Fundamentals of
Google Ads
Learn Google Ads in five steps
Step one - fundamentals
Google Ads come in a variety of formats including Search ads (showing in Google search results), Display ads (showing as banners on websites), Shopping ads (appearing in search results when people search for products) and Videos ads (playing before YouTube videos).
Search ads (formerly Google AdWords) are often the most popular and are applicable to the widest range of businesses, so will be the focus of the Google Ads section.
Google ads are generally more expensive than Facebook ads, however they can provide much more detailed targeting, both in terms of demographics and the user purchasing journey.
Whilst Facebook ads provide top level broad targeting (and retargeting for lower funnel users), it’s still unclear if these users are ready to purchase – perhaps they are just browsing for the future.
Google Search Ads allow you to create ads which will only show when certain keywords are entered into the search box of Google. As we covered in SEO, there are different types of keywords (informational, navigational, commercial etc). Search ads allow you to target specific keywords which can provide insight into where people are in their buying journey and the intent behind their keyword searches.
As Google ads are generally more expensive than other forms of PPC advertising, many brands choose to focus on mid to lower-funnel type keywords. These are generally transactional type keywords people may be searching for when they are almost ready to purchase (such as ‘buy’, ‘product comparison’, ‘reviews’ etc).
By targeting purchase-intent based keywords you are able to show your ads only to those who are in buying mode opposed to those who are at the beginning of the customer journey (i.e. becoming aware of a need/product, learning about the features etc). This helps save money as you are not spending on users who may never convert.
Google Search Ads can still be used at each stage of the customer journey, but due to their price and targeting precision, they are preferred for bottom-of-funnel conversion campaigns. Some brands will still use Search ads for brand awareness or top-of-funnel campaigns. Businesses will take different approaches to Search ads depending on their business type and length of their customer journey.
SEO, Facebook ads, Display ads and other channels can be used to attract users to your site in a low-cost manner when they are at the beginning of their research journey. When these users have indicated they are ready to buy, they may start searching Google with transactional keywords and, through keyword targeting (and retargeting), you can reach these users when they are most valuable to your business.
How do Google search ads work?
Search ads are based around keywords (the words and phrases people type into Google when they search – similar to SEO). The below process outlines how people can trigger Search ads and how Google will decide which ads will show.
The search is for “property investment advice Melbourne”
Google reviews all campaigns and ads from relevant advertisers (those within the financial services industry who provide property investment advice), looking for keywords in their ad groups to match with the user's search term, “property investment advice Melbourne.”
When they created their ad groups, each advertiser/competitor set bids for their keywords, indicating the amount they’re willing to pay when someone clicks on their ad (Cost per Click – CPC). This type of auction occurs every time a search is run.
After reviewing all relevant ads, Google decides which ads to show based on the advertiser bid, the relevance to the user search query and the quality score of the advertiser and their ads.
If your ad shows in the Google search results and a user clicks on it, they’re taken to a landing page on your website. When setting up ads, you decide the conversion event you want to achieve such as users purchasing an item, filling in a form, signing up to a list etc.
Once a user is on the landing page, it is the role of the copy and page elements to encourage a conversion (e.g. promoting the key features and benefits of what you’re offering).
Maintaining ad quality and keeping the ad auction fair
Google wants to provide the best user experience for people when they search using their search engine (otherwise they won’t return in future), so Google focuses heavily on only showing ads which are relevant and useful to users. Google determines the quality of ads based on a metric called Quality Score.
Quality Score is Google’s rating of the overall user experience that an advertiser’s ads and landing page provide when users search for relevant keywords. This is represented on a scale of 1-10.
Quality Score is an indication of whether your ads and landing pages are useful to users and satisfies their search intent (i.e. provides them with what they are looking for). There are three factors that affect Quality Score, including:
Ad Relevance: Is the ad relevant to your keywords and the users search terms? Does it match their search intent?
Landing Page Experience: Does the information on the landing page correspond to what the ad is offering, and vice versa?
Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR): How likely is someone to click on your ad when the ad appears for their search term.
A low Quality Score will result in ads competing poorly in auctions, possibly leading to higher costs or not being shown at all. The most impactful aspect to quality score is expected click-through rate. If users see no value in what your ad is promoting, they have no reason to click.
Tip
Quality score helps prevent large advertisers from dominating the search results by simply setting high keyword bids.
Within the Search results, Google will show up to four ads above the organic results. Generally speaking, the higher the position the ad is in, the more likely users are to click (however some advertisers have found better performance being in positions two or three).
The position an ad will appear in (i.e. first spot or fourth spot) is determined by Ad Rank.
Ad Rank = Max CPC bid x Quality Score
When determining Ad Rank, Google Ads looks at the following factors:
1. Your bid amount
2. Ad quality, relevance, and extensions
3. Expected click-through rate
4. Landing Page experience
5. Context of the person’s search
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When creating Search ads, you want to focus on the below factors to help improve your click-through rate.
- Relevancy (relevant to keywords, landing page experience, compelling copy etc)
- Analyse the SERPs to view competitors ads and create a point-of-difference
- Put USP on landing page (e.g. selling hook in ad needs to appear on landing page)
- Highlight the end emotions/outcome of using your product/service (e.g. how does the product solve a problem and make the customer feel)
- Use a strong call-to-action and repeat on landing page
- Use relevant ad extensions
Tip
Don’t promote your business or your products. Focus on understanding customers and promoting how your business makes their lives easier, solves a problem, achieves an outcome, removes a pain-point etc.
Selecting keywords which will trigger your ads
When planning a Search ads campaign, you need to decide which keywords you will target so your ads will appear when a user enters a relevant search query.
When deciding which keywords to target, you can use a variety of keyword tools. The most popular tool is the Google Keyword Planner which provides insights into how many people are searching for a particular keyword (i.e. search volume), how expensive it is to target (i.e. cost-per-click) and the level of competition.
When people search on Google, they may type in a query which is broadly related to your keyword, is very similar to your keyword or they may type in the keyword exactly.
Keyword match type helps decide how close a user’s query needs to be to your keyword for an ad to potentially show. There are three keyword match types: broad match, phrase match and exact match.
Broad offers loose keyword matching, phrase offers moderate matching and exact offers the tightest degree of keyword matching.
Broad Match
Broad match lets a keyword trigger your ad whenever someone searches for that phrase, similar phrases, singular forms, plural forms, synonyms, misspellings, relevant variations & other related searches which relate to your main keyword.
Broad targets as many people as possible but your ads may show for irrelevant searches (i.e. unnecessary clicks and costs).
If your target keyword is ‘investment property advice’, your ads may show if a user searches for ‘mortgage for investment property’. This user’s search query is somewhat related to investment properties but there may be a slim chance of them becoming a client as they are more searching for financing/loan options, not advice.
Phrase
Phrase match allows your ads to trigger when a user types in a search query which includes the meaning of your keyword. If your target keyword is ‘investment property advice’, phrase match may show your ad if a user searches for ‘tips for investing in property’ or ‘help before deciding to invest in property’.
Exact
Exact match is the most targeted match type. Your ad will only appear if the user types a search query which has the same meaning (or search intent) as your keyword. A user may search for ‘investment property advice’ or ‘property investment advice’ to trigger an exact match keyword ad.
Negative
Negative keywords are search queries for which you don’t want your ads to appear for. This allows you to avoid bidding on keywords which may drive irrelevant traffic to your business.
For example, your main keyword may be ‘investment advice’ which may show an ad when users search for ‘share market investment advice’. Your business, however, may only offer advice on property, not shares. You can add this share market-focused search term to your negative keyword list to ensure your ads won’t appear for these types of searches in future.
Negative keywords can be even more important than standard keywords in creating a highly targeted and relevant Search campaign. If focusing mainly on broad match keywords, an ongoing negative keyword list is essential.
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Formats for search ads:
Search Ads are available in a variety of formats such as:
Expanded Text Ads
These ads can have 3 headlines, a second description and up to 90 characters for each description. Starting June 30 2022, advertisers will no longer be able to create or edit this ad type but existing ETA’s will still continue to serve for search queries.
Responsive search ads
This ad type lets you create ads that adapt to show more relevant messages to customers. You can enter multiple headlines, descriptions etc and Google will choose from this selection when serving the ad. This can help make an ad more relevant to a user’s search query. As Expanded Text Ads are being phased out, RSA’s are the new default ad type.
Note: RSA’s may appear to look the same as ETA’s within the search results, however when creating these ads you have many more options for customisation (multiple headlines, descriptions etc).
Dynamic Search Ads
These are essentially automated ads which will match the user’s search query to a landing page on the website. The ads use content on the website, opposed to keywords, to match with the relevancy of the search. You will still need to write ad copy (keeping in mind landing pages may be different for each click).
Providing more information to users
When showing your ads in Google search results, you want to provide users with as much relevant information as possible. This not only increases the chance that they will spot something in your ad which could benefit them but this approach also takes up more real estate on the search results page (meaning other ads from competitors aren’t as easily seen).
Ad extensions enrich text ads by showing additional information about your brand. Google Ads automatically serves ad extensions which are predicted to have a positive impact on both ad performance and user experience (i.e. satisfying search intent).
Ad extensions typically improve click-through rate and take up more space in the search results (i.e. pushing competitors down) so always try to include these.
Extensions include:
- Sitelinks (links to other relevant pages on your website)
- Call-out extensions (e.g. free shipping, 365 day returns, no checkout lines etc)
- Structured snippets (highlight specific features of your products/services)
- Location (show your business address, phone number, and a map marker)
- Call extensions (extends ads with a phone number so people can contact your business directly from the search results)
- Price extensions
- Promotion extensions
- Affiliate locations (suitable for retail partner locations)
- App extensions (download an app)
- Message extensions (message the business)
- Lead form extensions
The extensions available within your account will depend on the type of business and website you have.
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This concludes step one of learning Google Ads (fundamentals). In step two (planning a campaign), we’ll cover how to create a competitive edge when planning and writing your ads. Find out how to correctly structure your account and how to apply bidding strategies, keyword match types, audiences, and extensions to your campaigns.
Learn digital marketing in five steps
