Paid search is one of the most effective ways to get your business noticed online. By running ads on Google and Bing, you can reach potential customers in a targeted manner, driving more traffic and sales for your site.
But crafting an effective paid search strategy isn’t as simple as throwing money at a few keywords and hoping for the best.
There’s a lot of planning, research, and testing involved to get the best ROI from your ads. And if it sounds too much, you’re better off speaking with a digital marketing consultant before taking the plunge.
Without further ado, here are some tips for crafting an effective paid search strategy:
Start with keyword research
Creating a successful paid search strategy starts with choosing the right keywords.
Google Keyword Planner is a great tool to help you identify relevant and beneficial terms to use in your campaign.
When making your ads, also think about the customer’s journey. This means thinking about what the customer does at the beginning (top of the funnel) and end (bottom of the funnel) of their journey. Doing this will help you make ads that are more likely to result in a sale.
One example of top-of-funnel keyword research is discovering topics and questions within a niche.
You can easily do this by performing searches in search engines or on social media and seeing what comes up.
What topics are people discussing? What questions do people have about these topics? What phrases or words is everyone including in their queries?
This type of research gives you an insight into the language your audience uses to talk about your subject, which helps you to target them better with marketing initiatives.
While bottom-of-funnel keyword research allows marketers to target shoppers who are close to making a purchase.
It focuses on helping prospects complete the sale by targeting them with more personalised, specific ads that address their individual needs in more detail.
An example of this type of keyword research is finding out which questions prospects ask in relation to your product/service when they are close to buying.
This can be done by analysing web searches or by conducting surveys and conversations with buyers about their motivations for making a purchase decision.
Knowing what potential buyers are asking can help you create content that better meets their needs and ultimately increase your conversion rates.
Set up your campaigns + tracking
Once you’ve identified the perfect keywords for your ads, creating a well-structured Google Ads campaign and vigilantly tracking conversions is essential to ensure that your return on investment (ROI) yields results.
First and foremost, you’ll want to create a single thematic ad group. This is the grouping of different targeted groups you want to reach with your ads.
It’s essential to spend time on this step, as it will make or break the success of your campaign.
Afterwards, you’ll need to set up conversion tracking, which involves integrating code into relevant web pages based on the actions you want to track, such as contact form submissions or product purchases.
If this seems too much information to process at once, Google provides guides and videos that walk users through every step of setting up a successful campaign.
Optimise your ads
Optimising Google Ads can be an ongoing task that requires patience and dedication, but the payoff is always worth it.
To start, you should block bots visiting your ad units; without this your costs may soar unnecessarily high. Consider a tool like ClickCease for this.
It’s important to refine keyword research and add negative keywords that eliminate unnecessary traffic from irrelevant search queries.
This helps reduce costs by only targeting prospects who are genuine leads for your business.
And don’t be afraid to experiment with various bidding strategies over time to get maximum results from a budget.
These steps can help you streamline the process and optimise your Google Ads campaigns for optimal performance.
Test, test, test
Through split testing, you have the ability to compare different headlines, descriptions, images, and channels side-by-side (YouTube vs Paid Search) to determine which one is most effective in driving clicks and conversions.
By utilising an outsourced CMO or a Google Ads specialist, you can leverage their experience and knowledge to implement a test-and-learn approach.
This ensures that you’re constantly updating your campaigns with the latest data and insights, allowing you to refine your strategy in real-time and keep up with ever-changing consumer behaviour.
Testing also helps uncover opportunities that may not be obvious at first glance; without it, these opportunities could be missed entirely or simply remain unexplored due to a lack of resources or available data.
Not only that, but split-testing also gives you an edge over the competition by ensuring that your ads are compelling and stand out from those of rival businesses.
If you’re not split-testing your Google Ads campaigns, then you’ll almost certainly be missing out on valuable leads and sales.
Ready to try Google Ads for your business?
Google Ads can be a powerful marketing tool when used correctly. By researching keywords, creating well-structured campaigns and tracking conversions, you can create compelling ads that drive the right kind of traffic to your website
With split testing, you can optimise your ads further and ensure they stand out from the competition. These steps will help you successfully use Google Ads to your advantage and reach more potential customers, ultimately increasing conversions.
