6 Tips for Experienced Users When Making a Search Campaign in Google Ads

1. Use the Different Match Types

When EXCLUSIVE first takes over a new account, one of the first things we check is the keywords. Often, we find campaigns that are strictly using broad match keywords. This is one of the most common mistakes in SEO, as broad match keywords typically bring in too many irrelevant keywords.

Instead, you should use a combination of keywords. There are three match types we use the most: exact, phrase and broad match modified.

Exact match means you’re bidding on only that keyword and is noted with []. For example, if we were to bid on [dog food], the search terms for that keyword would be dog food (not dog and food separately).
Phrase match means you’re bidding on that exact keyword but are also allow Google to add search terms before or after the keyword. It is noted with “”. For example, if we were to bid on “dog food”, search terms for that keyword would look like nutritious dog food, dog food for puppies, where to buy dog food near me, etc.
Broad match modified (BMM) is recommended over broad match. While broad match allows any search terms that Google determines are similar to your keyword overall, broad match modified tells Google that they need to be similar to the specific words in the keyword. With this match type, Google can also add search terms before, after and in between your keywords, and it can rearrange your keyword order. To change a keyword from broad match to broad match modified, you use a +. If we were to bid on +dog +food, the search terms would look like food for my new dog, senior dog wet food, etc.

By using all three match types, you’re more likely to pull in relevant keywords, which will decrease wasted spend and increase efficiency.

2. Add Locations

If your campaign is targeting the entire United States, you may be inclined to just select the U.S. as your location target. Doing this does mean you’re getting your ad in front of all users in the country, but you’re missing out on the opportunity to add bid adjustments to individual states and cities.

When we make campaigns, the location target always includes all 50 states and Washington D.C. This gives 51 location targets that we can increase or decrease the bids for. If you tend to get a lot of traffic in California, then you’re likely to also add all the counties in California. If you sell well in East Coast cities, then you’ll add the top 15 largest East Coast cities as location targets.

By using more location targets, you give yourself more levers to pull when optimizing your campaigns.

3. Add an Ad Schedule

Like with adding location targets, adding an ad schedule gives you more opportunities to gather data and add bid modifiers. Even when not actively changing bids based on time of day, this is still insightful data that will help you understand when users are buying.

The typical format we use for an ad schedule is:

12:00am – 6:00am
6:00am – 11:00am
11:00am – 3:00pm
3:00pm – 8:00pm
8:00 pm – 12:00am

Perhaps you’ll learn your buyers are more active during lunchtime, or that sales are slow on the weekends, so you should decrease overall bids during that period. Let’s assume your campaign consistently led to conversions on Sundays from 8:00pm to 12:00am. With that knowledge, you can capitalize on that by adding strong bid adjustments with that ad schedule.

By including an ad schedule with your campaigns, you open doors to more data and more opportunities for optimization.

4. Test Keyword Insertion

When you type { into a headline or description in a text ad, you’re presented with a list of customizations available for use in your ads. One function we use frequently is keyword insertion.

Keyword insertion is a great tool to use when you want your ad to tailor itself to what the user is searching. Keyword insertion tells our ads that if what the user searched is under 30 characters, put that search as this headline. So, if a user searched order dog food online, the headline would now become Order Dog Food Online. If the search was longer than 30 characters, than the headline would become the default text.

By using keyword insertion, you’re better able to customize ads to what your users are searching for.

5. Test Ad Customizer Data

Another feature available in ads when using { is the ad customizer. This is set up manually, and it lets you pull text into your headlines and descriptions from a file found under “Business Data” in the tools tab.

The opportunities for using ad customizer data feel endless, as you can put a range of information in the file. Here are some examples of ways to use this feature:

You’re running a promo in the U.S. and Canada, but you don’t want to make two new sets of ads to run in each country. Instead, you create a file that ties the USA20 promo code to the U.S. and the CAN20 promo code to Canada. Now, you have one set of ads, but the description says “Save 20% Off With Promo Code {=promofile.Doffer1}” and will pull the correct promo code based on the user’s location.
You want to test which shipping headline drives more clicks to your website. You create a file for the headlines, with one being “Free Two-Day Shipping” and the other being “Free Shipping On Orders $50+”. You create one set of ads with Headline 2 reading as {=shippingfile.Doffer1}. With no other parameters set for the two headlines, Google will automatically rotate through the headlines. Your ad customizer file will collect data on clicks, impressions, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and more.

6. Test Automated Bidding Strategies

Google Ads now provides with more automated bidding strategies than ever but determining which ones to use on which campaigns can be a daunting task. Each automated bidding strategy focuses on a different goal, which provides an easy starting point for your campaigns. Are you trying to grow brand clicks? Try maximize clicks. Are you focused on how keeping cost per acquisition low? Try target cost-per-action (TCPA). Or maybe you want to ensure you’re capturing a certain percentage of impression share? Try target impression share.

With all these available strategies, we encourage you to test them. Remember, the first automated bidding strategy you try might not be the one that best works for the campaign. To start off with insider knowledge and expert reporting, request a free e-commerce analysis with EXCLUSIVE.

Melissa Knowlton, Paid Advertising

Melissa Knowlton is a PPC Specialist, book nerd and YouTube addict. In her free time, she is either on vacation in Italy or planning her next trip back.

6 Tips for Beginners When Making a Search Campaign in Google Ads

1. Segment Your Keywords

When building a new campaign and its ad groups as a beginner, you may be tempted to add in as many keywords as possible. For an example campaign, let’s say you’re advertising your company’s new dog food. There are a lot of keywords you could target, and the easiest option may appear to be to throw all of them in an ad group and see what sticks. Instead of doing this, we encourage you think about how to better group keywords for a focused strategy.

Let’s pretend I’m tasked with building a campaign for a new dog food. This dog food is designed for senior dogs, made in the U.S. and contains organic ingredients. Knowing this, we’d make three separate ad groups, each targeting the different attributes of the product. From there, we’d choose keywords that target these attributes. In another example, since the product is made for senior dogs, we’d target keywords like senior dog food, dog food for old dogs and food for senior dogs. Using this strategy, we’re also able to make more relevant ads based on those keywords, which will help with the ad relevance score.

2. Use Negative Keywords

While keywords tell Google what search terms we want to bid on, negative keywords tell Google which keywords we don’t want to bid on. Negative keywords are essential for keeping your campaigns efficient.

Sticking with the dog food example, let’s say we’re looking at the search terms for the senior dog food ad campaign group. You might notice you’ve spent over $20 in the past week on keywords containing “puppies”. Because this product is only for senior dogs, you can save money by adding “puppies” as a negative keyword, which would prevent further ad spend from going toward searches that won’t convert.

3. Use All Headlines and Descriptions in Text Ads

In the past, Google Ads only required two headlines and one description for text ads. Now, you’re provided with an additional third headline and second description. If you have older campaigns, your ads are likely missing these new features. We highly encourage you to go in and add in the new headlines and descriptions — these are great opportunities to add more keywords and value props. And, of course, if you’re building new ads, don’t skip these features in favor of the old two headlines, one description format.

4. Create Responsive Display Ads (RDAs)

Responsive display ads are a newer ad type for search campaigns. Instead of having three headlines and two descriptions in set spots, you can now include up to fifteen headlines and four descriptions. Google will optimize the ad to show the headlines and descriptions that are most likely to drive performance. This is great for having all value props included in your ad. To show how this works, let’s revisit the dog food campaign. Instead of having to choose between listing “Made in the U.S.” and “Made with Organic Ingredients” as the second headline, we can include both and let Google optimize the ad. In addition, we can also add value props about free shipping, money-back guarantees and low prices.

5. Add Audiences

There are two primary audience categories we work with when building campaigns: cold audiences and remarketing audiences. Cold audiences are users who have not been to your website, while remarketing users have. Both audiences should be included in your search campaigns.

By adding cold audiences, you’re able to learn which users are more likely to drive performance. For the dog food campaign, we’d likely add the dog lovers and pet lovers affinity audiences. If we find one of these audiences consistently generates revenue, we’d add a +20% bid modifier, setting this campaign to bid 20% more on users who are in that specific audience.

By adding remarketing audiences, you can more effectively target users who are familiar with your brand or website. For the new dog food campaign, you’d want to add past converting audiences (meaning users who have made a purchase previously). When these users search “dog food for my senior dog”, we want this ad to show up, as we know they have made a purchase in the past and will hopefully be inclined to purchase again.

6. Take Advantage of the Various ad Extensions

Google Ads provides a variety of ad extensions to work with from sitelink extensions to callout extensions and price extensions. Extensions are included in calculating your ad’s relevance score, so it is important to make sure your extensions are significant and up to date.

Sitelink extensions appear as a link beneath your ad. When clicked, they take a user to the landing page you specified for the extension.
Callout extensions appear as part of the description text, and they’re an easy way to add more value props to your ads.
Structured snippets also appear as part of the description and allow you to select a header and the values associated with the header. For example, a structure snippet for dog food could be Types: Beef, Chicken, Turkey, Salmon.
Location extensions allow you to call out your store locations or retailers’ locations where your products are sold. They appear below the ad.
Price extensions appear below your ads and allow you to highlight your prices for specific categories or products.
Promo extensions appear below the ad and let you to call out a promotion (a percent or specific value off). You can also include details on the promo code, minimum order value and the date range for the sale.

To learn the fastest way to grow your business with PPC and holistic marketing online, request a free e-commerce analysis with our experienced team.

Melissa Knowlton, Paid Advertising

Melissa Knowlton is a PPC Specialist, book nerd and YouTube addict. In her free time, she is either on vacation in Italy or planning her next trip back.