Google AdWords is one of the best advertising platforms, as it is one of the worst. It all boils down to who you ask, because both statements are correct.

If you don’t set up your ad campaigns the right way, then your marketing budget will suffer a great deal.

However, that’s only half the truth. The second half is optimization. You can create some of the best ad campaigns in the marketing space, and it still won’t survive your competitors.

Allow me to suggest 2 core optimizations for your Google Ads campaign to help maximize your ROIs.

Optimizing your ad targeting

Unless your ads are targeting your prospective clients, your ad campaigns will most likely fail. There are 3 key areas that require optimization: (1) keywords, (2) ad bids, and (3) campaign targeting.

Keywords

To get the best out of your Google AdWords campaign, you’ve got to find out if there is a demand for your product. If your prospective clients aren’t looking for it, then your campaigning will be in vain. So, make sure that enough people are searching for what you’re offering.

When you’re filtering the most appropriate keywords for your AdWords campaigns, it’s important to know where your customers are in the buying journey. The closer they are to the decision stage, the narrower your keywords should be.

Sound ads bid optimization

Selecting the most suitable ads bidding type for your small business and setting up a killer strategy for optimizing bids will give enough oxygen to your marketing budget.

If you launch a new campaign on Google Ads, you must select one of two bidding types:

• Automated
• Manual

This has been a hot topic in the marketing globe. Which type should you opt for: automated or manual? While many advertisers advise against automated, the wiser answer would be: It depends.

Nobody wants to keep adjusting bids, especially if they’re running multiple ad campaigns.

There are 11 bidding strategies that you need to know so you can properly use them.

1. Target ROAS
2. Target CPA
3. Target Impress Share Bidding
4. Maximize Clicks
5. Maximize conversions
6. Maximize Conversion Value
7. Enhanced Cost Per Click
8. Manual CPC bidding
9. Cost Per Thousand Impressions Bidding
10. Cost Per Viewable Thousand Impressions Bidding
11. Cost Per View Bidding

Campaign targeting (segmentation)

When trying to maximize your ROI on marketing campaigns, you want to trigger customer engagement with the campaign so they make a buying decision. That’s campaign targeting in a nutshell.

So, what benefits can campaign targeting or segmentation deliver?

Fact. Sending an email about the newest trends in mobile phones to a list of young 15–30-year-old contacts is better than sending the same content to elderly prospects.

However, what about a 23-year-old nature lover who has no interest in technology? What about a 50-year-old woman who’s geekier than most geeks out there?

Obviously, basing your ad targeting strategy on static segmentation will block a great deal of opportunities and annoy others, as well. What you need is dynamic campaign targeting.

To successfully optimize your campaign targeting, consider the following points:

• The data of your customer relationship management must be up-to-date
• Get inspired by Amazon and Medium and ask for contact interests
• Track your website behavior to determine the visitors’ interests
• Analyze previous campaigns
• Calculate the future worth of a client by using customer lifetime value (CLV)

Optimizing your ad copy

For an effective optimization of your ad copy, you need to split test different ad variations to determine those that work and those that don’t. Here’s what you need to focus on.

Clear Offer

A strong ad copy that drives sales requires writing a clear offer. Answer the following questions:

• What solution does your product or service provide?
• How does it help your target audience solve their problems?
• Why should they buy from you?
• Why should they buy it now?

You should also write an offer that pertains to the search queries of your users.

Catchy Headline

A catchy headline is all about keywords and their placement. They’re there to stop you from scrolling. Here are a few tips to help you write better ad headlines:

• Push your keywords to the front of your headline;
• Ask searchers a captivating question with your headline;
• Offer to solve a problem or fill a need;
• Make it funny;
• Statistics have a powerful impact;
• Make it simple, but also make it punchy;
• Focus on benefits rather than features.

Strong Ad description

A lot of PPC advertisers write text ads that match the headline with the query, hoping to bring searchers to the target landing page. Will that be enough, though?

When searchers look for a product, Google displays up to 3 ads at the top and 8 at the side. Obviously, there are a lot of competing elements at play here. Your ad description has the potential to lure in click throughs, provided they’re well-written!

There are more ways you can use to write noticeable ad descriptions. Here are a few tips:

• Use “%” and “$” signs to grab the attention of viewers
• Numbers are impactful despite lack of discounts
• Use abbreviations to force use of ALL CAPS
• Include Coupon Codes
• Include punchy CTAs: something like “Up to 70% Off. Get a Deal Today!”
• Show the benefit

Relevant Display URL

The Display URL of your Ad Copy is a web address that searchers can see in PPC search ads. Despite their inactivity, they showcase where searchers will land if they click on the ad.

Consider the following best practices of AdWords Display URL:

• Use subdomains and path fields to reinforce your target keywords
• Use Title cases to make your domains and subdomains more visible
• Include as many details as your character limit requires

Optimizing your Display URL can play an essential role in your AdWords campaign performance.

Ad extensions

Ad extensions are crucial to your ad copy in that they provide details to your search ads. Some of these details include:

• Location extension
• Callout extension
• Call extension
• Review extension

Conclusion

I’m sure there’s no doubt in your mind that Google AdWords optimization is not a one time process.

Making a habit of testing and optimizing your ad targeting and your ad copy will skyrocket your Return on investment.