How Can I Become An Expert In Google Ads?

A common question I get is… “how can I become an expert in Google Ads”.

The fact is that Google Ads is easier than ever to learn, BUT it is much harder now to master.

This is because as Google has:

Simplified the campaign set-up process
Taken more control of writing ad copy & creating ad assets
Changed the way that keyword matching works
Heavily pushed automated bidding
Introduced new campaign types that are meant to do everything for you

It is harder to learn, really learn how the algorithm works and what options you have available to optimise.

My biggest recommendation - and starting challenge for any new Google Ads specialist is - if you want to learn how to master Google Ads create and optimise a Google Search & Google Shopping campaign to:

Firstly be profitable
Secondly, learn to 3x or 4x the budget (while still being profitable)

But here is the challenge, you cannot use smart bidding, and have to stay on max clicks or max cpc.

The beauty of this challenge is that it forces you to improve the performance of the campaigns through:

Running ad copy split tests
Optimising your keyword traffic through negative keywords
For shopping campaigns, you have to optimise your product feed & product titles
Use bid optimisations for your:

Audiences
Devices
Demograpohics
Locations
Placements

This activity is powerful, because that is what Google AI & smart bidding does (or promises to do).

By going through this process manually, it means that you have to become a data nerd and not just learn the definitions of terms like CTR or search impression share but understand what this data is telling you and what the best optimisation actions are to fix any warnings that the data is telling you.

I use all of the different types of Google Ads campaigns and I also use Smart Bidding, so this is not a Google Ads old timer, wishing it was still 2012.

The above process is still the best way to learn how to master Google Ads.

If you want to know all of the optimisations actions that you should be going through, make sure you have my Optimisation checklist.

Here are some other recommendations on how to master Google Ads.

1. Understand for success with Google Ads you need to NOT only understand how Google Ads works, but also understand how the business works.

If you are running Google Ads for your own business this will be easy. But if you are running Google Ads for a clients business BEFORE you start turning on any Google Ads campaigns you need to first understand, some core elements about the clients business being:

Why are they running Google Ads?

Usually the answer will be to get more conversions, but you need to dive further to find out:

What conversion actions are most important to them? (phone calls or emails)
What are the most important products or services? (high profit / low volume KWs)
Are there any seasonal factors to consider?
Are there any location factors to consider? (franchise model)
What is their business model?

Ie: low ROAS in Google Ads, as product had a high maintenance revenue

2. Understand how each campaign works and the best time to use each campaign.

Right now there are 10 different types of Google Ads campaigns that you can use, with the most popular being:

Search
Shopping
Performance Max
Demand Gen
Video
Display

Each campaign has a different purpose, and in this week Youtube video I take you through this layout.

3. Don’t just learn what the metrics are, understand what the data is telling you

Learning Google Ads does also mean learning a new language as you will hear things like: CTR, conversion rates, search impression share.

For success with Google Ads, you do not only need to know what the definition of these terms is, but more importantly what this data is telling you.

Let me give you 4 examples:

CTR: confirms your Ad relevancy

Conversion Rates: confirm that your landing page & offer is working

CPC: if you see increasing CPC (check auction insights & impression share)

Impression Share: let's you know when you can scale

In other Google Ads news, this week Google sent out an email selling the benefits of it’s AI for optimising sales prices.

Here's my take: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly...

😇 The Good:

For brands that have are able to build brand loyalty, have a great strategy for increasing AOV & a high LTV, this data could be leveraged to become part of a strategy to reach brand new customers with some limited discounted products.

😈 The Bad:

It fuels a "race to the bottom on price" where some brands lower prices to get more clicks (& hopefully more sales). The only winners here are larger sites that focus on a large volume with small margins ... & Google as they drive more clicks.

🤬 The Ugly:

Long term this drives down average prices.

A similar feature like this has been available for years in the hotel niche with sites like booking .com. For another business which we own (a boutique villa resort) year on year I have noticed that island wide average nightly rates have dropped while total annual tourist numbers have increased.

👉 The solution:

#1 Use the data but don't blindly apply the recommendations

#2 Be clear about your brand, including how & when you run promotions (if at all)

#3 Make sure any price reductions are strategic and have a longer term objective, rather than just - hopefully - driving some short terms sales

With the key take home message being, always be thinking long term and have a clear strategy for Google Ads.

If you feel like you need extra support with Google Ads or would just like a place to ask questions when Google makes announcements like this, why don’t you join my updated Google Ads Mastery Community, where you get access to: