9 Quick AdWords Tips For More Sales Leads Today | Sales Lead City
It’s so easy to run Google ads in 2019. Google wants to continue to make it easier and more automated.
But with that automation comes some inefficiencies that could be costing you money. If you are running Google ads, read these 9 Google AdWords tricks that will help you save money and get leads from Google.
Negative Keywords
Adding negative keywords is our #1 AdWords tip. It can drastically reduce irrelevant traffic from coming in through your ads and using up your budget.
Reviewing the search terms that are bringing traffic is simple, and it can help your budget go a lot farther.
When you tell Google which traffic is important and which is not (for example, users who are simply price shopping with searches like “how much does [your product/service] cost”), you are optimizing your campaigns and saving money.
We eliminated a lot of low-quality traffic in a campaign for a moving company recently by carefully adding negative keywords like “cheap” or “how much does [client service] cost.” By doing that, we reduced traffic but saw an increase in conversions.
How to Add Negative Keywords:
Under your campaign, find the tab that says “Keywords” on the left.
At the top, click the tab labeled “Search Terms,” and on the drop-down select “Search Terms.”
On your list of search terms, look for low-quality search terms that are bringing clicks.
Check the box next to the terms you would like to make negative.
Once you have selected some search terms, look to the top of your keyword list and click the button labeled “Add as a negative keyword.”
Make sure to add the keyword at the campaign level.
NOTE: You cannot add negative keywords that are longer than 100 characters.
Responsive Search Ads
These ads give you the option to write different headlines and descriptions that Google rotates according to how much engagement they bring.
This is can be a huge boost to your search ads! How?
It allows you to test the headlines and descriptions, and you can then let the users choose which ones are the most relevant. Once you have enough data, you can remove the copy that isn’t working and try something new.
It also gives you unprecedented detail about which combinations of copy work best together.
If you have a message that you really want to push, you can pin three headlines and two descriptions in any position in the ads.
These will help you drill down into the performance of your ads for real-time data on what copy converts and what copy should go to the trash bin (or perhaps recycled to a new campaign? There’s no limit!)
Optimize With A/B Testing
Running experiments to isolate certain variables is a priceless tool in Google Ads. Even so, it’s probably the most under-utilized tool for most users.
You can test any variable that can be isolated. This includes bids, bid strategy, delivery, ad copy and so much more.
How to Run an Experiment:
To run a campaign experiment, simply copy a campaign and set it up the same way as the original in your AdWords account.
Then, change the one variable that you would like to test. The most common tests are comparing bid strategies or campaign goals (which affect ad delivery).
Add budget or split your current budget between the two campaigns for the duration of the experiment.
Publish the campaigns and wait for your results! You may be surprised at the results, and it can very quickly help you improve AdWords conversions rates.
Use Energetic Words In Your Titles
Don’t be boring. Pretty straightforward?
No? Well, you’re not wrong. Writing great ad copy isn’t easy to do. If it were, we would all be millionaires selling on Google.
So, what can you do to make a real difference today in your ad copy?
Use energetic modifiers and modifiers that touch on a root desire of your customers (these can include things like “vital” or “premium” or “cheap”).
The most important thing in writing great ad copy is knowing your customers. Specifically, you must know what is going to hook their attention. Otherwise, your ad will fade into the pack.
Optimize Your Ads and Landing Page
Optimization isn’t as simple as changing your bids or adding negative keywords. Search engine optimization isn’t just about organic results.
By optimizing your ads and your landing pages, you will ensure that Google understands the intent of your ads and delivers them more effectively to the right users.
That will save you money, increase your conversion rates and add to your bottom line.
How to Optimize Your Ads
First, make sure that your keywords are in the description and that your most important focus keyword is in the ads for your ad group.
Second, make sure you are using different keyword variants to complement your match types. This will help draw clicks and help Google understand your target audience.
How to Optimize Your Landing Page:
First, make sure the landing page contains all the keywords that you are targeting. You can see your keyword score under the “Keywords” tab.
Next, put the highest search volume term(s) in your heading tags. Use the title tag and H1 for your most important term. Then, nestle your next most important terms in the H2 tags.
Then, move elements on your page around so that users do not have to scroll to find the information they want. Put the form up high and make sure you have an A+ design.
Choose A Better Landing Page
This goes right along with the previous tip, so we’ll save you some time here: choose the right landing page. Choose it carefully.
Sending users to an irrelevant landing page is the BIGGEST mistake that many new marketers on any PPC platform will make.
How to Choose the Right Landing Page:
Your landing page should:
1. Almost NEVER be your homepage.
2. Contain detailed, relevant information to what you are selling.
3. Be as specific as possible.
4. Be aesthetically pleasing and designed for great user flow on mobile and desktop.
Optimize Your Bids
Always keep an eye on your bids. We recommend that you use manual bidding for the most control over which auctions you want to enter and which you don’t.
You can get as general or as granular as you want, but make sure that you are adjusting your cost-per-click (CPC) or bidding strategy to get the best cost per acquisition from your ads.
How to Use the Bid Simulator:
Inside your campaign on the list of ad groups, you will see a little graph next to your ad group CPC Default Max CPC.
Click on it and a new window will pop up.
Find where the plateau is and set your CPC at this point.
Monitor for a week.
Adjust to your average CPC.
We can get much, much deeper on bid optimization, but that’s what you need to know to get a better return on your spend today.
Use All Available Extensions
You know that part of your account that is outfitted with your phone number, services, direct message options, website links and offers?
Great! Then you can skip this part.
If you’re like many Google ads users, this is a scary, dark part of Google ads that hasn’t gotten much love since you started running your ads.
Extensions are an amazing opportunity for your ads to take up MORE room in the search results and be better-optimized for user experience (Read: more clicks and a higher conversion rate).
Here’s an outline of available extensions and how they can help you get more sales leads.
How to Set Up Your Extensions:
Sitelinks: These show up in your ads and direct users to closely-related pages on your site that create more opportunity for clicks.
Callouts: Use compelling Why Choose Us topics to help users know, at a glance, why they should choose your company over your competitors. “Fast Service” or “Fully-licensed & insured” are great options.
Structured Snippets: These are designed to provide more information about your services. They appear in addition to your ad descriptions and take up more room in the search results, making your ad more visible.
Reviews: Also known as seller ratings, you can show real reviews of your product!
Message: Let customers text a representative at your company from your ad. It’s a fabulous way to let users contact you easily.
Change Your Keyword Match Types
You’ll almost always want to use phrase match keywords, but there’s a match type for nearly any use. Be creative.
For brand awareness campaigns, broad match keywords give you a lot of visibility on related searches. It’s almost always best to use broad match modified keywords here by adding a “+” after each word in the keyword phrase to ensure that all three words appear in any search query that Google serves your ad on (i.e. “buy+ mountain+ bike+”).
Phrase match is like broad match modified, but the keyword phrase will always appear in the order that you enter it. For example, for the phrase-matched keyword “buy mountain bike,” Google will serve your ad on queries like “buy mountain bike cost.”
Exact match keywords are for niche industries and will limit your ad delivery. Google will only show your ads on queries that exactly match the keyword “buy mountain bike,” but not for any variants.
