10 Strategies Optimizing your Google Ads account
TrendingBookmark- Google Ads continues to be one of the most important platforms for businesses of all sizes and scales. But with constant updates, increased automation, and the loss of many “traditional” levers of control, finding the right balance between investment and return can be very difficult.
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At SMX Advanced, Sam Tomlinson, executive vice president at marketing communications agency Warschawski, explains that marketers need to find ways to work with AI and help them get better “because we're not basically going to outperform the machine.”
Here are 10 advanced strategies that have helped Tomlinson companies achieve great results with Google Ads campaigns.
1. Data is your optimization lever
It is very important to provide the machine with the best data. Four useful tools to make sure you're giving Google the best data:
Conversion Action Sets
This powerful, underutilized option allows you to “group conversions for similar stages in the funnel” and “allows you to have different goals…so you actually optimize relevant campaigns towards relevant sets of objectives without other data coming in and confusing the mix,” said Tomlinson.
Enhanced Conversions
Tomlinson discloses that his company uses enhanced conversions for each client because it allows you to link any CRM directly with Google Ads and set key optimization events. Tomlinson said:
“This means you are actually giving machines the data they need to make smarter offers and smarter decisions, so you get fewer and fewer wasted leads. Honestly, one of the biggest ways to avoid junk leads is to only use enhanced conversions… We saw a 75% reduction in junk leads within 45 days of implementing an MQL-based primary conversion action. It was incredible!"
Smart Business Data
Marketers can import business data into Google Analytics and, by extension, into Google Ads.
“I highly recommend that you do this. The more data you give the machines, the better they can optimize it,” says Tomlinson.
Offline Convert Import
Enhanced conversions are the first step in this process, followed by conversion adjustments. This allows you to restate conversion values so that you can increase or decrease them.
“You can remove data from the optimization algorithm so you don't optimize for flawed data,” said Tomlinson, adding:
“For example, if someone made two purchases in error, you can revoke one of them…Remember that for any piece of data you provide to Google, unless you tell us otherwise, Google will consider it additional. So if there's a discrepancy between what you originally told Google and what actually happened, use conversion adjustment to change it.”
2. Use data to focus on what matters to you
This is a powerful approach for B2B and B2C businesses because it allows marketers to make smaller adjustments to the way the algorithm bids, based on their unique business data – which is something they can control.
“Every business has a different value structure. So understanding one of them, understanding what they are, and number two, translating that into a value rule…allows you to get more out of your Google Ads campaigns.
“I'd review probably between 200 and 300 Google Ads accounts per year and I'd say less than 10% use the value rule you're looking at. They are powerful and underutilized,” said Tomlinson
3. Layer audience & business insights on a data-centric foundation
Give Google the data it needs to optimize your content better and faster – ultimately, it will give marketers better results from their campaigns.
The best way to do this is to overlay your category information on how customers buy your products, such as product type, price, type of buyer, and so on.
“What's important is that you combine data about your business with data about your audience to give the engine a structure that can operate within. When you layer information about how customers buy your product with how you make money from your product, you end up with a matrix – prioritizing a matrix of what you have to bid on,” he says.
4. Use CPA or ROAS to drive your campaign
Too many advertisers are using automation and automated bidding strategies the wrong way, according to Tomlinson. Commenting on the campaigns his company achieved the most success, he pointed out that low CPA targets or high ROAS targets are a lower priority for Google Ads.
“Your highest priority campaign should have the highest target CPA or lowest Target ROAS, as that will reduce the threshold for that campaign to serve to the lowest level you can tolerate based on your business data and unique cost structure and value structure. your business. “The only way this structure can really work profitably is if you know your business numbers and you are confident and can trust them.”
He added:
“When you start thinking about how to set these CPA or ROAS targets, Google's Budget Simulator is really great. I like it. It's a really awesome tool… But remember, anything outside of that optimal spend starts to become inefficient and loses out. You start to return the profits you make. So, getting the right target CPA is very important. Use that budget simulator to get a sense of where it is, the second part of it."
5. Don't let loose CPC blow up your ad account
Get the most out of your campaigns by preventing CPC runaways, which can blow up your ad account – and not in a good way.
You can do this by setting minimum and maximum bids for each automated strategy in your portfolio.
“It's free insurance because sometimes, Google makes mistakes – and it creates protection from the downside. It's possible that you could have an outlier conversion rate or extraordinary success, but how much risk will you build on that? Just get rid of the bad hands and you'll be fine.
6. Use a modern structure to minimize study time
The more you divide data, the harder it is for machines to learn about it. So marketers need to focus on minimizing fragmentation and segmentation to the point where it's needed, and delivering the actual marginal returns that justify it, according to Tomlinson.
“That's a hard pill for many old-school SEMs to swallow, but it's one you have to swallow. And start consolidating.”
Tomlinson recommends combining 20 single keyword ad groups into one ad group. He then recommends combining audience targeting and data targeting with keyword targeting.
“This will create a combination of passive targeting and active targeting. That's what gives you better results.”
PPC experts are also urged to stop competing with AI and instead take on more strategic tasks that will help the machines. For example, by writing good ad copy, you can help engines better understand your content, explains Tomlinson.
“Creating landing pages that are unique, highly relevant and highly informative is also important. Broad Match is now doubly important to look at landing page content as a signal for what types of users and types of searches may be relevant.”
He added:
“Finally, make automation your friend. Negative goals are a great way to do this. If campaign performance deviates from expected by a significant amount, disable the campaign. Something isn't working out the way it should, so before it gets any worse, stop the bleeding so you can step in and adjust; reorder, and move keywords and products. Teach a machine what to look for in order to do its job better.”
7. Always add audience
Marketers must remember that they are targeting people, not keywords, so it is important for them to use audience tools more effectively. One way to do this is to open GA4 and use predictive audiences.
“This is an amazing feature,” said Tomlinson. “Brands have historically spent billions of dollars trying to figure this out – and it's free!”
GA4 can tell you which audience is likely to engage with your marketing and which people are unlikely to return to your website in the next seven days.
Marketers can also create custom segments based on what specific audiences are searching on Google. Alternatively, they can identify which audiences browse certain types of websites or use certain types of applications.
“Excellent,” added Tomlinson. “You can see research people looking for solutions, people looking for problems we solve, people using alternatives to our current services – you are only limited by your imagination.”
8. What you exclude is more important than what you include
As engines get wider, as match types keep changing, your exceptions become very, very important.
"So please, please, please think more about what you can stop," Tomlinson said. “Can I cut absolute waste versus can I put in everything I need? The machine will find the Drita Gadget that you need to include. Your job is to suck out the Drita Gadgets that need to stay out. “
9. RSA test using variance
Variance testing is the best way to test for RSA, according to Tomlinson.
"What I recommend doing is one of three tests looking at composition," he explains. “Say I want to test a brand differentiator call to action versus a point of evidence. I'll be testing them against each other and for each of those structures I'll be using embedding and multiple headlines. Pins ensure that the headlines in each position match the structure I'm testing, and multiple headlines give me flexibility so Google doesn't completely hate me.
“You can test your offering and your value props or seed and iterate where you just put in a bunch of headlines, see what comes out, see which combination works best, and then use that as inspiration to do the testing. All of that approach is right and good.”
Tomlinson added:
“Variant testing is something that is done so infrequently that it hurts. It's a pain to go into ad accounts and see an RSA or two without variant testing because frankly it doesn't work very well."
10. Make sure you test multiple ad groups
It is very important for advertisers to have an RSA testing structure in place – especially those working on smaller accounts. The best way to do this is to use variants and look for patterns throughout your title and description.
“You are essentially testing messaging across your entire account versus just one ad group,” explains Tomlinson.
“That gives you statistical significance more quickly and allows you to take the learnings and apply them across your accounts. Multi ad group testing is great – but not finished, which is a shame because what you really want is to understand which assets and which combinations of assets lead to the best results.”
Remember the labels for the brownie points!
Tomlinson urges PPC marketers to make better use of labels for monitoring purposes as changes are implemented.
“Most of us don't remember what happened last week, let alone remember why you made certain changes seven months ago.
“Every time you make a change, every time you add something or do something, always label your changes and use a standard set of labels so you can actually group them, pull the data, and understand what's going on.”
Source: Drberita.com