The Complete Guide to Google Ads, Including Step-by-Step Instructions and Examples

Learn PPC terminology, bid techniques, and best practices for Google Ads ad creation. 

You'd better spend your money wisely if you're thinking of using advertisements to reach your target market.That is, a location that receives more than 2.9 billion unique visitors each month and 5 billion daily interactions. 

Just two years after Google.com, the most well-known website in the world, Google Ads was introduced. The advertising platform first appeared in October 2000 under the name Google Adwords, but in 2018 it underwent a rebranding and became known as Google Ads. Given Google's wide audience, it's likely that both you and your potential consumers have seen (and probably clicked on) a Google advertisement.

It's no secret that these days, the more effective and targeted your paid ads are, the more clicks they produce and the more likely that they will bring in new clients. So it should come as no surprise that businesses across all sectors are using Google Ads more and more frequently. You'll learn how to start advertising on Google in this guide. We'll go through platform-specific features and show you how to fine-tune your campaigns for the greatest possible ad performance.

Describe Google Ads

Google Ads is a platform for paid advertising that operates under the pay-per-click (PPC) marketing model, in which you, the advertiser, pay per click or impression (CPM) on an ad.

Google Ads are a successful technique to attract qualified visitors, or good-fit clients, to your company who are looking for the goods and services you provide. You may improve in-store traffic, increase phone calls to your business, and increase internet traffic using Google Ads.

With Google Ads, you can make and distribute strategic advertisements to your target market on desktop and mobile devices. As a result, when your target clients use Google Search or Google Maps to look for goods and services similar to yours, your company will appear on the search engine results page (SERP).

By doing this, you can reach your target market at the right time for them to see your advertisement.

Notably, platform advertisements may also appear on YouTube, Blogger, and the Google Display Network.

In order for your company to achieve all of your paid campaign objectives, Google Ads will eventually assist you in analyzing and improving those advertisements to reach more individuals. Learn how can help you manage your Google Ads more effectively.

You can also modify your advertisements to fit your budget regardless of the size of your company or the resources you have at your disposal. You can keep under your monthly budget with the help of the Google Ads tool, and you may even suspend or discontinue your ad spending at any moment.

Moving on to a more pressing concern, are Google Ads actually effective? Let's look at some facts to help us respond to this:

• The click-through rate for Google Ads is over 2%.
• 180 million impressions from display advertising are generated per month.
• Paid ads on Google receive 65% of clicks from customers who are ready to buy.
• 43% of buyers make a purchase after seeing an advertisement on YouTube.

Why should I run a Google Ads?

With more than 5 billion searches performed each day, Google is the most popular search engine. Furthermore, the Google Ads platform has been in existence for about 20 years, providing it some experience and credibility in sponsored advertising.

People all over the world use Google as a resource to ask questions that are then answered by a combination of paid adverts and organic results.

Do you need one more? Your rivals are utilizing Google Ads (and they might even be bidding on your branded terms).

Because so many businesses use Google Ads to market their brands, even if you're ranking organically for a certain search keyword, your results will be pushed down the page under those of your rivals.

There is no way around using Google Ads if you're using PPC to advertise your goods or services (the only exception might be Facebook Ads, but that's another issue).

Best Practices for Google Ads

Don't give up if you've tried advertising on Google but had little luck. Your Google Ads may not be operating as they should for a variety of reasons. However, let's first go through some common Google Ads recommended practices.

1. Make use of a PPC Planning Template

You can keep your PPC efforts organized by using a planner. You can preview the character counts for your advertisements, see how they will appear online, and manage your campaigns all in one location using Google and PPC Planning Template.

2. Steer Clear of General Keywords

Your strategy should include testing and fine-tuning because you really need to nail it for your keywords. Your ad will be shown to the wrong audience if your keywords are too general, which will result in fewer hits and a higher ad cost.

Examine what's working (i.e., which keywords result in clicks) and make changes to your ads as necessary to make them more relevant to your target market. The blend probably won't be perfect the first time, but you should keep introducing, eliminating, and adjusting keywords until it is.

Advice: Review the keyword techniques we discuss below.

3. Avoid Running Pointless Adverts

You won't obtain enough clicks if your ad doesn't correspond to the searcher's intent to make your ad spend worthwhile. The keywords you are bidding on must be reflected in your headline and ad copy, and the product you are promoting in your ad must address any problems the searcher may be having.

It's a combination that will provide the outcomes you want, and it could only require a few adjustments. With the option to generate many ads per campaign, you may test different versions to see which performs best. Use Google's Responsive Search Ads option instead, or even better.

Advice: Review our list of top ad copywriting tips.

4. Raise your Quality Score (QS)

Google uses your Quality Score (QS) to decide where to place your ad.

Your rank and positions on the Search Engine Results Page will improve with a higher QS (SERP). Less people will see your advertisement and you will have fewer opportunities to convert if your quality score is low.

Although Google informs you of your Quality Score, it is up to you to raise it.

Advice: Continue reading to find out how to raise your QS.

5. Improve the Landing Page for your Ads

Your efforts shouldn't end with your advertisement; the user experience that follows a click is just as important.

When a user clicks your advertisement, what do they see? Is the conversion rate on your landing page optimized? Does the page address the problem or query of your user? The conversion process need to be easy for your user to move through.

Review best practices for landing pages and put them into practice to improve conversion rates.

Terms of Google Ads

1. AdRank

2. Bidding

3. Campaign Type

4. The click-through rate

5. Conversion Rate

6. Network Display

7. Ad Extensions

8. Keywords

9. PPC

10. Quality Score

You can set up, manage, and improve your Google Ads with the aid of these frequent phrases. While some of these are specifically tied to Google Ads, others are more broadly PPC-related. In either case, you must be aware of these to manage an efficient advertising strategy.

1. AdRank 

Your ad placement is determined by your AdRank. The higher the value, the better you'll rank, the more people will see your ad, and the more likely it is that they will click it. Your maximum bid multiplied by your Quality Score yields your AdRank.

2. Bidding

You, the advertiser, choose a maximum bid amount you're ready to spend for a click on your ad in the Google Ads bidding system. The better your placement, the greater your bid should be. CPC, CPM, or CPE are your three possibilities when placing a bid.

• CPC, or cost-per-click, refers to the price you pay when someone clicks on your advertisement.
• CPM, or cost per mille, is the price you pay for 1,000 ad impressions, or when your advertisement is viewed by 1,000 people.
• CPE, or cost per engagement, is the sum you pay when someone responds to your advertisement by taking a specific action.

Yes, we will discuss bidding tactics later.

3. Type of Campaign

You can choose from seven different campaign types before starting a sponsored campaign on Google Ads: search, display, video, shopping, app, smart, or performance max.

• Search ads are text advertisements that appear on a Google results page alongside search results.
• Display advertisements, which are usually image-based and appear on websites in the Google Display Network,
• YouTube features six to fifteen second long video commercials.
• Shopping campaigns are displayed on the Google shopping tab and search results pages.
• App campaigns optimize ads across websites using data from your app.
• Google finds the finest targeting for smart advertising to maximize your return on investment.
• Performance Max is a new campaign type that enables marketers to use a single campaign to access all Google Ads inventory.

4. Rate of Clicks (CTR)

Your CTR is the ratio of the number of clicks you receive to the number of views for your advertisement. A higher CTR implies a high-quality ad that targets pertinent keywords and matches search intent.

5. Rate of Conversion (CVR)

Form submissions as a percentage of all landing page views are measured by CVR. Simply put, a high CVR indicates that your landing page offers a seamless user experience that fulfills the promise of the advertisement.

6. Network Display

Google advertising can appear on a webpage within Google's Display Network or the search results page (GDN). GDN is a network of websites that give Google Adverts space on their web pages. These text- or image-based ads are shown next to material that is pertinent to your target keywords. Google Shopping and app campaigns are the most often used Display Ad choices.

7. Extensions

With the aid of ad extensions, you may add free-of-charge information to your advertisement. Each of these ad extensions is covered here. These extensions can be classified into one of five categories: Sitelink, Call, Location, Offer, or App.

8. Keywords

Google displays a number of results that are relevant to the searcher's purpose when a user submits a query into the search field. Keywords are words or phrases that fit the searcher's query and provide the results they are looking for. Depending on the searches you want your ad to appear next to, you choose your keywords. When someone searches for "how to wipe gum off shoes," for instance, they will see results for marketers who have chosen to target terms like "gum on shoes" and "clean shoes."

Lists of keywords that you don't want to rank for are known as negative keywords. You will be removed from the bid on these keywords by Google.These are usually vaguely connected to the search terms you were going for but are unrelated to the services you provide or the keywords you want to rank for.

9. PPC

Pay-per-click advertising, also known as PPC, involves the advertiser paying for each click on an advertisement. Although PPC is not exclusive to Google Ads, it is the most typical kind of paid campaign. Before starting your first Google Ads campaign, it's critical to comprehend all aspects of PPC.

10. Quality Score (QS)

Your Quality Score gauges the effectiveness of your ad based on factors like click-through rate (CTR), keyword relevance, landing page quality, and prior SERP performance. Your AdRank is based in part on QS.

How do Google Ads function?

Potential leads or clients who are looking for your product or service are shown your ad through Google Ads. Depending on the sort of ad campaign chosen, advertisers bid on search phrases, or keywords, and the winners of that bid are displayed at the top of search results pages, on YouTube videos, or on relevant websites.

Your capacity to develop successful and high-performing Google Ads is impacted by a variety of things. They will be discussed here, along with several Google Ads samples.

High Quality Score and AdRank

Your advertising' placement is determined by AdRank, and one of the two factors—the other being bid amount—that affects your AdRank is Quality Score. Keep in mind that your Quality Score is based on the caliber and relevancy of your advertisement, and Google gauges this by the number of people that click on your advertisement when it is displayed, or CTR. Your ad's ability to successfully match searcher intent will determine how well it performs on click-through rates (CTR).

1. How relevant your keywords are

2. If the searcher receives what they anticipate from your ad copy and CTA,

3. The way people interact with your landing page

Even before you raise your bid amount, you should pay close attention to your QS when you first set up your Google Ad campaign. Your acquisition fees will be reduced and you'll be placed higher with a higher QS.

Location

You choose the region where your Google Ad will be displayed when you first put it up. If you have a storefront, it should be quite close to where you are physically located. If you run an online store and sell actual goods, you should specify your location to the locations from which you ship. The possibilities are endless if you offer a service or good that is available to everyone in the world.

Your location settings will affect how you are placed. For instance, even if your AdRank is high, if you run a yoga studio in San Francisco, someone searching for "yoga studio" in New York won't see your result. That's because Google's main goal is to show users the best relevant results, even if you're paying for it.

Keywords

Both paid advertisements and organic search benefit from keyword research. Your keywords should as closely as possible reflect the objective of the searcher. This is due to Google matching your advertisement with searches based on the keywords you chose.

One to five keywords are ideal for each ad group you designate inside your campaign, and Google will display your ad in accordance with those choices.

Match Types

Match Types provide you some leeway when it comes to choosing your keywords because they inform Google whether you want to match a search query precisely or if you want your ad to be displayed to everyone who enters a semi-related search query. There are four different match types available:

• The default mode, known as Broad Match, uses any word inside your keyword phrase, in any sequence. For instance, "goat yoga in Oakland" or "yoga Oakland" will match.
• By designating them with a "+" symbol, Modified Broad Match enables you to lock in specific words within a keyword phrase. Your matches will at the very least contain that locked-in term. For instance, searching for "+ goats yoga in Oakland" can get results for "goats," "goats like food," or "goats with yoga."
• Phrase Match will find matches for queries that contain your keyword phrase in the exact order, even if they contain other words either before or after it. Goat yoga, for instance, can also refer to "spotted goat yoga" or "goat yoga with pups."
• Precise Match keeps your keyword phrase in the exact order that it is written. If someone types "goats yoga" or "goat yoga class," for instance, "goat yoga" won't appear.

Switch from a broad match to a more specific approach if you're just getting started and are unsure of how your persona will be searching so you can test which questions get the greatest results. However, because your ad will appear for a variety of queries, some of which are irrelevant, you should monitor your advertising carefully and make any necessary adjustments as you learn more.

Title and Description

Your ad copy may determine whether someone clicks on your ad or one from a rival. Therefore, it's critical that your ad language coincides with your target keywords, reflects the searcher's intent, and addresses specific concerns with succinct solutions.

Ad Extending

Ad Extensions should be used if you run Google Advertising for two reasons: first, they are free, and second, they give users more information and opportunities to interact with your ads. These extensions fit into one of the five categories listed below:

• Sitelink extensions, which enlarge your advertisements and make you stand out, also offer more links to your website that will compel visitors to click.
• You may add a phone number to your advertisement with Call Extension, giving users another quick option to get in touch with you. Include your phone number if you have a customer care team prepared to interact with and persuade your audience.
• Include your address and phone number in your advertising using the Location Extension so that Google can provide users with a map to locate you quickly. This choice works well for search queries and is excellent for companies with stores.
• If you have a current promotion running, offer extension works. If users see that your selections are cheaper than those of your rivals, they may click on your advertisement more often than others.
• For mobile users, App Extension offers connections to app downloads. As a result, it is easier to find and download programs from the AppStore by doing new searches.

Google Ads Retargeting

Retargeting (or remarketing) in Google Ads is a way of advertising to users who you've previously interacted with online but haven't converted. Tracking cookies will follow users across the web and target these users with your ads. Remarketing is effective because most prospects will need to see your marketing several times before becoming a customer.

Google Ads Campaign Types

1. Search

2. Display

3. Videos

4. Application

5. Shopping

In Google Ads, you may select from one of five campaign kinds. Let's talk about the best applications for each and the reasons you might favor one over the other.

1. A Campaign for Search Ads

Text adverts called search ads are displayed on Google results pages. The advantage of search advertising is that it places your ad where most Google users look for information first. Additionally, Google presents your advertisement in the same format as the other results (aside from labeling it "Ads") so that consumers are accustomed to viewing and selecting the results.

2. Display Advertising Campaign

The Google Display Network is a collection of websites owned by Google that display Google Ads to audiences from a variety of markets and demographics. The fact that website owners are compensated for each click or ad impression is a plus. The advantage for advertisers is that they can expose their material to a persona-compatible audience.

3. Videos for video Ads Campaigns

Do not forget that YouTube is a search engine. Therefore, using the appropriate keywords will bring users to the movie and divert their attention from other activities.

4. Ad campaign for apps

Advertisements for your mobile apps are displayed on the Google Search Network, YouTube, Google Play, Google Display Network, and other websites as part of Google App Campaigns. You can broadcast advertisements urging viewers to download your app or, if they already have it, to perform specific actions within it.

5. Shopping Advertisement

Google Shopping Ad Campaigns are an additional sort of Google Ad. Similar to these other ad categories, shopping campaigns are displayed in the SERPs and include specific product details like the price and image. Through the Google Merchant Center, where you submit particular product data that Google then pulls to construct your shopping advertising, you may manage your shopping campaigns.

Use of Google Ads

Are you certain you ought to begin utilizing Google Ads? Good. Starting is easy, but there are a few stages involved. Here is a step-by-step tutorial for creating your first Google Ads campaign.

1. Create a Google Ads Account

Visit the Google Ads homepage first. Click "Start Now" in the top right corner.

You will be asked to sign in using an existing Google account or create a new one.

2. Select a Name for your Company and a Website

After logging in, you will be directed to a screen where you must enter the name of your company and its website. Anyone who clicks on your advertisement will be directed to the URL you provide.

3. Choose your Advertising Objective

Choose your primary advertising objective next. You have four options: increase phone calls, website purchases or sign-ups, foot traffic to your storefront, and YouTube views and engagement.

4. Create your Advertisement

Your ad needs to be created next. This can be a little difficult and calls for inventiveness.

Thankfully, Google provides writing suggestions. Of course, writing an advertisement that will draw in and influence your audience is the most crucial step.

5. Include key Phrase Topics

You can select keywords that go with your brand on the following page. If you're unfamiliar with keyword research, Google will offer a few for you; we advise starting with those suggestions. Click "Next" once the appropriate keywords have been chosen.

6. Choose the place for your Advertisement

You can select the area or locations where you want your advertisement to appear on the following page. It can be far from your home location or somewhere else.

7. Decide on a Budget

Here, you can either specify a specific budget or choose from Google's budget possibilities.

8. Verify the Payment

Give your billing details last.

And just like that, you've made your first Google advertisement!

As you can see, creating your sponsored ads on Google is rather simple (and quick), largely because the platform guides you through the process and offers useful tips along the way. The setup should only take you ten minutes if you already have your ad wording and/or images ready.

Less evident are all the extra steps you must take to make sure your advertising are well-positioned and straightforward to track. Let's discuss these as a group. These are the actions you should do after submitting your advertising for approval.

9. Connect your Google Analytics profile'

If Google Analytics isn't already installed on your website, here's how to install it on WordPress so you can measure visitors, conversions, objectives, and any other special data. Additionally, you must connect your Analytics account to Google Ads. Because you can monitor these occurrences in one location, linking these accounts will make tracking, analyzing, and reporting between channels and campaigns much simpler.

10. Set up Tracking of Conversions

How many clients or leads you actually received as a result of your advertising campaigns is revealed by conversion tracking. Although setting it up is optional, doing so will force you to estimate the ROI of your advertising. You can monitor purchases (or other actions) made through your website, app downloads, or phone calls generated by your adverts using conversion tracking.

11. Connect your CRM and Google Ads

Keeping all of your data in one location where you can track, examine, and report on it has some merit. You already track contact information and lead flows in your CRM.

Strategies for Bidding on Google Ads

It's time to start bidding after your ad campaigns are set up and tracking is established. Keep in mind that your potential to rank in Google Ads depends on your bid strategy. When starting your sponsored campaign, there are a few methods and bid settings you should be aware of even though your bid amount will rely on your budget and objectives.

Manual vs. Automated Bidding

When it comes to bidding on your keywords, you have two choices: automatic and manual. Here is how they function:

a. Automated Bidding gives Google control and enables the platform to modify your bid in response to competition. You may still select a maximum spending limit, and Google will work within that range to offer you the greatest opportunity to place the winning bid.

b. Manual Bidding gives you the option to choose the bid levels for your ad groups and keywords, allowing you to cut back on spending on advertisements that aren't doing well.

A Branded Search Term Auction

Branded words include the name of your business or a distinctive product, such as "blogimammustofa.blogspot.com" Whether or not to bid on your brand phrases is a topic of significant discussion. On one side of the argument, placing a bid on terms that are likely to produce organic results can be seen of as money wasted.

On the other hand, placing a bid for these phrases provides you control over these pages of search results and aids in the conversion of prospects who are farther down the cycle. For instance, if I'm looking at live chat tools and am strongly considering blogimammustofa.blogspot.com's Live Chat, I can quickly get what I'm looking for by typing in "blogimammustofa.blogspot.com live chat software" without having to browse.

The other justification for bidding on your branded phrases is that if you don't, your rivals may, so occupying valuable space that ought to be yours.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

You may alternatively set a CPA and only pay when a user converts into a client if the thought of paying money to convert prospects into leads unnerves you. Even while this bidding technique could be more expensive, you can rest easy knowing that you only pay when you acquire a paying customer. This tactic makes tracking and defending your advertising expenditure simple.

Additional Resources for Google Ads Optimization

Your sponsored campaign's success depends on more than just your ad text and headline. A user should be routed to a landing page that is optimized for conversion after clicking, and then be directed to a thank-you page that explains what to do next.

Check out these extra resources and use them as recommendations when you build up your Google Advertising campaign if you want your ads to generate quality leads and clients.

In order to avoid wasting those priceless clicks.

a. Landing Page Best Practices will show you how to create a landing page that is optimized for conversions.

b. Optimized "Thank You" Pages outline what to do with your new lead after conversion, including strategies for keeping them on your website and retaining their interest.

c. Mobile Advice Google Advertisements teaches you how to optimize both desktop and mobile ads as well as the main distinctions between them.

d. Optimizing Google Ads Costs will demonstrate how blogimammustofa.blogspot.com maximizes its Google Ads expenditure to get the highest ROI.

e. Quality Google Ads Examples That Convert provides illustrations of successful Google advertising campaigns.

Tips for Google Ads

Here are a few quick recommendations or best practices to keep in mind as you develop successful campaigns now that you understand how to utilize and set up a Google Ad campaign.

These have been extensively explored in this essay, but it is impossible to exaggerate how important they are. Use this as a checklist that you can use repeatedly.

1. Set a Specific Aim

Instead of developing an ad first and then changing it to match your aims, it's critical to clarify your objectives before you construct your advertisement. Meet with your marketing team to develop SMART goals for your Google Ads campaigns and a plan for your advertising.

2. Make a landing Page that is Important

Make sure the URL you enter when asked to when generating your ad points to a pertinent landing page. If your ad is compelling enough to be clicked, you risk undoing all your hard work if the landing page is subpar.

As a result, make your landing pages as effective as possible so that your advertisement may turn a curious visitor into a paying customer. For more instructions on how to construct effective landing pages, see our landing page tutorial.

3. Make Good use of Keywords

It simply makes sense that you select the top keywords for your advertisement because they are so crucial. Long-tail keywords are among the finest since they may target a single firm and are extremely specialized. 

Let's use the example of running a cat clinic. A local audience won't be reached by a general term like "Pet clinic," but something like "Pet Clinic in Belitang" is more likely to do so.

4. Automate the Procedure

Conversions can be increased by improving the bidding process. Your bids may be raised or lowered for you using tools like Smart Bidding, depending on your chances of success.

As a result, you will only invest money where there is a greater likelihood of success.

5. Make use of ad Extensions

Extensions can improve the effectiveness of your advertising. You can identify your regions, services, products, or promotional offers using these extensions. 

For instance, you may put your phone number in your advertisement so that people can contact and ask about your services straight away.

6. Use Limiting Keywords

You may incorporate negative keywords in Google Ads. By utilizing these keywords to describe what your product or service is not, you may avoid appearing in unrelated SERPs.

In the hypothetical Pet clinic, you will probably treat a wide variety of pets such as cats, birds and other pets.

7. Evaluate and tweak your plan

You can monitor significant data like page popularity, the most popular keywords, and more when you combine your advertisements with Google Analytics.

You can enhance the quality of your advertising, increase conversions, and raise income over time by gathering and evaluating these and other information.

Get your Google Ads Campaign Going

Given its power and reach, Google Ads ought to be a component of any sponsored campaign. Use the advice we provided to begin going, and keep in mind to tweak and improve as you go.

There are just certain Google Ads campaigns that require a little bit more work, there are no Google Ads campaigns that don't function. You have everything you need to construct an effective Google Ad campaign that generates clicks and leads by using the above approach and information.