Google Ads Optimization: 5 Tips To Reach More Customers

Google Ads is rolling out new features now more than ever, and advertisers are stuck with no clear understanding on how to make the features work. We generally find that fewer than 40% of the features that advertisers could avail themselves of are actually being used.

Reap all the benefits Google has to offer and ensure your brand is reaching more customers with these 5 tips for Google Ads optimization.

5 Google Ads Optimization Tips

Reach a massive audience, increase eCommerce traffic and drive conversions by implementing these Google Ads optimization strategies:

• Optimize keywords
• Use location targeting
• Make it easy to convert!
• Use ad extensions
• Test ad copy and landing pages

1. Optimize Keywords

Consider The Buyer's Journey

When selecting keywords for your ad campaigns, remember to consider the stages in which customers are at in the buyer's journey. Those still in the awareness and consideration stages are more likely to search for broader keywords on Google than those in the decision stage.

Take advantage of Google's keyword planner tool to ensure your ads are being seen by the right customers. While you may want to increase brand awareness and reach, we recommend avoiding broad match keywords.

Instead, target consumers in the decision stage by optimizing keywords for relevance. Long-tail keywords offer endless combinations and are almost guaranteed to bring more traffic to your site.

Add Negative Keywords

Add negative keywords to avoid showing your ad to users who search for a specific word or phrase that you don't want associated with your business. Use the search terms report to get some negative keyword ideas.

Include negative broad match, phrase match and exact match keywords to your ad groups so that your ads appear in front of the right audience. However, avoid using too many negative keywords as it may result in your ads reaching fewer customers.

2. Use Location Targeting

Increase ROI by focusing your ad targeting on the places where you'll find the right customers. Leverage Google's location targeting settings to select where you want your ads to be shown. Choose from:

• Entire countries
• Areas within a country, like cities or territories
• Radius around a location
• Google My Business locations
• Places of interest
• Your business locations
• Tiered demographics

If you don't want your ads to show in certain locations, just select the locations you want to exclude in your campaigns. And if you're unsure whether location targeting will benefit your business, ask yourself if it's cost-efficient and helps you gain more customers.

3. Make It Easy To Convert!

By making it easy, we mean guiding customers to the checkout in as few steps as possible. Provide minimal options within your Google ad so that customers know what to click within your offer.

Keep your call-to-action (CTA) short and to-the-point. Keep it consistent with your brand's colors while making it stand out at the same time. The purpose of a bold CTA is to guide shoppers in taking the next step on the path to purchasing.

Be sure your CTA directs users to a landing page that corresponds with your offer. For example, if a user searches for "computer keyboards," link your CTA to a landing page with only computer keyboards (as opposed to a page of various electronics.) Offering shoppers too many options obstructs their path to purchase and may even prevent them from browsing your site.

Finally, try to avoid requiring prospects to fill out numerous form fields. Put yourself in the consumer's shoes - you probably don't want to give out much of your personal information, either. Though marketers love collecting information, try limiting form fields to 3 or 4.

4. Use Ad Extensions

Google AdWords offers various ad extensions designed to increase conversion rates and improve ad quality score. Utilize these extensions to provide your audience with more relevant information about your business before clicking your ad.

Include information such as location, phone number, ratings and more to give searchers a better understanding of your business and help drive more leads.

5. Test Ad Copy And Landing Pages

There is always something that can be tested within your ads. Take a look at your highest-performing ad, and compare it to your other ads. Discover what's working best, and implement those strategies into your other ads.

Also, test landing pages to compare the ad's performance. For example, send half of your clicks to one landing page (your "control") and the other half to a different landing page to see which performs better. If the second landing page performs better, set it as your new "control" so that you can test other pages against it in the future.

Conclusion

Reach more customers, improve ad performance and, ultimately, increase conversions by following these 5 tips for Google Ads optimization. At the end of the day, you want your ads to be relevant, useful and beneficial to the user. Accomplish this by making it easy for shoppers to convert.

Leverage your Google Analytics eCommerce reports to gain insight into your visitors' activities. Digest those insights and continue to test to see how you can improve your ad performance.

Here at Groove, we build Google Shopping, Search and Display eCommerce PPC campaigns to help increase website traffic with a low cost-per-click. If you'd like to learn more about how Groove can help your eCommerce store increase ROI, contact us through the form below with any questions or concerns.

Our team will be in touch!