Now that we’ve had a close look at the Google Ads platform and how it works, in our next masterclass we’re going to go into more detail about one of the most popular Google Ads types: Google Search Ads.
What you’ll learn:
A recap of Google Ads
About Google Search Ads
Types of Google Search Ads
Best practices for Google Search Ads
Find out more how Aston Social can help you in building an effective digital marketing strategy for your business. Contact us today.
Scope
A recap of Google Ads
Advertising on Google starts with creating a campaign based on an objective. This is based on the actions that you’d like your customers to take, eg. drive traffic to your website, submit their contact details, etc.
It operates as a bidding system where you bid on certain keywords/topics in order for your ads to appear in Google’s search results.
Google Ads determines which ads should show with a lightning-fast ad auction, which takes place each time someone searches on Google or visits a site that shows ads.
Your bid (the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for), the quality of your ads and the expected impact from your ad extensions determine how your ads appear on Google.
There 5 different Google Ad Campaign types available. These are:
1. Search Network Campaign
2. Display Network Campaign
3. Shopping Campaign
4. Video Campaign
5. App Campaign
About Google Search Ads
When people search on Google for something they want, they find two types of results: search results and ads. Search results appear as links on search results pages and aren’t part of Google’s advertising programs. Ads appear under an “Ads” label and may be placed in several locations around the free search results.
They are text only – no imagery or video.
Text ads are positioned on search results pages based on their Ad Rank. Google Ads recomputes the Ad Rank for your ad on every page,
and it takes into account whether your ad was shown on a previous page.
This means that your ad may sometimes appear in a top spot on one page and then again in an ‘other’ spot on a subsequent page (or
vice versa).
What is Ad Rank?
Ad Rank is a value that’s used to determine where ads are shown on a page relative to other ads, and whether your ads will show at all. Your Ad Rank is recalculated each time your ad is eligible to appear, and competes in an auction, which could result in it changing each time depending on your competition, the context of the person’s search and your quality at that moment.
How is your Ad Rank determined?
1. Your bid.
2. The quality of your ads and landing page.
3. The competitiveness of an ad auction.
4. The context of a person’s search.
5. The expected impact from your ad extensions and other ad formats
Long story short… Better ads mean better ad rank.
Types of Google Search Ads
There are 4 main types of Google Search Ads:
1. Text Ads
- Text Ads show above and below Google search results.
- It has 3 parts: Headline, Display URL and Description Text
- You can also include “Ad Extensions” such as Call, Sitelinks and Callouts
2. Dynamic Search Ads
- When someone searches on Google with terms closely related to the titles and frequently used phrases on your website, Google Ads will use these titles and phrases to select a landing page from your website and generate a clear, relevant headline for your ad.
- You tell Google which pages on the website to choose from.
3. Responsive Search Ads
- Responsive search ads let you create an ad that adapts to show more relevant messages to your customers.
- You provide headlines and descriptions which Google picks and chooses from based on the user.
- Google Ads automatically tests different combinations and learns which combinations perform best.
4. Call Only Ads
- As the name suggests, Call Ads are designed to encourage people to call your business.
- They only appear on mobile.
- When a person clicks on this type of ad, it places a call to you from their device.
Best Practices for Google Search Ads
In order to achieve the best possible ad rank so your ads show as high as possible on Google – essentially getting the best bang for buck – is to ensure you’re doing the following things…
1. Implement at least one responsive search ad with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ ad strength per ad group.
Advertisers who improve ad strength for their responsive search ads from ‘Poor’ to ‘Excellent’ see 9% more clicks and conversions on average.
2. Implement ad extensions such as sitelinks and image extensions.
Ad extensions make your ads more engaging and allow you to show helpful information about your business. More eligible extensions give your ads more opportunity to meet users’ specific needs.
3. Write compelling, genuine ad copy.
Craft messaging that focuses on user benefits and try to tie your headline and description line’s messaging to your keywords.
4. Create messaging that reflects your brand and the products and services you offer.
5. Set up your ads for success
You can do this by adding as many unique, relevant headlines and descriptions as you can.
6. Enhance your ads with extensions
Ad extensions make ads more useful and engaging to users, and they help you meet your marketing objectives. For example, advertisers can see a 20% increase in click-through rate on average when four sitelinks show with their Search ads.
7. Test and optimise creative messages
Use ad variations to test and iterate creative messages.You can learn about your users’ preferences and improve your performance by honing ad text, especially your headlines.
