A Google Ads campaign is one of the best ways to reach your target audience. But as data grows and competition levels increase, it can be challenging to stand out from your competitors and convert leads into sales. For this reason, it’s essential to keep your Google Ads campaigns optimized—and here’s how you can do just that:

Choose the Right Keywords

It would help if you started using a keyword research tool to find the best keywords in your industry. Some good ones include Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and WordStream, but many others are out there. You can also use these tools to find the most searched keywords in your area or even specific cities—this will help you target local customers who may be more likely to buy from you than those who live far away.

Once you’ve used one of these tools to get some ideas for keywords, it’s time to narrow down your list based on relevance and competition level. You must choose relevant terms so as not to waste money on ads that don’t get clicked on or even seen by potential customers; search engines typically give higher rankings (and therefore more clicks) for searches explicitly related to what users are looking for at that moment rather than broad generic terms like “shoes.”

You’ll want this keyword selection process done before creating an Ads campaign because it allows Google Analytics data collection without submitting any bids, which saves money if there’s no need!

 

Start With Broad Match Keywords and Then Narrow

A broad match keyword is a keyword that could be for any product or service. For example, “banana” would match “bananas,” “bendy bananas,” and a video of your friend doing the Banana Dance (weird).

A phrase match keyword is a keyword where you want to target specific words in a phrase but not necessarily all of them. For example, if you searched for “banana phone case” in Google, you’d want to show up for searches like banana phone case amazon and banana phone cases eBay. A phrase match would ensure that if someone searched for ‘banana phone case’ or ‘yellow banana phone case’ (are these things popular?), they’d see your ad.

A close variant is similar to a phrase match, except it targets near variants, so if someone searches’ yellow banana,’ it would trigger your ad because it’s identical to the word ‘yellow.’

We’re all familiar with an exact match: when someone types in exactly what they’re looking for into the search bar—no more, no less!

 

Align Your Keywords With Your Marketing Goals

The keywords you’re targeting with your ad are the words and phrases you want to appear for in search results. They should be relevant to what you do, but there are a few other factors to take into account as well:

• Keywords should be specific and long-tail. The more precisely and narrowly tailored a keyword is, the more likely it is that people searching for it will convert keywords that should be extended. Google likes to see people searching for a specific phrase and then acting on it (i.e., clicking on the ad). A short keyword phrase like “baby clothes” makes people seem less committed; instead, try something like “organic cotton baby clothes from brands you love.” on your website (i.e., buy something). For example, if you run an eCommerce site selling baby clothes, “baby clothes” may be too broad and yield low-quality scores from Google; instead, try adding an adjective like “organic cotton baby clothes.”
• Keywords should be in good order. Find out what ad copy performs best by running A/B tests with two similar ads (one using one keyword first vs. another) over time across different devices or locations to see which gets better results overall—and then stick with that winning combination as much as possible! Also, note: sometimes changing the order of one word can make all the difference for example, “baby clothes” versus “clothes for babies”, so experiment here too!

Enter Your Keywords in the Correct Order

Optimizing your keyword order is the easiest way to get started with a Google Ads campaign. The idea here is simple: put your most important keywords first, then place the rest in descending order of importance. This will help you optimize for more clicks and boost click-through rate by giving users what they’re looking for straightaway when they click on an ad.

There are a few different ways you can approach this strategy—you can use a tool like WordStream’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool to help determine which keywords are most relevant and popular within your niche, and then add them at the top of your list (or in any other order that makes sense). If you need to develop new ideas fast, look at what terms people are searching for when they visit pages similar to yours on Google.com — these are likely relevant keywords that aren’t being used yet but could be helpful in future campaigns.

If possible, ensure all your ads have the same order so that people see consistent information across all screens and devices!

Understand Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are a great way to reduce your ad spending and prevent irrelevant clicks. For example, if you sell custom jewelry, you probably don’t want ads running for “lawnmowers” or “scrapbooking supplies.” You can use negative keywords to prevent those terms from triggering your ads.

You can also use negative keywords to reduce the number of clicks from competitors’ ads. For example, let’s say that you run a jewelry business and another jeweler is also advertising on Google Ads. By adding their brand name as a negative keyword, all of their customers who search for that term will no longer click on any of your ads (unless they’re actively looking for another jeweler). This way, you keep competitors from stealing away potential customers by displaying their names in every single one of your search results!

Negative keywords are beneficial—and they’re easy to set up! If there’s an ad term that isn’t relevant to what your business offers or doesn’t want to be displayed anywhere near its content (like lawnmowers), then add it to the list of words not eligible to trigger any associated advertisements by using [the minus sign] inside brackets next to them like this: [-lawn mowers]. That way, none of those ads show up again unless someone searches specifically for lawnmower information; otherwise, these unwanted words will disappear.

Change Your Budget Based on Your Results

The point of Google Ads is to get as many people to click on your ads as possible. The more certain clicks you get, the more money you make. So, it’s essential to monitor the performance of your campaigns and adjust things accordingly so that they are working at their best.

One way this can be done is by changing your budget based on your results. When you’re getting a lot of clicks but not many conversions (for example), then raise your budget so that you can reach more people who might convert on their first visit or after making a few visits to the website (depending on how long Google thinks it takes someone to convert). On the other hand, lower your budget if you’re getting lots of conversions and not many clicks because there’s no sense in spending too much money with no return on investment.

Google Ads Basics 

Google Ads is a powerful tool for businesses of all kinds, but it can be a complicated system to navigate. It helps to know basic information about how the platform works and how you can use it most effectively.

Google Ads allows you to target potential customers by placing ads on Google search engine results pages (SERPs). You can also use this platform to promote your business and increase brand awareness through social media. The last thing you can do with Google Ads is to promote products or services directly from SERPs.

Take Away

The key to a successful Google Ads campaign is to focus on the basics. You must choose your keywords carefully and ensure they align with your overall strategy. Then, it’s essential to monitor your results so that you can adjust your budget or other settings in response. Finally, don’t forget about negative keywords—they can be accommodating if used correctly!

 

Author: Nick Caminade

Nick Caminade works at VEED as an Outreach Specialist. He has 2 years of experience writing articles focused on digital marketing and technology enhancement.