9 Simple & Actionable Google AdWords Tips For Small Businesses

Google adwords is one of the most scalable and flexible digital ad platforms today. It is faster than SEO and is highly measurable as compared to other ad networks. The platform is also easy to use, which makes it one of the most widely used ad platforms globally.

When compared to other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Google AdWords calls for a higher budget. Nevertheless, there are a number of things you can do to improve your ROI when using Google AdWords campaigns.

After running several successful campaigns for my clients, here are some tips & tricks I have learnt.

1) Always use modified broad match when beginning a campaign

The broad match modifier is one that reaches to the widest audience. When using this, your ads will be eligible to appear when users search queries that include any of the keyword phrases you use. This is a strategy I have found to work better especially when I used for my property clients. Example: Use ‘ +black +short +dress ‘ instead of ‘black short dress’ or “Black short dress”

This will allow your ad to be shown when these exact words are in the search query (in any order) and will also be shown for close variations.

2) Always start with search only ads

Well, this may not be applicable to all industries, eg- if you run an e-commerce platform then display ads may work better for you. But for other service businesses this is a must follow rule. The use of Intent Keywords in the ‘search only ads’ will enable you to know which keywords and ads wok best for you. So always, start with search only network, learn what keywords are working best for you and then move to a combined campaign of display+ serach with better targeting.

3) Board match modifier keywords only for the first week

Use board modified keywords only for the first week. Once you identify which keywords are working best for you change them to “tight exact match keywords” This has worked well to increase my CTR on overall campaigns.

4) All ads need to contain keywords

Every keyword has a quality score. This score highly depends on how many ads use that particular keyword in your campaign and it’s density on the landing page of your site (There are many more factors, but these two are the most important). Your ad will only be displayed if it contains one of the keywords from the search query. You can use various ad variations with your keywords. This is where you can have various ‘Ad sets’ with specific keywords and ads.

5) Use manual CPC

To avoid paying for irrelevant traffic, make use of the manual CPC instead of auto. This will help optimize cost per click for your ads. Keep a track of the average bid to be on first page and make sure your bid is always .10c higher than the suggested avg.

6) Dashboard must haves

Once you start a campaign it’s important to know how the every keyword is performing. Every time you log in you MUST have these columns in your keywords dashboard to tell you in one look how the keywords are doing.

Est first page bid – Tells you exactly how much you need to bid if you want to be on the first page
Est first position bid – Tells you exactly how much to bid for the first position (This bid is usually the highest)
Est top page bid- – Tells you exactly how much you need to bid if you want to be on the top of the search page
Quality score – This will help you in making changes to the ad copy and optimize landing page if the quality score is below 5
Impr – Tells you how many people saw your ad
CTR – Stands for “Click Thru Rate”
Click – Tells you the number of clicks
Cost- Total spent on that keyword
Average CPC – Tells you an average cost per click
Average position – Tells you where your ad position is

7. Negative Keywords

Get into the habit of checking the “Search Term section” everyday. This section tells you which queries your ad is showing for. Incase you find an irrelevant query for which your ad was shown, immediately ad that search term to negative list, otherwise you will end up spending your budget on irrelevant searches.

8. Ad copy Hack

Before you start writing the copy for your ad, do a google search with the keyword to see how your competitors are ads are drafted. This will give you an idea of how you should be creating your copy.

9. Minimum Clicks

You will need 50 to 60 clicks for each sale. Getting 200 clicks with no sale means there is a problem. Take a look at your keywords and keep refining.

Hope the above 9 tips help you in starting off with your google adwords campaign. If you have any tips to share let me know in comments and I will be happy to give it a try in my next google adwords campaign.