Google Ads Deep Dive: How to Improve Ad Performance

Google is the world’s most used search engine, so it comes as no surprise that Google Ads have become an essential part of digital advertising. With optimized ads, your business can greatly improve ROI. In this article, we’ll be going into the specifics of Google Ads to help you improve your ad performance. 

Searchers are expressing a particular intent when they search for something. The goal for Google is to present the searcher with a good experience, therefore ads need to be relevant, provide value, and be unobtrusive. Advertisers value this since it resonates better with consumers and allows them to appear at the top of search engine results. This also means you won’t need to reply on broader organic search results since the first page is where the search begins and ends for most. 

Google Ad ranking is based on three factors, namely:

• Expected clickthrough rate
• Landing page, and 
• Ad relevance 

We all know the essentials of a Google Ad: up to 3 headlines, a display IRL, and 2 descriptions. Keywords are essential for paid search ads since these are what the audience searches for - it is what expresses their intent. Advertisers can use either exact matches, phrases, or broad keywords. Having a great ad in line with best practices puts you in a better position when it comes to rank.

Best Practices for Google Ads

• Ad copy: Text includes the right message at the right moment, with keywords that match your brand’s tone of voice. It should also convey value, present a solution, and have a direct CTA.
• Ad experience: Improving the ad with ad extensions that align with the rest of the copy.
• Quality score: An algorithm scoring the ad’s relevance to ensure the keywords are related to the ad.

These will affect the ad’s potential and bidding position, so advertisers need to focus on optimizing their ads to the greatest possible degree. 

What is a Google Optimization Score?

Google provides users with an optimization score that predicts how well your ads are primed to perform. These scores include a range of data, from stats to simulations for personalized and real-time info. Google Optimisation Score’s are displayed as a percentage between ) and 100% alongside recommendations on how to optimize each ad campaign. 

By optimizing your ads, you can increase conversions according to objective estimates and well-informed feedback from the source. The recommendations touch on bids & budget, ads & extensions, keywords & targeting, and repairs. In other words, it is well-rounded information relating to the creatures, potential returns, and technical aspects of the ads. 

Google Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are interactive additions applied to ads that Google may display with the ad. These can improve their performance, though users need to qualify for these by meeting certain ranks and positions - in other words, they need to be high quality. When creating these ads, they need to include updated information without repetition to avoid confusion and provide value to the viewer. 

Examples of Google Ad Extensions

• Call out extension: An additional line of text that increases click-through rate. These make the ad more prominent 
• Price extension: Making it easy to see the price qualifiers, leading to more informed decisions
• Location extensions: Highlighting the location which provides instant access to directions to encourage in-person visits
• Structured snippet: A structured snippet of information is shown with text ads, allowing you to add valuable and specific feature-based information.
• Message extension: A prewritten message submitted for inciting conversation and engagement.
• Promotion extension: AN offer or promotion code for seasonal offers which are shown below the ad in an easy-to-read label.

Ad extensions allow you to take up more space with your ads, which provides the advertiser - and the viewer - with more information. You can enrich the ads with specific site links and call-outs. They have a positive effect on ad performance and with so many options, advertisers are encouraged to use as many as possible to create the most prominent ads. Google will show up to 4 per ad.

Google Ads Reporting 

There are several ways to report on Google Ads. These include:

• URLs: Using UTM parameters to measure the source, medium, campaign, term, and content.
• Pixels: These are small, transparent images placed on a web page through code that send signals of views to monitor traffic. This can be manually done or integrated using a tag manager. 
• Cookies: The consented tracking user behavior online which can be collected by a 1st or 3rd party. (3rd-party cookies are being phased-out by Google and will be gone by 2023 - but 1st-party cookies remain)

Attribution reporting is an important element to consider. This is all about determining which aspects lead to conversion. This could be:

• First touch
• Last touch
• Last interaction
• First and last 
• Simple decay
• Linear

Advertisers can perform experiments to improve ad performance. The first example of this is A/B or split testing. With this method, you run two identical adverts with one differential element. By isolating one feature, you can measure the direct effect of it, such as trying out different CTAs to see which is more successful.

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising uses AI and machine learning to buy ads in real-time. These ads are nearly instantaneous, relying on algorithms across board scopes of information to reach relevant audiences. These ads are affordable, data-based, automated, and known to drive revenue. Bids for programmatic paid advertising can either be real-time (live), private market places (private demand-based lists), or preferred deals (with pre-negotiated deals). 

Types of programs ads include:

• Display
• Video
• Social
• Audio
• Native

How to Improve Google Ad Performance 

That wraps up our guide on how to optimize and enhance your Google Ads. With so many features, options, and tools available, you’ve got to ensure you’re utilizing them all to create the best possible ads. This will result in improved performance. 

From improving your Google ranking to driving fresh campaigns, we've got you covered. Book a call with us to discuss how we can transform your paid advertising strategy.