Fanatically Digital

Tag: google ads

  • 5 Common Mistakes in Google Ads

    5 Common Mistakes in Google Ads

    Maximize the Effectiveness of You Ad Spend

    Maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns starts with avoiding common pitfalls. From improper conversion tracking to overlooking vital ad assets, each step can significantly impact your campaign’s success. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore five critical mistakes to steer clear of and provide actionable tips to ensure your ads drive results. Let’s dive in and optimize your advertising strategy for maximum impact and ROI.

    1. Improper Conversion Tracking

    One of the most important things when first setting up Google ads is to make sure you have proper conversion tracking set up. Without conversions tracking a couple of things will happen. First, Google won’t know what to optimize. Secondly, the absence of accurate data hinders your ability to assess the effectiveness of your strategies.

    So, let’s jump into a few things to check when setting up conversion tracking:

    1. Primary Vs. secondary conversions. Google will automatically track and optimize to your primary conversion and only track your secondary conversions. So, if submitting a lead or a sale are the most important conversion actions for you, then make sure these are set as primary and not secondary conversions. 
    2. Don’t over clutter your conversion actions. We like to say “if everything is important then nothing is important”. We recommend choosing the most important conversion actions and tracking those. This might seem simple, however, sometimes Google will recommend many conversion events, including individual page views and link clicks which most likely are less valuable to you than a purchase, call or lead form submission.
    3. Tracking conversion value. Once a user has landed on your website and made a purchase or closed a deal, it’s important to send that purchase value back into google. This way you can track your return on investment instead of just the number of conversions.  

    2. Not Setting an Ad Schedule 

    Google allows you to set an ad schedule based on the day or the hour. You could hypothetically run ads at a different time every day, though we can think of many reasons you’d need to do that. 

    Creating an ad schedule that suits your company is key. This can be done right off the bat or once you have more data. 

    For instance if you are a B2B organization, running ads Mon-Fri is most likely the way to go. Why waste your money on the weekends when people aren’t at work. In the same vine you might run ads from 9am-5pm to coincide with the average work schedule. 

    When you are setting up your campaigns you might have no idea when your consumers are most active. No worries! You can always run your campaigns 24/7, and after a couple of weeks and enough data, you can assess when conversions are coming in, and cost/conversion then adjust accordingly. 

    Running ads on a schedule doesn’t have to be an all or nothing either! You might notice that for some reason on Wednesdays, your conversions and ROI are down but you still want ads to appear on Wednesdays. If you are setting manual bids you can adjust the maximum bid based on the time and day. So on Wednesdays you can set your max bid to 50% of what your normal max bid is to lower spend. 

    3. Blindly Accepting All of Google’s Recommendations

    Don’t get us wrong, Google can have great recommendations but sometimes they can be overzealous and it can lead you down a path you definitely don’t want to go down. For instance, Google will often make recommendations that include a budget increase, which you might not have. It’s okay to tell Google no even if your optimization score goes down a bit. 

    Another recommendation you should keep an eye on is the key word changes. Google will frequently recommend broad match keywords and we have noticed sometimes they aren’t afraid to add +150 broad match keywords to one ad group. For some, this may be okay, but for others this can lead to irrelevant search terms and messy keyword data. 

    Not all of Google’s Recommendations are bad, some can be very helpful but make sure to not blindly accept all of their suggestions without thinking about how it will affect your business. 

    4. Not setting up location targeting

    Don’t forget to set up Location targeting for your ads based on your company’s needs. Google allows advertisers to select what countries, states, or zip codes their ads appear in. Google also allows you to set areas that you don’t want to advertise in. 

    No one likes wasted ad spend and the quickest way to lose money is to advertise in areas where your business is less or not relevant. For instance, if you run a brick and mortar store you should set up location targeting based on the area around your store. No need to be advertising in Texas if your store front is in Chicago, IL. 

    Location targeting is relevant if you have an online store too. Let’s say your company sells snow blowers. Well, once again advertising in Texas might not be the biggest bang for your buck.

    Sure over 5 years I’m sure someone will buy a snowblower in Texas for some reason or another but you’d be better off concentrating your ad spend on places like Wisconsin, Michigan or New Hampshire. 

    5. Lack of Ad Assets

    Our final mistake we see advertisers make is not utilizing assets! Advertisers should use assets in Google Ads because they play a crucial role in creating compelling and effective advertisements that increase ad relevance and increase ad quality score. 

    When creating an ad it’s hard to miss the basics like headlines and descriptions because they are required, but don’t forget about the optional ones. You used to have to add the optional assets to an ad after the ad was created in the asset tab.

    Now Google has made it easier and gives advertisers the option of adding assets and extensions to the ad while making the ad itself. Some of these assets are:

    • Sitelink extensions
    • Call outs
    • Structured snippets
    • Photos
    • Location extension
    • Lead form extension
    • Call extension
    • Price extensions
    • Image extensions

    These different assets allow you to link to relevant  pages on your site, highlight important details about your company, and provide contact information up front. Overall assets can be used to provide more information and make your ad more attractive to potential customers. 

    That being said, not all assets are relevant to every business. For example, you might not take calls or you might sell products solely online and not have a location. That’s okay! Use all that pertains to your business to maximize ad quality score. 

    Wrapping Up 

    In conclusion, mastering Google Ads requires diligence and strategic planning to avoid common pitfalls that can hinder your campaign’s performance.

    By ensuring proper conversion tracking, setting up ad schedules tailored to your target audience’s behavior, critically evaluating Google’s recommendations, implementing precise location targeting, and leveraging ad assets effectively, you can maximize the effectiveness of your advertising strategy.

    With these insights and actionable tips, you’re equipped to optimize your campaigns for maximum impact and ROI. Here’s to your success in the dynamic world of digital advertising!

  • Is Paid Advertising Evil?

    Is Paid Advertising Evil?

    Are Search & Display Ads Evil?

    In the year 2023, we have all experienced ad overload from a company. That’s right, you viewed a product one time on Nike’s website, now, every time you open up Facebook, BOOM Nike ad. Okay open up Instagram, BOOM an in-feed Nike ad. Surely there won’t be a Nike ad while reading your local morning news website. Wrong. There, on the side, is a Nike banner ad. These ads even find their way onto your solitaire app. 

     While some people do actually find these ads helpful, others of us feel like we are being bombarded or even stalked by these companies. Why are they showing up everywhere? Are they invasive or helpful?

    So, is ALL paid advertising Evil? 

    Truthfully our answer is no, paid advertising isn’t usually evil and in fact can be used for a lot of good.  And yes this is coming from someone who makes a living running these ads but bear with us here. 

    We understand that companies have their own view on paid advertising. Some love it and will pour all their money into running +50 campaigns and other companies fear that paid advertising comes off as sleazy and inauthentic to consumers. 

    But with paid advertising there are so many forms of targeting and placements, that labeling them all the same way isn’t the best route. We have created an Authenticity scale that uses two metrics, control and helpfulness. The Goal of the Authenticity scale is to help advertisers determine what their comfort zone is when it comes to paid advertising. 

    First we are going to do a brief recap of search ads and display ads. Next we will outline what the Authenticity Scale is and how to use it. Finally, we will break down a handful of examples and place them on the scale to help you get the hang of it. 

    SEARCH vs. DISPLAY ADS

    Let’s quickly layout 2  kinds of Google ads, search and display ads, before we dive into the Authenticity of advertising tactics. 

    1. First, Search ads. Search Ads appear alongside organic results when a consumer enters a query in the search engine. Advertisers bid on search terms and if those terms are queried then their ad may appear. For example, if Nike bid on “Running shoes” and someone searches “Best tennis shoes for running” then they will be met with a Nike ad like the one below:
    1. Display ads. Display ads can appear in apps, in video, or as banner ads on websites. They will look something like this: 

    Now that we have nailed down two ad types, let’s jump into our Authenticity Scale.

    ADVERTISING AUTHENTICITY SCALE

    Paid advertising comes in many forms. In order to determine an ad’s Authenticity, we are going to utilize two different scales.

    1. Control: The control an advertiser has over who, where, how a consumer is receiving ads. 
    2. Helpfulness: The extent to which an ad is helpful to the consumer. 

    When using this two point scale ads are going to fall into a Green Zone, Blue Zone, and Orange Zone. 

    Ads that are high on both control and helpfulness are going to be in the Green Zone. The Green Zone consists of ads that will almost always be beneficial for both company and consumer.  

    Next are our Blue Zone ads, which are ads that will be in the middle of either control or helpfulness. These ads are usually still beneficial for company and consumer, though seeing as they fall in the middle of one or both of the scales we can’t be certain about either customers intent or placement of ads. 

    Now for our Orange Zone ads. Orange Zone ads will fall low on one or both of the scales. Just because ads are in the Orange Zone doesn’t mean they are evil, however, we understand there is a time and a place for them. We recommend using Orange Zone ads when the primary focus is for brand awareness rather than high conversion rates. 

    Let’s look at this on a graph.

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    PUTTING THE GRAPH TO WORK

    Now let’s put this graph to work and plot where different advertising strategies fall.

    SEARCH ADS IN THE ORANGE ZONE:

    I am going to play devil’s advocate right off the bat, and give an example of advertising that is closer to the ~evil~ side, or inauthentic side, of advertising.

    Competitor Search ads. For a company like Nike, this would be bidding on terms like “Adidas Shoes”. On our first scale, Control, competitor search ads actually rank very high. We would know where these ads are showing and for the exact search terms they are showing for. 

    On our second scale, Helpfulness, Competitors Search ads rank very low placing them in the Orange Zone. If a consumer searches, Adidas shoes, chances are they know what they want and it’s not Nike Shoes. With this method of advertising, the goal is less about being helpful and more about disrupting a consumer’s actions. Getting Nike’s name in their last minute, one, probably won’t have a high return on investment, and two, is disregarding the consumers preferences and is thus more invasive.   

    Therefore, Competitor Search ads are in our bottom right corner in the Orange Zone.

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    SEARCH ADS IN THE GREEN ZONE:

    Now let’s look at Search ads that are on the flip side of the Helpful scale in our Green Zone.

    Branded Search Ads. Pretty self explanatory, but Branded Search ads re when a company bids on its own name. For example Nike bidding on  “Nike” or “Nike Shoes”.  

    • Control: These ads like Competitor Search ads rank high on control. When bidding on branded terms you have a narrow and controlled pool of search terms your ads are showing up for. 
    • Helpfulness: Unlike Competitor Search ads, Branded Search ads are high on Helpfulness. When a consumer is searching for your company, they are point blank looking for you and exactly you. Therefore you want to be front and center for them when they search. 

    Non-Brand Search Ads. Some examples of Non-Brand Search keywords for Nike are “Athletic shoes”, “gym shoes”, or “best sneakers for running”. 

    • Control:In terms of control Non Brand Search ads rank just below Branded Search Ads. The only reason there is a little less control is because there is a wider pool of search terms.
    • Helpfulness: Believe it or not, non brand search ads we still classify as high on the helpfulness scale. If a consumer is searching for a product and just doesn’t know the name of a company that supplies said product they are still information gathering. 

    Let’s go back to Nike but pretend that this consumer who is searching for running shoes does not know any of the big brands. The consumer searches for “running shoes”. They are looking for a high quality product, so why not Nike. Whether Nike is bidding on these terms or not other people will be. Therefore, even if Nike is the first organic result, they won’t be the first company that consumers see because there will be ads at the top. If Nike is the best option for the consumer and they simply don’t see them because their organic result is buried under ads then both consumer and company are missing out. Thus you want to be there as an option in their search for information.

    Since both our Brand and Non-Brand Search ads ranked high on Control and Helpfulness, that places them right in our Green zone. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    DISPLAY ADS IN THE BLUE ZONE

    Let’s dive into which Google Display ads fall into our Blue Zone. 

    Consumer Renegament Display ads: targeting previous consumers based on email lists. This is not people who have simply visited the site but people who have actually purchased the product or service.

    • Control: Medium High. Since this ad type is based on email lists from the company we know exactly who we are targeting. The only reason it is bumped down a few points is because of the nature of display ads. In this scenario we aren’t picking specific placements on the google display network so the ads could be running on a variety of sites and apps.
    • Helpfulness: Medium. Truthfully this one depends on the product being sold. For instance if the product being sold is a Refrigerator, consumers probably aren’t going to be in the market for a new refrigerator for many more years. Therefore hitting them with a display ad 3 months after purchase isn’t helpful.ing.  

    However if the product being sold is a face wash, hitting the consumer with an ad 3 months after initial purchase to remind them to place a new order before they run out can be very helpful. We know these people have used the company’s product or service, and assuming a positive experience, they most likely like the company and would purchase again. 

    Site Remarketing Display Ads: targeting those who have visited the companies site without purchase.

    • Control: Medium. We know for the most part who is being hit with the ads but it’s a wider pool than consumer re-engagement and it’s on the Display network.
    • Helpfulness: Medium. Hopefully the consumer is at least interested in the company, hence spending time on the site. However we don’t fully know their motives for being on the site or their impressions of the company after the visit. 

    Blue Zone ads tend to be reconnecting with people who are at least aware of the company’s name. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    DISPLAY ADS IN THE ORANGE ZONE

    We talked about Competitor Search ads being in the Orange Zone but let’s finish filling this zone out. 

    In Market Display: Using Google’s AI, we are targeting those who are in the market for a product. For example Nike’s In Market Display ads would be targeted at people who are “in the market” or looking to purchase running shoes. Again, who is in the market for new running shoes is determined by google not the advertiser. 

    • Control: Low. The nature of display ads already knocks it down a few pegs, but the second reason it loses points is because we are relying on google’s targeting metrics. What exactly makes someone “in market” for new running shoes? We as advertisers have less control over who sees the ads when google is at the wheel. 
    • Helpfulness: Medium high. Since we are targeting people who are in-market or actively looking for a new pair of running shoes, showing Nike’s name is hopefully beneficial. 

    Interest Display Ads: Using Google’s AI to target people who have interests that would align with a company’s target market. Using Nike again as an example, they could target people with interests in playing sports, running marathons, or even coaching.  

    • Control: Medium low. We have an idea of who is getting targeted but again it’s a very wide pool that google has created. Also, as stated before, the display network naturally has less control than search ads.
    • Helpfulness: Low. Honestly with this group we truly don’t know if they are interested in running shoes at the moment, they might be swimmers or love their new balances. The positives for running ads like this would be more for brand recognition. Getting your company’s name out there so that they are remembered when the consumer is looking for your product even if they aren’t in need of it at the moment. 

    Look Alike Display Ads: Target people who match a profile (lookalike) of those who have purchased a product or used your service. Lookalikes are again determined by google’s AI.

    • Control: Low. Again, this is reliant on what google demes a lookalike. Maybe Because we don’t know what metrics google uses to compare, we deem these pretty low on control.
    • Helpfulness: Medium low. Going on the idea that google is in fact showing us to quality consumers we rank this medium low. Ideally they will be similar to previous consumers but that’s not to say they are in the market for your service right now. 

    As we state early, just because an ad is in the Orange Zone doesn’t mean it is evil and invasive by nature. For our Green and Blue Zones we are looking for conversions and a lower cost./conversion. For these Orange Zones ads on the other hand it’s best to have a totally different goal. That goal being brand awareness. Many of these ad types tend to have high impressions which is a great metric to use when trying to measure the success of a brand awareness campaign. 

    Advertising Authenticity Score

    WRAPPING UP

    We went over a lot of ad types and tactics today and, let’s be honest, that’s just breaking the surface, since we didn’t even touch on Social media advertising. With all the different kinds of targeting and placements out there, it can get overwhelming for a company to decide what direction they want to take and what kind of advertising aligns with the values of their company. By looking at each tactic individually and using this two point scale companies can better understand if said tactic fits within their comfort zone. 

    Now what about our very first example of one person getting bombarded with every ad on every network for Nike Tennis Shoes? Yeah….we would consider this the closest thing to invasive evil advertising. Though we would also be lying if we said these ads have never worked on us.  

  • 5 Steps to Clean Up Your Google Ads Campaigns

    5 Steps to Clean Up Your Google Ads Campaigns

    Why wait for spring cleaning when the start of the year is the perfect opportunity to freshen up your Google ad campaigns! With these quick 5 steps, we are going to cut the dead weight from your campaigns and breathe new life into our account. 

    Ideally, you are continuously optimizing your campaigns for peak performance, but sometimes non-crucial things slip through the cracks, especially during the holiday season. Now is the perfect chance to clean it up!

    Now let’s roll up our sleeves and jump in:

    Step 1: Remove Non Serving Keywords 

    Look at this! Google has done half the work for us. In your keywords under status, Google will label keywords as “not eligible. Low search volume” if there is little to no search history on google for this term. 

    Some people may have a hard time removing these keywords because they seem relevant to their ad group and they want to cover their bases. However, if google is telling you that no one searches for that term, then it is just cluttering up your account.

    Time to pause these keywords and focus on your keywords that are receiving impressions. By cutting out the unnecessary terms, you will have a better view of what is relevant.

    Step 2: Remove Keywords With Few Impressions

    Now, step two is similar to step one. We are still cleaning out those keywords, except this time, google hasn’t done the first part for us. 

    When looking at about a year’s worth of data, focus on the keyword impressions. If a keyword has received relatively few impressions or even zero impressions, it is time to pause them. No sense in having them distract from important keywords that you have running. 

    Why are these keywords not receiving impressions?

    They might not be receiving impressions simply because few people are searching for them. They also might not be receiving impressions because your other keywords are picking up the relevant search terms.

    Over the past few years, Google has changed its definition of “phrase” and “exact” match keywords to be much more broad. Thus one keyword is more likely to pick up broader search terms. 

    Now, the majority of the time these are keywords that can be removed all together without a second thought. However, if you have a relevant keyword that you know gets a substantial number of google searches, but you still aren’t receiving impressions, it might fall to your bidding as the issue. 

    In this case, If you are working with manual bidding you need to consider your budget and goal CPC. If you believe your keyword is just that strong, then increase your max CPC. Just remember to check back in with this keyword and how it is performing!

    Step 3: Cleaning Up Your Ads.

    Alright by step three I’m sure you are getting the hang of it! Don’t keep what you dont need. It is very easy for ads to build up in a single ad group and before you know it you have ten ads and only three ads are regularly being shown. 

    What have we learned so far? CUT THEM!

    You may have been trying out a new headline or body copy variation, but if they aren’t being shown, you don’t need to keep them around.

    Step 4: Review all Extensions and Assets.

    Extensions and assets are a pesky one that tends to fall between the cracks because people often focus on their ad group or ads pages as a whole. It’s time to make sure everything being shown is still relevant. Some things to check:

    • Do you have any seasonal language that is out of date for this time of year?
    • Are all products and services promoted still provided? 
    • Are the prices still accurate with current site pricing?
    • Has there been any update in product packaging or company branding that doesn’t match your image assets?

    Not only is it important to check in on your extensions to make sure they are relevant but giving yourself a refresher on what copy and assets are running in tandem with your ads is always a good practice. And we get it. This seems very simple, and it is! However, we have also noticed that extensions often are live for an extended period of time and get overlooked or forgotten when managing a large account. 

    Step 5: Clearing Out Ad Groups With No Impressions

    Now after all of that, removing keywords, removing ads, and removing extensions, lets jump into our final step. Take a look at your Ad groups as a whole and how many impressions they are receiving. 

    If you have an ad group that isn’t receiving any impressions, you may have already noticed this when cleaning out keywords and ads that have not received any impressions.

    Hypothetically this ad group might not even have any keywords or ads left in it. If this is the case it is almost time to let this campaign go, but first a few checks.

    • Make sure your ad group is set up correctly and make sure no information is missing. 
    • Verify your targeting is set up properly for your intended market.
    • And finally, is your bidding competitive?

    If all of this seems in check and you still weren’t receiving impressions, say goodbye to the unneeded ad group and hello to a cleaned-up account! 

    Summary

    Congratulations! With those 5 steps under your belt, you now have a clean account for the start of the new year. 

    We know people either love decluttering or hate decluttering but either way, the feeling of a clean account is always a good feeling. Now hopefully, you can find insights and important information faster because you can focus on the elements that actually matter.