5 Tips for Successful Google AdWords Campaigns

5 Tips for Successful Google AdWords Campaigns

Google AdWords is the undisputed leader in search engine advertising (otherwise known as pay-per-click or PPC advertising), enabling your website to be shown at the top of search results for specific keywords without having to rank organically.

AdWords can be a fantastic way to increase leads and revenue for your business in a relatively short timeframe. Yet if poorly managed, Google advertising can waste a lot of money as you pay for every click!

Here are our top 5 tips for successful PPC campaigns based on what we implement with our AdWords management clients. Also, feel free to drop us a line if you’d like to discuss how we can help your business get the most out of search engine marketing.

1. Define Goals & Research Keywords

Unlike a lot of social media that is more about general brand awareness and suggestive advertising, Google AdWords is very much intent driven based on what someone is searching for.
First of all, have a think about the products or services your business sells and who would purchase them. Next, research the terms or keywords people are currently using to search on Google. Finally, make a list of the top ones and the estimated traffic.

2. Landing Pages Are Vital to Success

Let’s say you’re a hotel group with a property in Cairns, and five other properties in other locations around Australia. So you create an AdWords search ad targeting people searching for luxury accommodation in Adelaide. Yet, clicks are pointed to your homepage where all six of your properties are listed.

Contrast this with a dedicated landing page that only displays information about your Cairns accommodation. Because of this, the page has clear copy and images that showcase the property and provide options for people to book or enquire on the page. Guaranteed, this will perform better!

Think about the goals and keywords defined in step one and make sure the page people are clicking through to matches intent.

3. Google Analytics

Setting up Google Analytics correctly is vital to maximising an AdWords campaign and not wasting money. In the example used above, we would have conversion goals to track enquiries sent to the booking team and eCommerce tracking for online bookings.

This gives insight on keywords and clicks that have resulted in enquiries or conversions to bookings and the ones getting clicks, but not converting to a campaign objective and therefore wasting money.

4. Understand the Difference Between Keyword Match Types

AdWords is based on user intent through keywords. Keyword match types help control which searches on Google can trigger your ad.

They are defined as:

  • Broad-match
  • Broad-match modifier
  • Phrase-match
  • Exact-match
  • Negative-match

A broad-match can be used to show your ad to a wide audience, while an exact-match will focus on specific groups of customers. Hence, keyword match types all have their place, but knowing how and when to use them is a key to AdWords performance.

5. Create, Monitor, Update and Repeat

AdWords campaigns aren’t set and forget, As a result, after the initial keyword research and campaign setup, it’s vital to monitor how the campaign is performing, adjust budgets and update keywords, location or device targeting. And finally, verifying the campaign(s) are meeting goals including conversion rates and click-through-rate percentages.

We have only touched the surface on successfully managing a Google AdWords campaign. If terms such as click-through-rate (CTR) performance, CPA, average CPC, impressions, bid strategy and ad extensions all sound a little overwhelming – it’s ok, we can help you harness the power of AdWords for your business!

View our Google AdWords Packages

Google AdWords management packages, starting from only $90 per week.

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