Leveraging Google Ads is one of the most effective ways for small businesses to establish brand awareness, reach broader audiences, and create an online-based revenue stream. In fact, eight out of ten ad dollars invested were invested in digital ads in 2023, and internet advertising is predicted to grow even further in the future.
However, launching a Google Ads campaign isn’t a walk in the park, especially for small businesses that don’t have enough manpower to analyze campaign performance frequently.
Data from Wordstream shows that the typical small enterprise wastes 25% or more of its total paid search spending, which can take a huge financial toll on start-ups. Optimizing your Google Ad campaigns is therefore crucial to avoid wasting ad budget and implement successful campaigns that boost return on investment (ROI). That said, here’s how to optimize Google Ads to get maximum results for your small business:
Understand the importance of doing a PPC audit
When assessing your Google Ads campaign performance, knowing how to conduct a pay-per-click (PPC) audit is essential. Doing a PPC audit enables small business owners to evaluate their Google Ads campaigns’ performance, cost, and returns. A PPC audit checklist can include account structure, keywords, ad and landing page copy, bidding, and tracking. Based on that checklist, you can examine for any keyword overlap or duplicates and typographical errors that can negatively impact ad performance as well as bid performance, which can help indicate how well your Google Ads campaign is doing. This allows you to find significant areas to improve and recalibrate strategies to help your small business grow.
Explore AI tools
To further improve your Google Ads campaign, you can also look into AI tools to boost your online visibility. Last year, Google introduced Video Peep and Seek Info from Gen, two AI-powered advert solutions that can help small businesses administer their campaigns. The Seek Info from Gen campaigns can seamlessly integrate a small firm’s video and image resources into some of Google’s visual touchpoints like Gmail. Meanwhile, the Video Peep can maximize views of advertising campaigns to help small enterprises reach wider audiences. You can also automate your campaigns with Google AI to help you find the best target audiences to maximize web-based revenue.
Leverage Remarketing Lists for Search Ads
Another feature that can help optimize your Google Ads campaigns is the Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs). RLSA is a Google feature that enables you to create a remarketing list audience targeting, which allows search engines to narrow queries to internet users who already visited your site. You’ll also be more flexible in targeting broad-match keywords, which means your small business can easily reach audiences searching for those keywords and who have already been to your website. Eventually, this gives your small enterprise a higher chance of reaching relevant audiences who are more likely to avail of your services and products, therefore increasing conversions.
Keep your keywords local or relevant
Suppose you’re operating a small business offering services within a particular area. In that case, one Google Ads strategy you can try is to keep your keywords local – including the name of your state or city – so your services can be specific to your region or state, thus enabling you to reach highly targeted audiences. You can check out Radius targeting on Google Ads, which allows your ad to be visible within a specific geographic location, such as 30 miles around your state. To do this, you can open the Campaign tab of your Google Ads account and use the bulk targeting tool, which allows you to set up 1,000 locations at once. Using local keywords also lets your small business save money since your ad won’t pop up when search queries are too broad.
In an ever-changing marketing landscape, small businesses can maintain their competitive advantage by running effective ad campaigns that boost conversions and ROI. Follow these tips to help you optimize your Google Ads campaign for your small enterprise.
Exclusively for levelupmag.com by JB Baker
