How to advertise on Google

Learn how to advertise on Google

If you own an online business, you have surely heard about Google Ads. Are you aware of what it can really do for you, though? Do you already have your ads placed on Google?

Google is the most used search engine in the world, making it highly beneficial to use it as an advertising platform. But of course, it is more complicated than all that. However, with this guide you will learn everything you need to know about how to advertise on Google. 

Keep in mind that everything you are about to read is done by our team of experts in Google Ads.We also have an easy to use app, so feel free to visit Clever Ads and investigate our app eCommerce ads and all our other tools!

Let’s get started!

[ez-toc]

Basic concepts necessary to learn how to advertise on Google

Google Search

If you’re somehow not familiar with Google, it is an online search engine that gathers and organizes all the possible information on the Internet. It puts information hands of users around the world, by a simple search.

This is what is know as a “Google Search”. In turn, Google will offer these users multiple results like articles, listings, images, documents, websites and even articles. As you can see, having an eCommerce and utilizing this can certainly be profitable.

Google Ads

Google Ads is basically Google’s advertising program that allows users to create simple and effective ads to show users who are looking for information on the internet. Showing each advertiser’s campaigns to their target, is based primarily on keywords.

For example, if I’m on Google and search “ukulele for beginners”, Google will show me different relevant results such as articles, tutorial videos, and even ukulele’s for sale. For those selling ukuleles in their store, they could open a Google Ads account and create ads for the ukuleles they’re selling.

google ads basic concepts

Google Ads advantages for your business

Google Ads can provide many advantages for your business, such as:

  1. Targets your ads to specific users while looking for your products and services.
  2. Prevents your ads from being showing to people who are not likely to purchase your product or be an interested customer.
  3. Gets the maximum return on your advertising investment.

Other advantages of Google Ads are the capability to reach, budget flexibility, the immediacy, and the control of Ads.

Reach

Each month, approximately 80% of Internet users in the United States (and hundreds of millions more in the rest of the world) view Google Ads campaigns. Google Ads offers you immediate access to this large group of potential customers.

Cost

Google Ads is a profitable program for companies of all sizes. 

  • Choose to pay for clicks (CPC) or for impressions (CPM) received by your advertisements.
  • For the cost per click (CPC) or cost per impression (CPM) you can decide how much you want to pay each time a user clicks on your ad or view it. 
  • There is no mandatory minimum expense. In addition, you can define a maximum expense daily (daily budget) that the Google Ads system will never exceed.
  • You can edit your budget settings at any time.

Here is a detailed look at Google Ads pricing policy.

Immediacy

Google Ads campaigns are shown to potential customers while they search for information (keywords or content) related to your company. In addition, they allow the user to access your website with just one click.

  • Edit an ad and see the changes after 15 minutes.
  • Edit your account at any time and as often as you wish. In addition, Google Ads support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days days a week.
  • Ads start running almost immediately

Must activate your account using your credit or debit card information. In some countries, advertisers can pay by bank transfer, in which case the ads are published when the first payment is received.

What you need to consider before starting a campaign with Google Ads

Objetive

What is the purpose of your campaign? You have to think about what you want to get out of your campaign: sales, forms, newsletter leads, branding…

Daily budget

What is the daily budget you wish to spend on the campaign? Although you can change it based on the results, set an initial daily budget for your Google Ads campaigns. 

Maximum CPC

What is the maximum cost per sale you can afford? This will depend on the profit margins you want/can handle. For example, if you sell backpacks for $100 and the profit margin of each sale is 20%, the maximum cost per sale that you can afford will be $20, otherwise you will be losing money with your campaigns.

Target

What is your customer niche? You must take this into account as well. Imagine you are selling plumbing services in Chicago, I don’t think you want to appear in searches of people looking for plumbing services in California!

Once you have this data, you will need to launch a small test campaign to see if the PPC model is profitable and a valid advertising model for your business.

How to create a Google Ads account

Access Google Ads, and click on “Start Now”.

Enter your email address and your website.

In the next step you will have to configure several parameters: Budget, Target Audience, Bid… 

If you need more help with your Google Ads account creation, check this video tutorial!

 

 

How to calculate your Google Ads Budget

Google counts clicks on your ads and charges you for each of them. It also counts impressions of your ads, the number of times your ads are shown to users. If you divide impressions by the number of clicks you get the CTR (click through rate), which is the percentage of users who visit your landing page because they clicked on the ad.

In Google Ads you will find the budget and bids. 

The budget refers to the daily amount you are willing to pay in Google Ads to receive traffic, while the bidding system determines how much you are willing to pay for each click or the cost per click of the ad. When you increase the bid the ad will usually appear in better positions, getting more clicks and traffic for your website.

The position adopted by an ad on Google is not decided only by the advertiser’s bid, but also by the quality score. An advertiser with a good quality score will get better positions and as a result, more clicks.

As we have said before, to calculate your Google Ads budget you will have to take into account sales margins and what you are willing to give to Google.

You must know the profit per sale and the conversion rate to establish a good budget in Google Ads.

  • Profit: for example if you sell coats for $200 but they cost you $100, you earn $100 in profit.
  • Conversion rate: the percentage of users who buy one of your coats when they visit your online store. If every 1,000 visits, 10 of them buy a product, that is a conversion rate of 1%.

Maximum CPC = Profit of each sale x Commission to Google x Conversion rate

In the previous example, it would be $100 (profit per sale) x 0.5 (50% commission to Google) x 0.01% (conversion rate) = $0.5

That means you could spend $0.5 for each click on Google Ads and get $100 for each sale (as long as the same conversion rate is maintained).

To find out what the cost per click of your ads will be, you will have to do a test campaign.

How to select the right keywords for Google Ads

As it applies for SEO (search engine optimization), in Google Ads we have to choose good keywords for our campaigns to succeed. However, unlike in SEO, in Google Ads we find different types of keywords or keyword matching: broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative match.

(Google Ads) Keyword Planner 

The Keyword Planner is a Google tool that helps you search for keywords and ad group ideas, and learn about the possible performance of a keyword list. You will get a search range for each keyword.

You will find two options:

  • Search keywords: you will get a list of keyword ideas that will help when discovering new keywords. For each suggestion the tool makes, you will get the following:
    • Average monthly searches.
    • Competitiveness.
    • Bid on the top of the page (low range).
    • Bid on the top of the page (high range).
  • Get search and forecast volume: you will see this data and other historical metrics of the keywords you want, as well as a small forecast of future behavior. It is a super powerful tool when you already have the list of keywords in order to see their metrics and thus be able to decide which ones to position for your ad in Google Ads. In this part of the tool you will not find keyword suggestions, but you will see how many clicks and impressions you can expect if you decide to run a Google Ads ad for those keywords in the next 30 days. It also shows the estimated costs, CTR and CPC.

Location segmentation

In addition to segmenting your campaigns using keywords, Google Ads offers you the option to target your ads to specific geographic locations. This type of segmentation allows your ads to appear in the geographical area that you specify: countries, areas within a country, or even a radius around a location.You can also choose places of interest such as physical stores or different demographic categories. Similarly, you can restrict geographic areas where you don’t want your ads to appear.

To configure geographical segmentation you just have to go to the menu of your campaigns, click on the name of the campaign you want to modify, click on “settings > locations”, and make the changes you consider in terms of countries, areas … Even streets!

How to create a Google Ads campaign

Now that you know all the basics about the tool … It’s time to create your campaign! 

Search Network

This network integrates with the Google search engine and its search partners, which are websites that integrate your search engine. This way we can reach users who directly look for our brand, page, product or service. It is the most direct type of advertising.

Display Network

It includes all internet portals where these types of ads are displayed, from properties such as Gmail and YouTube, to blogs, news sites, media portals, mobile applications, etc. Through the display network we can reach users who do not know that we exist, those who do not look for us, or even users who have already visited us and did not decide to buy something.

Campaign types

  • Search campaigns with text ads are usually focused on getting people to take actions such as clicking your ad or calling your business. These campaigns show ads to people who are actively seeking for information.
  • Google Shopping: ads offered by the search engine to compare prices.
  • Search campaigns with dynamic text ads.
  • Display campaigns contextually or by theme.
  • Display campaigns targeting specific websites.
  • Remarketing display campaigns.
  • Display campaigns in mobile applications.

Google Shopping campaigns

With Google Shopping Ads, you gain more visibility compared to other types of campaigns. Users will see among other details, a photo of the product, the price, the title and the name of the store. To have your campaigns in Google Shopping you must configure your Google Merchant Center and Google Ads accounts and link them. Here is a more detailed guide on how to create a Google Shopping campaign in Google Ads.

Google Gmail Ads

Gmail ads are interactive ads displayed on the Promotions and Social tabs in the inbox. Some ads are expandable, that is, they open as an email when you click on them. Expanded ads can include images, videos or inserted forms. Gmail ads allow you to reach potential customers with a more personal format.

Here you can find general information about Gmail ads, if they are of interest to you.

Youtube Ads

Similar to the ads on Google, you can also place ads on YouTube! With them, you can reach potential customers and get them to perform actions when they are watching or looking for videos on YouTube. You will only pay if users show interest in your ad.

Nothing happens if you don’t have videos, you can create them quickly and easily with the YouTube director.

Ad extensions

Enter all possible ad extensions for your business. Ad extensions are an effective way to get more clicks on your ads. Ex: Phone number, location, featured texts…

Conclusion

With this guide you should now know how to take the first steps in your Google Ads career. If you still have doubts, remember that we have a very useful downloadable guide about how to create Google Ads and, if you want to know about Google Ads best practices, click here. Btw, are you acquainted with the PMAX campaigns conducted by Google and Microsoft? They’re definitely worth checking out!

 

 

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Unlock the power of AI Advertising

Revolutionize your ad strategy with the best online advertising tools by Clever Ads, incorporating cutting-edge AI for marketing success. Elevate your online presence and stay ahead your competitors with our expertise and AI for digital marketing.

Try Clever Ads

At Clever Ads we care about your privacy

Use of cookies