The Google Ads optimisation will help you to ensure that you are investing your money efficiently and effectively, which in turn will help you to get a higher return on your investment. In this article, we will show you the essential steps to optimise your Google Ads campaigns and how you can make the most of your advertising budget.
Why is it so important to constantly optimise your Google Ads campaigns?
- Improving performanceConstant optimisation makes it possible to identifying and correcting problems that may be affecting the performance of the campaigns, which allows increase the number of clicks and conversions.
- Reduce cost per clickBy optimising campaigns, it is possible to reduce cost per click while at the same time increases the number of clicks and conversions.
- Increases efficiency: Continuous optimisation allows for making the most of the campaign budgetThis means that better results can be achieved with less investment.
- Helping to stay on topConstant optimisation is essential for staying ahead of the competition in search resultsoptimised campaigns will have better performance and higher visibility.
- Provides a better user experienceBy optimising your ads and landing pages, you can ensure that the user gets a relevant and satisfactory experiencewhich increases the likelihood of conversion.
Approaches to the Google Ads optimisation process
There are several approaches to optimise a Google Ads campaignsome of which include:
Optimising for performance
Before you start optimising your ads, it is important to define the problem. To exemplify this point, let's say you are trying to lose weight. A good starting point would be to ask yourself: "What do I want my health goals to be?
When you set goals to optimise your ads, make sure that you are tangible and achievable within a reasonable timeframe. In other words, don't set a goal like "I want my body fat percentage to be below 10% by 1 January 2024", because this can be incredibly difficult, if not impossible! Instead, aim for something more realistic, like losing 9 kilos in 6 months.
Once you have set these realistic targets, it's time for another round of optimisation!
Optimise for appropriate costs
You may have heard these terms before, but what do they mean? In a nutshell: "costs"refers to how much money you spend on an advertising campaign. CPA means "cost per acquisition"i.e. how much you spend on each new customer who buys from your business. CPC refers to "cost per click"which is the amount you pay when someone clicks on one of your ads.
When choosing between CPA and CPC campaign types, there are some pros and cons associated with each, but ultimately both come down to whether or not they make sense for your business objectives at any given time. If you want to improve the ROI of your ads and get the best results from Google Ads, it is important to ensure that you are optimising for cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per click (CPC)..
The biggest difference between CPA and CPC is that the CPA focuses on total revenue generated by ads over timewhile the CPC focuses on every click that occurs. That is why CPA campaigns are usually more expensive than CPC campaigns. But there are also other factors to consider, such as whether you are selling a product or service where customers are likely to return after the initial purchase.
Optimise for customer objectives
It is important to define the problem before starting to look for a solution. In other words, set your goals first. You wouldn't start building a house without knowing what it will look like and how big it has to be, would you? The same goes for marketing campaigns: you can't create an effective message without knowing exactly what you want to achieve. You can find more information in our article "10 questions for a successful digital marketing campaign".
Before you take the leap to this step, take the time to consider what your main goals are and how long it will take you to achieve them. You will have to consider SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely). For example: "I want my website traffic to come from organic search results on Google within 3 months".
Keep in mind that setting realistic expectations is key here - don't expect immediate results! Be ambitious about what your brand has the potential to achieve, but also be realistic about how long it may take for those things to happen.
Once you've set your goals and objectives, it's time to start thinking about how you are going to get them. The first step is usually brainstorming, which consists of coming up with as many solutions as possible, even if some of them are absurd or impractical. You may end up with dozens (or even hundreds) of different options, but that's OK! At this stage it is important not to get too attached to any one idea.
Basic principles to help you optimise ads
When you start optimising your advertising campaigns, it is good to be aware of the principles that Google uses in its algorithms. These are:
- Quality Score
- Clickthrough Rate (CTR) > Click-through Percentage
The Quality Score takes into account other factors which influence the likelihood of a user clicking on your ads. It also helps to determine the cost per click (CPC)which is what you pay when someone clicks on your advert. The more relevant and useful information your ads contain, the better quality your ads will be perceived by Google, which will improve your quality score and reduce your CPC.
Google does not give many details about how the quality score is calculated, but we do know that it takes into account aspects such as:
- Ad Relevance (Ad relevance) - Is this ad relevant to what I have searched for? Are there any spelling mistakes or errors? If so, correct them!
- Landing page experience (Landing Page User Experience) - Does my landing page match what was advertised, and does it provide value to users who land on it after clicking on an ad?
- Clickthrough rate (CTR) - How often do people click on this link compared to other links (or compared to previous versions)? Can I improve these figures by making changes such as adding keywords and using call to action text?
What makes a good ad?
The best ads are those that are relevant and useful to the user. They are an answer to a question they had, or provide information that helps them to solve their problem.. If you see that your ads are not working, it is probably because they are not providing any value.
If they do not have a strong call to action and are not providing any value, then people will not click on them.
That's why it's important to start with a goal in mind when creating an ad. What do you want users to do once they've clicked? Do they need more information about a product or service? Is there something they can download immediately to solve their problem? Some examples of good ads:
- A coupon code for a free item with the purchase of another item
- A video explaining how to use your product or service
- A blog post on how to solve a common problem
Conclusions
The most important thing is not to be obsessed with how to optimise, but rather to be clear about what your customer's needs are and what your company's strengths are. These two factors will define the success of your Google Ads campaign. Try to be clear, concise and easy to understand for end users, because with a well-planned strategy you will be able to create more effective and less expensive ads.
