Getting started with Google Ads – Part 2
In the previous part, we covered the different elements that are worth keeping track of in Google Ads.
Today, it is time to prepare for your first campaign.
Before investing in Google Ads, it is important to think through your objective with the marketing. This will affect how you view the results of marketing that is based on pay-per-click.
If your goal is sales and you have products to offer, you will most likely want to focus on shopping ads and a strategy based on ROAS – Return on Ad Spend.
If you are completely new, you may instead want to work with brand awareness. In that case, you are more likely to focus on the number of impressions and work more within the display network, while also appearing in the search network for relevant keywords.
Once you have defined your objective, it becomes easier to optimize for results.
A fun run without a finish line
Imagine a fun run that never ends. The participants keep running without knowing where the finish line is, or whether it even exists. Adjusting your pace and knowing where it is worth pushing a little harder becomes very difficult in this case. You can count the number of steps and how many runners pass by, but that does not determine whether you win or not, because in this scenario that part has been removed.
This can be compared to digital marketing without a clearly defined goal. Sure, it is possible to focus on the number of clicks and make sure they increase, but how do we know whether those clicks actually mean anything in the long run?
Starting to track conversions
To understand what happens after potential customers click on your ad, it is important to set up conversion goals.
In short, this refers to what you want your visitors to do after they have discovered and clicked on your ad. Should they make a purchase, or contact you for more information?
If you are already familiar with Google Analytics, you can easily set up these conversion goals there and then link them to Google Ads.
If you do not have Google Analytics, it is recommended that you get it. Google Analytics will provide you with a lot of useful information that you would otherwise miss out on. For example, how long your visitors stay on your website or how large a proportion arrive on the site and then leave just as quickly.
This information can be useful when it is time to decide which part of the website to focus on when optimizing for results.
A conversion goal may involve visitors clicking through to a specific URL (for example, a thank-you page after a purchase), visitors viewing at least seven pages, or spending at least two minutes on the site. It depends entirely on your objectives as an advertiser, but it is important to have such a goal.
In Google Ads, it is possible to use smart or fully automated bidding strategies. These use information from your historical conversion data and will optimize based on how previous conversions have performed. If your conversions are set up incorrectly, this can have a major impact on results.
Below are two links that explain how to set up and track conversions in Google Ads.
Different ways to track conversions
Import goals from Google Analytics into Google Ads
Once you have set up a conversion goal, you can start evaluating the results your marketing has generated.
- How many of the visitors who arrived on the website converted or did what you wanted them to do?
- Could there be any conversion killers that need to be addressed?
These are the types of questions you will be able to answer with the help of your goal.
When you create a campaign in Google Ads, you have the option to choose an objective and then receive tips and recommendations on how to optimize in order to reach that specific goal. More information on how to work with goals for different campaign types.
Good luck with your marketing!
