How to Grow Your Business with Google Ads: A Practical Guide
Mar 07, 2022Why Google Ads is a Game-Changer for Business Growth
Google Ads offers businesses a unique way to connect with their target audience right when they're searching for relevant products or services. Unlike traditional advertising, Google Ads focuses on delivering measurable results—whether it's more sales, leads, or website traffic. However, the key to success lies in focusing on what truly matters: generating bottom-line profit. Forget vanity metrics like impressions or click-through rates (CTR); it’s all about how Google Ads can directly impact your revenue.
Manual vs. Automatic Optimisations: Striking the Right Balance
When managing Google Ads campaigns, there are two main types of optimisations: manual and automatic.
- Manual optimisations involve hands-on adjustments, such as adding negative keywords, updating ad copy, or making bid adjustments.
- Automatic optimisations, like Google’s Smart Bidding strategies (e.g., Target CPA or Maximize Conversions), rely on AI to make real-time decisions.
Success comes from aligning these two approaches. Over-optimisation or unnecessary tweaks can disrupt Google’s automation and hurt performance. Instead, focus on complementing automation with strategic manual interventions.
Strategic Tips for Effective Manual Optimisations
To make the most of your Google Ads budget, manual optimisations should be done thoughtfully:
- Use Negative Keywords: Prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant search terms, saving money and improving targeting.
- Refine Ad Copy: Tailor ads to highlight your unique value proposition and better resonate with your audience.
- Adjust Bids Strategically: Increase bids for high-performing keywords and scale back on those that underperform.
The goal is to guide Google’s automation toward delivering the right kind of traffic, ensuring your ads reach potential customers who are ready to take action.
Optimising by Ad Groups for Better Targeting
Ad Groups are the backbone of your Google Ads campaigns, organizing keywords and ads around specific themes. By optimising at the Ad Group level, you can identify and address underperforming areas more efficiently.
- Analyze Performance: Review metrics like cost-per-conversion and conversion rates to determine which Ad Groups are working well and which need improvement.
- Tailor Your Approach: For high-performing Ad Groups, focus on scaling success by increasing budgets or expanding keyword variations. For underperforming ones, refine targeting, update ad copy, or add negative keywords.
- Monitor and Adjust: After implementing changes, revisit Ad Group performance in 7-14 days to assess results and decide on further optimisations.
This focused approach ensures each segment of your campaign delivers maximum ROI.
Patience and Automation: Letting Google Learn
Google’s automated bidding strategies, like Target CPA and Maximize Conversions, rely on machine learning to optimise performance. However, they need time to gather data and refine their algorithms. Constant manual interference can reset the learning process, leading to inconsistent results.
- Avoid Over-Optimisation: Don’t make random changes too frequently. Instead, allow Google’s automation to gather insights and adapt.
- Set Clear Boundaries: Use manual optimisations, like adding negative keywords or pausing irrelevant ads, to guide Google’s automation in the right direction.
- Trust the Process: Allow the learning phase to run its course, typically 1-2 weeks, before evaluating performance.
A strategic mix of patience and intervention ensures your campaigns stabilize and achieve optimal results.
Measuring Success: Focus on Conversions and ROI
To grow your business with Google Ads, it’s essential to track metrics that directly impact profitability. While impressions, CTR, and CPC are useful for diagnostics, they don’t reflect true business success.
- Track Key Metrics: Focus on conversions, cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on investment (ROI) to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
- Use Conversion Tracking: Set up tracking for specific goals like sales, form submissions, or calls to ensure accurate data collection.
- Refine Based on Results: Regularly analyze performance reports to identify opportunities for improvement, scaling up successful campaigns and fine-tuning underperforming ones.
By prioritizing bottom-line metrics, you can ensure your Google Ads campaigns contribute meaningfully to your business growth.