The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads

Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform where advertisers pay per click (or impression) on an ad. Google Ads is an effective way to drive qualified traffic to your business. It attracts good-fit customers because they're searching for products and services like yours. With Google Ads, you can boost your website traffic, get more inquiries, and increase in-store visits. Over time, Google Ads will also help you analyze and improve those ads to reach more people.

There are three players in the Google Ads process: the searcher, the advertiser, and the Google Ads platform. Each one has a role to play in making Google Ads work. This ensures advertisers and businesses can make money. It also helps customers see and buy products and services that meet their needs.

Bidding on keywords is how advertisers let Google know which keywords they want their ads to be on the SERPs. Keyword bids can range from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars per keyword. Advertisers typically set a daily budget that is used to fund individual keyword bids.

The potential customer searches for a keyword an advertiser has bid on. On the SERP, they'll see ads for products or services that closely align with the intent of their query. The order of the ads they see largely depends on ad rank.

The user types their search into Google's search bar. In the time before the SERP for that keyword appears, Google works quickly in the background. It performs a process called ad rank

Once the customer sees the ads for the keyword they searched, they decide to click on one. They will choose the ad they believe best matches the intent of their search. From there, they decide to make a buy. Alternatively, they click back to the SERP. They can choose another ad or an organic SERP result to click on. They also choose to end the search without a click or a buy.

Factors That Influence Google Ads

Ad Rank

AdRank determines the placement of your ads. It's determined by a formula that considers Quality Score and the amount you bid on a keyword. Quality score is based on the quality and relevance of your ad. Google measures this by how many people click on your ad when it’s displayed. This is essentially your CTR. Your CTR depends on how well your ad matches searcher intent, which you can deduce from three areas

• The user experience of your landing page.
• How relevant your keywords are.
• Whether your ad copy and CTA meet the searcher's intent.

1. Automated vs. Manual Bidding

Automated Bidding puts Google in the driver's seat and allows the platform to adjust your bid based on your competitors. You can still set a top budget. Google will work within a range. This gives you the best chance at winning the bid within those constraints.

Manual Bidding lets you set the bid amounts for your ad groups. You can also set keywords, giving you the chance to reduce spending on low-performing ads.

2. Bidding on Branded Search Terms

Branded terms are those with your company or unique product name in them, like “HubSpot CRM.” There is much debate on whether to bid on your brandedterms or not. On one side of the debate, bidding on terms that will yield organic resultsis a waste. Some people see this as spending money unnecessarily.On the other side, bidding on these terms gives you domain overthese search results pages. It helps you convert prospects that are further along theflywheel. For instance, if I’ve been researching live chat tools, I am heavily considering HubSpot’sLive Chat. A simple search for “HubSpot live chat software” will yield the precise result I’mlooking for. This happens without the effort of scrolling.The other argument in favor of bidding on your branded terms issimple. Competitors will bid on them if you don’t. This means that they can take upvaluable real estate that should belong to you.

3. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

If the idea of spending money to convert prospects into leads makes you uneasy, you have a choice. You can set a CPA instead. This way, you only pay when a user converts into a customer. This bidding strategy is costlier. But, you can take comfort in knowing that you only pay when you acquire a paying customer. This strategy makes it easy to track and justify your ad spend