Google Ads has been the leading marketing channel for over a decade. According to the latest report from Alphabet, Google’s total revenue in Q3/2023 increased by 9.5% compared to the same period last year.
In the current market scenario, flexibility in advertising strategy is a decisive factor. This raises an important question for businesses: How can they achieve the best advertising performance without incurring too much cost? Let’s explore 15 ways to optimize Google Ads campaigns with Optimal Marketing Agency to reach customers at the right time and place and maximize conversion rates.
What is Google Ads optimization?
Google Ads optimization is the process of refining campaigns to bring ads to the top of search results. This helps businesses increase the likelihood of displaying ads to the right target audience, improve ad quality, and optimize advertising costs. From there, businesses can maximize potential leads and ensure the highest advertising campaign performance.
According to the Economist, Google is the world’s largest online ads platform and account for over 90% of monthly search market share worldwide.
As of Q3/2023, Google Ads revenue was $51.6 million (accounting for 86.5% of Google’s total revenue), compared to YouTube Ads which only reached $7.9 million (13.2%). It can be said that Google Ads is still the leading marketing strategy chosen by many businesses.
15 popular Google Ads optimization strategies
Here are 15 popular Google Ads optimization strategies that Optimal Marketing Agency has applied to many clients and achieved good results:
Use keyword research tools
Keyword research is a prerequisite for the success of Google Ads campaigns. Using keyword research tools will help you easily create a set of keywords that are suitable for your advertising goals, meet search needs, and increase the ability to reach your target customers.
Here are some popular keyword research tools:
- Google Keyword Planner: Learn and create a keyword plan that is suitable for your campaign.
- Keyword Tool (keywordtool.io) is a tool that helps you search for related and popular keywords to help you expand your keyword list effectively.
- Google Trends is a tool that allows you to track changes in keyword search trends over time. This helps you adjust your strategy in real-time to stay ahead of the competition.
With these powerful tools, you can stay on top of trends and optimize your AdWords keywords flexibly and effectively.
Use Negative keywords
Adding negative keywords to your campaign can improve the relevance of your ads and ensure that you don’t pay for clicks that are not relevant to your business.
According to our experience, you should regularly check your Search term list and focus on high-click or relevant search terms at that time, and remove irrelevant search terms that are not related to your business’s products or services.
Suppose you create an advertising campaign for a women’s fashion store specializing in event wear and daily wear. Here are step-by-step suggestions for setting up a negative keyword list for your campaign:
Step 1: Check your customer’s search terms
First, you need to check the search terms in the Insight & Reports section and identify the search terms that have activated ads to customers.
Step 2: Choose ineffective search terms
In the case of selling party dresses but your ads are currently activated with searches such as “rent party dresses”, “rent local brand dresses”. To negate keywords, select all irrelevant search terms and choose negative keywords at the top of the performance index bar.
Step 3: Prepare a list of negative keywords
At this point, you need to select and create a list of keyword groups that are least relevant to your campaign’s goals, such as office wear and party dresses. For example, negative keywords such as “school uniforms”, “clothes for girls”,…
Step 4: Add the list of negative keywords to your campaign
You can access your advertising account and select “Add negative keywords” in the “Keywords and targeting” section. Here, you can add new negative keywords to your campaign or ad group.”
Refining and expanding your keyword list
Refining and expanding your keyword list is crucial as people’s needs and search queries are constantly changing. Depending on the time and search trends of users, you need to update your keyword list to stay relevant. Here are some suggestions:
Initially, coffee shop A ran ads with a basic keyword group consisting of “delicious coffee shop”, “coffee shop in Paris”. However, with the desire to expand its product range during the holiday season and seeing the potential market for light snacks, A decided to add related keywords such as “noel-themed coffee shop, 24-hour coffee shop, coffee shop with light food”.
At the same time, A used a keyword research tool to search for emotional keywords such as “ideal working coffee shop, beautiful view coffee shop, …”. Thanks to this, A not only opened up opportunities to reach new audiences but also enhanced the diversity and depth of its advertising strategy.
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and Remarketing on the Google Display Network are two different concepts despite their similar names.
Although both use cookies to track users, they work differently. Remarketing ads are displayed on the Google Display Network when users browse the web. While RLSAs only display text ads when users use the same keywords that you run search campaigns on Google.
Imagine you are at a crowded fair where customers can visit many different booths to shop. The RLSA method is like a shopping voucher that you send specifically to those who have previously visited your booth. RLSAs allow you to identify and target users who have previously accessed your website.
In this situation, you need to identify customer preferences based on previous interactions on the website. You can adjust bids for ad groups or even create specific ad groups that only display to people in your remarketing list who are searching for the keywords being bid on.
The only note for this strategy is that you need to have at least 1,000 users in your Remarketing list.
This is a premium Google Ads optimization technique that helps you reach a higher quality group of potential customers – those who have previously visited your website.
Adjust your bidding strategy
To optimize Google Ads, you can adjust your bidding strategy by increasing or decreasing your bids by a certain percentage. Google Ads provides an automated bidding feature that optimizes your bidding strategy. Additionally, you can manually adjust your bids based on the following criteria:
- Location
- Device
- Ad schedule
- Ad content
- Target audience
- Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA)
- Interactions
- Demographic data
For example, if you are advertising for an electronics store and want to optimize your ad campaign to attract mobile users, you can increase your bid by 20% for mobile searches. Here’s how to calculate the bid adjustment factor:
- Starting bid: $5
- Mobile device bid adjustment: $5 + ($5 x 20%) = $6
Therefore, if a user on a mobile device clicks on your ad, you will pay a maximum of $6 per click.
Google Ads budget allocation
Allocating your budget wisely is a key factor in optimizing your Google Ads campaign. This requires careful consideration and a well-defined strategy to ensure that the total budget is distributed evenly and sufficiently across each campaign to achieve your goals. Here are some ways to optimize your budget allocation:
- Allocate your budget based on the estimated traffic volume percentage.
- Prioritize high-performance keywords.
- Continuously monitor ad performance and stop ineffective ads.
If you want to ensure that every penny you spend on advertising is used effectively, consider seeking advice from Google Ads advertising experts at Optimal Marketing Agency to receive budget strategy consultation.
Google Ads CTA optimization
The user journey on a website goes from curiosity to gradually becoming interested in the product/service and finally making a purchase decision. In this journey, the call-to-action (CTA) plays an important role in stimulating the desire to shop and enhancing the customer experience on the page.
Adjusting the level and position of the CTA based on the visitor’s purchase intent can significantly improve click-through rates and conversion rates. Here are some suggestions for you:
- For visitors with low purchase intent (first-time visitors or those from display ads): To welcome visitors, place a CTA at the top of the page that provides gentle, low-risk content. For example: send customers promotional coupons, checklists, podcasts, free courses, infographics, industry statistics, etc.
- For visitors with medium purchase intent: The middle of the page is where you need to keep customers engaged and provide more important information. You can add CTAs for content such as video courses, live demos or webinars, eBooks, case studies, trial versions or small gifts, meaningful content, etc.
- For visitors with high purchase intent (returning visitors, direct search visitors): This is the stage where conversion is created, and you need to use strong CTAs such as “buy now”, “register now” or a complete contact information form to promote purchasing actions.
Make your advertisement stand out
To make your advertisement stand out among the vast amount of search content, you need to focus on conveying specific value and creating differentiation. If you have special offers or promotions, create unique advertising content to attract customer attention.
Starbucks’ Christmas advertising campaign is a typical example. Instead of just offering discounts, Starbucks provides a special experience for their customers with a limited edition “Christmas Cup”. In this way, Starbucks not only creates a highlight for the product, increases sales during the holiday season, but also affirms its unique position in the competitive market.
Set up geographic location priority on Google Ads
When running Google Ads, the customer rate at each ad position varies depending on the level of interest and needs of the customers. Prioritizing ads by geographical location will help save budget and increase campaign efficiency.
For example, if you have an online technology store that wants to reach customers in major cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) – where there is a high demand for your products, you can use Geolocation in Google Ads to:
- Determine the exact location: Select specific districts, wards, or areas in the city where there is high interaction.
- Set flexible bids: Increase or decrease bids depending on each area. For example, in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, where there is high competition, you can set higher bids to ensure that your ads appear at the top position.
- Remove ineffective areas: If after a period of time, advertising in some areas does not bring good performance, you can remove them to focus resources on the best performing locations.
- Design content suitable for each area: Create advertising content that corresponds to the characteristics and needs of customers in each city.
To set up geographic location priority on Google Ads, you can follow these steps:
Step 1: Log in to your Google Ads account >> Select the campaign you want to optimize.
Step 2: Click on the “Settings” tab >> Location
Step 3: Click on “Edit”.
Step 4: In the Search tab, type in your preferred location. It will show you the location in a menu.
Google Ads Dayparting
Dayparting, also known as ad scheduling, is a Google Ads optimization technique that displays ads at specific times during the day or week. This method increases the likelihood of displaying ads at the right time and place, increasing conversion rates and ROI with an optimal budget.
For example, your company provides business software services for businesses (B2B). The target audience is mainly assistants, salespeople, CEOs, and high-level managers looking for solutions for their businesses.
Based on your understanding of their online behavior, you can see that they are often online during working hours on weekdays, especially from 9 am to 5 pm from Monday to Friday. In this case, scheduling ads primarily during these times will be more effective.
To set up ad scheduling on Google Ads, you can follow these steps:
Step 1: In your Google Ads account, navigate to “Campaign” and select the “Dimensions” tab.
Step 2: Select “View” > “Time” > “Day of the Week” (or “Hour of the Day” if you want to set specific times during the day).
Step 3: Check which days of the week have the most activity in terms of Clicks, Impressions, Click-through rate, Average cost-per-click, and Cost.
Step 4: Access the “Settings” tab on the campaign view page, then select “Ad schedule”.
Step 5: Select the days of the week and times of the day you want to display your ads.
Google Ads ITC
The ITC (Impression to Conversion) metric is an important measure in Google advertising. The formula for calculating ITC is as follows:
ITC (%) = number of conversions / number of impressions
In campaign performance reports, you usually see Click-through rate (CTR) and Conversion rate (CVR) in separate columns. But with just one ITC column, you can determine the overall performance of your ads, and focus on the most effective strategies to optimize your campaigns. ITC helps you quickly identify which ads in your Google Ads campaign are performing the best.
To create an ITC column in Google Ads, you can follow these simple steps:
Step 1: In your Google Ads account, click on “Columns” at the top of the dashboard.
Step 2: Click on “Modify columns” and select “Custom columns” at the bottom of the screen.
Step 3: Add the conversions/impressions formula.
Step 4: Add this column to your dashboard and click “Save” to save your changes.
Google Ads A/B testing
A/B testing in Google Ads is a process of comparing and evaluating the performance between two or more different variations of an ad group. This helps you determine which variation works more effectively and focus on the best-performing ads to reduce costs. Additionally, A/B testing provides accurate performance data, improving the quality of subsequent ads.
Here are some notes to keep in mind when conducting A/B testing:
Choose an ad unit with enough traffic (minimum of 10,000 ad requests) Change one setting option per test to determine the impact level Test for at least 2 weeks to have reliable data.
For example, you want to create an ad with the main content of “hotel room booking offer” with the goal of creating conversions. You can run ads with different versions and track important metrics such as CTR, conversion rate, and cost per conversion. Suggested testing elements are as follows:
Title: (A) “Attractive room booking offer – 20% off” and (B) “Save up to 20% when booking today” Call to action (CTA): (A) “Book now” and (B) “Get the offer”
After A/B testing for a period of time, you find that using version A title combined with CTA B has the best conversion rate. Use this ad template to optimize your campaign.
Content and Landing Page Optimization on Google Ads
According to Wordstream’s research, the average conversion rate of Landing Pages across all fields is 2.35%. However, there are still Landing Page that will have better conversion rates, which can go up to 5.31% or even 11.45%. To achieve this, you need to optimize your advertising landing page well.
To optimize content and landing pages, you need to pay attention to the following points:
- Optimize Onpage SEO (insert related keywords, title tags, URLs, etc.)
- Optimize CTA (call-to-action) on the page
- Create a compatible version for both Desktop and Mobile
- Test different Landing Page variations
- Optimize good user experience on the Landing Page
Delving into market segments with Google Analytics
You are probably familiar with Google Analytics (GA) – a tool that supports the analysis and statistics of Google advertising data. Since October 2020, with the updated GA4 version, in addition to tracking basic metrics, you can also explore deeper into user data, sessions, and events.
With this in-depth data, you can identify the group of people who are searching for your products or services and create appropriate advertising goals, such as the number of purchases or registrations. Then, apply higher bid adjustments for this group to optimize your advertising performance.
Optimizing Google Ads Quality Score
Google Quality Score is a metric that measures the effectiveness of an advertisement based on three main factors: Click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and Landing Page experience.
Simply put, the lower the quality score, the higher the price you will have to pay for each click. In addition, the position of the ad on the Google search page also depends on the quality score, even if you pay a high price.
To check the quality score of your ads on Google Ads, follow these 4 steps:
Step 1: Open your Google Ads account and click on the “Campaigns” icon.
Step 2: Select “Keywords for ads on the Search Network.”
Step 3: Click on the column icon and select “Quality Score” in the “Modify columns” section.
Step 4: Select metrics such as quality score, Landing Page experience, expected CTR, and ad relevance.
Step 5: Click “Apply” to view and track daily changes.
Here are some ways to improve your quality score:
- Classify keywords corresponding to the advertisement.
- Optimize Onpage SEO factors: Title tags, Heading 1, Meta Description tags, etc.
- Create attractive ad content.
Using the Google Ads account rental service of Optimal Marketing Agency
With over 10 years of practical experience in advertising, Optimal Marketing Agency is a trustworthy partner for businesses on their journey to optimize Google Ads. The dedicated team of experts at Optimal Marketing Agency will research and develop an advertising strategy that is suitable for the needs and budget set by the business, helping the business achieve sustainable advertising goals.
We carry out professional optimization processes daily, weekly, or monthly, helping customers continuously monitor and measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.
