Every veteran digital marketer would love to go to the past and avoid making mistakes at the beginning of their career. It’s normal to feel this way, and if you’re a beginner or have some experience already, you’re probably wondering, where exactly am I getting it wrong with Google Ads?
Follow this article through, and you’d see:
MISTAKE #1- Using too many keywords.
When we hear of Google Ads, what comes to mind is keywords. While it is inevitable to use them, you don’t want to use them too much.
Using too many keywords means you’d have too many keywords in an ad group. There are cases when people put 15-20 keywords in just a single ad group because they have the same theme.
Why is this wrong?
When you have too many keywords in an ad group, you have less control, which can be vague.
For instance, imagine an ad group with the keywords “Digital marketing,” “Social media marketing,” “Video marketing’,” and “Search engine marketing.” They have the same theme- marketing, but it’s too vague and undefined. Having ad groups that are much more specific gives you more control and organization. Besides, using keywords excessively could reduce your rankings!
MISTAKE #2 – Picking the wrong match type
When running Google Ads, there are four match types – broad match, broad match modifier, phrase match, and exact match, and you need to understand them to know when to use them.
A broad match is when you write out a keyword and then leave it to Google to display what it thinks is relevant to the search in question.
For instance, if you use broad match type for “expensive cars,” your ad might pop up when a person searches for “expensive car,” “fast cars,” or “expensive houses,” and these are not included in any of your keyword terms.
You have to be careful with broad match type because your ad might be displayed even when it isn’t relevant to what the searcher is looking for, and you don’t wish to get charged for that. In other words, you don’t want to pay for traffic that doesn’t convert.
Broad match modifier allows you to reach a wide audience like a broad match but gives you better control of who sees your ads by “sealing” words in a key phrase using the “+” sign. That is, by adding the plus sign before a word in your keyword, you’re saying that the search query must include that word.
Phrase match also gives you control by ensuring that your ad is displayed when a search includes your phrase in the exact order, though there may be other words before and after the phrase.
For instance, the keyword “machine learning” would appear for searches like “machine learning courses,” “how to master machine learning,” but not “machine guns,” or “learning how to learn.”
The last type is the exact match type, it is just as it sounds. Your ad would only be displayed when the search is an exact match. However, Google understands that it’s not every time that searchers would use the exact terms you used as keywords.
For example, you might use “dancing shoes,” and a searcher says, “shoes for dancing.” You can see that it’s only a slight variation, so your ad is worthy of being seen. The exact match type gives you the biggest control over who sees your ad and can lead to a higher click-through rate (CTR)
MISTAKE #3 – Not separating search and display campaigns
When running Google Ads, you have to pay attention to this because this is one of the fastest ways your money disappears. “Search” and “Display” are different words, and in the same vein, target consumers based on two different behaviors.
In search campaigns, the consumers are the ones looking for you. In display campaigns, you’re trying to capture their attention even while they are doing something else. With this, it’s quite evident that what would get a person’s attention in a search campaign would bore him in the display.
Google’s default setting combines search and display networks in one campaign. Doing with this would only profit Google, and you’d spend way more than you should. If you’re going for a display campaign, make sure to UNTICK the “Search Network,” and if its search you’re going for, do the same thing.
In PPC (Pay Per Click), you want to make sure that every click pays, and you’re not just throwing money into thin air.
Avoiding the mistakes above would help you, and if you need professional assistance, we at marketing equals customers are right here for that sole purpose. Contact us here.
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