With the right strategy, you can get much more out of practically all Google Ads accounts. More conversions, more customers and more revenue. In this article, we will bring you up to date on Google Ads strategy.
7 Effective Google Ads Strategies & Tools
Campaign „Maximum Performance“
Users are increasingly interacting with Google advertising across networks and devices. This results in interactions on different platforms and can lead to success through interaction. Google has recognized this trend and introduced the Maximum Performance campaign type in November 2021.
With this new tool, you can reach all Google Ads channels at once with one campaign, i.e. Google Search, YouTube, Display Network, Discovery, Gmail and Google Maps. With the help of real-time signals and smart bidding, advertisers are hoping for higher conversion values, according to Google Best Practice.
The benefits are clearly defined:
- Finding new customers across all Google channels
- Achieve better performance against set goals
- Increase value through machine learning and data-driven attribution
- Get meaningful data on performance
- Easily manage and optimize the campaign
Performance Max Campaigns are good for sales and lead generation. The big bonus is that Merchant Center has also been integrated recently, enabling playout to the Shopping Network as well.
You can create a Maximum Performance Campaigns only under the campaign goals of Sales, Leads, Site Traffic or Local Store Visits.
The clear plus point of Performance Max campaigns is that they deliver to ad spaces and networks that existing campaigns have not yet reached.
Improve your conversion rate
Conversion rate optimization is an important metric in Google Ads Marketing and primarily involves monitoring, analyzing and improving the conversion rate. We understand it as all measures that can be taken to improve the conversion rate.
By implementing website conversion tracking, for example, you can record your sales in Google Ads. With the help of this information, you will be able to optimize your conversion data. But what are your options?
Conversion rate optimization is understood as a continuous process and should be validated and checked for success on a regular basis.
Use Google Consent Mode
The GDPR requires companies to obtain user consent for tracking usage behavior. Google Consent Mode includes two new tag settings that manage cookies for advertising and analytics purposes for advertisers.
The two options are used to customize Google tag behavior before and after user consent. This allows advertisers to measure conversions more effectively while respecting users‘ consent decisions for ad cookies and analytics cookies.
So Google Consent Mode still enables data-driven Google Ads marketing and gives you an advantage over competitors who advertise without the consent of the GDPR.
If the user refuses data consent, no marketing cookies are used. But then contextual and interest-based (FLoC) ads are displayed instead of personalized ads. This brings together groups with similar interests to form clusters. This basic idea anonymizes individual behavior and data is processed quantitatively to protect browsing history.
Google Consent Mode supports Google Ads Conversion Tracking, Google Ads Remarketing and Google Analytics. Learn more about Google Consent Mode here.
Use Smart Bidding
Automated bidding strategies evaluate data and conversion signals through machine learning, and can target these into each auction to present ads to the appropriate users in real time.
The goal is to improve conversion-based data. This is also referred to as „automatic bidding.“ Smart bidding strategies include target CPA, target ROAS, maximize conversions, maximize conversion value.
Smart bidding is becoming more and more important in the increasingly data-driven and automated SEA marketing and offers clear advantages over manual or semi-automated bidding strategies:
Use Customer Match
The customer match list is a useful yet still very underrated tool in Google Ads. It can be used in brand expansion, branding and conversion optimization.
With your own CRM system, you can easily and GDPR compliantly upload your own customer list to your audience management and reach existing customers again with your ads in the search, display, shopping, app and YouTube network.
The best part
The data from your customer power list is used through machine learning to find new, similar users that match your target audience. This allows you to automatically find new customers using the information from your existing customer base.
Make sure you only upload customer data that you have collected yourself – This may have been collected online via your website or offline in your retail store. Feel free to mix it up. Before uploading the matching list, get the customers‘ consent and you can integrate your customer data into your Google Ads account.
Focus on your target audience
Keyword research is a decisive factor in Google Ads for success in the search network. At least as important is the determination and optimization of the target group. The best keyword analysis can lead to high wastage without targeting the appropriate customer base.
When you run a search campaign, you have the option to monitor different target groups. This option has no direct impact on the performance of the campaign, but it can provide you with valuable insights related to target groups, placements and topics.
The data collected during monitoring can then be used as targeting in the display network on this basis
Here you specify which target groups you want to reach with the display advertising. Thus, the chances increase with individualized characteristics of the target group to find the appropriate users. You can combine between demographic characteristics, common interests, target groups ready to buy, custom target groups and users based on self-collected data and segments (remarketing).
Once you have collected enough data, you can make bid adjustments for the target groups.
Use Image Extensions
Image Extensions you to add relevant images to your search ads. Customers learn more about your service or products, and at the same time the ad appears larger and therefore catches the eye more quickly. This in turn promises higher click-through rates.
You can add your own images manually or let the Dynamic Image Extension independently select suitable images from your landing page with the help of machine learning.