What’s that one question that has been bugging you since you first set up your Google Ads account? We asked around, gathered five of the most frequent answers, and sat down with our Head of Growth Gijs for a 5 Questions in 5 Minutes interview.
The real question remains: can we rock your paid advertising world in just five minutes? Guess we are about to find out! Buckle up, set up a 5 minutes timer, and get ready to up your SEA game.
1. The eternal dilemma: responsive search ads or expanded text ads?
Responsive search ads need a minimum of 5000 impressions per month in order to optimize properly and receive a rating in the performance column. Also, Google will show the best performing results sooner that a statistician would show them. This means that if you want to accurately test and keep control, you should use ETAs. If you want to rapidly test and automate the process, use responsive ads.
2. Where do you stand when it comes to bidding: manual or automated?
It is clear that we are not smarter than the Google algorithm when it comes to bidding and processing signals in real-time. Therefore, a degree of automatic bidding should always be in place when you are measuring conversions. However, Google’s motives are not always the same as yours, thus you should be very careful with automated bidding in order to not strongly increase overall spend or average CPC. This can be done by setting a target ROAS limit for Google to work with. If you are just starting with an account manual bidding is definitely an option in order to have maximum control and insights into your keywords, what you are paying for them, and if this makes sense.
3. Some KPIs we will always find on your statistics table
The usual suspects are clicks, costs, and conversion-related columns. However, there are some hidden gems that you might want to include. For example, the search impression share KPI could be included in order to assess the potential of the campaign. Also, you should include quality score metrics in order to see where you have room for improvement and how your ads are perceived by Google and Searchers.
*By clicking on column and modify you can select which additional fields to add.
4. Is there anything I should always keep an eye on?
Regularly check your search terms report. Too many accounts have only a few generic keywords and sometimes even only broad keywords. This means that your keyword matching might be all over the place. Check your search terms report regularly, exclude irrelevant keywords, and segment your campaigns and ad groups into more long-tail topics for optimal relevance.
5. We kept the best for last: one (or two) last piece(s) of advice
Relevancy is key for Google Ads. This goes a lot further than writing a creative that contains the keyword. For example, you should attempt to grasp search intent behind specific keywords and make sure that this search intent is covered within your communication in creatives as well as the landing page and complete buyer journey. Furthermore, relevancy can be achieved by working with automated parameters (e.g. dynamic product pricing), keywords insertion, or even countdowns in your ads.
Lastly, try to stand out. Nobody likes a dull ad and the competition within Google is fierce. Therefore, check what competitors are communicating and make sure that people notice your ad whilst not overpromising.
Time’s up!⏰
In the next episode, we will cover everything you want to know about keywords and targeting. From the difference between keywords and search terms to all the types of keywords out there, together with Sprints and Sneakers’ top 5 best tools for keyword research. Is there anything you want to know about it? Drop us a line
