Adwords conversion rate optimisation tips

How to optimize Google ads for conversions

To be quite frank it’s appalling how much search engines can charge per click from keyword marketing. 

Website owners need clicks and in an ever-more competitive market for SEO positions its hard to get clicks. Smaller companies need some market share amongst the many giant global websites appear in a local area.

Neil Patel's team estimate there will be $7billion on paid ads in 2024. I wonder how much of those clicks are utter wastes of money? 85%? 90% at least I would say.

CRO makes websites succesfull

It's imperative we as digital marketeers take CRO seriously. In my experience (and i've worked on some huge campaigns) CRO is one of the most important tools on our digital boxes. It's the thing that makes the clicks and the customer journey relevant.

You can optimize Adwords and get a return

But you can optimize Adwords and get a return on investment using CRO (conversion rate optimization) techniques. 🎯 😎 .

You can use Adwords to generate revenue, measure marketing spend accurately and maintain Pay Per Click as a money generating channel.

Here are my top 7 CRO (conversion rate optimization) agency tips for optimising Google Ads to stop you wasting money. 

"Please do not use a broad match campaign until you are seeing a return on investment" - Robert Hufton / CRO expert

Keyword Relevance is Key

Ensure your keywords are highly relevant to your business offering! 

Using a mix of broad match, phrase match, and exact match keywords to manage budgets well, while maintaining relevance. Do your research to find keywords that match your service offerings. Tools like Google keyword planners are a good place to start. 

https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/

Start with phrase match to find the keywords with the highest relevance which will both generate impressions and clicks, then once you know which keywords convert you can make a new group for exact match strategies. Create exact match keyword groups that contain keywords you know generate revenue. 

If you need help organising keywords into broad, phrase or exact match groups please get in touch with our team.

On the best campaigns I’ve seen, there are usually 2 or 3 exact keywords that get the highest bid per click and use the most budget. I refer to these as golden keywords.

Depending on your competitor's strategy, you might want to spend on branded keywords (such as your company name). 

Please do not use a broad match campaign until you are seeing a return on investment

Compelling Ad Copy

Write persuasive ad copies that highlight unique selling points and encourage clicks. Test different variations to identify the most effective messaging, and include a clear call-to-action to drive user engagement. Try making numerous Ads to experiment with different sales messages. 

Leverage Ad Extensions

Take advantage of ad extensions such as site link, callout, and structured snippet extensions to provide additional information and enhance the visibility of your ads. This can improve your ad's click-through rate (CTR) and overall performance.

Using contextual links here helps. So if someone is searching for "swimming pool maintenance". Offer pages about latest projects, your team skills and equipment you use for example. This all helps the customer understand your level of expertise.

Use Conversion Rate Optimisation for landing pages

Direct users to landing pages that are relevant, user-friendly, and optimised for conversions. Ensure a seamless transition from the ad to the landing page, and regularly test and refine your landing page elements for better user experience and higher conversion rates.

Use a CRO (conversion rate optimisation) specialist, like Higher Ground to help.

Ad Schedule Optimisation

Analyse your campaign data to identify peak times when your target audience is most active. For instance, holiday planning might be done in the evening. Or professional services (like UX consulting) could bed researched in the mid afternoon.

Optimise your campaign's overall efficiency by adjusting your ad schedule to focus budget and bid adjustments during these high-conversion periods.

This is also why its important to run a Re-marketing campaign, because people often take time to consider choosing a provider. You need to be visible when they are ready to buy!

Negative Keywords Management

Regularly review and update your list of negative keywords to filter out irrelevant traffic. This helps to improve the quality of your clicks and ensures your ads are shown to users genuinely interested in your products or services.

VERY IMPORTANT! ⚠ ⚠ ⚠

A tip for you. If a phrase that relates to your services is costing you highly and isn't directly related to sales. Add it as an Exact match negative keyword [Like so]. That will stop Google spending your precious budget on less relevant keywords.

Using negative match keywords properly is great practice in online advertising. It will help you to refine your targeting and optimise campaign performance. By incorporating negative keywords, you can specify terms for which you do not want your ads to appear. This prevents your advertisements from being triggered by irrelevant or undesirable searches, ultimately saving your budget and improving the relevance of your ad impressions. Regularly analyse search term reports to identify irrelevant queries and add them to your negative keyword list.

By actively managing your negative match keyword list, you enhance the precision of your ad targeting, ensuring that your ads reach a more qualified and interested audience.

Monitor and Adjust Bids

Keep a close eye on your bidding strategy and adjust bids based on performance. Utilise automated bidding features or manually adjust bids for keywords that drive the most value, and regularly review your budget allocation to prioritise high-performing campaigns and ad groups.

Thorough keyword research is essential to identify relevant and high-performing keywords. What is it your business does best? What keywords are associate with it. Have you run a UX strategy workshop? If not, you absolutely need to.

Experimenting with different bidding strategies, such as manual bidding or automated bidding, can provide insights into what works best for specific campaigns. Additionally, staying informed about industry trends and competitor activities can help in adapting bidding strategies to remain competitive.

Analyzing data

If you're not looking at the data you will be missing critical insights about your users and what they are doing on your website. Segmenting GA4 analytics data by key elements such as Adwords Sessions and devices should help you find areas that need to be enhanced from a UX perspective. This is work typically carried out by a CRO specialist.

GA4 can be challenging for novices, but this video should help you segment data easily courtesy of LovesData.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2QN18McpEo&ab_channel=LovesData

Conversion rate optimisation

Conversation Rate Optimisation is all about driving value for your business. It’s taking the raw materials you already have and making considered changes to make them more effective.

CRO is an art and a science; harnessing data, analytics, consumer research, and industry expertise to inform beautiful designs and brand-led customer experiences. Using a combination of UX and CRO methodologies, we’ll help you turn website traffic into tangible results. Think more leads, more sales, and higher value transactions. Get in touch today to find out how we can create a bespoke plan to turn your clicks into conversions.

Remarketing and long tail CRO

This is also crucial. Remarketing is like TV advertising. People dont buy straight away. This is why you need a good brand, a valueble offer and a decent website. You need to be there for when users are ready to buy. Google have some guides on Remarketing strategies. But I will provide more info here in time.