It’s very well possible to optimize your content for search engines, but you may still struggle with a limited organic presence in the short term. While SEO is powerful and offers real long-term benefits, it demands patience. For that reason, running PPC campaigns alongside your SEO efforts can be crucial. Since SEO takes time to build results, Pay-per-click advertising can be a way to get a faster return on investment (ROI). In this blog post, we will detail how to set up Google ads step by step, leaving no chance for confusion or doubt.
Why PPC?
You can get your ad running in less than an hour and easily edit it as needed. When you do it right, you’ll start generating sales.
Unlike other advertising models, PPC is entirely performance-based. In traditional advertising models like Cost per Thousand Impressions, you pay to draw attention. In PPC, you pay for results. If there are no results (clicks, leads, or sales), you don’t pay.
When people enter a query in a search bar, they are looking for something specific, indicating intent. This intent can be:
- Informational: The person is seeking an answer or information.
- Transactional: The person is actively searching for something to buy.
Due to this user intent, Google Ads is a powerful and profitable SEM tool. It leverages intent to connect potential customers directly with businesses.
Out of every $3 spent on online advertising, Google claims $1, making advertising its primary revenue stream. Over 95% of their $60 billion in annual revenue is derived from Google Ads. Considering that more than 80% of global businesses place their trust in Google Ads, it’s evident that companies are significantly investing in this platform. Google’s revenue and business trust imply that Google Ads is a valuable tool many businesses are already using.
In Google Ads companies pay to get ranked on the top of SERP based on keywords.
It’s unconventional to witness any small website ranking above the big brands; it’s quite indicative that Google loves big brands. So, how do you find your spot? The answer is PPC; it lets you jump onto the top rankings on SERP.
While it’s hard to put behind those biggies with organic efforts, small websites can absolutely compete with big brands in the paid ad space using Google Ads. By creating compelling and targeted ads with a strong landing page, you can increase your chances of getting clicks even with a smaller budget.
So, now that you have the overview of Google ads, let’s understand how to use it.
How To Use Google Ads?
We will start with some basics.
A keyword is a word or phrase that a user searches for and then sees your ad. Your ads appear based on the keywords you choose.
For example, you’re selling shoes online.
You choose words or phrases that describe your shoes (e.g., “running shoes,” “comfortables slippers”). When someone searches for those terms on Google, your ad can appear.
The dashboard is your store’s control center. It might look complicated at first, but we’ll help you understand how many people see your ads (impressions) and how many click on them (clicks).
Google charges you a fee when someone clicks your ad. They also track how many times your ad is shown (impressions), like window shoppers looking at your shoes.
The click-through rate (CTR) is like your conversion rate. It tells you what percentage of people who see your ad actually click on it and visit your shoe store (website). A high CTR means your ad is catching people’s attention.
Bidding is like an auction for the best ad spot. You set the maximum amount you’re willing to pay each time someone clicks your ad. Google will try to show your ad unless someone else offers more (on average). The higher your bid, the more likely your ad is to be seen.
In short, you choose keywords to attract potential customers, track their clicks on your ads, and use the CTR to see which ads are most effective. By bidding strategically, you can get your shoe store ad in front of the right people at the right time.
Suppose you target the keyword “cupcakes near me.” This means your ad might appear when someone searches for that term. Other bakeries might also bid on this keyword.
Each time someone searches for “cupcakes near me,” an auction happens in milliseconds. You and other bakeries bid what you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad (CPC).
Google considers both your bid and your ad’s Quality Score. Quality Score reflects how relevant your ad and landing page are to the search. Even if your bid is lower than a competitor’s, a high-quality Score can help you win the auction.
Let’s say your situation looks like this:
- Your Bid: $2 per click (the maximum you’re willing to pay)
- Competitor’s Bid: $3 per click
- Your Quality Score: 8 (out of 10) – This means your ad and landing page are very relevant to “cupcakes near me” searches.
- Competitor’s Quality Score: 5 (out of 10) – Their ad or landing page might be less relevant.
In this scenario, even though you bid less, your higher Quality Score could result in your ad being shown because it’s likely more useful for searchers.
But beyond the Clicks, tracking Conversions is also important. Clicks are great, but what if someone clicks your ad but doesn’t buy anything? That’s why tracking conversions (like a cupcake purchase) is crucial. You can see if your ad spend is actually generating sales.
How to keep the costs in check?
Remember, you won’t always pay your maximum bid. Google aims to show relevant ads while optimizing your budget. So, if your ad has a high Quality Score, you might win the auction for less than $2 per click.
Choose a Bidding Strategy
Google Ads offers different bidding options to fit your goals:
- To Get More Clicks: This strategy focuses on maximizing clicks within your daily budget. Great for driving initial traffic to your bakery website.
- To Focus on Sales: This strategy aims to get the most cupcake purchases for your set budget. Ideal when you want to see a return on your ad spend.
By understanding the auction system, Quality Score, and conversion tracking, you can create effective Google Ads campaigns that reach your target audience and bring in more customers for your bakery.
Google Ads offers advanced features and strategies; however, understanding this concept gives you a solid foundation to start!
How Does Google Ads Work?
In the past, Google Ads, formerly known as AdWords, allowed advertisers to bid on any keyword regardless of how relevant it was to their product or service. But then Google introduced quality score, which completely changed the auction system. Before advertisers focused solely on bidding the highest amount to win the auction and secure the top ad spot, leading to misleading ads displaying for search queries. Now, Google measures quality measures, which are the relevance and overall quality of an ad and its landing pages.
A high-quality score can benefit advertisers in two ways:
- One is even with a lower bid compared to competitors, a good Quality Score can lead to a higher ad rank, placing your ad in a more prominent position.
- Second is google rewards relevant ads with lower CPCs. This means you pay less per click, even if you’re competing against advertisers with higher bids.
Overall, it benefits both google and advertisers, as the former is able to show their users more relevant ads, and the latter gets better results for their ad spent.
How Google Ads Operates?
Google Ads assigns a Quality Score to each individual keyword on a scale of 1 to 10. This score reflects how relevant your keyword is to search queries, your ad content, and your landing page. In other words, a high-quality Score indicates strong relevance between your keyword, ad, and landing page. This means your ad is likely to be shown to users who are genuinely interested in what you offer.
While keywords are grouped together within ad groups for better organization, the Quality Score is determined for each keyword independently. So, even within the same ad group, two keywords can have different Quality Scores.
Quality Score is a diagnostic tool. It helps you identify areas for improvement, not a direct performance metric. Factors influencing Quality Score include click-through rate (CTR), keyword relevance to the ad group, landing page relevance, and historical ad performance.
Ultimately, having a good Quality Score can lead to lower costs per click (CPC) and better ad positions.
Wordstream demonstrates it like this; take a look:
How to Set Up Your First Campaign?
Simply go to Google Ads and click on “Start now.”
Then, enter your email and Homepage URL to access your Google ads account.
As a beginner, you might not be familiar with many aspects, but this guide is here to help. Before you sign up for Google Ads, it’s important to understand a key concept: Ad Networks. These are the platforms where your ads can appear online. Here are the two main ones in Google Ads:
Search Network
These are the text ads you see right on Google when you type in a search query. They’re perfect for reaching people who are actively looking for products or services like yours.
Display Network
This network shows your ads as banner ads on various websites across the internet. These ads are more about building brand awareness and making people familiar with your bakery’s name and logo.
Why focus on Search Network first?
Simple. People searching for keywords your target are much more likely to be ready to buy than someone who sees your banner ad on a random website about cat videos.
This guide will focus on mastering the Search Network first because it’s often the easiest way to get new customers and sales rolling in. Later, we can explore the Display Network and how it can help you build brand recognition.
But before you start attracting hungry customers with your ads, there’s one crucial thing to figure out: Your Budget.
Set Your Budget
- Define What You Want to Achieve
Before getting started, figure out what you want to get out of your PPC campaign. Here are some common goals markets want to achieve:
- Get New Customers: Understand how many new paying customers you want in a specific timeframe. For example, “10 new customers this month.”
- Generate Leads: How many potential customer contacts (leads) do you want in a timeframe, like email signups or phone calls? You should have a proper estimate like “I want 50 people to sign up for my newsletter in the next two months.”
Raise Brand Awareness: Do you want more people to know about your business? This might involve getting your ads seen by a large number of people (impressions). Your goal could be that you want your ad to be seen by 100,000 people in the next month.
- Estimate How Many Visitors You Need
Think about how many people need to visit your website (traffic) to achieve your goals. Let’s say you want 10 new customers, and your website typically converts 2% of visitors into customers. Here’s a simplified way to estimate how many visitors you’d need:
Visitors Needed = Goal / Conversion Rate
Example: Visitors Needed = 10 customers / 0.02 (conversion rate) = 500 visitors
Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, like buying something or signing up for a list.
3. Get a Rough Idea of Ad Costs
There are tools like Google Keyword Planner that can help you estimate how much it might cost per click (CPC) for your target keywords. These are the words or phrases people type in search engines to find businesses like yours. Imagine an average CPC of $1.
| Bidding Strategy | Definition | Best Used For | Stage of Expertise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual CPC | You set the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad. | Beginners with limited budgets who want precise control over spending. | Beginner |
| Automatic CPC (ACPC) | Google’s algorithm automatically adjusts your bids based on factors like conversion likelihood and budget goals. | Campaigns where you don’t have a lot of historical data or want to save time managing bids. | Beginner/Intermediate |
| Enhanced CPC (ECPC) | Google uses historical data to automatically raise bids for well-performing campaigns and lower bids for underperforming ones. | Campaigns with a decent amount of historical data to leverage Google’s automation. | Intermediate |
| Target CPA (CPA) | You set a target cost you’re willing to pay for a conversion (e.g., sale, lead). | Established campaigns with clear conversion goals and sufficient conversion data. | Intermediate/Advanced |
| Target ROAS (tROAS) | You set a target return on ad spend (revenue generated / cost of ads). | Established campaigns with a strong understanding of customer lifetime value and profitability. | Advanced |
| CPM Bidding | You pay a cost per thousand impressions (views) of your ad. | Brand awareness campaigns on the Display Network. | Beginner/Intermediate (depending on campaign goals) |
- Figure Out a Budget Range
Now, multiply the estimated number of visitors by the CPC to get a budget range. In our example:
Low Estimate: 500 visitors x $0.50/click = $250 budget
High Estimate: 500 visitors x $1.00/click = $500 budget
Remember, these are just estimates!
- Consider Your Profit
Think about how much money you make on average from a customer. Let’s say it’s $50. Here’s a simplified way to estimate your return on ad spend (ROAS):
ROAS = (Total Revenue from Ads) / (Cost of Ads)
Example: ROAS = ($50 x 10 customers) / ($250 budget) = 2 (This means you make $2 for every $1 spent on ads.)
Don’t forget to:
- Track your results throughout the campaign to see what’s working and make adjustments.
- Use free tools to help you estimate costs and make informed decisions.
- Start with achievable goals and a realistic budget.
Smart Bidding is a more advanced feature that automates your bids to optimize your campaign for conversions or other goals. It’s a great option for later but focus on the basics first.
Choose a Keyword
Go to Google keyword planner and start searching.
When you type in your keyword, think like a customer and how they search things online and type exactly that. You will also find the option of product category for more specifications.
Set the right location under “targeting,” and make sure to choose Google.
Upon clicking on “Get Ideas,” You can check the monthly search volume for the keywords in that region along with the average CPC.
You can choose your keywords based on:
What’s trending
Shows you what people are searching for online right now. This can be anything from celebrities making headlines to sudden spikes in interest in a particular product. It’s helpful for instances such as when you run a sporting goods store. For example, Google Trends might show a surge in searches for “running shoes” and “training plans” a few weeks before a major marathon. This is a golden opportunity to target those searches with ads for your running shoe selection or training gear.
Seasonality
Search trends for certain keywords fluctuate throughout the year. Some keywords are highly seasonal, meaning they experience significant spikes in search volume during specific times. These spikes often coincide with holidays, events, or changes in weather.
Exact match: Your ad only shows up when someone searches for your exact keyword, like “software engineer.”
But suppose you’re putting up an ad to hire “athletic shoes,” but instead, it keeps attracting all sorts of customers you don’t need. In Google Ads, you can pick how closely searches need to match your keyword. This is called “match type.”
These codes called “match types,” control who sees your ad. There are three main ones:
- Broad: Pick up any word related to the one you chose.
- Phrase: Picks up the word when used as part of a phrase.
- Exact: Picks up only when that exact word choice is used.
What Else?
- Manage Search Terms
If your ads are being shown for irrelevant search terms, you need to exclude these terms. Add these irrelevant terms as negative keywords in your campaign. Negative keywords prevent your ads from being triggered by specific words or phrases, saving you money on irrelevant clicks. Continuously refine your negative keyword list to filter out irrelevant traffic. This helps improve your campaign’s return on investment (ROI) over time by focusing your budget on more relevant searches.
- Use the Search Terms Report
Go to the Keywords tab in Google Ads and check the Search Terms report. This report shows the actual terms people are using when they see your ads. Review this report regularly to identify and exclude any irrelevant terms. This ensures you’re not paying for clicks that aren’t likely to convert.
- Set Your Budget and Key Phrases
Determining your budget and choosing the right key phrases are essential steps in setting up your campaign.
- Compete Effectively
After setting your budget and key phrases, the next challenge is to compete effectively in the ad space.
To dominate your competition, continually optimize your campaign by monitoring performance, adjusting bids, and refining keywords. This ensures your ads are more visible and attractive to your target audience.
Check Competition
First of all, brainstorm companies in your industry that offer similar products or services. Think about who you see most often when you search for relevant keywords yourself. Make a list of 5-10 potential competitors. Along with this, type your keyword or phrase in the google search bar that you plan to target with your own Google Ads campaign. Look at the search results page. At the very top, you’ll see a section labelled “Ads.” These are the companies currently bidding on that keyword. Write down the names of the companies you see in the Ads section.
You can also peak into competition with Google Ads Transparency Center; here is how you can do it:
- Look at the ad from one of your competitors on the search results page.
- You’ll see three dots next to the ad title. Click on those dots.
- A small menu will appear. Select the option that says, “See more ads by this advertiser.”
- This will take you to the Google Ads Transparency Center for that specific advertiser.
- Here, you’ll see the advertiser’s verified business name and a short description. This can help confirm if it is truly a competitor.
Explore Google Keyword Planner (Free Version):
- Go to Google Keyword Planner.
- You’ll need a Google Ads account to use this tool, but you don’t need to be running any paid ads. You can create a free Google Ads account if you don’t have one already.
- Within the Keyword Planner, enter some of your target keywords.
- The tool will suggest related keywords and provide an estimate of search volume and competition level for each term.
- While it won’t reveal the exact keywords your competitors are using, this can give you a general sense of how competitive the landscape is for your chosen keywords.
Using organic tools like Semrush, you can obtain a holistic understanding of your competitor’s online advertising strategy, encompassing both organic and paid search endeavours. It can help you evaluate competitor ad copy and landing pages to inform the development of your own campaigns. You can use this data on estimated budgets and keyword strategies and refine your campaign tactics effectively.
Focus on creating a relevant landing page
Even if you manage all the things well, you might not see good results if your landing page is not optimized.
You’re running a PPC ad, like a text ad on Google, promoting a discount on running shoes.
Someone interested clicks your ad. That’s where the landing page comes in.
Instead of landing on your general shoe store website, they are directed to a specific landing page you created for that discount offer.
This landing page focuses entirely on discounted running shoes, highlighting the benefits and the special offer.
Why is a dedicated landing page important for PPC?
Relevance: It keeps the visitor engaged by directly addressing what they clicked on in the ad.
Focus: There are no distractions like navigation menus, encouraging them to take the desired action, which could be buying the shoes, signing up for an email list, or downloading a coupon.
Conversion Rate: A well-designed landing page with a clear call to action (CTA) increases the chances of visitors converting into paying customers or leads.
Quality Score: PPC platforms like Google Ads reward relevant landing pages with a higher quality score, potentially lowering your ad costs.
In short, a landing page is a bridge between your PPC ad and the conversion you desire. It personalizes the user experience and maximizes the return on your PPC investment.
Tips to optimize your landing page
- Ensure the headline, visuals, and overall message of your landing page directly connect to the keywords and copy used in your PPC ad.
- Understand who you’re trying to reach with your ad. Tailor the landing page content to their specific needs and pain points.
- Craft a clear, concise headline that grabs attention and directly addresses the benefits users will gain from your offer.
- Focus on the value proposition. Explain why someone should take action and how it benefits them. Keep it clear and scannable, and avoid jargon.
- Use high-quality images or videos that are relevant to your offer and resonate with your target audience.
- Make CTA clear what you want visitors to do next. Use strong action verbs and contrasting button colours to make it stand out.
- Keep forms short and only ask for essential information. Long forms can scare visitors away.
- A significant portion of users will access your landing page on their phones. Ensure it’s responsive and optimized for mobile viewing.
Set up Your First Google Ads Campaign’
Set a daily amount you’re willing to spend on your campaign.
Choose the geographic location where you want your ads to show.
Choose to show your ads on search results pages (search network) or on other websites (display network).
Here is how you can do it:
Enter your keyword (the keywords shown here are Google’s recommendation; you can add more keywords in later steps) and set your bid as given below:
First we have a Campaign that encompasses everything, then we have Ad Groups, then we have Keywords & Ads. First, you may begin with a single campaign; then, depending on the need, you may add many more campaigns with several Ad Groups, Keywords, and Ads.
This means that there are various structures that you can consider when giving your account. Some PPC specialists also like to divide them by match types which are Broad Match, Phrase Match and Exact Match. This method enables immediate responses to the budget depending on a given term performance but might be challenging when used by large advertisers.
On the other hand, organizing campaigns by products or brands is easier to manage and optimize but this does not allow for detail level keyword performance optimization. Another approach is building Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) which provides accurate targeting and highly controlled environment but requires much time in setup and initial keyword research.
All the methods are useful in their own way, depending on what you are seeking to achieve. The assessment of customers’ intent helps in developing adverts that address each stage of the buying funnel.
Write your Ad copy
When creating your Google ad, keep it short and focused because you only have two lines. Clearly showcase what makes your product or service unique. For example, highlight benefits like “affordable bricks delivered in 2 days.” Use phrase matches for keywords to stay relevant to searches without being too broad. Avoid broad matches to maintain your ad’s effectiveness. Set up conversion tracking with Google Ads tools and add the code snippet to your thank you page to track successful conversions accurately. Regularly tweak your campaign settings based on performance insights. Try different ad variations and extensions to boost engagement and increase clicks.
Key Steps to Follow Before Launching Campaign
Once you’re on your dashboard, take these steps:
- Pause your Google Ads campaign to prevent it from starting immediately.
- Navigate to your campaign and note that Google has automatically created an ad group. For a single ad like ours, the ad group setup isn’t critical. However, in larger campaigns with multiple keywords, organizing them into ad groups simplifies management.
- Click into the ad group to access the ad level, where you can view your keyword.
- Set your keyword to phrase match. Initially, Google sets keywords to broad match, which is less targeted as it matches keywords anywhere in a search query. Phrase match ensures your ad appears when the keyword phrase is included in the search, offering more relevance.
- While the exact match is highly specific (only triggering for exact keyword phrases), it might limit visibility. Phrase match strikes a balance by requiring the keyword phrase while allowing additional terms.
- With phrase match, your ad appears for searches like “where to buy cheap bricks,” ensuring relevance while capturing broader search intent.
Lastly, complete these steps to finalize your setup.
Set Up Conversion Tracking
In this guide, we’re going to talk about setting up conversion tracking for Google Ads, which is essential to understand how well your ads are working. Remember, conversions—like purchases or sign-ups—are what you want users to do on your site. Here’s how to set it up:
Install the Conversion Tracking Code: Start by putting a small piece of code on your website’s page where users go after they buy something. This code tells Google Ads when someone gets to this page after clicking on your ad.
Go to Google Ads: Click on “Tools” and then “Conversions.” Press “+ Conversion” to start creating a new conversion action.
Choose the Type of Conversion: Pick “Website” as your conversion type. Enter basic details like the name of the conversion action and its value.
Save and Get the Code: After saving, you’ll get the code snippet. Just copy this code and paste it into the HTML of your post-purchase or thank-you page.
Check the Code: At first, Google Ads will say your conversion tag is unverified. But it usually changes to verified within a few hours or a day.
Monitor Your Campaign: Once it’s set up, go to the Campaigns tab to see how your ads are doing. For businesses that get leads, think about using call extensions or tools like CallRail to track phone call conversions effectively.
Keep Your Campaign Running Smoothly: Continually improve your campaign by testing different ad versions and checking performance numbers. Regularly look at the Search Terms report to pick better keywords and manage your budget well.
Remember, the point isn’t just to run ads but to make sure they’re getting results. Being patient and making smart changes based on what you learn will help you make the most out of your ads over time.