5 tips for creating successful Google AdWords campaigns

If you’ve ever created a Google Adwords campaign, you know it’s a process that includes strategy pieces beyond just creating good ad copy. Successful Google Adwords campaigns require you to perfect everything from your website to keywords to target demographics.

Recent Google Adwords change

Recently, Google has changed how it shows ads. There used to be two places where you would see PPC ads – three ads on top and three ads on the right side of your screen. Now, in an effort to make its search results more mobile-friendly, Google is phasing out the sidebar ads.

So what does this mean for advertisers?

It means you need that placement number to be better than ever. When sidebar ads existed, a placement score between 1 and 6 meant your ad would be on the first page of search results; now, without the sidebar ads, only ads with a placement score of 1-3 will end up on the first page of search results. Being on the first page matters. A study from online ad network Chitika found that the top listing in Google’s organic search results receives 33% of the traffic, compared to 18% for the second position and it only gets worse from there.

Content tips for Google ad campaigns

Higher Ad Relevance = Higher Quality Score = Lower Cost-Per-Click

More relevant ads receive a higher quality score and placement, which translates to more traffic for a lower cost per click. To make your Adwords content more relevant, follow these tips:

1. Clean up your Adwords landing page

When someone clicks your ad, they don’t want to go to your homepage. They want to go to the page associated with your advertisement. For example, if you’re promoting your services in your ad, send them to your services page.

Google understands that users want to be directed to a relevant page, so if your ad copy or keywords don’t match what is on your landing page, your quality score goes down. Before you write your ads, make sure your landing page has relevant keywords on it.

2. Match copy and keywords

Using the same logic as above, your ad copy and keywords need to match. Google isn’t going to show your ads for keywords it deems irrelevant.

Tip: To help fit more keywords in your ad copy, use the display URL. Your display URL is there just for looks, it doesn’t need to be a real link; the link that needs to be real is the final URL. For example, if I wanted to promote content marketing services, I could make our display URL “alleecreative.com/Content-Marketing” to fit that keyword into my ad.

3. Use the Google keyword tool

Google is there to help you with keywords. If you insert your landing page URL into the keyword tool, Google will suggest keywords and tell you how relevant it considers them. This tool not only helps you gather more keywords, but also helps you choose keywords that are already Google approved. You can also use Google’s keyword tool to search for other keywords and get information on whether those keywords are ranked low, medium or high in terms of how many other people are using them in ads, how often they are searched and how much it might cost you to bid on them in the event that they are a popular keyword in your industry.

4. Don’t forget negative keywords

One of the best ways to weed out bad clicks is to use negative keywords. Negative keywords tell Google not to show your ad to anyone who is searching for those phrases. For example, pretend you sell red fancy hats. One of your keywords should be “red hats.” One of your negative keywords should be “red baseball hats.” You don’t want to waste your ad budget on people looking for products you don’t have.

5. Learn the secrets

Think your Adwords headline is limited to 25 characters? Think again. If you end your first line of text with a period, it will pop up to the headline. Check out the picture below for an example (also note how I used the display URL to fit another keyword in).

When it comes to Google Adwords, practice makes perfect. You will need to experiment with copy and keywords to achieve success. If one campaign doesn’t go well, don’t fret. Look at what worked and what didn’t and try again.