Google Ads is a tremendously powerful advertising platform. You can target specific types of people, searching for specific things at specific times of the day, in specific locations!

That level of precisionallowsmarketers to create campaigns and ads that are extremely focused and targeted. However - that level of precision, can come at a relatively high cost. With cost per click prices as high as $100 in some niches, like anything with extreme power and potential, it can quickly get out of hand if you don't manage it properly!

Keyword Match Types

Keywords are, well, key.

You should do some keyword research before planning your account structure.

Each ad group should have only 1, 2 or perhaps 3 keywords in them. Typically, exact match keywords that are very similar to each other. This is because you want to keep everything very specific and relevant.

The easiest way to kill off any profitability in your Google Ads campaigns is to use broad match keywords.

Broad match will show for lots of different search terms. This can sometimes be good for discovery new keywords, but generally, it's a waste of money. For example, if you want to show your ad; just for the search term "buy boys football boots", chances are, with broad match keywords, your ad will also show for terms such as "buy boots", "soccer cleats", "buy men's boots" and lots of other variations, which probably won't fit your product.

Broach match modified and phrase match keyword match types can sometimes work well, with lower volume keywords, in very specific areas. However, generally speaking, you will want to stick to Exact Match keywords. Even with exact match you will find some keyword "variants" creeping through.

Negative Keywords

Make sure you check the search terms report at least once per week. It is important to make sure that you are not wasting money, showing ads to people who aren't searching for your product or service.

Click on "keywords" and then "search terms" in the interface to find the search terms report.

Make sure to add any rogue search terms as negative keywords.

Ad Variations

Try to include your keyword in the ad copy, to make it more relevant. If you have the keyword in the ad description, it will typically appear in bold.

Remember to include your selling points. What value can you offer to a potential customer?

Also, look to include the 2 ad formats where possible - responsive search ads and the standard text ad format.

You can also try using limited-time offers special offers and the lowest price guarantees.

Add different calls to action, either in the headline or the description. For example, try "contact us for more info" and "get in touch today". You can also use 'soft calls to action'. For example, "learn more" or "compare items" is more subtle than "buy now".

However, if you cost per click is relatively high and you only want people to click who is serious about purchasing / at the end of the buyer journey - then a harder call to action such as "buy now" may work better in terms of your return on ad spend.

Another quick tip for ad copy - is to look at product and service reviews across retailers, directories, Google My Business etc.

Look mainly at the 2,3 and 4-star reviews and see what people are complaining about and what they tend to provide positive feedback regarding. For example, do personal trainers get lots of good feedback just for being "friendly", do accountants get feedback for being "easy to contact" etc.

When you find a trend in the reviews, you can use this information in your ad copy.

Click to Call Ads

For lead generation campaigns, calls are still the most valuable source of leads.

To get started, make sure that you set up a conversion and conversion tracking for every time someone calls your business.

Just go to "Tools & Settings" in the head menu in Google Ads, then "Conversions" then "Phone Calls" and calls from ads. Now you need to fill in the information and click save.

Once the conversion is set up, create a new campaign. Make the goal "leads" and then "search" as a campaign type. Then under "Select the ways you'd like to reach your goal" - select "phone calls".

Fill in the information to start a new campaign. Under "conversions" select "choose conversion actions for this campaign" and then select the conversion that you set up earlier.

Also, pay attention to the ad schedule options. Unless you hire a 24/7 phone answering service, you will probably want to only show the ads when you are available to answer the calls!

A Specific Relationship

The keyword -> the ad -> the landing page

Ensure that everything in your campaign is highly relevant.

Start with the keyword or keywords that you are looking to target in your ad group. Then align this tightly with your ad - keeping the keyword in the ad if possible.

The landing page should also be as specific as possible. For example, if you are a security company, with door supervisor, CCTV and secure transport services, you should have separate campaigns and separate landing pages for each of these services.

Do not make the landing page an afterthought. The landing page itself should be tested and constantly updated, just like the ad copy.

Longtail Keywords

Head terms drive many irrelevant clicks. Generally speaking, the longer and more specific a phrase, the more likely someone is to convert.

For example, somebody searching for "TV sets" is less likely to convert than someone searching for "Hitachi 50 inch TV"

Long-tail keywords are also cheaper but in specific niches, it can be very hard to find any that drive a decent amount of volume.

Targeted Audiences

At campaign-level, click on "audiences" and then click the white pencil icon in the blue circle.

From here you can choose your audience settings.

By using targeted audiences, you can restrict your ads so that they only show to people within specific audiences that you select. This can be far too restrictive for many campaigns, however, as Google's audience data gets more and more in-depth, you may well be able to make your campaigns more efficient by switching to Targeted Audiences.

Ad Extensions

Don't forget to add ad extensions!

There are lots of different ad extensions. Just go to Ads & extensions in the interface and click the plus sign in the blue circle to add your ad extensions.

UTM Tracking & Conversion Tracking

Use Google UTM builder to create specific 'codes' for each ad or keyword so that you can track performance.

You can also set up conversions in Google Analytics and track these back in Google Ads.

To set up conversion tracking in Google Ads, go to "Tools & Settings" and then select "Conversions". Then select a category eg. "Lead" and then name the conversion e.g. "Contact Form".

In the count section, for a contact form, you will want to select "one".

View-Through conversion window - this relates to someone viewing an ad but not clicking it. If the conversion window is 1 day, then they will have had to see an impression of your ad on the same day as completing a form. You may also want to give them a more realistic price in the ad. For example, if your prices start from $99 but your average price is $199 then you may want to leave out pricing all together or give an indication that $199 is the average price - emphasising the value that you get for this price.

To bring in your goals from Google Analytics, go to "Tools & Settings" again, "Conversions" and then select "Import". You can then choose to link Google Analytics if you haven't done so previously and import the goals that you have set up in there.

Ideally, you should have 'conversions' from your company's sales CRM imported back into Google Ads. Not all conversions are equal, and if some of your campaigns are driving lots of conversions but very few clients - then the conversions might not be telling the whole story.

To get a more accurate view of how your ads and campaigns are actually performing, use a piece of software such as Ruler Analytics to get all call data imported into Google Ads, and an integration software such as Zoho to team-up your CRM conversions with Google Ads.