Advertising has come a long way from its paper-based form to today’s digitized one.
One can viably pave the road to the success of their business by focusing on incorporating Google Ads thoughtfully.
This will not only bring more traffic but also help narrow down to potential customers which will help to drive new business acquisition.
Google Ads is a widely adopted strategy for many B2C & B2B businesses across the globe (well there are some exceptions to this rule such as China!). The success or failure of your advertising spend really boils down to experience and execution, with either your PPC management agency or in-house marketing team. In the following article, we will expand on some of the common mistakes that lead to a negative ROI on Google Ads.
Poor Keyword Research
Let’s just start by saying that Google Ads are super targeted. They work in such a way where you target users based on their keyword criteria on Google. Let’s say you operate a new car dealership specialising in German cars, you have the ability to target users searching for new BMW, Mercedes & VW vehicles within your catchment area. The algorithm will then add your keywords to the auction where you’ll compete with other advertisers, all fighting for the same real-estate and audience.
One of the most common mistakes made on Google Ads comes down to keyword usage. The cornerstone of any Google Ads campaign starts with keyword research to ensure you target the right users who fit your target audience. This could take the form of product-related terms, service-related terms, and competitor terms. However, all too often, companies will include irrelevant keywords within their strategy that contributes to wastage spend and hinders ROI potential.
Not Using Negative Keywords
Negative keywords give you the ability to exclude search terms across your campaigns. These keywords need to be highlighted beforehand in order to tell the search engine what you “don’t” want to rank for. Thoughtfully using negative keywords can make your campaign more targeted since your ads won’t show up to irrelevant users.
Not using such keywords can unnecessarily hike your CPAs as these ads might fail to specify which search terms are to be avoided. For instance, if you’re selling premium wine online, adding “cheap” as a negative keyword makes sense to control your ads and ensure you reach the right audience who are likely to have an interest in your brand or offering.
Don’t Mix Search & Display
Another amateur mistake is when people combine search and display into a single campaign. This is a big ‘no-no’. You just cannot afford to make mistakes like that if you want to maximise efficiency and ROI.
Both mediums are great ways to drive leads and sales. However, they need to be used in isolation and require completely different approaches. Always make an effort to setup these campaigns in silo as this will give you more control over targeting and delivery.
Poorly Written Ads
Advertising copy plays an important role in articulating your offering to the target audience. Whether you’re using expanded text ads (ETA) or responsive ads, it’s imperative to ensure your advert includes the main features and benefits of your offering to stand out on Google.
Common errors include failing to utilise full character limits, publishing bland adverts, and adverts that contain spelling or grammatical errors. So, make sure you focus on crafting well written ads that ensures potential customers will actively understand your proposition.
Setup Conversion Tracking
Conversion tracking enables advertisers to measure specific actions on their website. These actions are typically transactions, website form submissions, and phone calls. In setting up these events, you have the ability to understand the true effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign as you’ll either know how many sales or leads were delivered through your campaigns.
All too often, advertisers either fail to set up conversion tracking or make mistakes with the implementation. So, they have no idea what keywords are driving performance and those which are bombing. Similarly, it’s quite common for advertisers to ‘overcount’ conversions as they fail to set restrictions within Google Ads or use incorrect attribution models. Conversion tracking is crucial to understand the performance of your campaigns so make sure you get this right off the bat!
The above articulates some of the popular mistakes made that hemorrhage performance or ROI within Google Ads. If you’re interested in working with a top digital marketing agency to drive your growth, get in touch with MagnifyLab who are a top Google Partner agency based in London.
