Businesses can do one of many things to optimize their PPC ad campaigns and improve profitability.
However, if you just started a business, these strategies may seem a little daunting initially.
Ad groups either contain a single ad or several ads that target specific keywords. Then, you set a certain price for those ads every time your ad group’s keywords trigger it to appear in front of your audience.
The best part about this strategy is setting your price for individual keywords within an ad group. You can also customize your ad group according to a specific theme.
For example, you can personalize them according to your brand’s persona or the types of products and services you offer.
Before jumping into how you can optimize your ad groups for better reach, it is essential to understand what ad groups are.
Ad groups are sets of keywords that businesses use in their targeted campaigns: every single ad or a group of ads shares similar targets.
You will be required to set a specific price or bid that will be used when the keywords cause an ad to appear to your audience.
These bids are called CPC ( Cost Per Click) bids. The advertising service usually sets these keywords for your PPC marketing campaigns.
When creating an account and setting up details, you will be asked to generate an ad group that will store text ads, landing pages, and keywords.
This will allow you to create an organized structure for your PPC ads. This can be very helpful when you monitor your progress and make specific changes to your PPC Ad campaigns.
For example, if you make a unique ad group for all the products and services your business offers, you might make an ad group for products you offer to your commercial clients and a different one for your residential ones.
Long story short, you can effortlessly structure your promotional materials through tools provided by PPC advertising agencies and services.
Every PPC advertising campaign you create lets you have multiple ad groups. Every ad group must contain at least one ad and one keyword. You can perfectly run a PPC ad with one ad group, one campaign, and one keyword. Moreover, you can also use one campaign and one ad group to market multiple keywords.
The question most business owners ask themselves is, “what is the benefit of running an ad group for PPC ad campaigns?”
To understand these benefits, it is crucial to look at the features shared between several ad groups and the parts that can be set separately for each one.
Let’s use an example to explain the benefits of ad groups better. Think of owning a restaurant that serves different types of cuisines from all over the world.
Having several ad groups for your PPC campaigns allows you to generate ads close to a specific group of keywords.
You can also fragment your keywords into different lists that are much more related. However, each ad group must ideally have one specific keyword and numerous variations.
For example, you can have separate ad groups for “Sushi rolls” or “Pepperoni Pizza.” In addition, you can create an ad campaign for a specific keyword and include several keywords such as “Cheese Pepperoni Pizza” or “Sushi Rice Rolls.”
Targetting long-tailed keywords drives better conversations than using common keywords. However, it would help if you still made sure that the ads are compelling enough so that users can click and improve conversion rates.
You can do this by creating different ad groups for long-tailed keywords. For example, you can create long-tailed keywords like “Which sushi roll flavor should I try.”
This will give you a chance to specifically target a user who wants to try different flavors of sushi rolls. You can also create a landing page and ads that compare different flavors of sushi roll sauces.
It’s not like you can set up a campaign, and it will keep running for life. You will need to tweak your keywords constantly.
For example, delete the old ones you don’t need and add new ones. You can also generate new ad groups for your new keywords without disrupting the old ones.
You can easily optimize your ads by creating new ad groups for the keywords. Moreover, you will also optimize your landing pages without worrying about harming other keywords.
The changes in your ad groups can significantly impact your overall campaign budget. However, you can also preset specific funding for all ad groups without worrying it will exceed.
Then, when there is a peak in queries related to one ad group, it will automatically absorb the price from other ad groups.
This strategy can be beneficial if you own a small business since startup businesses usually work within a limited budget.
Now that you are aware of the importance of ad groups in PPC let’s look at ways you can create better ad groups for your PPC campaigns.
It is essential to get all the tactical elements right to ensure functional structure. This will help you quickly benefit from the most innovative paid search methods that rely on automation and scripts.
For example, when you decide the number of ad groups you need, you must consider what type of searches need to be covered the most.
Your audience plays a crucial role in your ad group structure. You can use bid modifiers to avoid creating separate campaigns.
Moreover, it is vital to identify your audience’s specific needs and preferences. It will help you understand the niche of your business and help you come up with new product ideas according to the requirements of your customers.
In addition, identifying a specific need will help you communicate with your audience effectively while improving engagement rates.
Moreover, you must use any first-party and third-party data that helps you guide your structure. You can also target old customers using RLSA campaigns.
However, you must slice your structure a little bit further, mainly if you sell several products and services.
For example, you can create separate ad campaigns for users who have purchased specific products from you. This will help you support cross-selling business objectives that have specific dedicated goals.
You may want a similar geography footprint for your business, just like it does with any other channel.
However, the demands of your search engine will likely be different from the location of your offline sales.
So, take your time and search where most of your online and offline sales occur—for example, the cities, states, countries, areas, etc.
Once you do this, you can set up individual campaigns for your top markets. Then, if you still have some of the budget remaining, you can create a campaign that covers all the remaining audience in places your consumers usually come from.
When deciding a specific language to target, you need to see where most of your bulk audience is coming from. If you want to target several languages, you can create separate campaigns for each language.
Every device’s performance dramatically varies. Therefore, before optimizing your campaigns in relation to a specific device, you must consider some of the advantages and disadvantages listed below.
The mobile user experience will be vital if the site has a responsive design. Your campaign can have the same goals as those generated on other devices.
Moreover, segmenting your campaign according to the devices will reduce the KPI and traffic available for optimization. This may create campaigns that do not have much volume.
It is recommended that you do not generate campaigns concerning a device if it does not present a solid amount of cost, traffic, and goals.
Instead, you can use device bid modifiers to efficiently tailor the ad message across several devices.
Using keywords is extremely important in any PPC ad campaign. While Google does provide you with good quality keywords according to the relevance of your campaign, it is highly crucial to integrate keywords that have a higher CTR.
Studies have shown that 68% of online searches begin with a Search engine through keywords. So, when you make an ad group, make sure to check the performance of your keywords before integrating them.
And if your audience belongs to a different geographical location, finding keywords relevant to that specific location may be challenging. In such cases, you must use a VPN to discover what keywords rank in that location.
With a VPN, you will acquire an IP address of a particular area. This will help you navigate through the internet just like a local would.
Although several VPN options are available, some of them might not be up to the mark in terms of quality.
Therefore, you need to make a wise decision regarding the VPN you choose to surf through the internet in that particular location. Check online reviews before investing in a VPN service.
Using ad extensions is one of the best ways to unravel information regarding your products and services. Generally, there are two kinds of ad extensions.
Advertisers use manual ad extensions according to the requirements of their business. Therefore, you can easily customize and personalize manual ad extensions.
Moreover, these extensions further segment into several other extensions like location, call out, site link, review, etc.
On the contrary, automatic ad extensions function automatically. Furthermore, automatic ad extensions are also segmented into several other attachments such as previous visits, dynamic site links, customer ratings, etc.
It is common for ads to have a high bounce rate in pay-per-click marketing. For example, you might have specific customers who purchase products from you and then sway away.
Advertisers use remarketing through blogs, articles, and websites to regain those customers. In addition, advertisers can generate custom messages that lure visitors to revisit your website and purchase a product or service through remarketing.
It is essential t keep track of your PPC campaigns to ensure the success of your ad groups. Unfortunately, some marketers don’t realize the importance of keeping track of their PPC campaigns. This is one of the reasons why their PPC campaigns are unsuccessful.
Make sure you constantly monitor the performance of your PPC campaigns, as it will help you gain significant insights into how well your PPC campaign is performing.
Google Analytics is an excellent tool for advertisers who use Google Ads to market their advertisements. Research has shown that Google Ads convert 50% better than organic reach.
Hence, if you use Google Ads to market your campaign, there are high chances your website will rank better if you optimize your ad groups.
You can invest in an automation tool to improve the efficiency of your ad groups. Automation tools offer closed-loop reporting to help you quickly find information regarding your campaigns.
It also allows you to use excellent marketing strategies to improve the performance of your campaigns.
PPC advertising can help you boost engagement and increase your website’s visibility irrespective of the type and size of your business. However, following the steps listed above is essential to ensure your campaign is working well.
Ad copies are a great way to ensure the success of your ad groups. Therefore, it is essential to write an ad copy that is convincing enough to retain old customers and attract newer ones.
In addition, make sure you state your business’s unique selling point so that your customers have a reason to choose you over your competition.
Moreover, make sure your ad copies are relevant. Link all your ads with relevant keywords and landing pages.
Furthermore, make sure you generate eye-catching headlines since these are the first thing a visitor looks at.
Use power words in your headlines to make them even more compelling. For example, you can use words like Free, Today Only, Exclusive, Instant Etc. Finally, end your ad copies with an eye-grabbing call to action.
Every marketer seeks ad groups that are compelling and cost less at the same time. Therefore, consistency in an ad group is critical.
In addition, your landing pages must directly speak to an audience searching for something to reach your website. Therefore, make sure you consistently create ad texts, landing pages, and keyword groups closely related.
When you create well-aligned ad groups, not only do you pay less, and convert more.
For example, suppose a user searches for graphic designing services, and your ad talks about it and sends them to a similar landing page. In that scenario, you will get more conversions than a landing page that does not associate graphic designing services.
So, long story short, you need to be very vigilant in what you include in your ad copies as they play a huge role in determining how successful your ads will be.
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Most marketers love Google Ads.
We're no exception.
But we totally understand that businesses in certain industries sometimes have a deep resentment of Google Ads and their restrictive policies.
Google's policies for advertising are generally intuitive and straightforward, but for certain regulated and sensitive categories, the standards are much higher and less clear. Pharmaceutical companies, gambling websites, political campaigns, and other industries often struggle to get their ads approved consistently.
In fact, if you don't know what you're getting into, trying to advertise as a business in one of these categories can be a recipe for disaster.
How are you supposed to use Google Ads effectively if you belong to one of these regulated or sensitive categories?
Sensitive and regulated categories in PPC advertising face a number of challenges, including:
· Stricter guidelines. Most PPC advertisers are familiar and comfortable with basic Google Ads guidelines. But if you belong to a regulated or sensitive category, you'll have far more guidelines and more nuanced guidelines to deal with.
· Higher scrutiny. Google pays much closer attention to ads in regulated and sensitive categories, meaning you face closer scrutiny when your ads start circulating. Reports will be investigated quicker and much more strictly, and even minor violations can work against you.
· More ad disapprovals. Similarly, ads are much more likely to get disapproved in these categories. You'll face an uphill battle as you try to get your ads circulating.
· The risk of suspensions. Businesses in these categories also face the risk of frequent, ongoing suspensions. This trend is also worsening; in fact, in 2023, Google Ads suspended more than 12.7 million advertiser accounts – doubling their actions over the previous year.
This makes it much more difficult to advertise effectively and secure a positive return on investment (ROI). Additionally, failing to adhere to Google’s advertising policies can hurt your company's reputation and compromise your long-term potential for success.
The most important thing you can do to improve your results in a regulated or sensitive category is to plan for a sustainable, long-term strategy. Every year, thousands of business owners in these categories attempt to fool Google, find clever ways around its policies, and devise techniques that allow them to cheat the system.
These approaches can usually work temporarily. You can cheat your way into the listings and generate some traffic to your landing page.
But inevitably, these techniques fail, and they can ultimately get you blacklisted.
You're much better off taking the slow, steady approach, following the rules even if it means compromising your advertising effectiveness in the short term. Think about the long-term consequences and possibilities of each decision you make.
There is some good news here.
Google isn’t shy about publishing its advertising policies.
If you're willing to do the reading and research, you can thoroughly understand what Google expects from regulated and sensitive categories like yours – and you can easily adhere to the guidelines.
Well, maybe not “easily,” but reliably.
Generally, Google splits content into two types:
· Restricted content. Restricted content is sensitive content that is subject to more regulations. You must precisely comply with requirements for copy, images, website content, and more if you want to remain in circulation.
· Prohibited content. Prohibited content is totally disallowed. You cannot include it without facing significant consequences.
Unfortunately, we can't give you a big list of all the rules you need to follow, as the rules are different for various industries. Some of the most popular industries and categories that face steeper restrictions include:
· Pharmaceuticals and healthcare products
· Weapons and explosives
· Financial services (including cryptocurrencies)
· Gambling/games of chance
· Alcohol, tobacco, and similar products
· Political ads
· Adult content and services
While there are certainly commonalities between regulations across these categories, each category has its own unique blend of restrictions and rules to learn. For example, pharmaceutical businesses require formal certification from Google and are only allowed in some countries. In the financial services industry, you'll likely need a specific license, and you'll need to provide adequate disclosures for your products and services.
The more intimately you know these rules and regulations and how they apply to your industry, the more likely you'll be able to advertise successfully. Don't advertise until you're sure you understand all applicable Google Ads policies.
One other important note here: you need to stay updated.
Google isn't stagnant, and its advertising policies are constantly in flux. Accordingly, you need to stay abreast of recent changes and update your ad approaches in line with them.
The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to Google Ads policy updates, but you should also regularly engage in Google Ads forums. If you're lucky enough to have a representative, maintain open and transparent communication with them and stay in touch regularly; they can be a massive benefit for businesses in regulated and sensitive categories.
The more research you do, the better. You need to thoroughly understand your advertising landscape before you try to thread this needle.
· Google Ads policies. Obviously, read and understand Google Ads policies as they relate to your industry. We mostly covered this in the previous section, but it's part of the research you need to do.
· Licensing and certification requirements. Even if it's not specifically required by Google, it's a good idea to get any appropriate licenses or certifications. It's a mark of authority and trustworthiness that might save you if any of your ads are reviewed for potential policy violations.
· Laws and regulations. Similarly, violating any laws and regulations in the country where you're advertising could be grounds for ad removal or account suspension, even if those violations aren't specifically listed in Google Ads policies. Always ensure legal compliance before advertising with Google.
· Competitor advertising. It's also a good idea to research your competitors. It's very likely that businesses similar to yours, in the same category, are already advertising successfully. Look at what they're doing. How are they phrasing things? Which disclosures are they including? Do you notice anything missing? You can learn a lot simply by studying previously successful ads.
· Market research. The success of your Google Ads largely depends on your ability to successfully target and appeal to your demographics. If you're properly informative and persuasive, with relevant messaging to the people you're reaching, you're much less likely to face reports, removals, and suspensions. Accordingly, you need to do a deep dive into market research so you better understand your target demographics and can appeal to them with relevant content. If you don't have buyer personas, develop them. If you don't know what your target audience is struggling with or what they want to, pause your ads until you figure it out. There are no shortcuts here, so do a deep dive into your market research if you want a reasonable chance to succeed.
When creating and preparing new ads, make sure everything is compliant, including your copy, your images, and any of your website content.
Remember that the rules and restrictions vary by industry, but these are some general rules that can help you get started:
· Stick to the facts. Don't exaggerate. Don't embellish. Certainly don't lie. It's important to stick to the facts as closely as possible, even if it makes your ad a bit stoic or “boring.” Purely factual advertising rarely gets removed.
· Avoid prohibited or sensitive terms. Review prohibited and sensitive terms that apply to your industry, and avoid those terms like the plague. Consider creating a list of alternatives that you can rely on instead.
· Be transparent. Be absolutely transparent with your target audience, even if you're forced to reveal things that weaken the appeal of your products and services. Offer disclosures when required, and potentially when not required if they can boost your credibility.
· Adopt a serious, professional tone. Don't play with fire. Your best course of action is to adopt a serious, professional tone across your ads. It's much less likely to be reported, and it will seem more authoritative and trustworthy.
· Eliminate sensationalism. In line with this, eliminate all forms of sensationalism. Graphic or revealing content, exaggerated claims, and other techniques designed to evoke strong emotions are probably going to work against you.
· Focus on using images for context. If you're going to include images, make sure they provide meaningful context. Advertisers sometimes select images based on how easily they grab attention or how exciting they are, but this is a surefire way to fail if you belong to a sensitive or restricted category.
· Include warnings if necessary. If there are any warnings that are relevant to your products and services, include them. More information is typically better in matters like these.
· Leverage the power of AB testing. The more relevant and effective your ads are, the more likely they are to succeed. Leverage the power of AB testing to learn more about what your audience wants to see and how to give it to them.
Don't forget about your landing pages.
These are important to Google as well.
If your landing pages deviate from Google Ads guidelines, or if they contradict what's in your ads, it could work against you.
These are some tips to get you started:
· Keep it relevant. Always make sure your landing page is completely relevant and in line with whatever is included in your ad. If users click your ad and find something unexpected, unpleasant, or otherwise jarring, Google might take action.
· Issue disclaimers and warnings. This is an opportunity to double down on disclaimers, warnings, and important disclosures. Err on the side of caution and make these prominent to show that you're in full compliance with both Google Ads policies and laws in your area.
· Make your business information accessible. Make your business information transparent and accessible. Offer your brand name and business location information, and give visitors some way to contact you, preferably via phone and email. It's a sign of trustworthiness and it can proactively resolve potential disputes.
· Be straightforward and transparent. Everything on your landing page needs to be straightforward and transparent. Follow the same rules you did for your ads, and avoid exaggerations and sensationalism.
· Double check Google Ads requirements. Always double-check Google Ads requirements when constructing your landing page. You should fulfill or comply with each item on your landing page to be safe.
You've already done significant market research, so make sure you apply it correctly. Target your audience very specifically so that your messages are only shown to people for whom they are relevant. If someone outside the scope of your target demographics sees your ads, they'll be much more likely to issue reports – and your ads will be much more likely to be removed. It's especially important to target people in the right geographic area.
There are some Black Hat techniques designed to circumvent Google Ads rules and regulations, or otherwise give you an unfair advantage in a sensitive or restricted category. These techniques typically violate Google policies and are largely considered unethical by the advertising community.
One of the most prominent examples is cloaking. Using one of several techniques, cloaking can allow you to advertise to audiences with content different from what you showed Google for approval. It's obvious why this is potentially beneficial, but it's also obvious why this is unethical.
As you might imagine, these techniques can work temporarily. They can give you a significant short-term advantage, allowing you a better strategic position and potentially more ad opportunities. However, if you use them, you could get your account suspended, or even permanently blacklisted. Even if you evade that, you could ruin your company's reputation and jeopardize your long-term results.
Do not follow these strategies. If a PPC agency recommends any such strategies to you, fire them.
They simply aren't worth it.
Navigating the world of Google Ads isn't easy.
In fact, it's stressful and incredibly difficult if your business happens to belong to one of these sensitive or restricted categories.
The good news is it's much easier to be successful when you work with a PPC advertising agency that has experience creating and managing ads for a business like yours. We're deeply acquainted with all the rules and restrictions you need to worry about, and we know how to make target demographics like yours convert.
If you’re ready to get started with a free consultation, contact us today!
When you want to use paid search marketing platforms, Google Ads often leads the list. Because of its versatility, simplicity, and popularity, it’s obvious why it’s a popular choice. But when you drop all of your PPC advertising money into one marketing strategy, you could lose some leads.
That’s why some businesses explore paid advertising marketing outside of Google, with many turning to Linkedin Ads.
Google Ads and Linkedin Ads are highly efficient ways to market your products and services to businesses and consumers. But each marketing channel has its advantages and disadvantages. Whatever you choose, make sure you discuss the matter with your web development company.
Below is a closer look at each option.
We think it’s reasonable to conclude that Google reaches a vast audience worldwide – its ad reach is a stunning 4 billion people. Google search handles about 70% of desktop searches, and many companies report that they get about 90% of their organic traffic from the search engines. Also, up to 95% of the mobile search market comes from Google.
People use Google’s search a lot, and having the ability to target search terms with specific search ads is a massive benefit of Adwords. People tend to search for very specific things in Google, so if you can customize your Google advertising for your targeted audience, you’ll receive plenty of leads.
So, we can assume that most people’s targeted audience uses Google to some degree. That’s a massive advantage for companies when they want to target an audience.
However, businesses that want to narrow down their search may have issues getting their Google ads settings right with both Google Ads. And if you blunder when segmenting your audiences, your digital ad campaign could suffer.
LinkedIn features a narrower audience – 500 million users – namely businesses and business professionals. But this more limited audience makes it the perfect place for effective B2B marketing. LinkedIn lets marketers serve online ads to decision-makers and vital audience members in several ways.
Summary: For B2B firms that want to reach decision-makers, Linkedin is a terrific advertising platforms. If your B2C company intends to increase its reach, Google Ads could be the best fit.
When you target your audience with Google Ads, you have a few options: location, affinity, technology, buyer behavior, demographics, and interactions with your app or website.
No matter how much you know about your buyer, you may struggle to avoid clicks from worthless leads that cost too much.
In some cases on Google, people may not even know what they’re looking for. You can try to advertise to your desired targeted audience on Google Ads, but it can be challenging to get to the precise people who will most likely buy what you sell.
When people sign up for LinkedIn, they usually provide many details, such as their occupation, title/job title, experience, industry, education, interests, and more. All of this information can be leveraged for great advantage when you start your marketing campaigns.
Also, LinkedIn users can join many groups, start conversations, and obtain followers. The data is priceless when you want to target a specific audience and market to them. LinkedIn also has a Matched Audience that helps advertisers match their email marketing lists and website visitors with users on LinkedIn.
Many marketing experts think that LinkedIn Ads offer more value. LinkedIn has refined targeting, and you can make your product known to them so that you can tell them about something they didn’t know existed.
Summary: For B2B and B2C companies looking for a broad audience, Google Ads has enough targeting features. But for B2B firms that want to target specific groups, LinkedIn Ads has about 100 segmentation methods for micro targeting.
When you want lead generation, Google Ads has a broader reach and is the most effective. First, you can bring in a lot of prospects to your site without breaking the bank. The audience you’re after on Google visits the search giant with the idea to find the best product or service. This makes generating leads easier.
Getting leads from LinkedIn can be more challenging. Users of the platform may sign in to read industry news or talk to group members. No matter how perfect your ad is, viewers may not be in the mood to buy anything.
That said, Linkedin has a way to target ad leads through in-site messaging, which can generate plenty of leads.
When it comes down to dollars and cents, LinkedIn Ads usually are more pricey than Google Ads. As in Google, you can select cost-per-click or cost-per-impression.
LinkedIn also features a cost-per-send for InMail advertising. Typically, you’ll pay about $5 for each click, $6 for 1,000 impressions, and .80 for each send.
With Google Ads, the average CPC is $1. But to leverage that low cost, you need to work on your audience segmentation. If you don’t your ROI may be below what you want.
Summary: Advertising budgets for each platform depends on several factors. On average, Google Ads cost less than LinkedIn Ads. If your B2B company has a tight budget, you may want to focus on a limited variety of LinkedIn ads instead of a broad range of Google Ads.
So should you advertise with Google Ads vs LinkedIn Ads? Yes!
What we mean is, it depends. The correct choice depends on your budget, product or service offered, marketing goals, and target audience. You should not assume that when you need a digital marketing campaign, Google Analytics Adwords is the only choice.
It’s critical to evaluate the market, understand who your buyer is, and make a data-driven decision about the best marketing platform to reach your well-defined goals. One type of company might do better with Google Ads, and another may find LinkedIn Ads preferable.
The great news is you don’t need to choose between the two platforms. Many businesses use both, as well as Facebook, Instagram, and others. If you have the budget, it may pay off to diversify your paid search advertising to get the best ROI.
