Optimise Google AdWords [7 ingenious tips]

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The structure of Google AdWords

Some basics for those just starting out with AdWords. In the second half, we'll look at advanced methods to increase the click-through rate of your adverts.

Google has established a relatively simple structure when creating the AdWords interface.

• Campaigns
• Ad groups / keywords
• Ads

Let's take a closer look at each individual point below.

Google AdWords campaigns

AdWords campaigns are the top point in the Google AdWords hierarchy tree. Here you define how much budget you want to spend on your adverts in Google Search. You can also define

• Demographic characteristics - Here it is possible to focus on age groups. As not every advertiser has the same target audience, this is a great filter to avoid unnecessary clicks on the adverts - and therefore costs.
  
  
• Advertising times - You should specify here on which days and at what times you want Google to place the adverts. You have probably researched your target group well - created a buyer persona - and therefore know when they are active online.
  
  
• Locations - As it makes a difference whether you want to advertise in certain countries, towns or cities, you should also consider this option. This filter will also help you to avoid provoking unnecessary clicks and wasting budget.
  
  
• Devices - Don't forget that you have the option in AdWords to advertise specifically for computer, smartphone or tablet users. A cool feature. Especially when you consider the fact that more and more users are using mobile devices to search the internet. According to a recent study by the organisation ÖWA (Austrian Web Analysis), the mobile device already accounts for 93.5% of search engine use.
  
  
• Google AdWords budget - Be clear about how much budget you want to spend on your Google AdWords campaign. Also note that the budget must be specified per day!
  
  

Now that you have successfully collected and entered your campaign data, you should think about the ad groups you want to advertise. But before that, I would like to discuss how you should best optimise your Google AdWords campaigns depending on your available budget.

Low budget vs. high budget - which is better?

In principle, we differentiate between two different types of Google AdWords campaigns:

• Low budget campaigns
• High-budget campaigns
  
  

No matter how much budget you plan for your adverts, it always depends on the industry and the niche. This means that more heavily advertised sectors require more advertising budget than less heavily advertised sectors.

AdWords can be a bottomless pit at worst and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow at best. This applies to low-budget campaigns as well as high-budget campaigns. Therefore, plan in advance how much money you want to spend on AdWords.

Low-budget campaigns

Low-budget campaigns are no less successful than high-budget campaigns - but they should be approached with a little more thought and consideration.

Firstly, create a campaign and divide it into a sufficiently large group of ad groups. You should always try out 2-3 different adverts for the purpose of A/B testing.

For low-budget campaigns, it is advisable to add between 5-20 similar keywords (to the ad group).

High-budget campaigns

The approach is similar for high-budget campaigns. Here, however, you should place far more ad groups with 2-3 ads each.

The reason for this is that you assign a single keyword to each ad group.

This makes it much easier to determine which keyword performs better with which ad and thus ultimately run much better optimised AdWords campaigns.

This method is very effective in most cases, but also requires more basic capital.

Google AdWords - ad groups

Once you have created your campaign, you will be redirected to create an ad group.

Google describes it as follows:

Structure ad groups according to similar topics

Some people structure their ad groups so that they correspond to the sections or categories of their website. This could look like this for an online shop, for example:

Let's say you sell shoes. Women's shoes, men's shoes, children's shoes.

You set up a campaign for each category. In the example, let's take women's shoes:

Each ad group in the campaign comprises a keyword list (adverts) with a focus on a product on offer. The keywords in each ad group instruct Google to only show ads for these products on websites or for search queries that are relevant to them.

I will show you a more efficient and lucrative method later in the tips.

Google AdWords adverts

Now that we've gone through the previous steps, let's move on to the heart of the programme - optimising Google AdWords ads.

This is what an unfilled advert looks like in the AdWords backend:

To design a Google AdWords advert well, you need the following:

• The right landing page
• A meaningful ad title that contains the focus keyword
• An ad path that looks organic and credible and also contains the keyword
• A description that contains the keyword
  
  

It is also important to make use of Google ad extensions and sitelinks, as all these points lead to better quality adverts. The higher the quality, the more likely it is to be placed higher up in Google search for less money.

One thing must also be clear - anyone running Google AdWords is trying to sell the searcher the click on their ad placement. Once the user has clicked on your advert, they must be able to find their way around your website. Make sure that your website is clearly structured.

I recommend continuous A/B testing when placing adverts. This means that if ad A delivers better results than ad B, then I pause ad B and place a new ad C, which is structured in a similar way to ad A.

Sooner or later, this approach will lead to the optimum advert.

And this is how you set up conversion tracking:

Video: Set up conversion tracking

Another good tip: Take a look at your competitors' adverts. If they are found in the first position, the competition must be doing something right. Right?

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So much for that.

But now some tips on how to make your adverts even more successful:

7 tips to optimise your AdWords campaigns so that your ads get clicked like crazy

AdWords optimisation #1: Pack everything that is important into the AdWords ad

This is what a perfectly optimised AdWords ad looks like.

The challenge you face with a Google advert: In just 3 lines, you have to include your keyword, the benefit for your customers, if possible also thematically relevant(LSI keywords) and a CTA (call to action).

For this you have the

• Headline (25 characters)
• Line 1 (35 characters) and
• Line 2 (35 characters)

are available.

That's not a lot.

But it works, as you can see from the advert in the previous image.

AdWords optimisation #2: Why the keyword must be included in the ad text

It's about your money!

Google has the so-called CTR (click-through rate). This is a key figure that shows the number of clicks on your AdWords advert in relation to the total impressions. If your advert is displayed 100 times and clicked once, the click-through rate is 1 %.

And here it comes:

That's good to know.

But how do you increase your click-through rate?

By placing perfectly optimised ads. Optimised so that users click on them.

And when do they click on your ad? When they recognise that they are relevant to the search query.

When are they relevant to the search query? When at least the keyword is included.

Logical. Right?

Sure, there are other factors. But nothing works without a keyword.

AdWords optimisation #4: One ad per keyword for each keyword type

Now it's getting crisp.

You now have a separate ad group for each of your keywords.

In other words, your ad group is named after your keyword.

Example: The keyword of your ad group is "Optimise Google AdWords"

You should include this keyword in each of your adverts. In the title, in the text or ideally in both. You should also have a separate landing page with the keyword in the URL. But that's just by the way.

These are the basics. That should be clear.

Now comes the "big deal".

The 3 important keyword types

• Largely matching
• "matching group of words"
• [exact match]
  
  

Largely matching

With a broadly matching keyword, your advert can theoretically always generate an impression if the keyword or parts of it appear in any form in the search query.

Let's take a look at this using our keyword example.

If the searcher enters any phrase in the Google search in which the words Google or AdWords appear, perhaps also in connection with optimise, there is the possibility of triggering an impression. Here are some examples:

As you can see, this variant is very unspecific in terms of search query delivery.

In order for AdWords to be delivered better, I recommend using the + modifier for broadly matching keywords. This means:

If you enter the keyword +Google +AdWords, both words must be included in the search in order to trigger an impression of your advert. The effect would now be this:

It becomes even more precise if you also enter +optimise.

Then you would be displayed for search queries such as:

So if you don't want to waste budget on keyword opportunities, I recommend using the + modifier at this point.

"Matching phrase"

The matching phrase is primarily used when you want to maintain a core message. The impressions are therefore always delivered when the phrase is found to be appropriate by Google. Here is another example: ADWORDS AGENTUR WIEN.

In these cases, Google will display your advert for a search query.

However, if the searcher enters the following, they will not find your advert:

[exact match]

With exactly matching words or word groups, an advert will only be delivered if the word or group is exactly matching in terms of MEANING. Let's take the example of ADWORDS AGENTUR WIEN again:

Using the examples here, you can see all the possibilities of when the keyword "AdWords Agentur Wien" is displayed using AdWords ad placement.

Here you will find another informative list from Google that shows when the exact matching keyword is delivered:

• Incorrect spellings
• Singular or plural forms
• Word stems (e.g. Austria and Austrian)
• Abbreviations
• Accent marks
• Words in a different order with the same meaning (e.g.[SEO agency] and[agency SEO])
• Added or removed function words. Function words are prepositions such as in or to, conjunctions such as for or but, articles such as a or the and other words that have no meaning for the actual search query. For example,[agency for SEO] is a similar variant of[SEO agency]. The function word "for" can be removed.

The secret of separate adverts for each keyword type

You might be thinking: Why do I need 3 separate ads for each keyword (and therefore for each ad group)?

Here's why:

You run 3 separate well-optimised (see above) ads for your keyword and track the click-through rate of each one over a period of time (a few days).

After some time, you will notice which ad converts well and which does not.

• Largely appropriate
• "matching phrase"
• [exact match]
  
  

This way you can pause the bad one(s) and keep the good one(s) running.

All clear?

AdWords optimisation #5: Know your target group as precisely as possible and address them specifically

I've already talked briefly about the buyer persona. I assume that you know your target group.

If you don't know your target group, you're wasting your money.

AdWords, like all other marketing measures, is about conversion optimisation. It's about paying as little as possible and getting as much out of it as possible.

The ideal scenario would be that 100 per cent of users who see your ad also click on it and visit your landing page.

This will not happen, but it is possible to significantly increase the click-through rate by targeting specific groups.

And that's how it's done:

No. Not like this.

I think you'll get into trouble with Google too. Your adverts won't be accepted.

But how else can I address my target group specifically?

• Speak their language
• Use signal words
• Use the right keywords
• Be as specific as possible in your advert
• Place your adverts at the right time
  
  

What you don't want are uncontrolled clicks on your adverts. Every click costs money.

Also:

Every time someone clicks on your advert and immediately leaves your landing page because the offer is not suitable, your value on Google's quality scale drops.

As a result, you will have to pay more if you want to be displayed at the top.

How do you avoid this?

AdWords optimisation #6: Congruence between AdWords ad and landing page

By making sure that your ad texts are congruent with the content of your landing page.

And that the content of your landing page and the text of your advert match the search intent of the search query.

Search query, ad text and landing page must be congruent.

AdWords optimisation #7: Track what you can

To increase the efficiency of your adverts, you must constantly keep an eye on the results (click rate).

If an ad is not converting, optimise it. Or pause it and place another one.

Keep doing this until you're happy with the results. So forever :)

With these 7 tips, you are well equipped to optimise your AdWords campaigns. Your traffic will skyrocket - keep an eye on your Google Analytics.

Finally...

5 avoidable beginner mistakes with Google AdWords

In the following video, Carlo Siebert shows you the 5 most common mistakes in AdWords campaigns and how to avoid them.

It's about:

1. Conversion tracking
2. The campaign structure
3. The right search network
4. Choosing the right keyword
5. Why you should definitely test your adverts (A/B testing)
   
   

I hope you enjoyed this article and that you now have a little more know-how on the topic of "Optimising Google AdWords".

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