Are you on the Google Ads fence?

Fay Roe

Unless you have been living under a rock you will be more than familiar with the powerhouse that Google has become. With over 246 million unique visitors each day and 3.5 billion daily interactions, Google has become the most visited website in the world, and the ads that it publishes are incredibly successful in terms of the return on investment.

However, the sheer size of Google and the prospect of placing ads on its pages can be daunting especially if you are small to medium sized business – you don’t have the margins to make marketing errors, every decision you make needs to help to generate revenue. So, if you are sitting on the fence about whether to use Google Ads in your digital marketing strategy, read on.

Why are Google Ads so successful?

Ads from the platform are displayed across the different Google channels including YouTube advertising, Blogger and millions of others that are included in the Google Display Network – the largest online display advertising network in the world. Google dominates the search market share – 82.39% for mobile and desktop search in July 2019. Given the expansive reach of the network, you can understand how Google Ads are creating so much money!

According to figures from the last complete fiscal period (2018), 70.9% of Google’s revenue came from Google Ads. Google needs their ads to be successful in order to make their money, and so they continually update and develop their products to make ads as appealing to searchers as possible. For a business owner, this is an ideal scenario, Google Ads provides you with valuable digital marketing tools to make your ads as successful as possible:

Measurable so you can fine tune your campaigns for success and research your audience
Customisable and flexible for hyper-targeting
Easy to scale
Quick to action and see results
Less complex than organic SEO to implement
Google Ads pricing is transparent – you bid for keywords and further costs are triggered by clicks, plus you can cap your spend

Woman with her head on the desk in frustration over under performing Google Ads campaign

Why do some Google Ads campaigns underperform?

Just because the tools exist to make a great Google Ads campaign, doesn’t mean that they are being used to their full capacity. An income stream cannot be generated without doing the groundwork first to ensure that the campaign reaches its full potential.

If the expected results are not being seen it is likely that one of the following is responsible:

1. Too broad keywords

Keywords, the lynch pin of online marketing. Time must be invested to research the keywords that the target audience already use to find the products or services being advertised. If you don’t know which words generate clicks, the campaign will be too loose, and you will haemorrhage money by bidding on keywords that don’t generate leads.

2. Irrelevant ads

You may think that your ad copy looks fantastic but if your target audience disagrees, they will not click through to your website. Your ad also needs to be relevant to your keywords and provide solution to the searcher’s pain point. Understanding the customer is critical.

3. Poor landing page

With the greatest will in the world if the landing page the Google Ad directs searchers to is not optimised to convert visitor to consumer, the digital marketing campaign will be a wasted opportunity. Great attention should be paid to the searcher’s experience once they arrive at the website. Does the landing page answer the question or provide solution to their pain point? Are there clear calls to action? You have to be in control of the searcher’s buying journey.

Digital Presence can advise you on all aspects of your digital marketing strategy so that your tailored Google Ads campaign is built on strong foundations – from your web design, SEO and content – all can be optimized for growth. Not only do we do the Google Ads groundwork for you but also monitor your campaign 24/7 to ensure that your budget is used efficiently to deliver outstanding results.

Digital Presence is a Christchurch SEO and digital marketing agency and are passionate about helping businesses like yours grow. Call us now or drop us a line at hello@digitalpresence.co.nz to learn more.