Professional Google Ads Management – 9 Crucial Issues
For the purpose of this Professional Google Ads Management post, I am looking at the trade services industry and using a uniquely Australian perspective. The focus is on Google Search only.
The information gathered is a combination of personal experience and following posts & using free trails and tools from companies like Wordstream, SEMrush, Moz and Adscale. Google customer service staff and the various online Adwords forums have also given me significant support to try and improve the management process.
I have decided to focus on a few major factors that affect Professional Google Ads Management. They may not be the only considerations but then I had to determine which parameters define the Tradie Clicks approach.
Having a Professional Quality Website
Your website is the window to your business. You showcase your services and your own unique selling proposition. It can also be your soapbox where you remind, update and educate customers.
So what does an Adwords friendly website look like?
Must Be Mobile Optimised.
Fast Page Loading Speed.
Contain Valuable Unique Content.
Easy Navigation.
Have Good Visible Calls To Action.
Adding New Content Has To Be Quick And Easy.
Make Use Of Local Quality Hosting.
There is a growing trend to bypass websites by having dedicated landing pages just for Professional Google Ads Management. This has the advantages of lowering bounce rates and improving ad ranking. The disadvantage is the lack of information on each page.
When you look at Google Analytics search data, visitor behaviour is diverse which makes simple sales pages less effective. At times, visitors may only spend 10 seconds online. Others take 30 minutes before they make a purchasing decision.
Quality websites are great sales instruments. They will work better in Adwords, with email blasts, free listings and as a starting point for Search Engine Optimisation.
2. Research The Business That You Are Promoting
There are many things to consider.
- Goals of the company.
- What is their service capacity?
- Seasonal vs year round.
- Local vs national.
- Where does the business position itself in relation to its competitors?
- How many services are being offered?
- Which services are the most popular?
- How profitable are the individual services?
- Has the business got other marketing measures in place?
- Are they experienced with Adwords/SEO?
- Are they trading normal hours vs 24/7?
- How strong is the CRM of the particular business?
- Is it a new concern or have they been trading for some time?
Keywords research is a crucial part of Adwords management. As a manager, you need to know the range of keywords search options and the relative bidding competitiveness. Research is on-going. You achieve superior results if you make a study of actual search terminology.
You should always be looking for additional long tail keywords with good search volume. Quality long tail keyword bidding is less competitive which makes your budget last longer. Another benefit is that you quite often achieve a superior advertising position without spending more money.
3. Geo-Targeting
Determining your target market location is the first step in the process. Adding country and regional exclusions ensure that a Sydney carpet cleaner is not visible to a Perth telemarketer. Besides, you want real local customers to click on your site.
4. Market Segmentation
Managers must deliver on all the segmentation bidding options that Google offers. At the moment, you can vary your bidding at certain times of the day and day of the week. You can set device bidding. The Adwords bidding for mobile, desktop and tablets can be adjusted. Google has recently added segmentation by age, gender and income groups.
So how does it affect management? You may know that your best conversions happen on a Monday morning between 10 -12, 70% of your customers use mobiles, your decision makers are female, aged 30 -45 and are in the top 30% income group. Segmentation makes bidding more accurate and will result in improved campaign performance.
5. Search Precision
Just like a carpenter, Professional Google Ads Management is defined by accuracy.
Adwords allows for great search accuracy. It starts with an exact match keyword which triggers an ad containing the keyword landing on a page all about the keyword. Let me explain by way of an example:
Keyword [saltwater pool pump]
The first description of the ad: Saltwater Pool Pump
Heading and content of website landing page: Covers the topic of saltwater pool pumps.
A precise search result is Google’s overall objective. They do not want a saltwater pool pump search going to a pool filter advert going to a generic pool maintenance page.
Inaccurate searches are penalised with poor ad ranking. This results in higher click costs leading to Adwords budget exhaustion a lot quicker.
6. Produce Unique Attention Grabbing Ads
When Tradies use PPE equipment they will attract attention. Managers want the same thing with their ads. Google allows you an almost unlimited opportunity to test advertisement texts. Because the CTR (click-through rates) are measured for ads, good management dictates that you test your ads to determine the best performers.
You should always be looking for new advertising text that results in a higher CTR. As high click-through rates influence ad rank positively, this is where a good manager can earn his keep.
7. Building a Negative Keyword List
You may be looking for a lightbulb moment to improve your campaign. The truth is that regular keyword maintenance will get you there. Negative keywords are used to avoid inappropriate searches and limit wasted clicks. These keywords can be used at the campaign level or for a specific ad group.
When you are advertising a very specific service, the last thing you want is somebody searching for careers, jobs, regulations, laws, history, wages, machines or products connected to the service. Once a week or month, part of Professional Google Ads Management will be to study which searches took place and add to building the negative keyword list.
8. Analytics & Conversion Tracking
Just like a painter, Google Adwords have to be precise. You must be able to measure the results of the advertising. Through Analytics and Conversion Tracking, you can see how your visitors behave and which parts of your advertising result in an action.
Tracking may be a click to call activity, contact forms being completed or call to ads. Conversion tracking will allow the Google Ads bidding to be adjusted or automated towards click behaviour that increases the chance of leads turning into calls and/or bookings.
9. Use Google’s Campaign Extension Options
There are many more tools you can use in a Google Ads Search campaign. Adwords have undergone major changes over the last 24 months.
Google has added site link extensions, structured snippets and call outs as additional text options to improve advertising visibility. Location extensions are useful when a local service is the preferred option. Auction insights reveal the profile of your online competitors.
Conclusion
Professional Google Ads Management requires experience, on-going measuring and maintenance. Some activities can be automated. Other aspects require good old fashioned hard work. This is the Tradie Clicks approach to Adwords.