Advertising on Google can be intimidating but can also be very worthwhile for your business. In today’s blog, we are sharing the basics of Google Ad Campaigns to hopefully ease your fears about diving into the wonderful world of digital marketing. Would google ads be a good fit for your marketing strategy? Learn more and decide for yourself.
What is a Google Ad Campaign?
The term “Google Ad Campaign” refers to any paid advertising you employ via Google’s vast network. These are not limited to only search engine results pages but include websites, mobile apps, maps, shopping, video, and more. There are 5 main types of Google Ads and we will cover the different types in an upcoming blog.
Why Should I Pay to Advertise with Google?
One of the goals for our clients at Dogwood is to help them “rise above the noise on the web.” There is a lot of noise in the digital world and one way to rise above the noise is by advertising with Google ads. Google ads have an average return on investment of 8:1. This means for every dollar you spend you gain $8 in profit. While that is the average ROI, Google does a great job of helping you succeed. Google ads help you show up in front of your customers and potential customers and show up well.
How much do Google Ad Campaigns Cost?
Google Ad campaigns are what is known as PPC or pay per click so you pay based on how many people actually click your ad, but calculating the cost is a little trickier than that. Many factors influence the cost of an ad such as industry and competition, keyword choice, the relevancy of your site to a keyword choice, consumer trends, type of ad format, and more. All Google Ad campaigns offer targeting to specific audiences, strategic goals, and budget-based options when creating their campaigns.
While the cost explanation above may seem complicated, the good news is that you can set exactly what you want to pay per click. This is known as CPC or cost per click. You set limits on how much Google can spend each day of your ad budget and each month. This helps you make the most of your advertising budget. Certain search terms will cost more than others but the return on investment for those clicks is often plenty to offset the higher purchase price.
For example, if you want your ad to be seen for keywords relating to insurance, law, or banking loans, competition is high in this industry so the average cost per click is around $50. The higher profit return on those clicks that result in a customer makes the $50 investment worthwhile. The average cost per click for Google Ads now is between $1-2.
Google free Keyword Planner can help you find the best keywords to use for your ads and give you an idea of the cost per click. This tool is easy to use and very helpful.
Google recommends the average daily spend for Google Ads Campaigns land between $10- $50 per day. More details on how this works are in the next section.
Google Ad Campaigns Terms, Definitions, and Explanations
We have already explained PPC (pay per click) and CPC (cost per click).
Let’s break down some more of the terms you may come across when setting up or researching your Google Ad campaign.
Auction and Bidding
When you create a Google Ad Campaign you are vying for different ad positions with other competitors. Google utilizes an auction system to determine whose ad is shown and at what position. You will bid for the best position by naming the price you are willing to pay per click. The ad awarded the position does not automatically have the highest bid though. Other factors such as relevancy to the search, structure of the ad, and Google’s ad policy compliance are all factors in who wins the auction.
Average Daily Spend/ Daily Budget
When setting up your Google Ad campaign, Google asks you to input your average daily spending amount. This can be computed by dividing your total ad budget for the month by 30 days. This does not mean that Google will spend this entire amount every single day though. They want your ad to produce the best results so they may not spend your money if they do not think it will perform well or may want to spend more of it if the ad is receiving a lot of traffic. This brings us to the next term: spending limit.
Spending Limit
The spending limit is the amount of money that you absolutely do not want to go over in a given day. As mentioned before your average daily spend is set but is more of a guideline. If Google sees the opportunity to spend a little more than your daily spend amount and bring you great results, it will do that but only up to your spending limit.
Tips to Make the Most of Your Google Ads Campaigns
Have a great website. When someone clicks your great-looking ad, where does it take them? Having a great, user-friendly, and engaging website full of valuable information is the first step in Google ad campaigns. Google prides itself on serving up great content for its audiences so making sure your landing page and/or website are working well is a priority for a good ad campaign. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. Otherwise, your visitors will not stay long, Google will realize this, and not want to put your ad in front of them.
Make sure your ad copy and images are the best they can be. Google shared that 74% of their audience responded that they want relevant Google ads. Google does a great job of matching search queries, search intent, and browsing habits with relevant ads so to give your campaign the best chance make sure your copy is well written and your images are engaging and well composed.
Monitor and take note of your ads. Setting up a Google Ad Campaign is not something you click once and let it go. Best practices are to monitor your ad performance and do it often. Take note of reporting metrics on which ad copy works best, which target audiences respond the most, and which keywords are connecting to your site.
Recognize when you need help. Like many aspects of digital marketing, Google ad campaigns can be confusing. There is no shame in asking for help or handing it over to a trusted marketing agency. Our digital media specialists at Dogwood handle Google Ad campaigns daily for our clients. We know what problems can arise and how to handle them. We understand targeting demographics and how to make the most of your ad budget. We are ready and willing to help if the need arises.
Ready to jump into the world of Google Ad campaigns? Contact us today to get started!
