In part 1, we discussed why AdWords is such a useful tool and how to structure your AdWords campaign around your website or a particular group of products or services. We also emphasized the importance of mapping out a campaign in writing so that the whole team is able to visualize the different pieces.
In part 2, we’ll spend time explaining the different aspects of a successful campaign, as well as some common pitfalls to avoid. You’ll be running a lead-producing AdWords campaign in no time.
Before you Begin
Account
Before you begin, you should learn the basic hierarchy of a solid AdWords campaign. Your AdWords account is at the top of the stack. It houses all of the information for any campaign you begin. Choose specific products or services that you’d like to form a campaign around.
Campaigns
A campaign is comprised of a related set of ad groups. These ad groups share a budget. Campaigns usually serve to organize categories of products or services.
Ad Groups
An ad group consists of a group of ads that have the same targets. Ad groups are clustered together to form campaigns. It’s good to use ad groups to sort your ads by theme.
Keywords
From the ad groups come keywords. Campaigns should be very streamlined from the campaign level down to the keyword. So, the keywords should relate directly to the ad group to which they’re assigned. And the ad groups should relate directly to their campaign. This ensures optimal results in AdWords.
Avoid This Rookie Mistake
Go through each ad, keep an organized list, and use Google’s Keyword Planner to find relevant keywords. It’s best to start with 10-20 keywords per ad group. It’s tempting for beginners to think that bidding on more keywords yields better results. This is a rookie mistake. When an ad campaign is too busy with keywords, your chance of seeing quality traffic and results is drastically reduced.
Match Types
You should also use a variety of match types. Match type refers to the kind of user search match you’re looking for. There are three categories of match types. They are broad match, phrase match, and exact match. Find8’s match type chart breaks down the different descriptions.
As a rule, the more restrictive you go, the higher you should bid. In most cases, we at Find8 like to use phrase match because it eliminates unqualified traffic without restricting too many relevant searches.
For Example …
Let’s look at an example. If your business is a shoe store, maybe one campaign would be “running shoes”. Within that campaign, one ad group could be labeled “Nike Air Zoom Pegasus”. Another ad group could be “Nike ZoomX Invincible”.
Keywords under “Nike Air Zoom Pegasus” would include keywords such as “Nike Air Zoom red” and “Nike Air Zoom men’s”. Under the “Nike ZoomX Invincible” ad group, the keywords would include “Nike ZoomX sale” and Nike ZoomX men’s”.
Research and Keep Google Happy
After you have mapped out an account structure, decided on campaign topics, and formed ad groups for those, the next step is adding keywords. But it can be tough to know which to choose.
Don’t guess.
We suggest you do thorough research instead. You’ll want to find some that aren’t too competitive. They need to have good Quality Scores and search volume. Quality Scores are determined by Google and are a representation of how good your ads are. Earning good Quality Scores means you’re making Google happy–and you want to make Google happy.
Landing Page
As you create ads for your campaign, make sure they follow Google’s ad guidelines. Remember, you want to remain in good standing with Google. Lastly, direct users to a relevant landing page. A landing page is the first page users arrive at after clicking on your ad.
This landing page should mirror their search as much as possible in order to earn users’ trust and gain conversions. It should also be easy to navigate and include only one call to action (CTA). Too many CTAs can be confusing or overwhelming for users, causing them to leave the page. You want to keep it very simple and give them one clicking option.
Double-Check Those Settings
After your account is efficiently structured, you’ll build out your first campaign. It’s best to start with the highest priority campaigns first and work your way down from there. Double-checking your account settings is an important first step.
Look at things like
- Type
- Locations
- Languages
- Bidding strategy
- Bidding budget
From here, you can create your first ad group and begin your new campaign using AdWords.
We Believe in You
As you can see, structuring an AdWords campaign is a little science and a little outside-of-the-box thinking. Greatness is possible if you apply yourself in the beginning and think through the structuring process. We believe in you. To find out more about taking advantage of AdWords, contact our capable team of ad specialists at 765-588-6067.