Anyone new to Google Ads will have a number of questions about how it works and how it can help their business. If you’ve been thinking about launching some ads or have just recently started, then it’s likely you have many questions that need answers.
I’ve put together some of the frequently asked questions that anyone new to Google Ads is likely to ask.
How Much Should We Spend?
Budget setting is one of the most challenging things new advertisers face. Many advertisers are not sure what budgets to set to make Google Ads a success for their business. And that’s understandable especially when one has little or no experience on Google.
It’s difficult to know what you’ll spend for the traffic you want to get and what the level of competition. All of these are factors to what budget to set, which will affect the spend.
A very helpful tool to help you decide on your budget and how much you’re likely to spend is the Keyword Planner tool.
With this tool you can carry out some keyword research to see the traffic potential and suggested bids for your keywords.
And when you’ve collated all your keywords, you can use this tool to forecast the traffic volumes, spend and conversion returns you’ll get.
What Keywords Should We Bid On?
With your knowledge of your industry, you should easily come up with 2-5 keywords that searchers would use to find your products or services.
You can then plug these into a tool like the Keyword Planner tool to carry out some keyword research. This tool will produce hundreds of keywords that you can add to your campaigns and drive traffic to your website or business.
Keyword research is fundamental to Google Ads advertising. So, it’s one of the first tasks you should carry out to determine likely traffic volumes, budget to set and to assess competition levels.
When Should We Run Our Ads?
Google Ads allows you to choose the days and hours to run your adverts. The Ad Scheduling tool allows you to update the settings according to your requirements.
The default setting when you first setup a campaign is to run the ads 24/7. So, the ads will run everyday, Sunday to Saturday for 24 hours each day if you don’t change these settings.
Now, the best settings will depend on the nature of your business and what goals and budget you have.
An example would be an accountancy practice that wants to target small to medium size businesses. The natural thing to do would be to run the ads from Mon-Fri between working hours 9am-5pm. This would be when your target audience is more likely to be active and searching for your accountancy services.
However, as you may find from your research, many small business owners do search for such services outside of normal working hours and over the weekend when they have some free time. So, you should be visible at such moments.
In fact, the person searching outside of working hours is usually a decision maker. They’re more likely to be the person to decide on whether to go with your service or not.
On the other hand, many people who search during working hours are assistants and admin officers that have been tasked by the real decision maker. The decision to go ahead will be made by someone else – a senior in the business.
How Do We Setup Our Ads?
To setup effective ads, I recommend you start with keyword research. This helps you to assess the demand for your products or services and determine how much you’d like to spend each month.
When you’ve done the research, you can then look at setting up a campaign. So, based on your findings, you can set a budget in campaign settings, that’s sufficient enough to reach your goals.
Google Ads offers step by step instructions on how to setup a campaign and you can follow the instructions to find out how to do it effectively.
Where Will Our Ads Appear?
There are a number of places your ads will appear. The first and most obvious is on Google if you’re running a search or shopping campaign. So, when you search using a keyword you’re bidding on, you’ll be able to see one of your ads if it’s active and eligible to run. (Try using the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool in your account to see how your ads appear on Google – it’s in the Tools section)
Your ads will also appear on Search Partner sites if you’ve selected that option. Google has partnered with hundreds of search sites across the web that provide search results.
Should We Hire a Google Ads Expert?
Many advertisers have considered hiring a Google Ads expert. This is usually when they’re first launching campaigns and don’t have the expertise to do it themselves. Then later when the ads are running and they are familiar with the platform, they bring the management in-house.
So, your choice to work with an expert should depend on a number of factors. Ask yourself if you have the time to setup and manage the campaigns; or whether you have the skills and experience to do so.
You can then speak to a few experts to pick the most suitable for your business.
How Can We Beat Our Competitors?
Knowing who you’re competing with is very important. It determines how much your average Cost Per Click (CPC) will be and how much you’re likely to spend based on your budget.
It also determines what your average position will be and how visible your ads will be. So, knowing your competitors and what they’re doing is important and should be one of your first considerations.
The important thing is to create unique ads that are differentiated from competitors’ and appeal to your target audience.
So, you can use a competitor research tool like Spyfu.com to find out what the competition is up to. It will show you the following:
• Keywords they are bidding on
• The average CPC for each keyword and ad
• The position of each ad in the ad results
• Whether they are ranked at the top or bottom on Google
• How much they are spending each month on Google Ads
Summary
As a new advertiser in Google Ads, you will obviously have many more questions about campaigns, ads and the various parts of your account. So it’s important to know where to find the answers that will help you manage it effectively. Contact me if you have any more questions or would like to find out about my Google Ads services.
