Matthew is a marketing expert focusing on the SEO & martech spaces. He has written over 500 marketing guides and video scripts for the WebFX YouTube channel. When he’s not striving to put out some fresh blog posts and articles, he’s usually fueling his Tolkien obsession or working on miscellaneous creative projects.
If you want to run some paid ads online, Google Ads is your best bet. Google Ads enables you to display pay-per-click (PPC) ads at the top of Google search results and in the margins of third-party websites.Without a properly optimized ad campaign, you won’t see many results no matter what you do.
That’s why it’s critical to optimize your Google Ads campaigns. But which Google Ads optimizations are worth your time and deliver the highest return on investment (ROI)?
We’ll take a look at several answers to that question below, so read on for more information.Then consider partnering with WebFX — the agency with over 1,100 client testimonials — for our PPC services.
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7 expert Google Ads optimizations for your campaigns
Learn how to drive a higher ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS) from Google Ads with these expert-level Google Ads optimizations:
1. Target long-tail keywords
When you launch a PPC campaign, one of the first things you do is target specific keywords. Be careful which keywords you pick, though. Rather than aiming for short, one-word keywords, try to prioritize long-tail keywords, which are several words long.
Optimize your Google Ads campaigns with these keywords to reap these benefits:
More specificity: Due to being longer terms, long-tail keywords have more specific meanings, allowing you to reach a refined audience.
Less competition: Long-tail keywords’ greater specificity means that fewer businesses tend to target them, giving you fewer competitors for them and more chances to rank highly for those terms.
When you target long-tail keywords, you’ll have more luck reaching qualified leads in your audience and driving them to your website.
2. Optimize your landing pages to match your ad copy
Another key element of your Google Ads strategy is your landing pages.
Each of your PPC ads should lead users to a specific landing page where they have the chance to convert. These landing pages are critical, because a poorly optimized one will only cause users to hit the “back” button.
To use this Google Ads optimization, the best thing you can do is to make them match your ad copy. If your ad copy advertises your home repair tools, don’t make the landing page about your professional construction equipment.
Make sure the two are in sync with one another.If they aren’t in sync, people will quickly notice it and click away, rendering your ads completely ineffective.
To avoid that, you need to create a unique landing page for each ad you run.
3. List negative keywords
We’ve already mentioned how you can optimize your regular keyword targeting, but there are additional types of keywords that you’ll want to use on Google Ads: Negative keywords.
Negative keywords are terms you don’t want your ads to appear for in search results.
Consider this scenario: You’re trying to sell some moving trucks in Houston, so you target the keyword “trucks for sale in Houston.” Google then targets different variations on that keyword, including searches for “flatbed trucks in Houston.”
Since you don’t sell flatbed trucks, that search isn’t relevant to you. The best course of action at that point is to list “flatbed” as a negative keyword in Google Ads so that you don’t waste your ad resources.
Doing so is an awesome way to optimize Google Ads for your business!
4. Use ad extensions
Have you ever done a Google search, glanced at the PPC ads at the top of the page, and noticed that some of them seem to have more information than others?
Many PPC ads contain only a title and a description, but others list additional sitelinks or contact information underneath.
Those additional elements are called ad extensions, and they can be a huge benefit to your ads.
Some common types of ad extensions include:
Call extensions
Location extensions
Sitelink extensions
Price extensions
And more!
The benefit of this Google Ads optimization is that sitelinks can catch a user’s eye and draw their interest to the ad.
For example, you could have an ad for your general pest control services with a “Fumigation” sitelink that ends up driving more clicks than the main link for the ad.
5. Create custom audiences
When it comes to PPC, reaching the right audience is everything.
That’s why you target specific keywords — if you advertise to the wrong people, you won’t drive your desired results.Fortunately, keywords aren’t the only targeting option you have.
You can also target your ads to reach specific groups of people online, and custom audiences offer one of the best methods for doing that, which is why we love this Google Ads optimization.
Custom audiences allows you to list particular demographics that you want to target. Some qualities you can target include:
Age
Gender
Occupation
Location
And more!
By selecting the features that best match your target audience, you can ensure that your ads are displaying only for the exact people you’re trying to reach.
That sort of audience honing is an excellent way to optimize your Google Ads campaigns.
6. Harness RLSA
Custom audiences are an excellent way to reach your target audience, but it’s not the only option.
You can also use remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA), a Google Ads feature that lets you target people who have previously visited certain pages on your website.
The benefit of RLSA is that past site visitors have already indicated a clear interest in your business, so they’re more likely to respond positively to your ads.
To set up RLSA, you can have Google Ads track traffic to specific pages on your site, targeting your ads to users who visit those pages.
7. Track valuable analytics
Your Google Ads optimization isn’t over as soon as you launch your ads.
On the contrary, it’s only just starting! Once your ads are up, you can start monitoring key metrics to see how they’re performing, at which point you can optimize your ads to drive better results.
Metrics like click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate are excellent for helping you see how successful each your ads are. Some will do very well, while others will struggle to drive clicks. When you see low-performing ads, you can pause or reoptimize them.
As you continue to hone your ad performance, your Google Ads strategy will eventually grow to drive superb results for your campaigns!
We foster and form long-term partnerships so that your business has long-term results.
Over 90%
of WebFX clients continue partnering with us into year 2 of their campaign.
Ready to start driving results for your paid advertising in Google?
WebFX would love to give you a hand! With over 28 years of experience, we know Google Ads optimization inside and out, and we can’t wait to put that knowledge to use on your campaigns.
With our PPC services, you’ll get help implementing each of the Google Ads tips above and more.
You’ll also receive a dedicated account representative to keep close in touch with you on all the decisions we make for your ads.To get started with us, just give us a call at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!
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