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PPC For Dummies: Beginners Guide To Google Adwords

PPC (Pay-per-click) is a type of advertising when an advertiser pays a fee each time his ad is clicked. In other words, it is a method of buying visits to your website instead of growing the number of visits organically. It is especially useful for time-sensitive and specialized campaigns with a purpose to break into new geographic markets and directly address competitors. One of the most common types of PPC used today is Google Adwords – advertising service helping users to place an ad on Google search results page. In this article, Blue Meta, a digital marketing agency offering PPC Services Vancouver,  prepared the list of tips for creating a successful Google Adwords Campaign. 

Know The Terms and Functions First

Before starting a Google Ads campaign, there are certain terms that you need to know:

• AdRank – is a formula used by Google allowing you to determine your ad placement. The higher the value, the better your rank is and the more people will see your ad. AdRank is determined by multiplying the maximum bid that the advertiser is ready to pay by the advertiser’s Quality score. 
• Bidding. The bidding system is the foundation of Google Ads, where you as an advertiser should select a maximum bid amount that you are going to pay for every click on your ad. You can choose between automated and manual bidding strategies. There are three bidding options: CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per mile), and CPE (cost per engagement).
• Campaign type.  There are three campaign types that you should select when you are starting your Google Adwords campaign. The first one is Search Ads – text ads that you can see in search results displayed on a Google results page. Display ads are the second one – they are image-based ads displayed on web pages among the Google Display Network. Finally, the third type is Video Ads – short videos (between 6 and 15 seconds) that appear on Youtube. 
• Conversion Rate (CVR).  It is the number of customers who completed your desired action on your website divided by the total number of people who visited your webpage. If your CVR is high, it means that your landing page offers a great user experience  – it matches your ad and the website matches the users’ intent. 
• Display Network.  Google’s Display Network is the largest display in the world that includes over one million apps and two million websites, including Youtube and Gmail. The goal of the Display Network is to help businesses find their audience by using the right targeting tools. It is created to purposefully target internet users based on their interests, behaviors, and demographics. 
• Ad Extensions. These extensions are additional pieces of information that you can use in your ad to make it useful to users. It is a highly effective method to make your ads more clickable and bigger at no additional cost. There are five categories of Ad Extensions: Location, Sitelink, Call, App, and Offer. 
• Keywords – are words and phrases that match the things users are searching for. As an advertiser, you need to choose keywords that will represent the search queries you want your ad to display under. For example, if a user types “How to choose the best vacuum cleaner”, he will see the results for the ads with such targeted keywords as “choose vacuum cleaner” or “best vacuum cleaner”. It is important to know that negative keywords are another key concept in Google ads. They are those special words that are included in the list of keywords to restrict unwanted visitors on your ad. 
• PPC (Pay-to-Click) – is a model of digital marketing, in which advertisers pay a fee every time when someone clicks on their ads. 
• Quality Score (QS) – is a value used by Google to determine how relevant your landing page, keywords, and ads to users’ search queries. QS is one of the most determining factors in your AdRank. 

Know How Google Algorithm Works

 Understanding how Adrank and Quality Score work is an essential part of preparing and running a successful Google ad campaign. Adrank is responsible for where exactly your ad will be placed on a Google search results page. Quality score is one of the two factors determining your Adrank. Your Quality Score is based on the relevance and quality of your ad, which is measured by Click-Through Rate (CRT). Your CTR depends on three factors: how relevant your keywords are, whether your ad and call-to-action (CTA) match searchers’ intents, and the relevance and quality of your landing page. 

Ad Types

There are three different Google ads types that you can select from:

• Search ads. They are textual ads displayed on Google search results page. The main advantage of this type is that your ad is displayed in Google – the place where most users look for information first. Moreover, your search ad is displayed in the same format as other search results on the page. 
• Responsive search ads. It is one of the newest and most flexible ad types. With a responsive search ad you have an opportunity to create up to 15 different headlines and up to 4 different descriptions for your ad. Google begins automatically testing different combinations of your ad and then favors those that have the highest performing combinations. 
• Display ads – the visual banner ads that are shown to millions of Internet users across over 2 million videos, websites, and applications that belong to the Google Display Network (GDN). 

 Keyword Research For Ads

Searching for proper keywords is another important part of your Google AdWords campaign. Since Google matches your ad with users’ search queries based on the keywords selected, the keywords you choose should match searchers’ intent as much as possible. Here is a brief guide on how you should do keyword research for your ads: 

• Analyze the landing page of your website. This is a good place to start because you need to understand what a user will see when he first arrives to your webpage. You can also check your competitors’ landing pages to get an idea what they are doing. 
• Use Keyword Planning Platforms. Once you figure out what your campaign will be focusing on, you can start using keyword planning platforms to analyze your keywords. The two good examples of such platforms are SEMRush and Google Keyword Planner. 
• Analyze your competitors. You can do it with the help of SEMRush that allows you to see what keywords your competitors are using and how much they are paying. 

Ad Copy

 Creating a converting ad copy for your campaign is a crucial part, and any mistakes can lead to failure and overspending. Here are some tips on how to make a good Ad copy that will catch viewers’ interest: 

• Test your ad copy.  There are certain copy variables that you should test, including headlines, product and service description, and call to action. The best ways to test your copy is through conversion rate (CVR) and click-through rate (CTR). 
• Use a moderate amount of keywords.  Do not stuff your ad copy with keywords, even if it is a tempting thing to do. Instead, create a high-quality ad by using proper sentences with a fewer amount of keywords. 
• Do not forget about the call to action.  Call to action has a significant impact on your campaign’s success. By including it in your ad, you let your potential customers know what they are expected to do next. 

Conclusion

The tips and recommendations outlined above will help to bring your Adwords campaign to the top. By working on your campaign, you just need to remember that there are no campaigns that do not work at all – there might be those that require more work. It may take time, efforts, and several attempts to create a campaign you really want. However, it will be worth seeing the growing number of clients and increasing sales.