Do you feel like your Google AdWords spend is too high for the returns you are seeing? Do you feel that your ad positions could be better? Are your competitors outranking you consistently? Are you using Google Adwords Best Practices? There is a high likelihood that your ads are not following the best practices set out by the Google AdWords team.
Adwords Best Practices
User experience is one of the most important things to consider when working online and is a significant factor in the positions that Google display paid-for ads on search result pages. With this in mind, Google has a set of ‘best practices’ that businesses and individuals should adhere to when building a PPC campaign. Advertisers who keep to these best practices are rewarded with higher ad ranking positions, often at a lower cost per click. Those who fail to take the best practices on board will end up paying more per click and will find it hard to rank in the top ad positions.
There can be a huge difference between sticking to Google Adwords Best Practices and ignoring them. It is easy to dismiss these warnings as exaggeration but if you fail to meet Google requirements, your ads may never appear on the first page of search results, instead appearing on the second or even third page, reducing the likelihood of clicks by a great deal. It may even be the case that you pay more per click than those in the top positions. If they are your direct competitors, the implications in terms of leads or revenue could be vast.
The best practices laid out by Google are not difficult to stick to. Firstly you choose a keyword that you have researched and deemed appropriate to the ad you are creating. Then you craft a headline and ad content that is tightly focused to the keyword. The keyword, headline and ad copy should also be extremely relevant to the webpage to which the advert links. If you combine these factors, your customers receive the best customer experience possible and Google ranks your ads accordingly.
If you follow Google’s best practices for AdWords, you will also increase your company’s ‘quality score’. Adverts created with focused keywords and content that is relevant to the keyword are more likely to be clicked than those without. The more your ads are clicked, the more chances your quality score has to increase, and in turn, the better your ads will rank.
How People Get Google AdWords Wrong
It is understandable that the most mistakes on an AdWords campaign are made by business owners or individuals who want to manage their campaigns themselves. The first piece of advice on how to get the most out of AdWords is to employ a professional PPC campaign manager who can utilise your budget to its maximum potential.
Do you manage your company’s AdWords campaign? Is it targeted or have you created a generic ad that displays no matter which keyword from your target group is searched? Does your ad link to a page of your website that is relevant to the keywords searched or does it just link to your homepage?
You may not realise it, but if you are guilt of any of the above, you are actively contravening Google’s best practices. This is understandable though, as Google don’t take the time to walk each new user through the platform before they start spending. It may well be the case that you only discovered there are best practices for Google AdWords through this article.
There is a commonly held misbelief that if you throw more money at your AdWords campaign, you will eventually rank higher than your competition. This is not the case. Increasing your spend will only get you so far and certain keywords will always be a struggle for you to outrank your competition on; their brand name, for example. We would never recommend spending your entire advertising budget on AdWords in order to rank higher. It is much more effective to use AdWords in conjunction with other advertising tactics, in order to maximise your returns and get the most you can with your precious advertising budget.
Adwords Best Practices with BoostOnline
For more information or if you require any assistance with your current or new Google Adwords campaign, please contact us today and one of our team members will respond shortly.