What’s in the Google Ads Guide?

Tip: Click any chapter link to zoom to that section.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Understanding the Importance of Data

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Google Ads

• Setting Up Your Google Ads Account
• Selecting the Right Keywords for Your Google Ads Campaign
• Creating Effective Ad Copy for Your Google Ads Campaign
• Landing Pages: The Destination for Your Ads

Chapter 3: Harnessing the Power of Data in Google Ads

• Understanding Google Ads Metrics
• Optimizing Google Ads Campaigns Using Data
• Using Data to Improve Ad Performance
• Maximizing ROI with Data
• Leveraging Responsive Search Ads

Chapter 4: Advanced Google Ads Strategies and Continuous Optimization

• Understanding and Implementing Conversion Tracking
• Advanced Campaign Settings
• Building Your Search Campaign
• Optimizing Your Campaign
• Advanced Keyword Strategies
• Organize Keywords in Keyword Planner Video
• Creating Effective Ad Copy

Chapter 5: Nitty Gritty Details on Advanced Techniques That Drive Serious Results

• Remarketing
• Audience Targeting
• Keyword Themes
• Negative Keywords
• Notable Ad Updates Video
• Ad Extensions
• Continuous Optimization
• Optimizing Your Ad Groups

Chapter 6: Maximizing Your Google Ads Budget

• Setting and Changing Your Campaign’s Average Daily Budget
• Understanding How Campaign Budgets Work
• Overdelivery
• Understanding Bidding
• Creating a Performance Max Campaign
• Maximize Clicks vs. Manual CPC Bidding

Chapter 7: More Advanced Google Ads Techniques

• Google Tag Implementation for Enhanced Conversions for Web
• Google Ads Scripts
• Optimization Score and Ad Rank
• Google Ads and SEO
• Mobile Optimization
• Video Advertising
• Google Analytics Integration
• A/B Testing
• Measuring Offline Conversions

Chapter 8: Mastering Local Service Ads

• Step-by-step guide on how to set up Local Service Ads:
• For Manufacturers (Where Products are Sold) or Brick & Mortar Stores
• Google Maps Ads

Chapter 9: Geo-Targeting and Competitor Tracking

• Geo-Targeting Neighborhoods and Geofencing Trade Shows
• Competitor Tracking and Targeting Campaigns

Conclusion

• Congratulations!
• Resources

Tip: Most of the images in this book lead to helpful Google Ads videos or resource pages to help you along your advertising journey!

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Introduction

Hello there, I’m Jonathan Webster, the CEO and Cofounder of MediaQuad Marketing & Web Dev. Over the years, I’ve navigated the intricacies of digital marketing, witnessing firsthand how the right strategies can transform businesses. In this comprehensive guide, I’m going to share my insights and experiences, with a specific focus on Google Ads, tailored for all types of businesses.

Google Ads is a powerful tool that, when used correctly, can significantly boost your business’s visibility, drive traffic to your website, and increase sales. However, like any tool, it’s not just about using it – it’s about using it effectively. That’s where this guide comes in.

Throughout this book, we’ll delve into the world of Google Ads, exploring its various features, understanding how to leverage its capabilities, and learning how to create campaigns that truly resonate with your target audience. We’ll start from the basics, making this guide suitable for beginners, but we’ll also cover more advanced topics that even seasoned marketers can benefit from.

Whether you’re a novice just starting out or an experienced marketer looking to refine your skills, this guide is designed to equip you with the knowledge and strategies you need to succeed in your digital marketing efforts. So, let’s embark on this journey together and master the art of Google Ads. Welcome to “Mastering Google Ads: A Comprehensive Guide for All Businesses.”

Let’s get started!

Chapter 1: Understanding the Importance of Data

In today’s digital age, data is more than just numbers and statistics. It’s the backbone of informed decision-making, the key to understanding your customers, and the compass that guides your marketing strategies.

Data is crucial because it provides insights that you can’t get anywhere else. It tells you who your customers are, what they want, and how they behave. It shows you which of your marketing efforts are working and which ones aren’t. It helps you understand trends, identify opportunities, and make predictions about future behavior.

For instance, consider a business that’s running several Google Ads campaigns. By analyzing the data from these campaigns, the business can see which ads are generating the most clicks, which keywords are driving the most traffic, and which demographics are engaging the most with their ads. This information can then be used to refine their campaigns, improve their targeting, and ultimately, increase their return on investment.

But data isn’t just about improving your marketing strategies. It’s also about enhancing your overall business operations. For example, by analyzing sales data, a business can identify which products are their best sellers, which ones are underperforming, and what factors are influencing these trends. This can inform everything from product development to inventory management to pricing strategies.

In the following chapters, we’ll explore how you can harness the power of data in your Google Ads campaigns. We’ll look at how to collect the right data, how to analyze it, and most importantly, how to use it to drive your decision-making. So, let’s dive in and start our journey towards becoming data-driven marketers.

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Google Ads

Welcome to the world of Google Ads, a powerful tool that can significantly boost your online visibility and drive more leads and customers to your business. Google Ads is a game-changer. It allows businesses to reach potential customers who are actively searching for products or services like theirs on Google. By leveraging Google Ads, businesses can drive more traffic to their websites, increase sales, and ultimately grow their businesses.

Setting Up Your Google Ads Account

Setting up a Google Ads account is a straightforward process. Here’s a step-by-step guide based on my video and experience:

1. Create a Google Ads Account: Visit the Google Ads homepage and click on “Start Now.” You’ll need a Google account to sign up.
2. Set Up Your First Campaign: Once your account is set up, you can start creating your first ad campaign. Choose the goal of your campaign, whether it’s to drive website traffic, increase phone calls, or get more store visits.
3. Choose Your Target Audience: Specify the geographical location where you want your ads to show. As a home services business, for example, you’d typically want to target homeowners in your service area.
4. Set Your Budget: Decide how much you want to spend on your ad campaign per day. Remember, Google Ads operates on a bidding system, so you’ll need to set a competitive bid to get your ads shown.

Selecting the Right Keywords for Your Google Ads Campaign

Choosing the right keywords is a crucial step in setting up your Google Ads campaign. These keywords should be highly relevant to your business and reflect the search terms your potential customers are likely to use when looking for your products or services.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

1. Understand Your Business and Audience: Before you start selecting keywords, take a moment to understand your business and your target audience. What products or services do you offer? What terms would potential customers use to search for these services?
2. Use Google’s Keyword Planner: Google’s Keyword Planner is a powerful tool that can help you identify potential keywords. To access it, go to your Google Ads account, click on “Tools & Settings,” and then select “Keyword Planner.”
3. Research Keywords: In the Keyword Planner, you can enter words or phrases related to your business, and Google will provide you with a list of related keywords along with their average monthly searches, competition level, and other useful data. This can give you an idea of how often these keywords are searched and how their search volume changes over time.
4. Select Relevant Keywords: Based on the data from the Keyword Planner, select keywords that are relevant to your business and have a good search volume. Remember, it’s not just about choosing the most popular keywords. They also need to be highly relevant to your business and your target audience.

Creating Effective Ad Copy for Your Google Ads Campaign

Once you’ve selected your keywords, the next step is to create effective ad copy.

Your ads should be clear, enticing, and relevant to the keywords you’re targeting.

Here’s how to do this:

1. Include Your Keywords: Your ad copy should include the keywords you’re targeting. This not only makes your ad more relevant to users’ search terms, but it also helps Google match your ad to the right searches.
2. Make Your Ads Clear and Enticing: Your ads should clearly communicate what you’re offering and why it’s valuable. Use compelling language to entice users to click on your ad.
3. Use a Strong Call-to-Action (CTA): A strong CTA encourages users to take action. This could be something like “Call Now for Immediate Service,” “Book Your Appointment Today,” or “Get a Free Quote Now.” Make sure your CTA is clear and compelling.

4. Test and Refine Your Ads: Once your ads are live, monitor their performance. If an ad isn’t performing as well as you’d like, try tweaking the copy or the CTA. Remember, successful advertising involves a lot of testing and refining.

Landing Pages: The Destination for Your Ads

Landing pages are the pages on your site that you direct a user to from your ad. The landing page should be a follow-up to what your ad refers to. For example, if your ad is about your emergency plumbing services, then the landing page should provide more details about this service, why it’s valuable, and how customers can avail of it.

Here are a few tips for creating effective landing pages:

1. Relevance: Do not send users to your website’s main page if your ad is talking about a specific product or service. The landing page should be relevant to the ad and the keywords you’re targeting.
2. User-Friendly: A good landing page does not take long to load and is easy to navigate. It should also be mobile-friendly, as a significant portion of Google searches are done on mobile devices.
3. Clear Privacy Policy: If your landing page collects personal information from users (such as their name, email, or phone number), it should have a clearly marked privacy policy. This helps build trust with users and assures them that their information will be handled securely.
4. Understandable by Google: Google should be able to understand your landing page. This means using clear, descriptive language and structuring your content in a way that Google can easily crawl and index.

Remember, for each keyword, there should be a corresponding landing page. This ensures that users are directed to the most relevant page based on their search terms, which can improve your ad performance and conversion rates.

By following these steps, you can create a Google Ads campaign that is tailored to your business and reaches your target audience effectively. Remember, the key to a successful Google Ads campaign is relevance – from choosing the right keywords to creating effective ad copies and landing pages.

In the next chapter, we’ll delve deeper into the world of Google Ads, exploring its various features, understanding how to leverage its capabilities, and learning how to create campaigns that truly resonate with your target audience.

Chapter 3: Harnessing the Power of Data in Google Ads

Data is the lifeblood of any successful Google Ads campaign. It provides valuable insights into the performance of your ads and guides your optimization efforts. This chapter will delve into how you can leverage data to optimize your Google Ads campaigns, improve ad performance, and maximize your return on investment (ROI).

Understanding Google Ads Metrics

Before you can optimize your Google Ads campaigns, you need to understand the key metrics that Google Ads provides.

These metrics include:

• Impressions: The number of times your ad is displayed on a search result page or other site on the Google Network.
• Clicks: The number of times users have clicked on your ad.
• Conversions: The number of times a user completes a desired action after clicking on your ad, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a form.

These metrics provide a snapshot of your ad performance and can help you identify areas for improvement.

Optimizing Google Ads Campaigns Using Data

Once you have a grasp on these key metrics, you can start using them to optimize your Google Ads campaigns. 

Here are some strategies:

• Set Up Ad Extensions: Ad extensions can significantly improve your ad performance by providing additional information, such as additional links to your website, phone numbers, or location information.
• Adjust Bid Strategies: Google Ads offers different bid strategies that can help you achieve specific goals. For example, if your goal is to increase website visits, you can use the Maximize Clicks bid strategy.
• Test Different Landing Pages: Create multiple ads with different landing pages to see which one performs better. This can help you find the page that drives more conversions.

Using Data to Improve Ad Performance

Data can also provide valuable insights that can inform your future strategies. Here’s how you can use data to improve your ad performance:

• Analyze Keyword Performance: Look at the performance of your keywords. Use this data to refine your keyword strategy.
• Identify High-Performing Keywords: Look at the keywords that are driving the most clicks and conversions. These are your high-performing keywords. Consider increasing your bids on these keywords to maximize their potential.
• Identify Low-Performing Keywords: On the flip side, identify the keywords that are not performing well. These could be keywords with low click-through rates (CTR) or low conversion rates. Consider pausing these keywords or optimizing your ads to improve their performance.
• Create New Ad Groups Based on Data: The data from your campaigns can provide insights into new potential ad groups. For example, if a certain keyword is performing particularly well, consider creating a new ad group specifically for that keyword.

Maximizing ROI with Data

Finally, data can help you maximize your ROI. Here are a few strategies:

• Set Maximum Bid Limits: To control costs, consider setting a maximum bid limit. This is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for a click.
• Use Smart Bidding Strategies: Google Ads offers smart bidding strategies that use machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each auction.
• Value Based Bidding Video:

Leveraging Responsive Search Ads

Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) are a powerful tool that can supercharge your Google Ads performance. RSAs allow you to enter multiple headlines and descriptions that Google will automatically test to show your customers the ad combination that is most relevant to their needs. This can save you time from ad copy setup and testing, allowing you to devote more time to account strategy.

To get the most out of your RSAs, it’s recommended to use at least 2 Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) and 1 RSA in every ad group, utilize top-performing ETA assets in your RSAs, and make headlines unique. Also, consider pairing RSAs with Smart Bidding to fuel Google’s AI and further enhance your paid search performance.

By leveraging data in Google Ads, you can optimize your campaigns, improve your ad performance, and maximize your ROI. The key to successful data-driven marketing is not just collecting data, but also interpreting it and using it to inform your strategies.

In the next chapter, we’ll delve deeper into advanced Google Ads strategies to take your campaigns to the next level.

Chapter 4: Advanced Google Ads Strategies and Continuous Optimization

As you delve deeper into the world of Google Ads, you’ll discover a plethora of advanced strategies that can significantly enhance your campaigns’ performance. These strategies, coupled with continuous optimization, can drive better results and maximize your return on investment (ROI). This chapter will guide you through these advanced strategies, including remarketing, audience targeting, negative keywords, ad extensions, and conversion tracking, among others.

Understanding and Implementing Conversion Tracking

A critical aspect of advanced Google Ads strategies is conversion tracking. This feature enables you to measure the effectiveness of your ads by tracking the actions users take after clicking on them. Whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or calling your business, each action can be tracked and evaluated. Setting up conversion tracking involves creating a conversion action in your Google Ads account, which is a specific customer activity that holds value for your business. For instance, a 90-second phone call can be a conversion action if it’s valuable to your business.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up a conversion action for a 90-second phone call:

1. In your Google Ads account, click on the tools icon in the upper right corner.
2. Under “Measurement,” click on “Conversions.”
3. Click on the plus button to create a new conversion action.
4. Choose the category that best describes the conversion you want to track. In this case, select “Phone calls.”
5. Fill in the details of your conversion action. For instance, you can name it “90-second phone call,” set the value to $50 (or whatever value you assign to a 90-second phone call), and set the conversion window to 30 days.
6. Choose the attribution model. In this case, select “Last click.”
7. Click on “Create and continue.”

Now, you have a conversion action for a 90-second phone call. You can use this conversion action to track and optimize for phone calls that last at least 90 seconds.

Advanced Campaign Settings

Once your conversion actions are set up, you can create a new campaign and choose your campaign objective. For a Google Ads call campaign, you might choose “Leads” as your objective. Then, add your custom goal (the 90-second phone call conversion action) and remove other conversion goals. This way, your campaign will be optimized for your specific goal of driving 90-second phone calls.

Building Your Search Campaign

When building your search campaign, start with creating your first ad group. For instance, you can create an ad group for “Plumbing services.” Then, enter products or services to advertise and get keyword suggestions. Choose keywords that are relevant to your ad group and make them all phrase match keywords to ensure you’re getting the most targeted traffic.

Next, create your call ads. Make sure to include your phone number and verification URL. Also, create compelling headlines and description lines to encourage people to call your business. You can create multiple ads with different ad copies to test which ones perform best.

Lastly, set up your ad extensions. Callout extensions and structured snippet extensions are perfect for call campaigns. They provide additional information about your business, products and services, making your ads more informative and enticing.

Optimizing Your Campaign

After setting up your campaign, the next step is to optimize it continuously. Monitor your campaign’s performance regularly and make necessary adjustments to improve its effectiveness. For instance, you can adjust your bids for selected audience segments based on their performance.

Remember, the goal is to drive phone calls and specifically 90-second phone calls that will turn into leads for your business. By leveraging advanced Google Ads features and strategies, you can effectively reach your target audience, drive more phone calls, and ultimately, increase your ROI.

Advanced Keyword Strategies

Choosing the right keywords is crucial in a Google Ads campaign. You want to select keywords that are relevant to your business and that your potential customers are likely to use when searching for your products or services. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to research keywords and see how often they are searched and how their search volume changes over time.

For instance, if you’re a plumbing company, you might want to target keywords like “plumbing services,” “local plumbers near me,” “24-hour plumber near me,” and “plumbing repair.” However, be sure to only target keywords that are relevant to the services you offer. For example, if you don’t offer 24-hour services, don’t target the keyword “24-hour plumber near me.”

Also, consider creating separate ad groups for different products and services. For example, you can have one ad group for “plumbing services,” another for “water heater repair,” and another for “leak detection.” This way, you can create more targeted ads for each product and/or service.

Some specific strategies:

• Use Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer and more specific keyword phrases. They can be less competitive and more targeted than shorter, more general keywords.
• Use Negative Keywords: These are keywords that you don’t want your ads to be shown for. Adding negative keywords can help you avoid wasting money on clicks that are unlikely to convert.
• Use Keyword Match Types: Google Ads offers several keyword match types, including broad match, phrase match, and exact match. These can give you more control over which searches trigger your ads.

Another way to optimize your existing ad campaigns and get more results out of your budget is to go back to keyword research. Semrush, a tool similar to Google’s Keyword Planner, helps you find keywords with the lowest competition that you could add to a campaign to get more opportunities. To start, use Advertising Research to study your competitors’ advertising strategies. Enter their domain name into Advertising Research and you can see the keywords of their past advertising campaigns. Do this for each of your top competitors to get an overview. Go one step further and compare your top competitors’ paid keywords with yours in the Keyword Gap tool. Just remember to set the keyword type to paid. This will show you new keyword opportunities that your competitors are advertising on but you aren’t. Take note of these new keywords and add them to your list. You can export them to a file directly from Semrush. Next, run the Keyword Magic Tool to find even more target keywords for your campaign. This tool will help you dive deeper into each keyword ad group you’re targeting. You can filter to find additional questions, or add a filter for Competitive Density, which will tell you how many advertisers are already bidding on each keyword. Again, you can export these keywords you’re interested into a file to save your research.

Organize Keywords in Keyword Planner Video

Creating Effective Ad Copy

When it comes to creating effective ad copy, make sure your ads are clear, enticing, and relevant. Include your keywords in the ad copy and make sure your ad speaks directly to the search terms your potential customers are using. A strong call-to-action (CTA) is also important to encourage users to click on your ad.

For instance, if you’re targeting the keyword “plumbing services,” your ad copy might be something like “Need Plumbing Services? Call Us Today!” This ad copy is clear (it’s about plumbing services), enticing (it offers a solution to the user’s problem), and relevant (it matches the user’s search term). The CTA “Call Us Today” also encourages the user to take action.

Remember, the goal of your ad copy is not just to get clicks, but to get the right clicks. You want to attract users who are likely to convert, not just anyone who sees your ad.

^ Video: Google Ads Tutorials: Create effective responsive search ads

Chapter 5: Nitty Gritty Details on Advanced Techniques That Drive Serious Results

Remarketing

Remarketing is a powerful tool in Google Ads that allows you to reach out to people who have previously interacted with your business.

Here’s how to set up a dynamic remarketing campaign:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon.
2. Click the Overview drop-down in the section menu.
3. On the “Overview” page, click the New campaign button.
4. Select Resume campaign draft from the drop-down menu.
5. In the drafts menu, click on the draft that you want to resume drafting or publish.
6. Now you’ll attach feeds to campaigns:

• On the “Campaigns” page, click Settings, then select a campaign from the table.
• At the bottom of the “Settings” page, click to expand Additional settings.
• Click on the down arrow for “Dynamic ads”.
• Check the box beside “Use dynamic ads feed for personalized ads”.
• Click Save.

Remember, when you select a feed of a particular business type, you can only change it to another feed of the same business type. For example, if you select a retail feed you can only change it to another retail feed.

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Google Ads Help page.

Audience Targeting

Audience targeting in Google Ads allows you to show your ads to specific audience segments based on who they are, their interests and habits, what they’re actively researching, or how they’ve interacted with your business.

Here’s how to add audience segments to your ad group or campaign:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon.
2. Click the Audiences, keywords, and content drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Audiences.
4. In the “Audiences segment” module, click Edit audience segments.
5. Click Ad group and then select a campaign and ad group from the list that appears. You can also search for the campaign or ad group you want to update.
6. Select the audience segments you want your campaign to reach. You can learn more about the types of audience segments that are available for each campaign type here.
7. Click the checkbox next to the segment you’d like to add. This will add them to your targeting.
8. Click Save.

Audience search helps you quickly find your audience across all segments, without having to enter specific categories. Audience search is available for all campaigns supporting audience targeting or observation. Using Audience search, you can find additional audience segments that are also related to your search terms. You can find the audience segments you have recently selected in the space below “Audience search.”

Audience ideas can help you select the right audience segment for your product or brand and improve your reach by surfacing segments in your target market. You can find these suggestions in the “Search” tab. Your suggestions may, for example, be based on your audience selection, website, Search campaigns, and other advertisers like you. Suggestions use large amounts of aggregated advertising data, which can help you reach the audience segments that are best for your ads and potentially discover new segments.

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Google Ads Help page.

Keyword Themes

Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are a crucial part of your Google Ads strategy as they prevent your ads from being triggered by certain words or phrases. They can help you focus on only the keywords that matter to your customers.

Here’s how to create and apply negative keyword lists to your campaigns:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon.
2. Click the Audiences, keywords, and content drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Negative search keywords at the top.
4. Click the plus button.
5. Click Select a campaign, then select the campaign you want to add the negative keyword list to.
6. Enter or paste one negative keyword per line in the text field.
7. Select the checkbox next to Save to new or existing list, and enter a name for your negative keyword list.
8. Click Save.

After creating your negative keyword lists, you can apply them to one or more campaigns. Here’s how:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon.
2. Click the Shared library drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Exclusion lists.
4. Click the Negative keywords lists tab.
5. Check the box next to the negative keyword lists you want to apply to campaigns.
6. Click Apply to campaigns.
7. Select the campaigns you’d like to apply the negative keyword lists to. Click Apply.

You can also apply negative keyword lists to a single campaign or multiple campaigns from the Campaigns page. For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Google Ads Help page.

Notable Ad Updates Video:

Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are a type of ad format that show extra information (“extending” your ads) about your business. They can be used to provide additional information about your business, like your phone number or additional links to your website.

Here’s how to add ad extensions:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon.
2. Click the Audiences, keywords, and content drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Ad assets.
4. Here you can add various types of ad extensions such as:

• Address: If you have a physical location that is important to your business, you can show your address with your ad.
• Phone number: If calls are important to your business, you can show your phone number with your ad.
• Store rating: If you want to show online ratings for your store, you can enable this extension.
• Additional webpage links: If you want to direct users to specific pages of your website, you can add additional links to your ad.

Remember, ad extensions typically improve the click-through rate (CTR) of ads as they provide users with more reasons to choose your offerings. They appear with your ad, in the form of an additional piece of text, on search results.

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Google Ads Help page.

Continuous Optimization

Continuous optimization in Google Ads involves regularly monitoring your ad performance and making necessary adjustments to improve. This could involve testing different ad copies, adjusting your bids, or exploring new keywords.

Google Ads has introduced an auto-apply option for recommendations to help you optimize your campaigns more efficiently. Here’s how to use it:

1. In your Google Ads account, navigate to the “Recommendations” page.
2. Click on “Auto-apply” on the top right-hand corner of the page.
3. You can choose from over 17 recommendations to apply automatically. You can change these selections or turn them off at any time.

By turning on auto-apply, Google will apply recommendations of your choice as new opportunities come up. You’ll be able to see both when and how many times these recommendations have been applied in the “History” tab. This makes it easy for you to keep track of the changes being made in your account.

Remember, if you choose to auto-apply recommendations, Google won’t increase your budget. Continue to visit the “Recommendations” page to make sure your budget isn’t limiting your performance. For more detailed instructions, you can refer to the Google Ads Help page.

Optimizing Your Ad Groups

Optimizing your ad groups is a crucial part of continuous optimization. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do this using the PPC Keyword Tool:

1. Go to the PPC Keyword Tool and configure a campaign. If you already have an existing campaign, you can export it from Google Ads and upload the keyword list.
2. Upload your current campaign list of target keywords along with your new keywords you want to target.
3. Set your campaign’s location at the regional and city level and place your keywords into groups.
4. Now, you can optimize your groups to avoid wasting money. Try each of these quick actions: Generate cross-group negatives, remove duplicates, and “clean” your keywords.

Negative keyword lists will help ensure that your ads don’t compete against one another on the same SERP. If they did, it would inevitably hurt one of the ads’ click-through rate and your quality score would suffer. Quality score can also impact the cost per click that Google offers you, so it’s important to do all you can to help your score.

In the next chapter, we’ll explore more advanced strategies to further optimize your Google Ads campaigns and maximize your ROI.

Chapter 6: Maximizing Your Google Ads Budget

In this chapter, we will delve into strategies that will help you stretch your Google Ads budget further. These strategies will ensure that you are getting the most out of your ad spend, maximizing your return on investment (ROI), and reaching your target audience effectively.

Setting and Changing Your Campaign’s Average Daily Budget

Your budget is the backbone of your Google Ads campaign. It’s the amount you’re comfortable spending each day on a particular campaign.

You can set and change your budget at any time. Here’s how:

• Go to “Campaigns” in your Google Ads account and find the campaign whose budget you want to set. If you’re working with a monthly budget, divide that number by 30.4 (the average number of days in a month).
• In the “Budget” column, click the pencil icon.
• Enter a new average daily budget.
• Click “Save.”

Understanding How Campaign Budgets Work

Google Ads allows you to set an average daily budget or a shared budget for a campaign. A shared budget is an amount you’re willing to spend across multiple campaigns for the same client. For instance, if you have seasonal campaigns that take advantage of specific holidays, you can set a client-specific shared budget to cap spend related to all their seasonal campaigns.

Overdelivery

Google may allow your campaign to spend more in one day than your average daily budget specifies. This is called overdelivery. However, your campaign spend will never exceed 2 times your average daily budget on a given day, and Google ensures that in a given billing period, you’re never charged more than 30.4 multiplied by your average daily budget amount.

Understanding Bidding

Google’s ad auction uses both quality and bid to determine your ad’s position. So even if your competition bids higher than you, you can still win a higher position—at a lower price—with highly relevant keywords and ads. You’ll often pay less than your maximum bid because you’ll only pay what’s minimally required to hold your Ad Rank and any ad formats shown with your ad.

Creating a Performance Max Campaign

Maximize Clicks vs. Manual CPC Bidding

If your goal is to gain clicks to generate traffic to your website, there are some cost-per-click bid strategies to consider:

• Maximize Clicks: This is the simplest automated bid strategy. All you have to do is set an average daily budget, and the Google Ads system automatically manages your bids to bring you the most clicks possible within your budget.
• Manual CPC Bidding: This strategy lets you manage your maximum CPC bids yourself. You can set different bids for each ad group in your campaign, or for individual keywords or placements. If you’ve found that certain keywords or placements are more profitable, you can use manual bidding to allocate more of your advertising budget to those keywords or placements.
• Bid Adjustments: You can set bid adjustments that increase or decrease your bids when your ad is competing to appear on mobile devices, in specific locations, and at particular days and times. Bid adjustments can give you more control over when and where your ad appears, and are applied on top of your existing bids.

Remember, the key to maximizing your Google Ads budget is not just setting it and forgetting it. It’s about continuously monitoring your ad performance, making necessary adjustments, and optimizing your bids and budget based on data-driven insights.

In the next chapter, we’ll explore more advanced strategies to further optimize your Google Ads campaigns and maximize your ROI.

Chapter 7: More Advanced Google Ads Techniques

Google Tag Implementation for Enhanced Conversions for Web

Google Ads Scripts

Google Ads Scripts are pieces of JavaScript code that can automate common procedures or interact with external data.

Here’s how to use them:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Bulk Actions” section.
2. Click on “Scripts”.
3. Click on “+ Script” to create a new script.
4. Write your script in the editor. You can use Google’s script examples as a starting point.
5. Click on “Preview” to test your script without making changes to your account.
6. If the script works as expected, click on “Save” and then “Run” to execute the script.

Optimization Score and Ad Rank

Optimization or Quality Score is a metric that Google uses to determine the quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It affects your Ad Rank, which determines where your ads are shown and how much you pay per click.

Here’s how to improve your Quality Score and Ad Rank:

1. Improve your click-through rate (CTR) by writing compelling ad copy and using relevant keywords.
2. Make sure your keywords, ads, and landing pages are all relevant to each other.
3. Improve your landing page experience by making your pages easy to navigate, relevant to your keywords and ads, and transparent about your business and what you offer.

Google Ads and SEO

Google Ads and SEO can complement each other in several ways. For example, the keyword research you do for your Google Ads campaigns can also inform your SEO strategy. Similarly, the performance data from your Google Ads campaigns can provide valuable insights into what works and what doesn’t, which can help you refine your SEO efforts.

Mobile Optimization

With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure that your ads and landing pages are optimized for mobile.

Here’s how:

1. Use responsive design for your landing pages to ensure they look good on all devices.
2. Keep your ad copy short and to the point for easy reading on small screens.
3. Use call extensions to allow mobile users to call your business directly from your ad.

Video Advertising

Google Ads also allows you to run video ads on YouTube and across the web.

Here’s how to create a video ad:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Campaigns” section and click on “+ New Campaign”.
2. Select “Video” as the campaign type.
3. Set your campaign goal, budget, and targeting options.
4. Upload your video or select a video from your YouTube channel.
5. Write your ad copy and choose your call-to-action.

Google Analytics Integration

Integrating Google Analytics with Google Ads can provide additional insights into how users interact with your website after clicking on your ads.

Here’s how to link the two:

1. In your Google Analytics account, go to the “Admin” section.
2. In the “Property” column, click on “Google Ads Linking”.
3. Click on “+ New Link Group”, select your Google Ads account, and click on “Link Accounts”

Google Analytics will now start collecting data from your Google Ads account, providing you with valuable insights into user behavior after they click on your ads. This can help you optimize your landing pages and better understand your users.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of an ad or landing page to see which one performs better.

It’s a powerful tool for optimizing your Google Ads campaigns. Here’s how to do it:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Drafts & experiments” section.
2. Click on “+ New Draft” to create a new draft of your campaign.
3. Make the changes you want to test in your draft. For example, you could change the ad copy, the landing page, or the keywords.
4. Once you’re happy with your changes, click on “Apply to campaign” to create an experiment.
5. Set the start and end dates for your experiment and decide how much of your campaign’s budget you want to allocate to the experiment.
6. Click on “Create Experiment”.
7. Once the experiment is running, monitor its performance in the “Experiments” section of your Google Ads account. After the experiment ends, Google Ads will provide a report showing which version performed better.

By following these advanced techniques, you can further optimize your Google Ads campaigns and maximize your ROI.

Measuring Offline Conversions

To learn more about Ads, visit the Ads Help Center https://support.google.com/adwords/ and engage with fellow advertisers on the Google Advertiser Community https://www.en.advertisercommunity.com/.

Chapter 8: Mastering Local Service Ads

Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a unique type of Google ad designed specifically for home service businesses. They appear at the top of Google Search results, helping your business stand out from regular search results. LSAs are designed to connect businesses with people who are searching Google for the services they offer.

Step-by-step guide on how to set up Local Service Ads:

1. Visit the Local Services Ads page on Google: Start by visiting the Local Services Ads page on Google and click on “Get Started”.
2. Select your country and business category: You’ll be asked to select your country and your business category. This helps Google show your ads to the right audience.
3. Fill out your business information: Next, you’ll need to provide information about your business. This includes your job types, service areas, business hours, and contact information. Be as accurate and detailed as possible to ensure your ads reach the right people.
4. Set your budget: Google will provide an estimate of how many leads you can expect to receive based on your budget. Remember, with LSAs, you only pay for leads related to your business and the services you offer.
5. Submit your business license and insurance details for verification: Google requires you to submit your business license and insurance details for verification. This is to ensure that businesses advertising through LSAs are legitimate and trustworthy.
6. Wait for verification: Once your business is verified, your ads will start to appear in Google Search results. This process may take some time, so be patient.

LSAs are a powerful tool for home service businesses. They allow you to connect directly with potential customers who are searching for the services you offer. Plus, you only pay for leads related to your business and the services you offer, making LSAs a cost-effective advertising solution.

Remember, LSAs are not just about getting your business in front of potential customers. They’re also about building trust. Businesses that advertise through LSAs can earn the Google Guarantee or Google Screened badge, which can help build trust with potential customers.

To make the most of your LSAs, be sure to regularly check your account and manage your leads. You can do this online or through the Local Services Ads app. This allows you to communicate with customers, track your leads, view performance reports, adjust your budget, and more.

For Manufacturers (Where Products are Sold) or Brick & Mortar Stores

Google Maps Ads

Google Maps is used by over 1 billion users every month, making it a powerful platform for location-based businesses. Google Maps ads can appear in the organic results as search results ads, promoted pins, or in-store promotions.

Here’s how to set them up:

1. Set up a Google My Business profile. You can only use Google Maps ads if you have a business profile on Google. If you don’t have one yet, set up a My Business profile.
2. Get a Google Ads account. To run any ads, you need a Google Ads account. You can sign up for one using the same email address for the Google My Business profile and the Google Ads account.
3. Add the location extension. Go to the left-hand menu panel and click “Ads & extensions”. This will lead you to different ad extensions. Add the location extension to connect your Google My Business profile.
4. Set up location targeting. Set up location targeting for your ads. Go to the “Locations” section on the left-hand menu and click the blue circle at the top. Select an active search campaign from the list and enter the area you want to target. As a best practice, choose to target the same zip code as your business and then use radius targeting to target people in that area.
5. Make sure to set up bid adjustments for the areas around your business. This setting increases the likelihood of people physically near your business finding and seeing you on Google Maps.

Once your ad is approved and running, it’s good to track your ad’s performance.

First, filter what type of clicks users receive to group everything into mobile clicks to call, location details, and driving directions interactions.

Then, you understand how people interact with your local ads and how well your ads are performing.

Chapter 9: Geo-Targeting and Competitor Tracking

Geo-Targeting Neighborhoods and Geofencing Trade Shows

Geo-targeting is a powerful tool in Google Ads that allows you to display your ads to potential customers in specific geographic locations. This can be as broad as a country or as specific as a neighborhood.

Targeting specific neighborhoods can be incredibly effective. Here’s how to do it:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Campaigns” tab and select the campaign you want to adjust.
2. Click on “Settings” and then “Locations.”
3. Click on “Enter another location,” type in the neighborhood you want to target, and click “Target.”

Remember, it’s essential to monitor and adjust your campaigns regularly. If a particular neighborhood isn’t generating the results you want, don’t be afraid to adjust your targeting or try a new location.

Geo-targeting can also be used to target specific events, such as home-owner targeted trade shows or CES in Las Vegas if you sell to folks interested in cutting edge technology for example. By targeting the location of the trade show during the event, you can reach potential customers who are already interested in your products or services. The setup process is the same as above, but instead of a neighborhood, you would enter the location of the trade show.

Competitor Tracking and Targeting Campaigns

Understanding what your competitors are doing can provide valuable insights that can inform your own advertising strategies. Google Ads offers several tools to help you track and analyze your competitors’ campaigns.

One such tool is the Auction Insights report. This report shows you how your campaigns are performing compared to other advertisers participating in the same auctions as you. You can see metrics like impression share, overlap rate, and position above rate.

To access the Auction Insights report:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Campaigns” tab.
2. Click on “Auction insights” in the left-hand menu.
3. Select the campaigns, ad groups, or keywords you want to see insights for and click “View report.”

Another strategy is to use competitor targeting. This involves bidding on your competitors’ brand names as keywords. When someone searches for your competitor, your ad could also appear, giving you a chance to win over potential customers.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. In your Google Ads account, go to the “Keywords” tab.
2. Click on the blue plus button to add a new keyword.
3. Enter your competitor’s brand name as a keyword and click “Save.”

Remember, competitor targeting can be a controversial strategy and may lead to increased competition and higher costs. Always monitor your campaigns closely to ensure they’re delivering a positive return on investment.

Conclusion

Congratulations!

You’ve made it to the end of this comprehensive guide on Google Ads. We’ve covered a lot of ground, from setting up your first Google Ads campaign to advanced strategies that can help you maximize your return on investment.

However, as we’ve mentioned throughout this guide, Google Ads is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. It requires continuous monitoring, testing, and optimization to truly reap its benefits. And while this guide provides a solid foundation, there’s still much more to learn and explore.

That’s why I’m offering a special opportunity for readers of this guide. As the CEO & Cofounder of MediaQuad Marketing & Web Dev, I’ve helped numerous businesses across a variety of industries around the globe optimize their marketing strategies and grow their businesses. And I’d be honored to do the same for you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide. I hope you found it informative and useful. And remember, the key to successful marketing is continuous learning and adaptation to get the right message in front of the right people at the right time. So keep exploring, keep testing, and keep growing. 

Limited Time Offer: Get $500 off ANY plan with coupon code: EGADS23 at checkout. (Offer valid for new customers thru 7/31/23)

I look forward to meeting you and helping you take your marketing to the next level!

Thank you,

Jonathan Webster

CEO & Cofounder, MediaQuad

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Resources

Set up conversion tracking for your website: Google Ads Help: This Google Ads Help page confirms that you need a website and the ability to edit website code to set up conversion tracking. It also provides more information about how conversion tracking works.

About conversion tracking: Google Ads Help: This page explains that conversion tracking starts with creating a conversion action in your Google Ads account. A conversion action is a specific customer activity that is valuable to your business.

Different ways to track conversions: Google Ads Help: This page suggests setting up a different conversion action for each type of conversion you want to track. For example, you can set up one conversion action to track purchases on your website, and another to track calls from your ads.

Set up conversion tracking – Google Ads Help: This page provides additional information on setting up conversion tracking.

How Google Ads tracks website conversions – Google Ads Help: This page provides information on how Google Ads tracks website conversions and how to opt out if you don’t want the Google tag to set first-party cookies on your site’s domain.

Google Ads YouTube Channel: Learn how to design, develop, place and optimize your ad campaigns from the source via video.

Do it For You Marketing & Web Development as a Service: Transparency and integrity are fundamental to our operations at MediaQuad. The old marketing agency model was often opaque and confusing. Our new model flips this on its head, providing clear, upfront pricing and keeping our clients informed every step of the way.