When Goldilocks stumbled into the three bears' home, she had no goals or strategy—no plan to build trust with the bears or encourage them to invite Goldi to stay for a while.

Instead, she just barged right in and ran around randomly trying things. She ate their porridge, broke their chair, messed up their beds, and then ran off into the night without explaining what she was doing playing in their space in the first place. Man, what a menace!

Many people stumble into Google Ads in the same way: They put an ad together and send it out into the world with no set goal or targets. So, to avoid annoying your most bearish prospective customers, our Google Ads agency thought it might be a good idea to give you a few tips on how to build a well-planned Google Ads strategy, including setting goals, measuring effectiveness, keyword research, and more.

Understanding the Basics of Google Ads

Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google that allows businesses to display ads on Google's search engine results pages (SERPs), YouTube, and across Google's vast network of partner sites. The platform operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning that advertisers pay only when a user clicks on their ad.

Google Ads has several parts that are important to keep in mind:

Types of Google Ads: Search, Display, Video, Shopping, and App Ads

Google Ads also offers various ad formats to cater to different marketing objectives, like shopping, storytelling, and people who are looking for specific services:

Why Google Ads is Important for Businesses

Google Ads is a crucial tool for businesses because it allows them to reach potential customers when they search for related products or services. This targeted approach helps businesses connect with a highly relevant audience, increasing the chances of converting clicks into customers. Additionally, Google Ads provides measurable results, allowing businesses to track the performance of their campaigns in real-time and adjust their strategies accordingly.

1. Immediate Visibility:
   • Unlike organic search efforts, which can take time to show results, Google Ads provides instant visibility at the top of search results or across Google's network.
2. Targeted Reach:
   • Google Ads offers advanced targeting options, allowing businesses to reach specific demographics, geographic locations, devices, and even times of the day. This precision ensures that ads are shown to the most relevant audiences.
3. Measurable Results:
   • With Google Ads, businesses can track every aspect of their campaigns, from impressions and clicks to conversions and return on investment (ROI). This data-driven approach enables continuous optimization and better decision-making.

Using Google Ads is also critical to a broader digital marketing strategy. It works in conjunction with other channels such as SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing to create a comprehensive online presence. While SEO focuses on long-term organic growth, Google Ads provides immediate visibility and traffic. A Google Ads marketing strategy can complement and amplify other digital marketing efforts when integrated effectively.

Setting Clear Goals for Your Google Ads Campaign

Before launching a successful Google Ads campaign, it's important to clearly define what you want to achieve. Without a well-defined goal, your ad spend can easily become scattered and ineffective (i.e. you're throwing money into a fire pit).

Defining What You Want Your Campaign to Do

Developing the best Google Ads strategy begins by understanding the goals of your ad campaign. Do you want to show up on page one of the SERP, do you want visitors to your site to take action, do you simply want to promote your brand, or do you want to promote a video?

The four basic goal types are:

1. Direct Action: You want visitors to your site to perform an action, such as subscribe to a newsletter, purchase a product, or sign up for a service. This is a key strategy for lead generation and increasing sales.
2. Generate Traffic: You want to increase traffic to your site.
3. Brand Awareness: You want to amplify the visibility of your brand.
4. Increase Views: You run video ads and want to increase views or interactions.

As you can see, most ads aim to gain clicks, impressions, or conversions. Once you have determined the results you want from your ad, you can begin to build a more focused and cost-effective Google Ads bid strategy. So what is your goal?

Aligning Google Ads Goals with Overall Business Objectives

It's important that the goals of your Google Ads campaign align with your broader business objectives, whether you're developing a B2B Google ads strategy or B2C. When your ad strategy is directly connected to your company's key performance indicators (KPIs), you can better measure the impact of your advertising efforts and use your budget more effectively.

Here's two examples:

For conversions, you can follow several automated bid strategies. That's right—Google Ads has an automated bidding (also called smart bidding) feature that makes it easier for newbies to use the platform effectively. The bid strategies for a conversion-focused campaign are:

• Target Cost per Acquisition (CPA): Aims to get the most conversions at or below your set cost per acquisition, allowing you to control how much you're willing to pay for each conversion
• Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Optimizes your bids to achieve a specific return on ad spend, helping you get the most revenue for every dollar spent on ads
• Maximize Conversions: Adjusts your bids to maximize the total number of conversions within your budget
• Enhanced Cost per Click (ECPC): Adjusts your manual bids based on the likelihood of a conversion, allowing you to increase or decrease your bids for better conversion rates

While people who are new to Google Ads often use these automated bidding strategies, the experts use advanced manual bidding strategies that yield better results at a lower cost.

Focusing on impressions and reach is key for these objectives, as you want as many people as possible to become familiar with your brand. In this case, Google Ads offers specific tools and strategies to help:

• Target Impression Share: This bidding strategy for Google Ads helps ensure your ads appear prominently on the SERP, which is crucial when building brand visibility. You can set your goal to show up at the top of the page or even in the absolute top spot, maximizing exposure.
• Maximize Clicks: If you aim to drive traffic to your website, this automated bidding strategy will help you get the most clicks for your budget. This strategy is ideal for building initial interest in your brand by driving potential customers to learn more about your products or services.
• Display Campaigns: Display ads can be highly effective in boosting brand recognition. They allow you to place visual ads on websites, apps, and videos relevant to your audience. This is a powerful way to create repeated brand exposure across different platforms.
• Video Campaigns: If your goal is to promote video content and grow your brand's presence on platforms like YouTube, TrueView ads are a great option. They allow you to pay only when viewers actively engage with your video (either by watching for 30 seconds or more or by interacting with the ad). This can significantly boost engagement while ensuring your budget is used efficiently.

In addition to impressions and clicks, engagement metrics—such as social shares, video views, or user interaction with your content—should be closely monitored. These metrics will help you understand how effectively your Google Ads campaign increases brand awareness and drives customer interest.

Setting Measurable Benchmarks for Success

To effectively track the performance of your Google Ads strategy, it's essential to set measurable benchmarks for success. Whether you're focusing on click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, or cost-per-click (CPC), having clear metrics will help gauge whether your campaign meets its objectives. For example, if your goal is to generate traffic, a key benchmark could be the number of site visitors or the bounce rate of your landing pages. For direct action goals like generating leads or sales, monitoring your ROAS will indicate how effectively your ads drive revenue.

Setting benchmarks also allows you to adjust and optimize your campaign. If you're not hitting your targets, you can test new ad copy, adjust your Google ads bid strategy, or refine your targeting to improve results.

Strategic Bidding Tactics and Tips

When you feel more confident about playing in Google Ads, you might want to experiment with the following strategies:

1. Standard Delivery: Spread your budget evenly throughout the day instead of spending it all in the morning. Use ad scheduling to target specific times based on when your ads perform best. For example, if data shows your ads are most effective on Fridays between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., schedule them for that period. Set a budget limit to avoid overspending.
2. Seasonal Bidding: Adjust your Google ads bid strategy around holidays or reduce them when demand is lower to optimize for seasonal trends.
3. Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI): Automatically match ad keywords to the user's search query. For instance, if someone searches "sweet porridge," DKI will adjust the ad to include that term, increasing relevance.
4. Drill Down into Dimensions: Use the dimensions tab to analyze ad performance by day, time, and location. This helps you adjust scheduling and location targeting based on where and when your ads perform best.

Keyword Research and Targeting

A well-structured Google Ads campaign starts with effective keyword research and precise audience targeting. Choosing the right keywords is crucial for reaching potential customers at different stages of the buyer's journey, ensuring your ads are shown to the right audience at the right time.

Conducting Effective Keyword Research

Conducting thorough keyword research is essential to build a successful Google Ads marketing strategy. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can help you find relevant keywords, assess their search volume, and analyze competition. These platforms also provide keyword suggestions based on your product or service, making it easier to identify your potential customers' terms.

• Google Keyword Planner: A free tool within Google Ads that offers keyword ideas, search volume, and estimated bid costs, making it ideal for building a keyword list tailored to your budget and goals.
• Semrush: A paid tool that provides in-depth keyword data, including competition levels, traffic potential, and keyword difficulty scores.
• Ahrefs: Known for its powerful keyword explorer, Ahrefs offers insights into keyword rankings, traffic potential, and competitive analysis, making it easier to target high-value search terms.

It's also important to distinguish between search-intent keywords (keywords that signal a user's intention to take a specific action, such as "buy porridge") and broad keywords (more generic terms like "porridge"). Search-intent keywords often convert better, as they align with what the searcher is actually looking for, while broad keywords may drive more traffic but lower conversion rates. Balancing these types will help you reach both intent-driven and broader audiences.

Understanding Match Types

Google Ads offers several keyword match types to control how broadly or narrowly your ads are triggered.

• Broad Match: This shows your ad for searches related to your keyword, even if they don't include the exact term. It casts the widest net but can be less precise.
• Phrase Match: Shows ads for queries that include your keyword in a specific order. It's more targeted than a broad match but allows for slight variations.
• Exact Match: Displays your ad only when the search query exactly matches your keyword, providing maximum control but limiting reach.
• Negative Keywords: These prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant searches, helping to avoid wasted ad spending on terms that don't align with your campaign goals.

By using a combination of match types, you can optimize your Google Ads budget. For example, broad match can help discover new opportunities, while phrase and exact match ensure you're targeting specific, high-intent queries.

Adding negative keywords refines your targeting further, ensuring your budget isn't spent on irrelevant searches. For example, if you want to sell the Bear family a home security system (to prevent future Goldlocks break-ins) and get the best chance of your ad showing up, you'd want to add unrelated terms to your negative keyword list, like "home security jobs" and "dogs for home security" would prevent your ad from showing up for these terms.

Targeting the Right Audience

Google Ads allows you to target your audience based on key demographic factors such as age, gender, and location. This ensures that your ads are shown to the right group of people, improving your chances of reaching potential customers. For example, if you're selling high-end beauty products, targeting women aged 25-45 in urban areas is likely more effective than targeting teenage girls who may not have the budget for your products.

Google also offers more advanced targeting through affinity audiences and in-market audiences:

• Affinity audiences target users based on long-term interests, like "fitness enthusiasts" or "tech lovers," helping you reach a group of people who have shown ongoing engagement with topics related to your business.
• In-market audiences target users actively searching for products or services in a specific category, making them more likely to convert since they are further along in the buying process. So if Momma Bear is searching for "organic porridge" and "healthy porridge recipes" and you just happen to sell porridge, Google identifies Momma Bear as In-Market. This is because her online behaviour indicates that she's more likely to purchase porridge from you because she's been actively searching for it.

Remarketing, on the other hand, allows you to show ads to users who have previously visited your site or interacted with your content. By targeting this audience, you can recapture potential customers who may not have converted on their first visit.

Remarketing strategies include:

• Display Remarketing: Showing visual ads to users across Google's Display Network.
• Search Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA): Targeting previous visitors with customized search ads when they continue searching for related terms.
• Dynamic Remarketing: Serving personalized ads featuring products or services users have already viewed on your site increases the likelihood of conversion.

Writing Compelling Ad Copy

Your Google Ads headline and description are the first things potential customers see, so it's crucial to make them clear, engaging, and relevant. Effective headlines should immediately capture attention while highlighting the core benefit of your product or service. Descriptions should expand on the headline, explaining why users should click your ad.

To make sure your ad stands out:

• Focus on specific benefits your audience will find valuable.
• Include keywords that align with your ad group to boost relevance and Quality Score.
• Highlight offers or promotions to entice users (e.g., "20% Off Today Only").

Best Practices for Crafting Attention-Grabbing Headlines

• Be clear and concise: Headlines have limited space (30 characters per headline), so make every word count. Get straight to the point while addressing the user's intent.
• Use numbers and statistics: Ads with specific numbers (e.g., "Save 25%") tend to attract more attention as they promise a concrete benefit.
• Incorporate power words: Words like "Free," "Exclusive," "Instant," and "Limited Time" can create urgency and encourage clicks.
• Address pain points: Speak directly to your audience's needs or problems. For example, "Porridge with Probiotics" for a company selling healthy porridge.

Using Strong CTAs to Drive Conversions

A compelling CTA prompts users to take the next step, whether that's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your business. Strong CTAs should be clear and action-oriented:

• Use phrases like "Get Started," "Buy Now," "Learn More," or "Sign Up Today" to create urgency and drive action.
• Align the CTA with the user's search intent. For instance, if a user searches for "best laptops under $500," a good CTA could be "Shop Affordable Laptops Now."
• Make sure your CTA reflects the benefit of taking action. For example, "Unlock Exclusive Deals" adds extra motivation.

Leveraging Ad Extensions

Ad Extensions provide additional information to your ad, making it more useful and engaging for users. They can improve your ad's visibility, provide more clickable links, and help potential customers take action quickly.

Types of Ad Extensions

1. Sitelink Extensions allow you to link to specific pages on your website directly from your ad. For example, a clothing store could have site links to "New Arrivals," "Sale Items," and "Customer Reviews."
2. Callout Extensions: Short snippets of text (up to 25 characters) that highlight key features or benefits, such as "Free Shipping" or "24/7 Customer Support."
3. Location Extensions: Display your business's physical address to make it easier for users to find you. This is especially helpful for local businesses.
4. Call Extensions: Add a phone number to your ad, allowing users to call your business directly with a single click, increasing leads for service-oriented companies.
5. Structured Snippets: These provide more detailed information about your products or services in a structured format. For example, "Service Types: Oil Change, Brake Repair, Tire Rotation."

How Ad Extensions Can Enhance Ad Visibility and CTR

• Increase Ad Real Estate: Ad extensions make your ad larger and more prominent on the search results page, drawing more attention from users.
• Boost Relevance: Extensions like site links and structured snippets provide additional relevant information, giving users more reasons to click your ad over others.
• Improve CTR: Ad extensions can significantly increase your click-through rate by offering more ways for users to engage with your ad (e.g., clicking through to specific pages or calling directly).
• Help with User Intent: Extensions cater to a variety of user intents. For example, if a user is ready to call, the call extension makes it easy. If they're looking for more information, site links can guide them to relevant sections of your site.

Conclusion

Developing a successful Google Ads strategy requires careful planning, clear goal setting, and a focus on aligning your campaigns with your business objectives. From conducting effective keyword research and understanding match types to crafting compelling ad copy and utilizing ad extensions, every element of your strategy should work together to maximize your reach and return on investment. You can create a Google Ads campaign that drives measurable results and helps grow your business by continuously monitoring performance, optimizing bids, and targeting the right audience.

Need help developing your Google Ads strategy? Give us a shout!