As if our websites didn’t keep us busy enough, Goop Digital is busier than ever these days advising and helping businesses with their Google Ads campaigns. Organising Google Ads for Geelong and district’s business community in particular is keeping our team members on their collective toes.
As demand for Google Ads in Geelong retail and service sectors increases, so too do questions about the online marketing platform, formerly known as Google Adwords.
While questions are varied, from the mainstream “how much does it cost?”, to the we-didn’t-see-that-coming “how do I stop Google displaying my competitors ads?”, there are a few that keep coming up again and again. So, in a bid to ease the stream of questions we’ve compiled answers to Goop Digital’s top 10 FAQ about Google Ads.
The Goop Digital Google Ads FAQ Top 10
1. Why do I need Google Ads if I have an organic SEO website?
Grab your mobile phone and search for a product or service? Chances are the top results in the search returns are advertisements. In fact, the order of items on display is almost certain to be Google Ads at the top, then the Google three-pack business listings and then the organic results. Those organic results – the websites – are way down the list and largely invisible on smart phones unless users scroll. If you want prominence in searches on mobile devices – and you should because mobile search outstrips desktops in many audiences – then Google Ads make perfect sense.
While ads dominate screen real estate on mobile devices, they’re not as dominant on desktop and tablets, so websites continue to perform in Google searches on desktop computers and tablets, and research shows e-commerce conversions on desktop continue to remain higher than conversions on smartphones, despite the rise in mobile searches. After all that, the short answer is that Google Ads ensures advertisers are prominent in mobile, desktop and tablet searches. Ads and a search-engine-optimised website ensure your business has as much online real estate as possible and the best possible chance of convincing a client to pick your business from the crowd online.
2. How much do Google Ads cost?
This is probably the most common and hardest to answer question of all. The flippant answer is that a Google Ad doesn’t cost anything until a user clicks on the ad. The serious answer is that the price of a click varies, and it varies because of the numerous variables which decide the cost of each click. Those variables include the competitiveness of your market, the content and format of your ad, the location of your target market, the device you’re targeting, the time of day you want to display your ad, the relationship between your ad and your website. There is no straightforward answer to how much a click on an ad will cost an advertiser, however Google Ads clicks generally range from prices in the cents to tens of dollars for a click on a keyword such as “insurance”. Some small to medium businesses spend, say, $500 a month on their ads, while large corporations might spend up to $50 million a year.
The cost of Google Ads depends on who you’re targeting and when and how you’re targeting them. For most Geelong Google Ads clients, we’d say expect each click of your ad to cost between 50 cents and $2, but it might be more and it might be less.
3. How much should I spend on Google Ads?
As a guide, Goop Digital’s Geelong Google Ads client would need to spend at least $1500 a month over a series of months to get real results from their campaign. It’s ultimately up to you how much you commit to spend but remember, you will only pay when somebody clicks on your ad, and the more you invest the longer your ads will display. With the right approach you can outlast your competitors without spending a fortune.
4. How do I get to the top of Google Ads?
The Google Ads dashboard has a variety of settings which you can adjust to target the top position or increase your likelihood of reaching the top position. You can’t buy your way straight to the top, and we’d suggest a campaign striving to be number one for your keyword in the shortest time possible is not in your best interests. You’ll burn cash and blow your budget for little or no reward.
High-quality ads and high-quality landing pages are crucial to Google Ads success. Goop Digital will strive to get you the most clicks for your budget, and with our strategy you might find yourself at the top of the ads by default.
5. Do I need to be at the top of Google Ads?
No, not necessarily. Most of the time being at top of the ads listings costs you more per click. You’re better off focusing on a campaign that maximises clicks. The good news is that if the top spot holders run out of budget you just might end up in top spot anyway, without having to spend a cent more.
6. What is the best time to run my Google Ads?
The answer to this question depends on your industry. You need to think about when people will be searching for your products or services. A car dealership, for example, might focus most of its pay per click advertising on Saturdays when people have time to look at new cars online. A travel agent might focus its advertising on Mondays and Tuesdays because the weekend is still fresh in people’s minds and they’re unhappy being back at work. Had a big weekend and feel it’s time to get fit? You might be more likely to search for a gym or personal trainer on a Monday. Goop Digital advertises 24/7 because our research shows clients are looking for our services at all hours of the day, seven days a week.
Goop Digital works with clients researching the best days, times, devices and locations to focus their advertising, and then schedules advertisements to appear when we know people are searching for a client’s products or services.
7. Does it cost me if competitors click on my Google Ads?
In the short term, yes, competitors’ clicks might cost! But Google has technologically advanced structures and software which identify every click on every ad in its system and these procedures and tools quickly identify invalid clicks and wipe them from your account. Just how does Google do this? By checking IP addresses, interactions with ads, times of clicks, clicking patterns and so on and so on and so on. Goop Digital’s experience is that Google is better than good when it comes to picking dodgy ad clicks.
8. How do I know which keywords to use in my Google Ads?
Some keywords are common sense. If, for example, you sell red shoes for children, then “red shoes for children” would be a keyword for your ad. Just make sure you have a page dedicated to those red shoes for children so you can point your ad to it! Google’s Keyword Planner is an invaluable tool which can help you identify the most appropriate keywords for your advertising campaign, and there is an assortment of free and premium software which can help with keyword planning and numerous other online tasks. If you’ve got time – and we bet you don’t – you can become proficient with Google’s Keyword Planner and other tools but perhaps the easiest way to pick valid and justified keywords is to work with a company such as Goop Digital which has done the training, has the qualifications, resources and contacts to make sure you advertising campaign uses the most appropriate keywords to get the best results.
9. How do I know my Google Ads are working?
The frivolous answer: You’ll know your ads are working when the phone starts ringing! The serious answer: Google – and other organisations – provide various tools which report on the performance of your online ads and there is an array of tools which help diagnose and improve the performance of your ads – click-through rates, impressions, conversions, costs per conversion, call metrics, view-through figures… again, the list is long and sorting the wheat from the chaff, to coin a grandma expression, is arduous and time consuming but certainly achievable.
10. Why do I need Goop Digital to manage my Google Ads?
Read the previous nine questions and answers. Google Ads is a phenomenally powerful advertising tool but it can also be phenomenally confusing and time consuming, particularly for the inexperienced. Google Ads can also be an easy way to waste money if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Goop Digital is a certified Google Partner and has a team whose role is 100 percent dedicated to learning about Google and applying that knowledge to the benefit of clients. Our team members have done the training, have the qualifications, the tools and the time to create, monitor and manage advertising campaigns that deliver. As well, to reinforce our commitment to clients and deliver on their expectations, we provide in-depth and easy-to-understand reports on the performance of their advertising campaigns.
At Goop Digital we understand clients expect – and deserve – a return on investment. If you’re looking for an ROI from your Google Ads, contact Mish Ceh and his team of Geelong Google Ads gurus at Goop Digital. As always, we’re here to help.