustments accordingly. Happy New Year 2020!

Author: Google Traffic

Source: Google Traffic