Summary

Google Ads is a part of Google’s advertising platform where businesses of all shapes and sizes can advertise on the google’s networks. These networks include video (YouTube), Search, Display, and more. Today we are going to discuss a high level approach to setting up a client with Google Ads.

Understand Client Goals

Does your client want to boost their leads or sales? Start to identify what KPIs (key performance indicators) does their business rely on.

Do the KPIs that are outlined align with their existing strategy?

One way of trying to answer this question is to look at the consumer journey. Identify the initial contact points for the customer will hit before making a sale or could be considered as a conversion.

Once these KPIs are known we can start to think about how we define the funnel for the consumer’s ideal journey to reach a conversion.

Defining the User Journey

There are a few ways to begin thinking about the “type” of traffic you send to your user experience. This can be put in context by thinking of both user intent and the content that is displayed on-site. Questions you can ask yourself are as follows:

Is the traffic high or low intent?

Is the content meant to be transactional or educational?

What percentage of traffic are considered “shoppers” vs “ready to purchase”?

Once you have started to answer these questions you can think through the structure of your google ads account and the keywords you may begin to research.

Account Structure

Structuring your Google Ads account can take many forms as your company iterates and optimizes for your business’s KPIs. Regardless of the keywords you bid on the structure should consider a few key components that will help drive more conversions, ad effectiveness, and spend efficiency.

• Set up campaigns that are in-line with business goals. Think about the key components or drivers of revenue or sales. This could be considered a “service line” or business vertical
• Breaking out your campaigns by device. It is beneficial to break out campaigns by device in order to help with targeting and bidding adjustments later down the road.
• Consider the location that you are targeting. This could mean identifying the markets you plan to get exposure in and the type of location targeting you may want to explore.

These are all some of the main key areas to focus on when deciding what your account structure may entail for your business and goals.

Developing the Strategy

Now that we have pulled together an understanding of the business and consumer journey. The next step will be to start conducting keyword research to define where the investment will potentially meet the KPIs and goals the business expects.

This is arguably the most important component when defining the overall Google Ads strategy. A solid understanding of keyword projections and spend will help manage client expectations in the near future.

Example of Projection

Once you have a high level view of conversion projections and spend you can ask another set of questions to validate if Google Ads will be a channel worthwhile to invest in.

• Do the overall conversions seem realistic?
• Is the assumption for conversion rate realistic for the current web experience and user journey? (This is super important because if the experience is poor it will be very very difficult to convert traffic)
• Is the spend and CPA (cost per acquisition) reasonable for the business? A great way to answer this question is to understand the net margin for the product or service that the business plans to sell. If this information is accurate you can really decide if the monetary investment is worthwhile relative to the business and other channels.

Once you have completed this analysis, compile the strategy into a summary that explains projections, assumptions, and next steps. The hope is that all of the considerations will mitigate the risk the client and your team take when pursuing Google Ads as a potential source of revenue.

If you need help managing your search engine marketing I’d love to hear from you!

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